Mavericks vs. Celtics NBA Finals Game 2: Five points, analysis, stats from Jrue Holiday’s big night

BOSTON— The Celtics were going to have a bad shooting night at some point in this series (they always do). The kind of game where they shoot 5 of 27 (18.5%) on 3s above the break (and 5 of 12 from the corners), plus 8 of 18 from mid-range (including floaters).

That game was Sunday evening. The shots that generally propel the Celtics weren’t falling.

Boston still won Game 2 – and that’s scary for Dallas. They missed an opportunity down the road.

The Celtics won 105-98 thanks to 26 and 11 from Jrue Holiday and a balanced attack. Think of it this way: Luka Doncic led all scorers with 32, but the next four highest scorers in the game were all Celtics.

Boston has a 2-0 lead heading into Dallas for Game 3 next Wednesday, which is basically a must-win for Dallas.

Here are three lessons from Game 2:

1) This is why Boston wanted a vacation

Two games into the NBA Finals, Jrue Holiday could be the frontrunner for Finals MVP (he and Jaylen Brown are currently a coin flip).

That might be more than even the Celtics expected from Holiday, but they let him dream of moments like this.

Brad Stevens gave up a lot to get Holiday out of Portland: Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon and two first-round picks. But he understood that Holiday was an upgrade over Marcus Smart. A defender as good as Holiday is a steadier, more polished offensive player who is willing to take on a role.

“I’m a utility man. I will do everything. I’m here to win,” Holiday said. “I feel like they brought me here to win, and I’ll do my best to do that.”

Jaylen Brown talked about how Holiday has adapted and is a good fit for Boston.

“Jrue, he just came in, he wasn’t on the ball as much, still guarded at a high level, but became a corner three-point specialist. That’s just a testament to his greatness,” Brown said of the role Holiday had to take on all season. “Tonight they wanted to emphasize loading, making sure we made the right reads every time, and Jrue had a lot of opportunities tonight and he took advantage of them. He’s just a great player, a great person, a great teammate.

“I attribute the win tonight to him.”

Holiday just wins. This is why Boston wanted him.

2) Experience matters on the biggest stage

Boston is up 2-0 in this series, in part because they just look more comfortable in this spotlight.

Boston’s utility man Holiday makes MVP plays, Payton Pritchard knocks down 10-yard buzzer beaters that change the momentum, and Derrick White makes chase blocks that seal the win.

Part of that confidence comes from the fact that Boston’s core has been here before. Dallas has Kyrie Irving – and Luka Doncic has been playing in the spotlight since he was 16 – but the role players haven’t found their groove. Derrick Jones Jr. is 6 of 16 in the series, Maxi Kleber 1 of 5 and Jalen Green is 2 of 8.

“I would say I might feel a little more comfortable,” Holiday said of returning to the Finals (his first trip was with Milwaukee in 2021). “Just knowing what the pressure is and

“That’s the biggest part of the battle: controlling your emotions. How do you deal with adversity, your will and your perseverance,” Brown said. “Not everything will go according to plan. I wasn’t hoping that we would shoot, I don’t even know, what, 7-23 from three? We had a few ill-advised turnovers and fouls, but the effort made up the difference.”

That effort has put Boston within two wins of a ring.

3) Porzingis says his calf is good… right?

Kristaps Porzingis did not make good progress in the fourth quarter on Sunday evening. He had been brilliant in this series after missing five weeks with a calf injury – 32 points on 12-of-20 shooting plus some big blocks at the rim – but he had re-aggravated his calf. Joe Mazzulla retired him with 4:40 to go and Al Horford finished the game.

After the match, Mazzulla was asked about his concerns about Porzingis’ calf.

“Zero. He’s good,” Mazzulla said.

Porzingis echoed that.

“I’m feeling good. Feeling good. Yeah, I don’t think it’s anything serious,” Porzingis said. “But we’ll look at it tomorrow and go from there, but all good. I’ll be good.”

The team doctors will have the final say on that – and if he falls out, it could be a dramatic change in this series. Boston is +25 in Porzingis’ minutes through two games, and Dallas doesn’t respect Horford as a rim protector in the same way.

For his part, Porzingis said he will play.

“I’ll die there if I have to…” Porzingis said about playing through it, but then added this about the final minutes. “Was a little limited, so the smart thing was to get Al back in and close out the game.”

This is one to keep an eye on over the next 48 hours.

4) Luka Doncic is a bad, bad man…

Luka Doncic was everything Dallas needed in Game 2: 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. He made hard shots against a defense that was focused on him.

“I think Luka is a special player. He is one of, if not the best player in the world and he is causing a problem,” Kidd said. “He can find guys. Once again we created open chances and we just didn’t take advantage of them.”

5) But Dallas needs Luka some help

If the Dallas Mavericks come back from 0-2 and win this series, something fundamental needs to change from what we saw in the first two games.

That may start with Kyrie Irving, who has shrugged off the crowd’s boos and attention, but through two games he has 28 points on 13-of-37 (35.1%) shooting overall and 0-of-8 from 3. He simply isn’t good enough as Dallas’ No. 2.

“A little bit disappointed because I wasn’t able to convert much more into the opportunities I have on the court,” Irving said after Game 2. “Obviously I’m going to go against Jrue Holiday and Jaylen Brown a few times, but I feel like I have the top edge on certain assets where I just need to convert.

It’s not just Irving. As noted above, the Mavericks’ role players also need to be better: Derrick Jones Jr. is 6 of 16 in the series, Maxi Kleber 1 of 5 and Josh Green is 2 of 8.

Dallas needs its role players to step up at home or this series will be very short.