Key events
Celtics 71-65 Mavericks, 3:50 left, 3rd quarter
Just when it looks like Dončić’s nagging injuries are cutting him down, he makes a nice fluid move and scores.
A couple of misses each way, and Boston calls timeout.
I have email with the subject line “Please” and no message. I’m sure we all feel that way sometimes.
Celtics 71-63 Mavericks, 5:18 left, 3rd quarter
Dallas started the third quarter 4-for-5. The bad news for the Mavs: Boston started 6-for-6.
Dončić tries a labored shot in the lane, misses, then fouls in apparent frustration.
Tatum drives, the defense converges, and Tatum dishes to Brown for the dunk. The lead is seven.
Who else but Irving to answer? No one, that’s who. Irving answers. He has 24.
A miss each way, and then Brown hits a big 3. The lead is eight.
Dončić passes back and forth with Irving, then misses in the lane.
Tatum misses a well-defended 3, White blocks a shot from Hardaway, and the Celtics are off to the races. Tatum dunks and was probably fouled, but there’s no call.
Dončić finally gets one to fall. He has 23.
Celtics 64-59 Mavericks, 8:44 left, 3rd quarter
Brown puts Boston in front.
Irving reinstates Dallas’ lead.
Holiday hits a big 3. Boston back in front.
Then a possible momentum changer. Holiday swipes the ball on some sloppy Dallas passing. Brown drives, dishes to Tatum, and the Celtics star drains a 3.
Five-point lead. Timeout Dallas.
Celtics 56-57 Mavericks, 10:06 left, 3rd quarter
Brown fakes, then shoots from 10 feet out. It’s good.
Gafford answers.
Holiday gets on the board, but there’s Gafford again with a putback dunk. He’s playing like he doesn’t want to lose his spot to Dereck Lively down the road.
Tatum makes a backdoor cut and scores to put the Celtics back in front.
Dončić makes another awkward move in the lane but draws the foul. He makes both free throws, and the lead changes hands again, like commercial real estate in the exurbs.
As in Game 2, it’s hard to see how the Celtics are in the position they’re in right now.
Dallas has a 23-17 rebounding edge, and they’re killing Boston inside in the absence of Porzingis.
Dallas has hit nearly 50% of their shots (47.7%), while Boston is barely over 40% (40.9%).
Holiday, White and Brown have combined to shoot 1-for-10 from 3-point range.
But Tatum has picked up the scoring slack. And Horford has hit a pair of 3s, while Hauser has hit three.
If you hit three 3-pointers and get two rebounds, is that a full house? If not, why not?
Celtics 50-51 Mavericks, halftime
Al Horford. Still going. He hits a corner 3.
Lively evades the Boston defense for a powerful dunk.
White misses – he’s 1-for-7.
Turnover Dallas, and Tatum makes the tough transition layup despite Lively’s presence.
Dončić misses – he’s 1-for-6 from 3-point range.
Washington gets two free throws. Misses one. Makes the second, and that’s your halftime margin.
Celtics 45-46 Mavericks, 2:29 left, 2nd quarter
Irving hits a long 3.
Brown misses a longer 3. Why’d he take that so soon?
Irving shuffles his feet and hits against. He’s 4-for-5 from 3-point range and has 20.
But Sam Hauser answers. He’s 3-for-3.
Dončić breaks his drought with a shot in the lane. Holiday breaks his drought, keeping the ball alive several times and finally grabbing a loose ball inside and scoring.
Timeout Dallas. Use ‘em or lose ‘em.
Celtics 40-38 Mavericks, 5:20 left, 2nd quarter
The review awarded possession to Boston. The Celtics miss, and Dončić drives but gets the ball swatted away by Tillman. Josh Green comes in to give him a break.
Irving goes 1-on-1 with Tillman and doesn’t succeed.
More misses here and there, but then Irving hits another 3.
Tatum hits another 3. He has 16.
Gafford gets a rebound and slams it home. Dallas is winning the dunk contest, but the game is tied.
