The Boston Celtics earned a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2 on Sunday night. Led by a monster Jrue Holiday performance, the Celtics fought off multiple Dallas runs and a resurgence from Luka Doncic. (At least in the first half.)
Here are three things you might have missed from Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
1. Jayson Tatum knowing the moment
Jayson Tatum can’t seem to find his shot. It’s been a playoff-long issue, and it persisted in Game 2 of the Finals. But once he saw that the shots weren’t falling, Tatum adapted.
At the time of this play, Tatum was 2-of-9 from the field and 0-of-3 from behind the three-point line. So, when presented with a relatively open three, instead of chucking it up, he drove.
From there, he sucked in the defense and found Holiday for an open corner three.
2. Kristaps Porzingis: ‘I’ll die out there if we need’
Kristaps Porzingis seemed to tweak something late in the fourth quarter on Sunday night, but he and Joe Mazzulla made light of the situation post-game, making it sound like he’ll be fine.
When asked if it was difficult to play through the issue, Porzingis said no. Vehemently so.
“Not difficult at all. I’ll die out there if we need,” Porzingis said. “So just kept going. Was a little bit limited, so the smart thing was to get Al [Horford] back in there and close out the game.”
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Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
3. Dereck Lively II’s interaction with a photographer
At one point during the game, Mavs rookie Dereck Lively II fell on top of a photographer on the baseline. He immediately took time to make sure they were okay before running back on the other end, as there was a stoppage in play. The 20-year-old clearly felt badly about the incident.
But that wasn’t enough. During the next timeout a few minutes later, the rookie ran back over to the photographer to double-check that everything was alright. It was a classy move and very nice to see, especially for such a young kid.