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Celtics 12-25 Mavericks, 4:48 left, 1st quarter
Tatum makes a 3. Doncic tries to answer but misses the rim. No matter, the Celtics miss from 3 again, and Irving takes advantage with a long shot that goes neatly into the net.
Celtics 9-22 Mavericks, 5:35 left, 1st quarter
That’s how Game 2 started. Doncic is on fire, even though he’s working physically. Jayson Tatum still has no influence – 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 the, I don’t i know Aaron Jones?
Horford hit a 3 and had all five of Boston’s first points. Daniel Gafford blocks Tatum’s shot from the rim. Game 2 hero Jrue Holiday misses. Doncic and Brown miss shots from long range.
PJ Washington throws an alley-oop to Gafford. Both Holliday and Irving miss, but then Holliday hits a hard drive down the baseline.
Doncic scores with a remarkably smooth shot – that’s already 7 points for him.
White misses – Celtics foul again from the outside.
Irving ups the lead to 10. Tatum answers with a big shot.
This time, Doncic looks uncomfortable and pushes Tatum away, but NBA the officials never, ever, ever, ever call offensive players fouls, at least not if they’re considered good players, and the score is the same – 2 points, 9 total.
Brown turns it over for Boston. Derek Lively goes inside, scores and is fouled. He hits the free kick.
My dog has to go out.
Celtics 2-9 Mavericks, 10:09 left, 1st quarter
Doncic scores again. Celtics call timeout.
Celtics 2-7 Mavericks, 10:35 left, 1st quarter
Al Horford is barely contesting the top spot and Dallas is quickly moving ahead with Kyrie Irving. Horford hits a jumper at the other end, but Doncic makes a three. Then there’s a turnover and a Dallas turnover, and just like in Game 2, the Mavs jump out to an early lead.
Advice… it happened.
The starters are the usual groups of five.
Quick reminder: Porzingis isn’t the only injured player in this series. Luka Doncic clearly limped at times in Game 2, though he continued to hit one-legged fadeaway jumpers.
Hint…eventually, I’m sure.
Justin Lyons plays a Hendrix-inspired guitar solo of the national anthem. I do not 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 money line says they are +125.
Math education in this country must be better than people think because gambling is complicated.
All over the world right now…
Christian Pulisic provided the equalizer with a free kick for the USA men against Brazil as they look to regain confidence after this game against Colombia.
You might get to see the end of West Indies vs New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup T20 after this game is over.
Roger Daltrey plays a few miles from me. I have no idea how people play rock concerts at that age. I’m over 25 years younger and wiped out after an hour on stage.
Porzingis status update…
He is outside.
Will that make the Celtics vulnerable here?
Welcome back friends, to the show that never ends…
The world has probably run out of jokes about how long NBA playoffs going on but I’ll see if I can come up with more.
“After such a long absence, can the NBA compete with America’s newfound love for cricket?”
“The breaks in this schedule are so long that all the players who only went to college for one year now have their doctorates.”
“Anyone who remembers the NBA regular season is already collecting Social Security.”
Anyway – game time is said to be 8:30pm ET. What are we going to talk about until then?
Bo will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s some injury news for tonight’s game:
Kristaps Porziņģis hasn’t played a game in Dallas since the Mavericks traded him two years ago, and it’s now uncertain if he’ll play there in Game 3 of the NBA Finals for the Boston Celtics.
Porziņģis has a rare tendon injury in his lower left leg that occurred in the third quarter of Boston’s 105-98 win for a 2-0 series lead. The team said Tuesday that he is day-to-day, and Porzingis said he will do his best to play Wednesday night.
Asked if it was a pain tolerance issue or if it could cause more damage, Porzingis said he didn’t know the specifics.
“It’s something I’ll leave in the hands of the medical staff to decide whether I can go or not,” he said. “Nothing is going to stop me unless I’m told I shouldn’t or I’m not allowed to play. That’s the only reason I’m not there.
The 7-foot-2 Latvian center has a tear in the tissue holding the tendon in place. The Celtics said it was unrelated to the right calf strain that sidelined him for 10 straight playoff games before returning last Thursday for the start of NBA Final.
You can read the full story below:
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