BOSTON — It took less than one quarter to see that Kristaps Porziņģis was back.
“What helped me was even the walk out before the game and then getting on the court. Getting that kind of support was unreal. The adrenaline was pumping through my veins,” Porziņģis said. “That definitely helped.”
It only took that long because the Celtics played him off the bench for only the second time in his NBA career in his first game since Game 4 at Miami on Apr. 29 — 38 days ago. Despite concerns about him playing at less than 100%, potentially aggravating his injured calf or at least returning rusty, something even Joe Mazzulla acknowledged could be the case, Porzingis never looked better than he did in his first career NBA Finals minutes. He scored 20 points in 20 minutes on 8-for-13 shooting. Coming off the bench made sense, he said, while Mazzulla only added that it gave Boston the best chance to win as reasoning.
Derrick White had just hit back-to-back threes away from sellout Mavericks defensive pressure on Jayson Tatum to give Boston a lead midway through the first quarter when Porzingis, after entering the game to a loud ovation, lined up his former teammate Luka Dončić in the mid-range. He did the same to perimeter defenders up and down the Dallas lineup on his way to a 7-for-9 start, sizing up Dončić, raising his arms above his head and, in this case, hitting Dončić with an early foul. Porziņģis’ first basket followed two plays later, shooting over Jaden Hardy after bumping him out of the way. He had his touch the entire half, erasing the doubts some of his pause answering questions about his status and pain earlier in the week.
“It’s hard to say, because all these thoughts went through my mind, like what’d I answer? I don’t want to say I’m fine,” he said. “Obviously, I haven’t played, I haven’t been out there, I haven’t had the feel of am I 100%? But tonight was an affirmation to myself that I’m pretty good. Maybe I’m not perfect … but I can definitely add to this team.”
The Celtics overcame a 20-point Mavericks turnaround into the third quarter to reach within striking distance behind a Jaylen Brown-led 8-0 run that featured a block on Kyrie Irving, a pull-up three and a kiss to the crowd. Individual efforts sparked one of Boston’s best defensive nights all season, while manipulating Dallas’ aggressive defensive scheme allowed the Celtics to overcome another slow Tatum shooting night in a 107-86 win that pushed Boston to within three wins of a championship. Tatum posted 16 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
Porzingis went on to score over Derrick Jones Jr. and hit a three in rotation over Doncic in the second quarter after racking up blocks on Kyrie Irving and Josh Green Nothing about Porzingis’ first half showed any rust, and a 23-5 Boston run to close the first flowed into a 29-point lead before halftime that showed little hope, beyond their success slowing Tatum, of competing in the series’ opening game.
The Celtics’ switching cut Dallas’ three-point attempts to 12, hitting only two while Boston rattled off 24 attempts, entering halftime 11-for-27 (40.7%) from three. The Mavs’ aggressive help opened up magnificent passing extended Celtics passing sequences, Boston didn’t send Dallas to the free throw line until the second quarter and won the early offensive rebounding battle, 4-2. The Celtics even won two minutes to close the opening frame with Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard on the floor together, another benefit to staggering Porzingis’ minutes.
“It helps a lot throwing different guys at (Dončić), different guys that play defense differently,” Jrue Holiday said. “Some aggressive. Some not, but I think even our white guys guard, so hopefully it’s a challenge on them and hopefully we can continue to do that.”
Defense became necessary to close out Dallas when Boston’s scorching stretch faded over the final 85 seconds of the half, allowing an 8-0 run while Tatum pressed, unable to generate his own offensive momentum following a set play that lined him up close to the basket against Irving, who shot 6-for-19 in the loss. Tatum went 6-for-15, but couldn’t find his shot and saw his passing reads regress during a 22-9 Dallas run between the second and third quarters.
The TD Garden crowd sat stunned watching a 29-point advantage dwindle to eight, Doncic stepping back with a three over Porzingis to end the second. Tatum turned the ball over trying to attack Doncic out of the corner to begin the third, tossed a sloppy pick-and-pop pass over Al Horford’s head toward the baseline and drove straight into Dereck Lively II’s help, tossing the ball out-of-bounds to reach six turnovers.
Brown took over out of timeout and sparked a game-saving 8-0 run, drawing back-to-back fouls attacking Lively in the post that landed the big man on the bench in foul trouble. Mazzulla recalled talking for 30 seconds after the players, led by Brown as White recalled, righted themselves while speaking for over two minutes.
Lively had led successful 1-5 switching had allowed Dallas to flatten the Celtics’ offense. When he exited, Brown slipped into the paint, swung to Holiday, who found Tatum for a wide open three. Out of Dallas’ timeout, he created another pair of threes for himself and Horford, extending Boston’s lead back to 20.
“What you saw tonight is the challenge (Brown) took for himself coming into the year, not wanting to be defined by one thing,” Mazzulla said. “Wanting to make plays, wanted to be a well-rounded player and get better and better. His spacing, his ball movement, his defense, on-ball and off-ball. Usually, when you give up a run and your offense gets a little stagnant, your defense goes with it. Tonight, our defense kept us in it and that’s really important … some of those plays that Jaylen made were a part of it.”
The Mavericks tried going small with PJ Washington and Maxi Kleber following Lively’s exit. It worked slightly, limited Boston to three attempts from deep in the fourth and 9-for-20 shooting overall. That left Brown, White and others stressing the need to play even better on Sunday. Porziņģis cooled to 1-for-4 shooting after halftime, struggling to get quite the same positioning around the post.
Defense slammed the door, though, Porziņģis blocking Jones for his third rejection, White stealing the ball from Dončić and Holiday hitting the decisive three that sent the Mavs’ starters to the bench with five minutes left. Dallas’ star guards combined to shoot 18-for-45 (40%) and the Mavs only assisted nine times on 35 baskets — Dončić recording one. His fewest since 2021.
“Luka Dončić still had 30 (points),” Brown said. “So gotta do a better job, but it’s a full team effort. Tonight, I got lucky a few times, but we gotta get ready for Game 2. Defensively, I thought we made some big time plays when they cut it eight. That’s when the game started. I liked how we responded.”
