Mavericks vs. Celtics NBA Finals Game 2: Five takeaways, analysis, stats from Jrue Holiday’s big night

BOSTON- The Celtics were going to have a bad shooting night at some point in this series (they always do). The type of game where they shoot 5 of 27 (18.5%) on three-pointers over the break (and 5 of 12 from the corners), plus 8 of 18 from mid-range (including floaters).

That game was Sunday night. The shots that usually drive the Celtics weren’t falling.

Boston still won Game 2, and that scares Dallas. They missed an opportunity along the way.

The Celtics won 105-98 thanks to 26 and 11 by Jrue Holiday and a balanced attack. Look at it this way: Luka Doncic led all scorers with 32, but the game’s next four leading scorers were all Celtics.

Boston has a 2-0 lead heading into Dallas for Game 3 next Wednesday, which is basically a must-win for Dallas.

Here are three takeaways from Game 2:

1) That’s why Boston wanted a vacation

Two games into the NBA Finals, Jrue Holiday could be the favorite for Finals MVP (he and Jaylen Brown are a coin toss at the moment).

That may be more than even the Celtics expected from Holiday, but they made him dream of moments like this.

Brad Stevens gave up a lot of things to get Holiday out of Portland: Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon and two first-round picks. But he understood that Holiday was an upgrade from Marcus Smart: a good defender, and Holiday is a more stable and polished offensive player, willing to step into a role.

“I’m a public services guy. I will do anything. “I’m here to win,” Holiday said. “I feel like I was brought here to win and I will do my best to do that.”

Jaylen Brown talked about how Holiday has adapted and fit in perfectly in Boston.

“Jrue, he just came in, he didn’t have as much of the ball, he still defended at a high level, but he became a specialist in three-point shots in the corners. That’s just a testament to the greatness of him,” Brown said of the role Holiday had to take on all season. “Tonight they wanted to emphasize the blitz, make us make the right reads over and over again, and Jrue had a lot of opportunities tonight and he took advantage of them. He’s just a great player, a great person, a great teammate.

“I credit him with tonight’s victory.”

Vacations just win. That’s why Boston wanted him.

2) Experience matters on the biggest stage

Boston is up 2-0 in this series in part because they look more comfortable in this spotlight.

Boston’s utility man Holiday is making MVP plays, Payton Pritchard is knocking down momentum-changing 34-foot buzzer-beaters, and Derrick White is making chase blocks that seal the victory.

Part of that confidence is because Boston’s core has been here before. Dallas has Kyrie Irving, and Luka Doncic has been the center of attention since he was 16, but the role players haven’t found their footing. Derrick Jones Jr. is 6 for 16 in the series, Maxi Kleber is 1 for 5 and Jalen Green is 2 for 8.

“I would say maybe I feel a little more comfortable,” Holiday said of his return to the Finals (his first trip was with Milwaukee in 2021). “Just knowing the type of pressure and

“That’s most of the battle, just managing your emotions. How do you handle adversity, your willpower and your perseverance?,” Brown said. “Not everything is going to go as planned. I wouldn’t have expected us to have shot, I don’t even know, 7-23 from three? We had some turnovers and reckless fouls, but effort makes the difference.”

That effort has Boston two wins away from a ring.

3) Porzingis says his calf is good… right?

In the fourth quarter on Sunday night, Kristaps Porzingis wasn’t moving well. He had been brilliant in this series after missing five weeks with a calf strain (32 points on 12-of-20 shooting plus some great blocks at the rim), but he had re-aggravated his calf. Joe Mazzulla eliminated him with 4:40 left and Al Horford finished the game.

After the game, Mazzulla was asked about his concern about Porzingis’ calf.

“Zero. It’s good,” Mazzulla said.

Porzingis echoed that.

“Feeling good. Feeling good. Yeah, I don’t think it’s anything serious,” Porzingis said. “But we’ll see tomorrow and go from there, but all good. I’ll be good.”

The team doctors will have the final say on this, and if he is out, that could be a dramatic change in this series. Boston is +25 in Porzingis minutes through two games, and Dallas doesn’t respect Horford as a rim protector the same way.

For his part, Porzingis affirmed that he will play.

“I’ll die out there if I have to…” Porzingis said about playing it, but then added this about the final minutes. “I was a little limited, so the smart thing was to bring Al back in and close out the game.”

This is one to monitor over the next 48 hours.

4) Luka Doncic is a bad, bad man…

Luka Doncic was everything Dallas needed in Game 2: 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. He was making tough shots against a defense focused on him.

“I think Luka is a special player. He is one of the best players in the world, if not the best, and he causes a problem,” Kidd said. “He’s able to find guys. Again, we created open opportunities and we just didn’t take advantage of them.”

5) But Dallas needs to get Luka help.

If the Dallas Mavericks are going to come back from 0-2 down and win this series, something fundamental has to change from what we saw in the first two games.

That may start with Kyrie Irving, who ignored the boos and attention of the crowd, but in two games he has 28 points on 13 of 37 (35.1%) shooting overall and 0 of 8 on three-pointers. he hasn’t been good enough as Dallas’ No. 2.

“I’m a little disappointed that I can’t take advantage of a lot more opportunities that I have at the line,” Irving said after Game 2. “Obviously, I’m going to go up against Jrue Holiday and Jaylen Brown at times, but I feel like I have the advantage on certain possessions.” that I simply have to convert into.”

It’s not just Irving. As noted above, the Mavericks’ role players also have to be better: Derrick Jones Jr. is 6-for-16 in the series, Maxi Kleber is 1-for-5 and Josh Green is 2-for-8.

Dallas needs its role players to step up at home, or this series will be very short.