Boston Celtics take down Dallas Mavericks 107-89 in NBA Finals Game 1: Highlights (2024)

What went wrong for Dallas

Boston cruised to an easy victory at home to take Game 1. In NBA history, 70% of the Game 1 winners went on to win the title.

Kyrie Irving did not have a good first game of the NBA Finals Game 1. He finished 6-for-19 shooting with only 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

Dallas will not come close to winning this series if he doesn't step up his production.

Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving exit the game with 5:15 remaining. Jason Kidd and the Mavericks appear to be looking ahead to Game 2 with the Celtics up by 25 points with 4:58 left in the fourth quarter.

This one is all but over. After the Mavs cut the lead down to eight points, it’s now a 25-point mountain. Expect to see the end of the bench players to get their first taste of the 2024 NBA Finals.

Celtics will coast to a Game 1 win in Boston.

What the Celtics have done well in Game 1 is force Doncic and Irving to become scorers — both are elite bucket getters, but what unlocks the Mavericks offense is when their drives and plays turn into corner 3s and lobs to role players.

The Celtics have stayed home on the role guys and dared Doncic and Irving to beat them on their own — and Irving is having a rough night (much to the delight of the Garden crowd, which has broken into multiple “Kurie sucks” chants). Irving is 6-of-19 shooting for 12 points at the start of the fourth.

Dallas at one time pulled to within 8, but Jaylen Brown’s defense was superb as the Celtics reasserted themselves.

The Celtics didn't have the best start to the third quarter but they finished strong. Thanks to some huge plays by Jaylen Brown on both ends, Boston finished on a 14-2 run.

Celtics are up 86-66 through 3.

Derrick Lively II earned his fifth foul of the night with 2:44 remaining in the third quarter. The Mavericks will surely miss his presence in the paint as he’ll have to sit for a while.

Even when he is able to sub back in, the Mavs may struggle with defending Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis in the final quarter as Lively will be limited in playing physical defense with the risk of fouling out.

After the Mavs cut the lead to 8 points, Boston comes back with some scrappy play to push the lead back up to 16 with 1:35 left in the third quarter.

Doncic seemed to spend the first half of the game processing what Boston was doing defensively. He figured it out. In the second half, he came out knowing exactly how he wanted to attack each switch from the Celtics. Same with Irving. And while there was a special Doncic step-back 3, most of the buckets came in the paint with the Mavericks being more deliberate to get downhill and at the rim as the Mavericks cut the Boston’s lead, which was once 29, down to single digits.

The Mavs are back in it thanks in large part to their leader, Doncic.

Boston Garden was pretty quiet after Luka’s 3-pointer cutting the lead to only eight points. There’s still a lot of game left to play. Both teams are excellent fourth quarter finishers.

Luka just hit a 3 cutting Boston’s lead to 13. Mavs are sneaking back into it.

Dallas cut Boston's 29-point lead down to 16. First media timeout here in the third quarter in Boston.