The Boston Celtics are now two wins away from their 18th NBA championship. Boston has a 2-0 lead against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals after a 105-98 win in Game 2 on Sunday night in Boston. Jrue Holiday had 26 points to lead the Celtics, who again had a balanced effort. Boston got at least 12 points from five different players, and held the lead for nearly the entire second half. The Mavericks made a late run, but Derrick White came up with a huge block with less than a minute remaining to keep Boston's two-possession lead intact.
Luka Doncic had a game-high 32 points to lead Dallas and finished with 11 assists and 11 rebounds for a triple-double. Doncic was downgraded to questionable ahead of Game 2 thanks to a chest contusion he suffered in Game 1. He had his torso heavily wrapped before the game, but played 42 minutes and shot 12-for-21 from the floor.
The Mavericks, who were previously 5-0 after a loss this season, struggled again from 3-point range. They hit just six 3-pointers on 26 attempts and also shot just 16-of-24 from the free-throw line. Boston wasn't much better from 3-point range (going 10-for-39), but the team hit 19 of its 20 free-throw attempts. Here are the biggest takeaways from Game 2:
Luka can't do this alone
Let's break down Luka Doncic's scoring by quarter:
- First quarter: 13
- Second quarter: 10
- Third quarter: 6
- Fourth quarter: 3
So what happened here? Well, in Game 1, Boston made the unconventional but effective decision to defend the Dallas centers with Jayson Tatum. This effectively pre-switched every Doncic pick-and-roll, taking away his favored lob passes. With Boston also taking away corner 3s, the Mavericks just couldn't pass their way into good shots. So Doncic decided to beat Boston as a scorer in Game 2. In the first half, he did so effectively.
In the second half, Boston finally relented and made the decision Minnesota made after getting "Luka'd" several times early in its own matchup with Dallas: to blitz him. The Celtics almost never double, but Doncic forced their hand. Of course, this is Doncic we're talking about here, so he was ready for that. He had three assists in the first two quarters, and then six in the third when he could beat doubles. The Celtics adjusted their strategy. They wanted Doncic to beat them as a scorer. When he proved that he could, they decided to make him beat them as a passer.
The problem? This strategy only works when the role players are making shots. Mavericks not named Doncic shot 2-of-17 from 3-point range. He doubled up all of his teammates in total points except for P.J. Washington. This turn of events must have been especially frustrating for the Oklahoma City Thunder to watch from home. They lost to the Mavericks because Washington and Derrick Jones Jr. made shots that they ordinarily missed. But once they reached the Finals, those two turned back into pumpkins.
That's what's going on here, more than anything. Doncic has proven ready for the Finals spotlight. He's dissecting Boston's defense as well as he did Minnesota's or Oklahoma City's. But his teammates haven't done their part. He can't beat the Celtics alone.
Tatum never needs to do it alone
Jayson Tatum doesn't have to beat the Mavericks alone. Actually, he doesn't really need to come close. He shot 6-of-22 in Game 2. That's a field goal percentage of 27.27%. Doncic did that precisely once all season. The Mavericks won the game... but it was against the lowly Spurs. The Celtics just won a Finals game in which their best player could barely muster a passable batting average.
That's not to say Tatum was bad in Game 2. He dished out 12 assists. His ability to defend multiple positions helped hold the Celtics' scheme together. He did his fair share. That's what he's had to do all season. The Celtics are so good and so deep that Tatum is just never put in the position that Doncic is. He never has to win these games independently. He just has to figure out what the Celtics need on a given night and provide it.
This feels notable in light of Jason Kidd's comments in which called Jaylen Brown, not Tatum, the best player on the team. His argument (which, in itself, was really more of a ploy to try to get into Boston's head, but let's ignore that) was that Brown does "everything, and that's what your best player does."
Well, Tatum has done everything so far in this series. He's been an essential component of Boston's defense. He leads the Celtics in rebounds and assists. And perhaps most importantly, he doesn't feel the need to force the issue as a scorer when it isn't there. He's comfortable letting Jaylen Brown or Jrue Holiday or Kristaps Porzingis carry the Celtics' offense through the first two Finals games.
That may not make him Doncic's equal. He probably couldn't lead the Mavericks as far as Doncic has. But Tatum doesn't play for the Mavericks. He plays for the Celtics, and he has grown into the perfect best player for the best team in the league. He's so good because he lets his teammates flourish. Now that he has a roster capable of doing so, he's well on his way to winning his first championship.
Free throws, yet again, are the difference for Dallas
The Mavericks ranked 27th in the regular season in free-throw percentage. They entered Game 2 of the Finals dead last in the postseason by two full percentage points. They lost Game 4 of their second-round series against Oklahoma City due almost entirely to a historic difference in free-throw effectiveness. On Sunday, they once again blew a critical game because they couldn't make free throws.
The Celtics shot 19-of-20 at the line. The Mavericks shot 16-of-24. That's one Boston miss against eight for Dallas, or a difference of seven points at the line lost to misses. Well, look at the final score. Celtics 105, Mavericks 98. That's right. For all of the other issues Dallas had on offense, this game could have potentially gone to overtime if the Mavericks had just made their free throws.
I couldn't tell you why this otherwise very strong shooting team continues to struggle at the line. It is one of the most glaring defects on a Mavericks team that wiped away most of its flaws at the deadline, and on Sunday, it may have prevented them from stealing home-court advantage in Game 2 of the Finals. Teams that trail the Finals 2-0 are 5-28 in the series. Those are the odds Dallas is now facing, and all because it couldn't make the easiest shots in the game.