Duke basketball players are taking center stage at the NBA Finals but aside from broadcaster JJ Redick and Boston Celtics assistant coach Amile Jefferson, the rest of the Blue Devil contingent are looking to elevate their performances.
The biggest area of concern rests with Dallas Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving, who has averaged just 14.0 points per game and made 35.1-percent of his shots through two games. He has missed all eight of his 3-point attempts as Dallas looks to respond from a 2-0 series deficit.
The Mavericks have also put Blue Devil rookie center Dereck Lively on the back burner after it was his defense and hustle that played a major role in getting to the NBA Finals.
Lively has only averaged 18.5 minutes per game this series after playing at least 20.3 minutes in every other series this postseason. He’s scored just two points in each of the first two games but he has averaged 6.0 rebounds.
Dallas needs much more out of its two Duke basketball players if it wants to try and even the series up with the games shifting to Texas.
As for Boston and Jayson Tatum, he remains one of the most scrutinized players in the NBA.
While his shot hasn’t fallen, making just 6-of-16 attempts in Game 1 and 6-of-22 in Game 2, he has done the other things necessary to help the Celtics secure victories. Tatum averaged 10.0 rebounds and 8.5 assists during the two games in Boston and is still putting up 17.0 points per contest.
He is shooting just 31.6-percent from the floor and 28.6-percent from 3-point range.
The Celtics will need Jayson Tatum to be much more efficient in Games 3 and 4 in order to take a commanding lead in the NBA Finals.
Tipoff for Game 3 is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC) on Wednesday night in Dallas.