Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla understands his team has their work cut out for them going into the NBA Finals with Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving playing as well as they are.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Mazzulla explained “there is no stopping” the Dallas Mavericks’ superstar duo right now.
Coming out of the second round against the Oklahoma City Thunder, it looked Dončić and Irving might have hit a wall. They combined to average 40.4 points in the six-game series, down from 59.5 in the regular season and 56.3 in the first round against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Any of those concerns were washed away in the Western Conference Finals. Dončić averaged 32.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game. Irving put up 27.0 points on 49.0 percent shooting in five games against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Dončić and Irving became just the third pair of teammates in NBA history to score at least 30 points in a conference finals closeout game with their stellar performances in Game 5 against the T-Wolves.
One reason to be optimistic about the Celtics’ chances of containing the Dallas tandem is they do have arguably the best backcourt defense in the NBA between Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.
Neither player has the height to matchup with the 6’7″ Dončić, so it might fall on Jaylen Brown to guard him at various times. Mazzulla will almost certainly want to keep Holiday or White on Irving at all times to avoid letting him find a rhythm.
That’s much easier said than done since Irving has made a career on finding an opening where one doesn’t seem to exist, even if that means trying an absurd hook shot with his non-dominant hand.
This also figures to be a high-scoring series, even though both teams have been playing excellent defense throughout the playoffs.
The Celtics will be the best offense that Dallas has gone up against in the postseason. Boston has the second-best offensive rating of any team in the playoffs, trailing only the Indiana Pacers, while also posting the third-best defensive rating.
On the other side, this will be the first time the Celtics have played against a team at full strength. They defeated the Miami Heat without Jimmy Butler, Cleveland Cavaliers without Jarrett Allen for the entire series and Donovan Mitchell for the final two games, and Pacers without Tyrese Haliburton for the final two games.
Boston could also get Kristaps Porziņģis back for the first time since Game 4 against the Heat. Mazzulla hasn’t confirmed his return, but said on Friday he was “progressing well” and they were “confident” in where he is at right now.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Mavericks and Celtics will be played on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET at TD Garden.