- Celtics guard Jrue Holiday was Boston’s player on the night with 26 points
- Luka Doncic’s triple-double performance wasn’t enough to get Dallas a win
The Boston Celtics have taken a commanding 2-0 lead against the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, as Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined for 65 points in Game 2.
Holiday was Boston’s highest scorer on the floor at TD Garden on Sunday night with 26 points, as the Celtics point guard scored 17 on 7-of-9 shooting in the first half.
Brown and Tatum, meanwhile, respectively had 21 and 18. Tatum struggled in the first half, putting up only five points on 0-3 three-point attempts and 2-9 shots overall.
The Mavericks tried to mount a late rally after 3-pointers from Holiday and White on back-to-back possessions put Boston ahead 103-89 with 3:34 left in the game.
Derrick Jones Jr. scored four straight points as part of a 9-0 spurt that ended with a three-point play from Doncic, but Brown’s layup with 29.8 seconds to go dashed any hope Dallas had left.
Neither team led by more than three until Holiday knocked down a triple with 37.1 seconds remaining in the first half to give Boston a five-point edge. Gafford answered with a dunk, forcing the Celtics to settle for a 54-51 lead at the break.
And despite another triple-double performance – 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists – Luka Doncic, who was listed as questionable to play with less than two hours before the opening tipoff, had eight turnovers with -3 net rating by the end of the fourth.
Kyrie Irving, who was part of the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ 2016 NBA title win, was Dallas’ highest scorer of the night with 16 points. He, too, had a net rating of -3, as only PJ Washington (17 points) had a positive rating of (+2).
Game 3 is Wednesday night in Dallas. The Mavericks need a win then or in Game 4 on Friday to avoid a sweep and earn a trip back to the Boston Garden, where local fans are already making space in the rafters for what would be an unprecedented 18th NBA championship banner.
The Celtics won the opening pair in the NBA Finals for the ninth time. They have won the previous eight and have never been forced to a Game 7 in any of them.
Derrick White also scored 18 points for top-seeded Boston. Kristaps Porzingis limped his way to 12 points. The Celtics were 10 for 39 from long distance overall.
Irving, who’s drawn the animosity of the local fans ever since cutting short his stay in Boston in 2019, has now lost 12 games in a row against the Celtics.
Unlike their 107-89 victory in Game 1, when a fast start from 3-point range staked them to a 29-point, first-half lead, the Celtics missed their first eight attempts from long distance and were around 20 percent for most of the game.
On top of Tatum’s zero points in the opening two quarters, Boston was still just 5 for 30 from long distance when Peyton Pritchard banked in a half-courter at the third-quarter buzzer to give Boston an 83-74 lead.