Mavericks' Jason Kidd Clarifies 'Mental Warfare' Comments About Celtics' Tatum, Brown

Dallas' head coach thought his comments from before Game 2 were misconstrued slightly

Jun 9, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd gestures to players against the Boston Celtics during the fourth quarter in game two of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports / Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

Before Game 2, Jason Kidd seemed to ruffle some feathers by saying Jaylen Brown is the best player on the Boston Celtics. Some saw it as him trying to play mind games with the Celtics and force Jayson Tatum to take more shots out of the flow of the offense. Kidd wanted to clarify those comments slightly.

"[Jayson Tatum]'s one of the best players in the world," Kidd said to the media on Tuesday, "so you're trying to just make it tough. And that's all you can do, is hopefully guard the first move, guard the second move, guard the third move, and contest. And guys are doing that at a high rate, and just trying to make it tough on him." He'd also say "Everybody though my comments was mental warfare" regarding his comments before Game 2.

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On one hand, his comments did get in Tatum's head a little bit, as he led the game with 22 shot attempts, beating out Luka Doncic. The difference is Doncic had 32 points to Tatums 18.

Tatum has been able to impact this series with his playmaking more than his scoring, using the drive to set up open dump-off passes under the basket. Dallas has consistently been sending extra bodies his way when he drives and while he has forced some shots, he's done best when passing.

Brown, meanwhile, is leading the Celtics in scoring this series at 21.5 PPG through two games. He and Tatum will likely have to step up their scoring even more with questions about Kristaps Porzingis' availability.

For Dallas to get back into the series, they'll have to keep holding Tatum to inefficient games while doing a better job containing Boston's drives. If Porzingis isn't playing, that'd be one less perimeter threat the Mavericks would have to deal with.

The Mavericks will try to get a game back Wednesday night in Game 3.

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