How Celtics took command of NBA Finals with Game 2 win over hurting Mavericks

BOSTON — Luka Dončić is hurting. Kyrie Irving is struggling and Jason Kidd’s mind game on the Boston Celtics didn’t work. All are ingredients for the 2-0 hole the Dallas Mavericks are in during the NBA Finals.

Boston took firm command of this series Sunday night with a 105-98 win behind 26 points from Jrue Holiday, a near triple-double from Jayson Tatum and another balanced effort from Jaylen Brown.

Dončić, playing with a bruised chest in addition to nagging knee and ankle injuries, was dominant again in the loss, this time with a 32-point triple-double (11 rebounds and 11 assists). But he scored just nine points after halftime, and if any of the injuries are affecting him, well, Dallas can’t afford it, especially if no one else steps up.

“I think my turnovers and my missed free throws cost us the game,” said Dončić, who said he was “OK” physically. He suffered the chest injury taking a charge in Game 1, but said he didn’t feel any pain until the following day.

“I actually was (questionable),” Dončić said. “But I always want to play. All day we did a lot of things to get ready.”

Irving is shooting 13 of 37 in this series after his 16 points on 7-of-18 shooting in Game 2, and he’s 0 of 8 on 3s in two games. Irving’s teams have never beaten Boston since he left the Celtics in 2019, losing 12 straight.

“I would take the brunt of the responsibility,” Irving said. “The first two games weren’t the best for me, especially (Luka) scoring 25-plus points, getting rebounds, getting assists, doing the intangibles. And for me, I’ve always felt responsible for getting other guys comfortable out there, too.

“It’s on all of us. I’m pretty sure if you hear what everybody has to say, they will say that they can do something better. But I think the message right now is just get our bearings together.”

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Game 3 is at 8:30 p.m. (ET) Wednesday at Dallas’ American Airlines Center.

After practice Saturday, Mavs coach Jason Kidd, in an obvious attempt to sow division among his opponent, said that Brown, not the more decorated Tatum, was the Celtics’ best player. It’s not the kind of debate that gets settled in one game anyway, but Tatum shook off a poor shooting night to produce 18 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists.

Brown added 21 points, seven assists, four rebounds and three steals, which supports Kidd’s statement. Late in the fourth quarter with Boston clinging to a five-point lead, Brown (along with Derrick White) defended a would-be dunk from Dallas’ P.J. Washington, and then Brown converted a layup at the other end for a 105-98 lead with 29 seconds left.

“I’m really tired of hearing about one guy, or this guy or that guy, or everybody trying to make it out to be anything other than Celtic basketball,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Everybody who stepped on that court today made winning plays on both ends of the floor, and that’s the most important thing.”

Holiday was the Celtics’ top man on the scoreboard Sunday. The lone champion on the roster made 11 of 14 shots, contributed 11 rebounds and had zero turnovers. His perimeter defense has been a factor in Boston’s successful defensive game plan of placing Dončić and Irving on islands, cutting off the rest of the Dallas offense.

“I’m a utility guy. I’ll do whatever. I’m here to win,” said Holiday, one of Boston’s two key additions last offseason. “I feel like they brought me here to win, and I’ll do my best to do that. But at the end of the day this is (Tatum and Brown’s) team, and I know it’s probably just as much my team as theirs, but again, I feel like I talked about this before, the pressure that they have on themselves to execute and to be great is a little bit different than my pressure.

“They’re superstars and I’m here to support.”

White finished with 18 points, but it wasn’t just his offensive contributions. Late in the fourth quarter, he chased Washington from across the court to make a pivotal block with help from Brown.

“That was sick,” Mazzulla said.

Kidd had a different opinion. “It looked like a foul, but it wasn’t called, so it wasn’t a foul,” Kidd said.

If there was one downside to the Celtics’ night, it’s that Kristaps Porziņģis may have aggravated his strained right calf that caused him to miss 10 playoff games. Porziņģis finished with 12 points on Sunday, but came up hobbling in the fourth quarter and struggled to get up and down the court before he was removed for the remainder of the game.

“Zero (concern),” Mazzulla said about Porziņģis. “He’s good.”

Porziņģis said he would need to be evaluated Monday before the Celtics fly to Dallas for Game 3, but he sounded as though he intends to play.

“I’ll die out there,” Porziņģis said.

Dallas went to halftime trailing 54-51 behind 23 points from Dončić. The Celtics maintained control in the third quarter, leading by as many as 13, and Payton Pritchard pulled up from the NBA Finals logo and banked in a 3 as time expired to send Boston to the fourth quarter with an 83-74 advantage.

“I think that was the play of the game, it can’t go unnoticed,” Mazzulla said of the Pritchard shot. “You see guys around the league pass up that shot, or fake like they don’t want to take it so that their numbers don’t get messed up. He takes pride in taking that (shot), and that’s winning basketball.”

Dončić shot 12 of 21 from the field with four steals, and Washington contributed 17 points and seven rebounds for the Mavericks, which were 2 of 13 on 3s in the second half. For the game, all Dallas players not named Dončić shot 2 of 17 from the 3-point line.

The Mavericks also struggled at the free-throw line, where they missed 8 of 24. The Celtics converted 19 of 20 at the line to help make up for their poor shooting from 3-point range (10 of 39).

“(Dončić) put us in a position — he was really good tonight,” Kidd said. “Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get over the hump. I thought our defense was good. We’ve just got to take care of the ball. There’s too many turnovers that gave them points, and then also being able to — we’ve got to score the ball, and right now, we’ve got to find someone to join Luka and Ky in that scoring category.”

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(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)