BOSTON – After watching Miami Heat remove him Boston Celtics in last year’s Eastern Conference finals, Brad Stevens, Boston’s president of basketball operations, sought to upgrade the roster. He thinks the team could use more size and its interior defense could be better. He also thinks they could use some different offense, a curveball to use when opposing defenses are locked into the Celtics’ drive-and-kick game. And so, when trading opportunities arise Kristaps Porzingis Arriving there, Stevens rushed forward.
Porzingis won’t come cheap. To get him, the Celtics would have to part with Marcus Smart, an indispensable piece and the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2022. But, in Stevens’ mind, the opportunity to add another someone with Porzingis’ skill set is too good to pass up.
“To be able to throw the ball into the post and just shoot through a switch, and do so effectively and efficiently is a big deal, let alone being able to play behind the line, shoot ball or drive it”. reporters following the June 23 trade to acquire Porzingis from the Washington Wizards. “He brings a lot to our team. You can imagine, as I can envision, some of the lineups that we could field at scale right now – quite attractive. And don’t ignore any skills. So that’s a good thing.”
Porzingis spent the entire season vindicating Stevens’ decision. His presence, on both sides of the ball, helped the Celtics make the leap from a very good regular-season team to one of the greatest of all time, winning 64 games and finishing tied for fifth-best scoring tally in tournament history.
However, on Thursday night, when Porzingis crushed Dallas Mavericks In the Celtics’ 107-89 victory in Game 1 of the Finals, Stevens looked like a prophet. Porzingis finished with 20 points — on 8-for-13 shooting — six rebounds and three blocks in 21 minutes. But that stat line underestimates his impact. A better way to say it is that Porzingis is the first player in this series to take control of a game.
“He was great on both ends of the floor, executing defense, game-planning, playing for a spot on the back end, physical and make plays on both ends of the floor.” “It was KP that got us where we are today.”
A calf injury has sidelined Porzingis for the Celtics’ past two rounds, and he’s eager to return for his NBA Finals debut. “It was hard not playing for a month and then jumping into the highest intensity game in the final,” Porzingis said. He spent the time between pregame introductions hopping around the Celtics’ sideline, trying to relieve tension. “Adrenaline,” he said, “is coursing through my veins.” Mazzulla brought him off the bench, something he hadn’t done all season, and when Porzingis first came on, a little less than midway through the first period, the Celtics had a one-goal lead.
He continues to demonstrate all the skills Stevens referenced in June. He buries a mid-range jumper over a smaller defender. He beat Mavericks center Derrick Lively on his way to a dunk. He buried another mid-range jumper after the Mavericks once again switched a smaller defender to him. He hit a deep triple in transition. He was jumping around and smiling. And amid all that, he made three Maverick shots for 11 points in the first half.
When the halftime bell sounded, the Celtics had turned that lead into 17 points.
“I mean, he looks pretty healthy to me,” said the Mavericks center Daniel Gafford speak.
“He knocked down shots. He changed shots. He blocked shots. He brought a spark to them coming off the bench,” Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said. reserve”.
Porzingis unlocked everything for the Celtics and left the Mavericks reeling. Dallas’ defense has suffocated opponents in its run through the Western Conference playoffs, in part by packing the paint and daring opponents to get past its two ace rim protectors, Gafford and Derick Lively II. Porzingis’s spotting from 27 feet away ruined that plan. The Celtics converted all 15 of their attempts at the rim, according to Cleaning the Glass, and thanks to all the runway to the rim, they were able to hit 42 three-pointers — more than half of their scoring attempts. of them, most of them. Driving and kicking action. They hit 16 of them.
The Mavericks were so shaky that at the end of the first half Kidd fielded a quicker lineup. Maxi Kleber in the center instead of Gafford and Lively, abandoning the plan he had carried through to the final.
Meanwhile, the Celtics executed their success perfectly. It’s also a simple thing. Force the Mavs’ dynamic duo Luka Doncic And Kyrie Irving to do all the scoring yourself. No double teams are sent to either player. There was no fighting or fighting from the weak side. If the Mavericks win, they will do so with Doncic and Irving converting tough looks against big defenders.
Doncic finished with 30 points. But the Celtics wing Jaylen Brownone of the few players in the NBA with the right combination of size, speed and smarts to play with Doncic on the defensive end, fired him on a 12-for-16 night. Irving had just 12 points when shooting 6 for 19.
More notable, however, was that the Mavericks only dished out eight assists. Doncic only had one, one low season. The Mavericks, who entered the game on a record pace for playoff shots per game, did not convert a single lob. The corner three, a key element of their attack, was nowhere to be found; They tried only three. They finished the game with an offensive rating of 96.7, which, by comparison, was more than 20 points per 100 possessions worse than the league-worst mark recorded by the Memphis Grizzlies during the regular season.
“The ball got stuck too much,” Kidd said.
On the other hand, the Celtics are determined to attack Doncic whenever possible. Especially Brown, who, after Porzingis’ initial outburst, carried the Celtics. He finished with a team-high 22 points, along with six rebounds, three blocks, three steals and two assists, although the points he generated from his shots were much higher.
“What you saw tonight was a kind of challenge that he had to face himself as he entered the new year,” Mazzulla said. Don’t want to be defined by something.” “Want to make plays. Want to be a well-rounded player.”
The Mavericks made the Celtics sweat after halftime. The 22-9 run cut a 29-point lead to eight. The crowd inside TD Garden was silent. The feeling of anxiety is palpable.
Mazzulla called timeout. He let the players talk to each other for two minutes before joining the huddle.
“We just said, breathe,” Brown said. The match is about to start. Just breathe.” “Just breathe, just keep playing basketball. If you have an open shot, take it confidently, don’t redirect, take care of the basketball and just play our game. We have to got some stops. They made some big shots.”
The Celtics responded with a 14-0 victory of their own. Not long after, they walked out on the field with victory, only 3 more games away from hanging their No. 18 banner.
“It feels like a blur to me now,” Porzingis said later that night. “I was completely just involved in the game. It was the best feeling. Like I had the most fun. I hope to have more moments like that in the future.”
Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports and an author Reaching the top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the boldest run in professional sports history. Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.
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