Dallas Basketball

Jrue Holiday, Celtics Outlast Mavericks In Game 2 of NBA Finals: 3 Game-Changing Plays

Dallas had their chances to win but couldn't come away with it and had back home down 2-0

Austin Veazey

Jun 9, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) high fives forward P.J. Washington (25) after a play against the Boston Celtics during the third quarter in game two of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 9, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) high fives forward P.J. Washington (25) after a play against the Boston Celtics during the third quarter in game two of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports / Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
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This one hurts if you're Dallas. Boston struggled to shoot for most of the game, but no one outside of Luka Doncic could score consistently. It's one that was there for the taking, the Mavericks just couldn't take it.

Doncic came out of the gates firing despite all of his injuries. He had 20 points in the first half while shooting 9/13 from the floor. Everyone else for the Mavs was just 12/30 in the first half, but they entered into half down just three because Boston's 3-ball was not falling.

Once it did start falling, it was wrapped for the Mavericks. For the first 35 minutes of the game, Boston was just 5/29 on their 3s. Where we pick up the first play is where the game felt unwinnable for Dallas.

READ MORE: Luka Doncic's Mavericks Face 2-0 NBA Finals Hole After Game 2 Loss Against Celtics

The Mavericks really struggled to score for most of the third quarter, scoring just 13 points in the first nine minutes of the half as the Celtics would open up a 12-point lead. A small 11-5 stretch to end the quarter would've had the Mavs only down 6 entering the fourth quarter.

Then Payton Pritchard banks in a three from just inside halfcourt to beat the buzzer, pushing the lead right back to 9. It felt very Max Strus-ish.

What could've been a two-possession game entering the fourth quarter was now a three or four-possession game and that changes a team's mentality.

Including this shot, the Celtics made 5 of their last 10 threes to close out the game after struggling up to this point.

The Mavericks were still within striking distance as the game entered its latter stages.

The Mavericks had been using P.J. Washington and Derrick Jones Jr. to help bring the ball up the floor and alleviate some of the ball pressure on Doncic and Kyrie Irving. I don't know what Washington is doing with his decision, but this turnover credited to Doncic should really be on Washington.

Washington is basically across halfcourt with 19 seconds on the shot clock, or about 3 seconds before the 8-second violation mark. Instead of backing Holiday across half-court, he throws it back to Doncic who isn't even close to crossing half-court, then Washington fades away from the play to make it a harder pass on Doncic, who realizes there's about to be an 8-second call.

Boston's dynamic defensive backcourt pounces all over it and ends in a 3-ball for Jrue Holiday, who had an outstanding game, pushing the lead to 11 late.

Despite all of that, a 9-0 run by the Mavericks in the final few minutes had the lead down to five with under a minute to play. Derrick Jones gets the block on Jayson Tatum and Dallas is out running the other way.

Kyrie Irving threads a pass to a rim-running Washington who is met at the rim by Derrick White and Jaylen Brown. There very easily could've been a foul on Brown for the hand on Washington's back but at that stage of the game, it's hard to expect the officials to call that. Washington could've slowed down and forced Brown to run him over to get to the free-throw line, but instead, it's Boston's ball headed the other way, and they'd score to put the game on ice.

The Celtics would go on to win 105-98 and take a 2-0 lead as the series turns to Dallas, which becomes a must-win game for the Mavericks.

Luka Doncic finished with a game-high 32 points on 12/21 shooting, 11 assists, 11 rebounds, and 4 steals. The bigger issue is his 8 turnovers and 4/8 shooting from the free-throw line. Free-throw shooting has been the Mavericks' biggest weakness in this run to The Finals and it showed its ugly head in this game as the team was just 16/24 from the line while Boston was 19/20.

Outside of those mistakes at the end, P.J. Washington did have a solid game for the Mavs, scoring 17 points and snagging 7 rebounds. He had a few effort plays and push shots at the rim that gave the Mavs real life. Derrick Jones Jr. had a few of those plays in the first half on his way to 11 points. Daniel Gafford had a great second half as he finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds.

The big talking point out of Dallas will be the struggles of Kyrie Irving though, who finished with 16 points and 6 assists while shooting 7/18 from the floor. The Mavericks can't beat a team as good as Boston if Irving isn't playing at an all-star level and he hasn't been so far. He was tremendous against Minnesota and they'll need that version of him back for Game 3 if they want a chance of winning this series.

Overall, it was 15 turnovers, poor free-throw shooting, and even worse 3-point shooting (6/26 as a team, 2/17 outside of Doncic) for the Mavericks that lost them this game.

Jrue Holiday was spectacular for Boston, finishing with a team-high 26 points on a hyper-efficient 111/14 shooting. He was the benefactor of a lot of drop-off passes at the rim as Dallas would send two to Tatum when he drove, Holiday would just clean it up.

Jaylen Brown was solid once again with 21 points, 7 assists, and 3 steals, while Derrick White added 18 points. Tatum also had 18 points, but he wasn't confident in his shot at all this game. Tatum's 12 assists and 9 rebounds helped his overall impact, but he shot just 6/22 from the field. I'm curious how Dallas adjusts with their defense on him because an argument can be made the Boston won this game with his drop-off passes to Holiday and whoever else at the rim.

The Celtics won this game despite shooting 25.9% from 3 by taking advantage at the free-throw line and forcing Doncic to beat them, something the Mavericks couldn't adjust against.

They'll have a few days to adjust as Game 3 will be Wednesday night back in Dallas. It is a must-win game for the Mavericks because no team has ever come back from down 3-0 in an NBA Playoffs series, much less in The Finals. They were down 0-2 to the 64-win Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Semifinals in 2022 before a Game 3 win helped the Mavs go on to win that series, so they've been in this position before.

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Austin Veazey
AUSTIN VEAZEY

Austin Veazey joined NoleGameday as the Lead Basketball Writer in 2019, while contributing as a football writer, and started as editor for MavericksGameday in 2024. Veazey was a Florida State Men’s Basketball Manager from 2016-2019. Follow Austin on Twitter at @EasyVeazeyNG