5) The others weren’t ready to play. When Luka Dončić wasn’t fouling out, he was trying to figure out ways to galvanize Dallas’ offense. Eventually, Kyrie Irving held up his end of the bargain in Game 3. For much of the series, though, we’ve seen role players like P.J. Washington, Derrick Jones Jr., Jaden Hardy, Maxi Kleber and Tim Hardaway Jr. be unreliable. You can’t beat Boston without “the others.” Just ask Caleb Martin.
4) Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving didn’t show up enough. Irving really struggled in the two games in Boston. Dončić has been so rough defensively and had some pretty terrible turnovers in key moments of Game 2. Then, he fouled out of Game 3 due to some really poor defensive decisions. The Mavericks needed these guys to be the duo we saw earlier in the playoffs, but the Celtics negated that.
3) The math problem is real when done correctly. The Celtics jack up a lot of 3-pointers. They hit the second-most in NBA history this season, missing the record by 12. That approach hasn’t changed against Dallas. Everybody in Boston’s rotation can shoot it – apparently Xavier Tillman can too. The Celtics have outscored the Mavericks by 32 total points in this series, winning games by 18, seven and seven, respectively. They are plus-63 points behind the 3-point line. You crunched those numbers correctly; they’ve made 21 more 3-pointers than the Mavs on 49 more attempts. Your scoring problem is real if you can’t stop them from letting it fly or shoot it with them.
2) They retooled but never panicked and uprooted the core. Through all of the forced debates about needing to break up Tatum and Brown, neither executives Danny Ainge nor Brad Stevens ever truly came close to doing it. We heard some Brown rumors over the years, but those trade talks always subsided. Instead, the Celtics brought in Derrick White. They brought back Al Horford. And then, they had a massive summer with acquiring Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday. They believed in the vision, and it’s about to include a parade.
1) They’re really damn good. Let’s not forget that, while the path hasn’t exactly been tough for Boston to get to the finals, this team was the best in the league by a wide margin. Concerns were never about them being good enough, only if they’d get out of their own way in the biggest moments. They’ve done exactly that on this run. They’re 15-2 in the postseason so far. They’ve won 10 straight games. They haven’t lost in over a month. Schedule that ring ceremony for opening night.
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