7 Overreactions to Boston Celtics’ Game 1 Win vs. Dallas Mavericks in 2024 NBA Finals

Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals is in the books, and it was an absolute annihilation by the Boston Celtics.

Luka Dončić made things a little uncomfortable when he and his Dallas Mavericks cut a 29-point lead down to eight, but Boston righted the ship, rained in a few more threes and wound up winning 107-89.

The Celtics entered the series as heavy betting favorites and with a historically dominant regular season behind them, so the result maybe shouldn’t be all that surprising. But Dallas has the best individual player, and the Mavericks beat three 50-win teams to get here.

The season-long numbers may have overwhelmingly favored Boston, but it was reasonable to think Dallas could hang.

That is, at least until Thursday. This series is obviously far from over, and blowouts are far more common than they were in previous eras. Bouncing back from them is, too. But watching Game 1, it was hard to miss the clear advantages Boston has.

And in turn, it’s easy to convert those observations to overreactions.

There’s certainly a chance a different outcome in Game 2 swings our perceptions the other way, but right now, these hot takes feel just shy of lukewarm.

By the time the regular season wrapped, the 2023-24 Celtics were third all time in threes per game, first in effective field-goal percentage, first in points per 100 possessions and fifth in average point differential.

This was (and is) an all-time great offense, and its outside shooting has a lot to do with that.

The Mavericks were third in the league in threes, but they were nearly two full makes per game shy of Boston. They were nearly two points behind the Celtics in team three-point percentage, too.

And four of Dallas’ top 10 in threes per game are either gone (like Grant Williams and Seth Curry) or have mostly been out of the rotation during the playoffs. (like Dante Exum and Tim Hardaway Jr.).

The Celtics, meanwhile, are firing (pun intended) on all cylinders. After going 16-of-42 from deep, Boston is now shooting 36.9 percent from deep in the postseason. And the C’s are 12-0 in games in which they hit more threes than their opponents.

Coming into Game 1, Luka had 4.6 postseason wins over replacement player (wins over replacement player times 2.7). The rest of the roster has 7.3.

And while teammates like Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington have all had their moments, Kyrie Irving is really the only other star on the team. And when he’s off, Dallas is in trouble.

After Irving went 6-of-19 from the field and 0-of-5 from deep for 12 points, the Mavs are now 1-3 this postseason when he has a sub-40 effective field-goal percentage.

Whether it’s Kyrie, Washington or one of the rim-running bigs, Dallas has to have at least one or two players to take some pressure off Luka to have a shot in this series.

And while Dallas is looking for anyone to help Luka, who had 30 points on 12-of-26 shooting on Thursday, the Celtics are cruising along with a deep and balanced attack with several players who can get hot enough to swing a game.

After Thursday’s win, the Celtics are now 13-2 in the postseason. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are averaging 25.3 and 24.8 points, respectively. Derrick White is at 17.6, and four more Celtics are between seven and 14 points per game.

And Kristaps Porziņģis is in that last group. His 20 points in 21 minutes off the bench in Game 1 showed the supporting cast is even more dangerous now than it was throughout the first three rounds.

And that wasn’t the only blaring alarm for Dallas on Thursday. Boston had six players in double figures, and seven hit at least two threes each.

When the ball is flying around, and the Celtics are getting up triples in volume, their offense looks borderline unstoppable.

All season, Boston’s defensive backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White was able to stifle opponents outside.

Both were in the 87th percentile or higher in defensive estimated plus-minus (one of the most trusted catch-all metrics in NBA front offices). Holiday was in the 91st percentile for his position in block percentage, while White was in the 100th.

And the defense that led to those numbers was very much on display in Game 1.

Boston allowed 102.0 points per 100 possessions with both on the floor Thursday (the Mavericks scored 118.4 in the regular season). And though there was certainly some help from Tatum, Brown and Boston’s rim protectors (including Porziņģis and Al Horford), both of Dallas’ starting guards—Luka and Kyrie—made less than half their shot attempts.

The Mavericks faced a handful of tough defenders on the Western Conference side of the playoff bracket, including Terance Mann, Jalen Williams, Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards, but no duo from their previous opponents quite stacks up to White and Holiday.

Porziņģis was arguably the Celtics’ second-best player during the regular season (behind Tatum, of course). And his absence through most of the first three rounds was probably an underappreciated factor in their run.

There was plenty of talk during his absence about Boston underwhelming against the Jimmy Butler-less Miami Heat, mostly Donovan Mitchell-less Cleveland Cavaliers and partially Tyrese Haliburton-less Indiana Pacers, but it may have been misguided.

The more important point was probably that the Celtics went 12-2 prior to the Finals anyway. And now that Porziņģis is back in action, Boston might be unstoppable against his former team.

During his two-plus seasons with the Mavericks, they were slightly worse with KP on the floor, but he’s become a significantly more efficient scorer over the last two seasons with the Washington Wizards and Celtics.

And on Thursday, he looked laser-focused on punishing his old team.

Now, of course, winning a championship was likely every bit as motivating for Porziņģis as beating the Mavericks. Whatever the reason, he was dominant.

Porziņģis had 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, was plus-13 and had three blocks in just 21 minutes. His ability to hit perimeter shots forced Dallas’ bigs to scramble outside. And his rim protection had Mavericks slashers struggling inside.

As long as his calf continues to hold up, it’s hard to imagine Dallas winning Porziņģis’ minutes.

Porziņģis, of course, isn’t the only player in this series with a shot at revenge. And Kyrie’s departure from the Celtics was probably even messier than KP’s from Dallas.

At previous stops, Irving has responded to the vitriol from spurned Boston fans with middle fingers, taunts and a stomp on the team’s logo. And while nothing like that happened on Thursday, Celtics faithful may have been as satisfied with a Kyrie game as they’ve ever been.

As previously noted, Irving went 6-of-19 from the field in Game 1. He had three turnovers and two assists. And he was a team-worst minus-19, despite sitting the end of the fourth quarter because of the blowout.

And while he’ll almost certainly have better performances than this, nothing will be easy against the Celtics.

Beyond White and Holiday, Boston can also throw length at Kyrie with Tatum and Brown. And when he is able to beat that first line of defense, sound rim protectors like Porziņģis and Horford are waiting.

Kyrie and Dallas already beat this regular season’s best defense in the conference finals, but Boston finished the season third on that end and is a little better tailored to postseason basketball.

The rotation-wide mobility of Irving’s former team is going to test him more than any of the teams the Mavs beat on the way to the Finals.

Now, having said all that, the word “overreactions” is in the headline for a reason.

This is only one game, and the Mavs had a 22-point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round. Heck, they lost Game 1 in each of their first two series of this playoff run.

They’re good enough to bounce back. And again, they have the best individual player in the series in Dončić.

Especially in this postseason, he’s generally been able to diagnose his offense’s issues within a series, prescribe the necessary adjustments and then implement them.

Dallas coming back and ultimately winning the series isn’t the likeliest outcome, but it isn’t impossible either.