Despite Luka Doncic’s superb production, the Mavericks simply lack the talent to keep up with the Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals
Despite Luka Doncic’s laundry list of injuries — chest injury, right knee injury and left ankle soreness — the NBA scoring champion came out to play in the Dallas Mavericks’ Game 2 loss to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.
Immediately aggressive from the beginning of the game, the 25-year-old All-NBA point guard dominated from the start, scoring 15 points in the first quarter and posting 23 points by the end of the first half.
Not bad for a guy that was listed as questionable just hours before the game from an injury suffered in Game 1.
And yet, it wasn’t enough. Despite Doncic playing at an all-world level — he posted a triple-double with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists — it never felt as if the Mavericks had control of the game as they fell by a score of 105-98.
Because realistically, they never did.
At halftime, Dallas still trailed by three points. It wouldn’t take long before the Mavericks trailed by as many as 13 points with Doncic beginning to show fatigue entering the last quarter.
The reality is this — it doesn’t matter what Doncic does, even if he fills up the stat sheet with his usual triple-double production. Dallas simply doesn’t have the talent to match up with a loaded Celtics squad that is now finally whole with the return of Kristaps Porzingis.
Even with the Mavericks putting forth a vastly better effort than they did in their Game 1 blowout loss, the Celtics had control of the game from the beginning of the second half until the end.
After a gutsy effort that saw his teammates let him down more than anything, Doncic said all of the right things to galvanize his team — he took ownership of the loss and rather than deflect blame on any of Dallas’ players.
“I think my turnovers and my missed free throws cost us the game,” said Doncic. “So I’ve got to do way better in those two categories.”
Yes, Dallas improved in a number of areas compared to their 107-89 loss to Boston. The playmaking was significantly better, going from just nine team assists in Game 1 to more reasonable 21 dimes in Game 2. The defense was better, holding the Celtics to just 25.6% from beyond the arc after Boston shot 38.1% from 3-point range in Game 1. Even the Celtics’ top star, Jayson Tatum, struggled throughout the night, going just 6-for-16 with just 16 points while committing six turnovers.
