The Boston Celtics won game one of the NBA Finals in what wasn’t a particularly competitive game.  Everyone played well for the Green Team as they cruised to a victory.  It is only one game of seven but the Celtics got off to the best start they could have hoped for.

Kristaps Porzingis made his return to the line up and did not miss a beat.  I said if he was 100% ready to go, I really liked the Celtics chances.  Well, if game 1 is any indication, he is in fact, 100%.  Or really close to it.  Coming off the Bench for the first time this season, Porzingis went for 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks in only 21 minutes.  His presence makes the Celtics very hard, if not impossible to defend.  With him in the lineup instead of Kornet or any of their other bench bigs, there is no one the Mavericks can help off of without risking giving up a wide open three to a three-point shooter.  This makes it very hard for them to cover up Luka Doncic on defense.  Not to mention Kyrie Irving.  And by the way, Luka still blows on defense.  The Celtics were going by him like he was an orange road cone out there.  According to the broadcast, against the teams they played in the west Dallas helped a lot and clogged the paint.  They cannot do this effectively against the Celtics and all of their shooters.  Especially now that Sam Houser has rediscovered his jump shot (which is a sneaky huge development).  Tatum said after the game that one of the differences between the two teams is that they don’t have to cover up for anyone on defense.  As Jrue Holiday famously said “even our white guys guard”.  Dallas can’t say the same thing.   

Speaking of which, as good as Porzingis was on offense, he was also that good on defense.  He used his 7’2 frame and surprising athleticism to protect the rim in a big way.  Having the big guy back there gives the Celtics more freedom to play one on one knowing that if they get beat Kristaps can clean things up.  When I wrote about Luka’s games against the Celtics in the regular season, I pointed out that the number that worried me most was the 12 assists he averaged against the green team.  Apparently, the Celtics felt the same way.  Boston went with a great game plan of covering Luka one on one to keep him from getting his teammates easy baskets and open looks.  He was unable to get his teammates going and while he threw in 30 points, his team only scored 89.  There are going to be times when he gets hot and takes over the game, as he did when they made their run in the 3^rd period last game.  But he is not going to be able to beat them by himself.  The Celtics need to stay the course and dare him to try.    

Don’t get me wrong, this series is far from over.  Game one could not have gone any better for the Celtics.  Hopefully I will be able to say the same thing about 3 more games this series.  However, Dallas lost game 1 to the Clippers and they were blown out in game 1 vs the Thunder.  Both times they won game two on the road and they obviously went on to win both series.  The Celtics have lost only two games this post season, they were both game twos at home.  They both came after big wins in game 1.  The Celtics were also up 2-1 against the Warriors when they were last in the Finals and we now how that turned out.  The Mavericks will adjust.  They started trying to bully Porzingis in the second half.  It slowed down his production but it did cause foul trouble for the Mavs and Dereck Lively in particular.  Lively played like a rookie who has never played a Finals game on the road before.  Probably because he is a rookie who never played a Finals game on the road before.  His game should level out as his nerves calm down.  Jason Kid appears to have improved his coaching since he was with the Bucks (when he was awful).  The Mavericks will make adjustments and come at the Celtics in different ways.  They will put up a fight.  Before game 1 I said the big question was if the Mavs could play enough defense to win.  Well, the Celtics can keep Dallas to a one-man team and if Kyrie keeps playing like trash, the amount of defense the Mavs have to play is skyrocketing, and they just are not that good.    

One last thing I figure I want to talk about.  It’s this whole discussion of who is better Jaylen or Jayson.  Everyone is talking about it, even Jason Kidd who tried to stir the pot today by saying Brown was the Celtics best player.  Here is the thing…ready for this?  You’re sure you’re ready?  Ok.  Here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter who is better.  I’ll let you in on a little secret, they both play for the Celtics.  And, unlike if they were quarterbacks or goaltenders or something, they can play together, at the same time even!!  I have zero interest in this moot debate.  Also, I have no idea where this idea of Tatum caring about this has come from.  Does he want to be MVP, yes.  Does he want to be Finals MVP? Yes.  I will let you in on another little secret.  So does everyone else in the NBA.  Go ask Pritchard, he’ll tell you the same thing.  So will the 12^th guy on the Pistons.  I am sure he would love to be MVP.  Just because Tatum actually has a chance of being MVP doesn’t mean his wanting to be is a problem.  It doesn’t mean he demands to be considered the best player on the team.  There has never been a problem between the Jays.  They have always gotten along.  There is no need to question if they will.  Do people question if Klay and Steph can get along?  When teammates have issues like Shaq and Kobe had, then you question who needs to have it though of as his team and if they can get along.  There has been nothing outside of media speculation that either of them gives a damn.  And the funnies thing is, their situation is exactly like it was when KG and Pierce where here.  So you would think the local media at least would be used to this set up and not think anything of it.  But I guess when you need to get viewers or clicks you need to find something to talk about. The reason this Celtics is so good and has been so good is because they are not a one man team. Their top 6 guys are all really good. They can all carry the team at times. There is no need to debate who is better when they are all playing together.