Final: Celtics 106, Mavs 99 - Celtics cough up big lead but hold on, go up 3-0

BOSTON CELTICS vs. DALLAS MAVERICKS

NBA Finals, Game 3

Celtics lead 2-0

TD Garden, 8:30 p.m. - ABC

Line: Mavericks -2.5

INJURIES

Boston: Kristaps Porzingis (QUESTIONABLE, ankle)

Dallas: Luka Doncic (PROBABLE, Knee/ankle)

SERIES

Game 1: Celtics 107-Mavericks 89 

The teams went back and forth to start the game, but Boston went on a monster 25-7 run fueled by 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.   

Game 2: Celtics 105-Mavericks 97

The Celtics really struggled with their shooting in the first quarter while Luka Doncic dropped 13 and Kyrie Irving added eight. But Boston was only down three thanks to going 10-10 from the line. Jrue Holiday found openings around the rim on his way to an 11 point quarter, flipping the deficit to a three-point lead at halftime. The lead got up to 13 despite the rough shooting, but the Mavs were able to cut it to six before a Payton Pritchard buzzer-beater sent the crowd into a frenzy. They got the lead back up to 14 late in the third after Holiday and Derrick White hit consecutive 3-pointers. The Mavs made one last push but White's key late block sealed the win.

THINGS I’M LOOKING FOR

1: Stick to the plan: Porzingis or no Porzingis, the Celtics defensive plan on the Mavs is working and they need to keep pouring it on. Don’t let up now. The plan is to make Doncic work his butt off for everything and stay home on everyone else. This is not the time to be bailing them out. 

2: The Porzingis plan: If he plays, how limited is he and how much (or little) does he play? If he’s out, what do the Celtics do? Do they go with Luke Kornet for a stretch to get the rim protection and sacrifice some of the spacing? Do they go small with Tatum at the five to keep their spacing and be a little less experienced around the rim defensively? 

Each has its merits. It might be a situational thing where they go smaller earlier to focus on good offense to set their defense and later go with the better rim protector to maintain a lead they’ve built. 

3: Shooting: They had their stinker shooting night. Now let’s see them have their 45% shooting night to run away with this game and push the Mavs to the brink. Boston always has one of each in a series, so they're due to get hot.

Follow along with my thoughts as the game goes on. They’ll show up below and in the comments section, so hop in and share your opinion as well.