The Boston Celtics have a 1-0 NBA Finals lead.
The Celtics, the No. 1 seed from the East, in Game 1 on Thursday routed the West's fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks 107-89 thanks to a more balanced attack.
Boston, due to a 23-5 run at the end, led 37-20 to open the first quarter. Kristaps Porzingis returned from injury and immediately logged 11 points on 4 of 5 shooting, including 2 of 2 3-pointers. Doncic posted seven points, but a combination of suffocating defense and hot shooting proved too powerful to handle early on.
Those factors eventually served as the theme of the game.
With the 17-point lead, the Celtics made history with the largest first-quarter point differential in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
The Celtics later led by as much as 29, but a solo Doncic run to end the second quarter kept it at 63-42. Doncic had 17 points at the break but no other Maverick eclipsed six, including Kyrie Irving.
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On the other hand, Porzingis led all scorers with 18 points on 7 of 9 shooting while Jaylen Brown supported him with 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting. Boston made 11 3-pointers by the interval compared to just three for Dallas.
NBA
A 22-9 run by Dallas in the third quarter closed the gap to 72-64 and put pressure on Boston, but the Celtics responded immediately with 14 unanswered points to swing the momentum and essentially seal the game.
The fourth quarter was business as usual to wrap things up, as Dallas outscored Boston 23-21.
Boston had all starters eclipse double-digit points. Porzingis cooled off in the second half but still recorded 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting, six rebounds and three blocks.
Brown led the starters with 22 points on 7 of 12 shooting, six rebounds, three steals, three blocks and two assists. Jayson Tatum added 16 on 6 of 16 shooting, while Derrick White scored 15, Jrue Holiday 12 and Al Horford 10.
Joe Mazzulla's eight-man rotation worked to near perfection, with backup guard Payton Pritchard being the lone stain after going 0 of 7 from the field, including five missed 3-pointers.
Doncic carried Dallas with 30 points on 12 of 26 shooting despite hobbling throughout as he manages knee pain. The Celtics did extremely well to limit him beyond that, though, as Doncic only logged one assist to go with four turnovers.
P.J. Washington was Dallas' next highest scorer at just 14 points, while Irving had a nightmare game shooting 6 of 19 overall and missing all five 3-point attempts for 12 points.
The Dallas bench also had zero impact, with the highest scorer mustering two points until garbage time in the fourth quarter when Jaden Hardy scored 13.
Game 2 in Boston is set for Sunday, June 9 at 8 p.m. ET.