Oops – Boston takes the lead. Tatum again. He has 18. But he has no help in this game.
Celtics 35-33 Mavericks, 7:57 left, 2nd quarter
Holiday kicks it out to White, who once again m… oh! He made this one! That’s his first.
Payton Pritchard, who made a memorable long 3 at the buzzer of the third quarter in Game 2, comes in but misses for Boston.
Dončić gets the ball swatted away. He’s credited with two turnovers but probably could have another one or two. The Dallas megastar is forcing it a bit.
We have a review. That means we have commercials.
Celtics 32-33 Mavericks, 9:08 left, 2nd quarter
Both teams return from the break with an apparent bout of amnesia as to the object of the game – putting the ball through a hoop. In fairness to Dallas, the Boston defense can make that rather difficult, and they force a shot clock violation. White answers with … an airball.
But Dallas can’t capitalize, and Brown races through the lane to take a feed from Horford. Celtics lead. Somehow.
And now they don’t, thanks to Irving.
Celtics 30-31 Mavericks, end 1st quarter
Brown misses … again. Dončić misses.
Hauser hits another shot! Hauser hits another shot!
Dončić misses a shot he shouldn’t have taken, with Tatum in his face. Then Tatum races down the court and takes a zip pass from Derrick White for the emphatic dunk.
Dončić has 13, but Tatum has matched him. Sam Hauser has 6 points for Boston, matching the combined output of Brown (4), Game 2 hero Holiday (2) and White (0, 0-for-3). I wonder how my rock-star friend Paul will find a way to blame the Celtics’ deficit on Tatum.
Celtics 25-29 Mavericks, 1:02 left, 1st quarter
Sam Hauser made a shot! Sam Hauser made a shot! And the lead is two.
Dončić makes it four. How is he doing this? I’m not sure enough is being said about the fact that he is clearly not not dinged up.
Tatum drives, gets fouled and hits two free throws. He has 11. His critics ask why he only has two rebounds.
Dante Exum drives and slams emphatically for Dallas. How’d that happen?
Celtics 20-25 Mavericks, 2:24 left, 1st quarter
So Tatum, held to virtually nothing through much of the first half of Game 2, already has 8 points this time. His critics will complain that he has no assists. If the backcourt on your team was 0-for-6 from 3-point range, would you pass to them?
Dončić and Irving each have 9.
Ads for two things I have no desire to watch – the latest in the A Quiet Place series and The Bachelorette. If I want to be that depressed, I’ll listen to my old Cure albums.
We’re back, and Irving misses badly.
USA and Brazil still tied 1-1 in stoppage time.
Brown swats away a desperate 3-point attempt with the shot clock running out for Dallas.
Dallas commits a defensive 3-second violation, and Tatum hits the free throw. Lead down to five.
Celtics 19-25 Mavericks, 3:23 left, 1st quarter
Brown is fouled and hits 2 of 3 free throws. The Celtics stayed in Game 2 early by converting at the line even while they couldn’t water if they fell out of a boat from the 3-point line.
Lively somehow draws the assignment to guard fellow former Duke player Tatum, and Tatum puts up an ill-advised 3 over the shot-blocking phenom.
Jaden Hardy misses for Dallas, and Brown scores for Boston.
Washington misses for Dallas, and Tatum gets a favorable roll on another 3-point attempt. Lead is down to six, and Jason Kidd calls timeout for Dallas.
Celtics 12-25 Mavericks, 4:48 left, 1st quarter
Tatum hits a 3. Dončić tries to answer but barely hits the rim. No matter – the Celtics once again miss from 3, and Irving takes advantage with a long one that drops neatly through the net.
Celtics 9-22 Mavericks, 5:35 left, 1st quarter
This is how Game 2 started. Dončić on fire despite laboring physically. Jayson Tatum not yet having an impact – remember, the People Who Declare Such Things On TV have decreed that if Tatum doesn’t lead the Celtics to an NBA championship, kids across the country should take down his poster and put up one of, I don’t know, Aaron Jones?
