Game 2 went down to the wire; the Mavs were close but couldn’t take the lead back, but even at that, it looked like the Mavs were just outmatched. The Mavs have five players from their bench come in and play. While the Celtics only had three players come off the bench, those five Mavs players accounted for nine points. The Celtics came away with 17 points from their bench. Now 12 of those points came from Kristaps Porzingis, which helps a lot, and the Mavs don’t have a Porzingis-type player coming off their bench.
This goes back to my previous articles, when I mentioned the Golden State Warriors being so good a few years ago. Superstar basketball players make and shape the league. Bench players help you win championships; they help you keep or get the lead. You can’t have some regular Joe on your team; you need quality bench players. Now as we move on to talk about the starters, for the Mavs, it’s just Luka and four other guys they found on the street.
That’s really what it is; Luka scored 32, and their second-leading scorer was P.J. Washington with 17 points. Kyrie Irving had 16 points, and honestly, I don’t know where he has been these past two games. Maybe we can find him in space trying to prove the world is flat, but to me, he has been a no-show. Tatum scored 18 points, Jrue Holliday scored 26, Derrick White scored 18, and Jaylon Brown had 21 points.
Now I know what you are thinking: why are we going to paint Kyrie in a negative light with 16 points while Tatum scored 18? Well, it’s simple: Tatum doubled Kyrie’s assist total with 12 assists. Irving does have a better FG percentage, but they are both shooters, and shooters are going to shoot, so they shouldn’t put much stock into that unless it’s just godly terrible. I know I’m being unfair to the Mavs starters, but they need a Jrue Holliday player to go get them 26 points because it’s not Kyrie for now.
The Mavs play the Celtics at home, and if the Mavs let the Celtics win one in Dallas, Mavs fans can kiss this season goodbye. Kyrie needs to show up, and P.J. Washington needs to turn into Klay Thompson, set his feet, shoot the three-ball, and try to get at least 24 points if they want any chance to tie this series.
