BSJ Game Report: Celtics 107, Mavericks 89 - Brown, Porzingis own Game 1 as C's hold Irving, Doncic in check

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Mavs in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The teams went back and forth to start the game, but Boston went on a monster 25-7 run fue,led by Kristaps Porzingis and great overall defense, to take a 17-point lead after one. Jaylen Brown helped push the lead as high as 29 before a late flurry cut it to 21 at the half. The Mavs went on a huge run to cut the lead all the way down to eight, but Boston answered, behind some amazing defense by Brown, to get it back up to 20. It got up to 25 in the fourth, and Boston cruised from there.    

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Everything went according to plan: Let’s review the plan I laid out for Boston: 

• Defend Luka Doncic mostly straight up and limit his assists? Check. (He finished with just one assist and no lobs)
• Target Kyrie Irving, limit him, make him inefficient? Check. (12 points, 6-19 shooting)
• Attack Dereck Lively and test the rookie? Check (two points, one assist, five fouls all in the third quarter)

- Jaylen Brown was amazing: The numbers don’t jump off the page, but his three blocks all came in a 1:34 stretch as Boston was turning a 13-point game back into a 22-point game. 

- Kristaps Porzingis looked pretty good: He came off the bench, not exactly matching the Lively minutes, but lining up pretty nicely with them. He took advantage of the rookie, blowing by him for a dunk early on. 

“I was pleasantly surprised to see how good he looked,” Al Horford said. “He was very fluid and a lot of energy and moving well. We know he can score, but defensively he looked really good as well.”

TURNING POINT

Boston’s 14-0 run to answer Dallas in the third quarter. The lead had gotten down to eight and the crowd was getting nervous. Jaylen Brown took over in that stretch, scoring six of Boston’s 14 points, blocking three shots, and adding an assist on an Al Horford 3. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Jaylen Brown: Considering the magnitude of this moment and the circumstances under which he performed his best, I feel like this might be the best playoff game he’s played. He was poised, he played appropriately, he came up big in big moments, and he defended the entire game. 

“What you saw tonight is kind of the challenge he took for himself coming into the year,” Joe Mazzulla said. “Not wanting to be defined by one thing. Wanting to make plays. Wanted to be a well-rounded player and get better and better. So his spacing, his ball movement, his defense on ball and off ball.

“Usually when you give up a run and your offense gets a little stagnant, your defense goes with it. Tonight our defense kept us in it and that's really important, to have that defensive mindset. Some of those plays that Jaylen made were a part of that.” 

- Kristaps Porzingis: Not only did he not skip a beat, he came off the bench, and not because he was hurt and being worked in. 

“We’ve kind of known,” Al Horford said. “At the end of the day for us, we understood what the mission was in front of us and what we needed to do. Everyone here was on board.”

This is what buy-in looks like. Porzingis came up huge, changing the game off the bench in the first quarter and helping Boston build a big lead after a back-and-forth start. 

- Derrick White & Jrue Holiday: They took turns making big impacts on the game, combining to shoot 38.5% from 3 on 13 attempts. Both had their turns on Irving and Doncic, both did a good job straight-up and in help, and they each had five assists. 

- Sam Hauser: An unsung hero in this game, he was third in plus/minus at +17. He was not only able to hit a couple of 3-pointers, he was actually effective on Doncic and Irving. He held his own against both guys and was a big part of the defensive effort that helped the Celtics build their early lead.

- The defense: Just nine total assists for the Mavs, one for Doncic and two for Irving. The Celtics were stifling all night long. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

The end of the second quarter: I am more upset at this stretch than I was at the lead falling to eight. Don't get me wrong, I hated the third-quarter energy, but the four minutes after the score was 58-29 were uninspiring and, sometimes, gross. Mazzulla called an angry timeout after Tatum threw the ball away, but it did little to stop the 13-5 Mavs run to close the half. This set the stage for the third quarter run. If Boston had finished the half strong, they would have been up by 30 heading into the half. 

Jayson Tatum: I’m not too concerned with him not scoring or shooting well. The Mavs sold out to stop him. The six turnovers, four of them in the first half, can’t cut it. He has to protect the ball better in Game 2.

HIGHLIGHTS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Mazzulla passes another test: He got his team to finally turn things around, whipping off that big run after calling a timeout. 

“Joe always gives us the right message,” Porzingis said. “He can be emotionless if that's what we need and he can just come in, like, completely even keel and give us the right message of what to focus on. And then he can come in and give us some motivation if that's what we need in that moment, some energy. But I think there he was just even keel and giving us some of the answers to what we need to do out there and that was it, we trust him with his leadership.”

And his decision to bring Porzingis off the bench worked out perfectly.

“(I) just thought it gave us the best chance to win,” Mazzulla said. “He was great on both ends of the floor, defensive execution, game plan, playing for a spot in the offensive end, being physical, and making plays on both ends of the floor.”

Personally, I think we’re just about done with the “this guy is a good coach” stuff. If LeBron James is buying in, everyone should be. 

This conversation will end when Boston wins this thing. Finish the job, finish the narrative.

- It’s just one game: This was a fantastic game that fans should really enjoy. Boston came out strong, took a big punch, and returned a haymaker of their own. It was a brilliant game. 

But Boston won Game 1 the last time they were in the Finals.

Doncic will come out much stronger than he did in this game. Irving will have a better game. Things will go much differently. The Celtics need to come out even stronger in Game 2. They have to have better execution for longer. The job only gets harder from here. 

Game 2 of the NBA Finals is Sunday night at 8