Horford hits a 3 and has all five of Boston’s first points. Daniel Gafford blocks a Tatum shot at the rim. Game 2 hero Jrue Holiday misses. Dončić and Brown miss long-range shots.
P.J. Washington tosses an alley-oop to Gafford. Holiday and Irving both miss, but then Holiday hits a tough shot on the baseline.
Dončić scores on a remarkably fluid drive – that’s 7 points for him already.
White misses – the Celtics are once again misfiring from outside.
Irving pushes the lead to 10. Tatum answers with a strong drive.
Dončić looks awkward this time and pushed off on Tatum but NBA officials never ever ever ever ever ever call fouls on offensive players, at least not if they’re considered good players, and the result is the same – 2 points, 9 total.
Brown turns it over for Boston. Dereck Lively gets inside, scores and is fouled. He hits the free throw.
My dog has to go out.
Celtics 2-9 Mavericks, 10:09 left, 1st quarter
Dončić scores again. Celtics call timeout.
Celtics 2-7 Mavericks, 10:35 left, 1st quarter
Al Horford barely contests the tipoff, and Dallas quickly go out in front with a Kyrie Irving layup. Horford hits a jumper at the other end, but Dončić hits a 3-pointer. Then it’s a turnover and a Dallas layup, and just as in Game 2, the Mavs are out in front early.
Tipoff … has happened.
Starters are the usual groups of five.
Quick reminder: Porzingis isn’t the only injured player in this series. Luka Dončić was clearly hobbling at times in Game 2, even as he kept hitting fadeaway jumpers on one leg.
Tipoff … eventually, I’m sure.
Justin Lyons is playing a Hendrix-infused guitar solo rendition of the national anthem. Don’t see that every day.
Never tell me the odds …
As far as I can tell, the Mavericks are slight favorites tonight at home. The spread is either 1.5 points or 2.5 points or 3.5 points, the Mavericks are even money or -145 to win, the Celtics are -120 but the moneyline says they’re +125.
Math education in this country must be better than people think, because gambling is complicated.
Elsewhere in the world at the moment …
Christian Pulisic has provided a free-kick equalizer for the US men against Brazil as they try to regain their confidence after that game against Colombia.
You might be able to catch the end of West Indies vs. New Zealand in the T20 Cricket World Cup after this game ends.
Roger Daltrey is performing a few miles away from me. I have no idea how people play rock shows at that age. I’m more than 25 years younger, and I’m wiped out after an hour on stage.
Porzingis status update …
He’s out.
Will that make the Celtics vulnerable here?
Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends …
The world has probably run out of jokes about how long the NBA playoffs run, but I’ll see if I can come up with any more.
“After such a long absence, can the NBA compete with the USA’s newfound love of cricket?”
“The breaks in this schedule are so long, all the players who only went to college for one year have their PhDs now.”
“Anyone who remembers the NBA regular season is collecting Social Security by now.”
Anyway – game time is allegedly 8:30 pm ET. What shall we chat about until then?
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s some injury news coming into tonight’s game:
Kristaps Porziņģis hasn’t played a game in Dallas since the Mavericks traded him two years ago, and now it is uncertain if he will play there in Game 3 of the NBA Finals for the Boston Celtics.
Porziņģis has a rare tendon injury in his lower left leg, which occurred in the third quarter of Boston’s 105-98 victory for a 2-0 series lead. The team said on Tuesday that he was day-to-day, and Porziņģis said he will do everything he can to play Wednesday night.
Asked if it was a pain-tolerance problem or if he could do more damage, Porziņģis said he didn’t know the specifics.
“That’s something I’ll leave in the medical staff’s hands to determine whether I can go or not,” he said. “Nothing is going to stop me unless I’m told I’m not to, or not allowed to play. That’s the only reason I would not be out there.”
The 7ft 2inch Latvian center has a tear in tissue that holds tendons in place. The Celtics said it was unrelated to the right calf strain that sidelined him for 10 consecutive playoff games before he returned last Thursday for the start of the NBA Finals.
You can read the full story below:
