2024 NBA Finals: Kristaps Porzingis Proves To Be The Difference As Celtics Dominate Mavericks In Game 1

Kristaps Porzingis was the difference in Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals.

The Boston Celtics soundly defeated the Dallas Mavericks, 107-89, in the series opener at TD Garden on Thursday night and it was led by the dominant first half effort of their returning 7-foot-2 big man.

Porzingis scored eight points within his first five minutes of game action — he came off of the bench for the first time this season and for just the second time in his career — and scored 18 points in the first half after missing over a month due to a calf strain injury.

“From day one I came here and I said like I’ll do whatever it takes to help this team win, right? I think it was — this situation, you know, it made sense,” Porzingis said of coming off of the bench after the game. “I didn’t care. I knew I could prepare to come off the bench, which is something different for me, and that’s what I did and stepped into that role and embraced it and had a good game.”

While the Celtics as a team certainly outplayed the Mavericks, it was Porzingis’ dominant offensive display along with his defensive performance that energized the home crowd and led to Boston pulling away by as many as 29 points in the first half. Porzingis not only finished the game with 20 points in just 21 minutes of action, he led all players with three blocks, including a highlight reel swat of the Mavericks’ Josh Green on a fastbreak dunk attempt.

“I think obviously what helped me is just even from the walk out before the game and then getting on the court, getting that kind of support was unreal,” says Porzingis. “The adrenaline was pumping through my veins and that definitely helped. Obviously it wasn’t ideal that I was out for such a long time, but I did everything I could to prepare mentally for this moment coming back and it paid off and we got the job done tonight and had a good game and happy about the result.”

Not bad for a guy who was playing in the first playoff series past the first round of his eight-year NBA career.

The Celtics had the definition of a near-perfect performance in Game 1. Outside of allowing a 28-point lead squander to just eight points during the second half, Boston did everything they were supposed to do as they look to exercise the demons from their playoff past.

While Porzingis will be the talking point from this game, it was the defensive effort as much as anything for why the Celtics have a 1-0 lead heading into Game 2. Although Luka Doncic scored 30 points — he’s averaging a playoff-leading 33.9 points per game — it felt like an empty scoring effort. Furthermore, Doncic wasn’t able to show off his immense playmaking abilities as he was held to a playoff career-low one assist.

The Mavericks’ 89 points scored were their lowest of this year’s postseason. To top it all off, Dallas was held to just nine total team assists. For perspective, Doncic averaged the second-most assists per game (9.8) this season and the team as a whole averaged 25.7 assists per game.

“Just great individual defense,” said Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla following the game. “Everybody has to take on the challenge of guarding those guys. They’re an amazing team and they put a ton of pressure on you with their ability to score. Everyone is going to take their matchup personal, have personal pride in individual defense.”

And in what has to be a sweet moment for Celtics fans, Kyrie Irving struggled drastically all night to immense boos from his former home crowd at TD Garden. The veteran point guard — who previously played for the Celtics for two seasons before an unceremonious exit — was held to just 12 points on 6-for-19 shooting from the field while going 0-for-5 from beyond the arc.

It was Irving’s 11th consecutive loss to the Celtics.

“It’s basketball at the end of the day,” said Irving after the game. “Being in this environment, I’m used to it at this point. Early in my career, there was a different relationship that I had with Boston and just being able to come here, be settled with a veteran group. Now I’m here as a veteran, over the past few years, just experiencing the playoffs here, even regular season, it’s been the same thing.”

I thought it was going to be a little louder in here but I’m expecting the same things going into Game 2. Crowd trying to get me out of my element, my teammates out of my element.

It’s no secret that this core group of Celtics led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have consistently come up just short of winning it all for nearly a decade. In fact, since Brown was drafted in 2016, the Celtics have advanced as far as the conference finals on four occasions and the NBA Finals once and have come up empty each time.

While the Celtics’ convincing Game 1 performance doesn’t mean they have the series wrapped up just yet — Boston previously took a 1-0 and 2-1 lead over the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals before losing in six games — it just feels different this year with the additions of Porzingis and an NBA champion in Jrue Holiday.

“Two great additions between Kristaps and Jrue,” said Brown of the impact of Porzingis and Holiday. “In any given night it could be any of us. And Kristaps had a monster game for us and just his presence shooting the ball and then him being able to attack those switches and mismatches, he made ’em pay every time, and that’s what we need going forward in the series.”

Porzingis’ return and heroic performance may be exactly what Boston needs as they look to win an NBA-record 18th championship.

There isn’t a single player on the Mavericks’ roster that can truly match up with Porzingis. Had Porzingis showed he was full of rust and not fully recovered from his calf strain injury, it’s a weakness that could have been exploited by the Mavericks’ deadly guard duo of Doncic and Irving on the pick and roll. Furthermore, Boston would have been forced to rely heavily upon a 38-year-old Al Horford to play heavy minutes.

“I don’t want to say like — I didn’t doubt him, but I just, you know, coming off an injury and missing that much time, it normally takes guys a little longer than that, but as somebody as tall and talented as he is, he makes it look really easy,” Tatum said of Porzingis’ performance after the game.

Instead, it looks like the Celtics are at full strength and will be too much for a fifth-seeded Mavericks team that simply lacks the depth to match up with Boston.

It may be early on in this series, but a Finals series that was ripe with so many intriguing storylines — Irving’s return to Boston, Porzingis’ opportunity at revenge against the Mavericks — may turn out to be a major mismatch.