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Tuesday’s NBA Playoff Results, Takeaways: Thunder Discovers Mavs; Celtics depth shines

JamesMcGheeBy No Comments9 Mins Read
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By Anthony Slater, Tim Cato, Jared Weiss, Jay King And Joe Vardon

THE Boston Celtics easily handled Cleveland Cavaliers during the first match on Tuesdayeven with a free evening for a superstar’s centerpiece Jayson Tatum. Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks exploded after their Super star, Luka Doncicfought against Oklahoma City Thunder.

Here’s what we saw.

Thunder 117, Mavericks 95

Series: The Thunder leads 1-0

Game 2: 9:30 p.m. ET Thursday in Oklahoma City (ESPN)

Thunder creates distance in the second half after tweaking the rotation

The Thunder’s Game 1 win over the Mavericks was reversed midway through the third quarter. Coach Mark Daigneault quickly replaced Isaiah Joe For Josh Giddey after the Mavericks cut their nine-point halftime lead to one.

Giddey does a ton for the Thunder, but his presence cracks the floor and his jumper was removed. Joe, a floor spacer, made a 3 on his first possession. Luguentz Dort, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander And Chet Holmgren followed by 3 as part of a 14-4 run in Joe’s first three minutes on the court. OKC sprinted away.

As this series progresses, Giddey’s minutes will be important to track. He started but only played 17 minutes in the first game and was minus-7. Joe was plus-12 in his 15 minutes on the bench.

Cason Wallace hit two 3s and guarded well. Aaron Wiggins could have been the Thunder’s third best player even though he started the night as the 10th man: 16 points in 19 minutes, plus several choppy plays. If the next matches are closer, Daigneault’s final choice will be scrutinized.

Jalen Williams seemed to wake up after three terrible quarters and what appeared to be a calf adjustment. He was 2 of 11 shooting, but exploded for 10 straight points on a spurt early in the fourth quarter to seal it. If the Mavericks get more Doncic and Kyrie Irving – 39 points on 33 shots, nine turnovers – the Thunder will need a steadier Williams for the duration of the game, not just a surge.

Gilgeous-Alexander guided OKC in the first half, taking advantage of a close call. He had 19 points in the first two quarters and made his way to the free throw line 11 times. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 29 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

The big men from Dallas had difficulty defending him without committing a foul. The Mavericks tried to stay small across the board. It didn’t work, but it’s remarkable that Jason Kidd tried, even without the injuries. Maxi Kléber. —Anthony Slater

Luka is still not right

As of Tuesday, the Mavericks had not won the first game of the four series under which Kidd was head coach. The team’s loss to Oklahoma City brought the score to five.

On the one hand, Dallas came back to win three of those four series. The team showed its ability to adapt in subsequent games of a tight series. But no amount of on-field adjustment can resolve the team’s main concern following Tuesday’s loss: that Dončić, once again, was far from his usual attacking character.

He injured his knee in the third game of the team’s previous series, against the Los Angeles Clippers, an injury that caused him to briefly retreat to the locker room before returning. He didn’t miss any major moments, but Dončić admitted before Game 5 that he probably would have been out if it was the regular season. He reiterated before Tuesday’s game that his injury likely won’t recover until he rests this summer.

Dončić has shot 46 of 120 from the field since that injury. He shot particularly poorly from behind the 3-point line (8 of 49) although he had his best shooting season ever this year, finishing with more 3s than anyone other than Stephen Curry. He appears to be moving sideways but struggles against the explosion.

There are two options: Both teams deal with the player who has confounded defenses since entering the league six years ago and who entered these playoffs with the highest points per game average in the playoffs for all players not named Michael Jordan. Or his knee is affecting him, which no amount of adjustments from the first game can fix. -Tim Cato

Celtics 120, Cavs 95

Series: The Celtics lead 1-0

Game 2: 7 p.m. ET Thursday in Boston (ESPN)

Tatum struggles, but an unexpected hero emerges

The Celtics’ early 20-point leads became a nightly occurrence this season and it didn’t stop against a team that had all of its playmakers healthy. Miami They were missing a ton of offensive firepower in the first round, so it wasn’t a shock to see the Heat fall so far behind. But with the way the Celtics’ second unit played in Game 1 of the second round, Cleveland could find itself in a similar situation.

With Kristaps Porziņģis out, Luc Kornet was huge (four points, 10 rebounds, two blocks) to enter the rotation. The Cavs will need to keep Kornet away from the rim if they want to score consistently in this series.

Tristan Thompson I got the minutes from the backup center instead of Georges Niang, so will Cleveland try to space the floor as much as possible in the next game? The Cavs need to do something to get Garland of Darius going, since Donovan Mitchell (33 points) and Evan Mobley (17 points, 13 rebounds) cannot play much better offensively than in the first game.

On the other side of the floor, Joe Mazzulla had the ideal scenario. I thought Tatum struggled to score (18 points on 7 of 19 shooting), Jaylen Brown And Derrick White stepped up to the plate and were on fire (32 and 25 points respectively).

If there’s anyone you can trust to find their place on the show, it’s Tatum. The Celtics want him to pace himself and find his rhythm consistently so he doesn’t overexert himself. Their hope is that it gains momentum as they get closer to the conference finals. —Jared Weiss

Derrick White’s shot ignites the Celtics

At a press conference last week, a reporter asked White if he came back to Earth after a big game against the Miami Heat.

“I don’t think I left Earth,” White replied.

Maybe it’s because he’s always flown in space. After averaging 26.3 points per game over the final three games of the first round, White made seven 3-point attempts in the first game of the second. He finished with 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 7-of-12 from downtown, while allowing Boston to maintain a double-digit lead for most of the second half.

Tatum did not have an effective offensive game. The Celtics defense didn’t always operate at full intensity. Mitchell scored 33 points on 12 of 25 shooting. Boston still held a comfortable lead for much of the game, largely because White buried outside shot after outside shot.

Once a doubtful shooter, he now has full confidence. Based on his performance all season, he should. It will take a strong defensive effort to slow down the Celtics’ offense if White can stay on his rocket for the rest of the playoffs. -Jay King

The Cavs kept shooting, rightfully so, but the shots weren’t falling either

So apparently there’s more to it than just drawing a bunch of 3s.

In their first game against the Celtics, the Cavs actually hit the magic number of 40 3-point tries (they attempted 42, after making 40 midway through the fourth quarter).

They were still blown up.

The story of all this is, of course, that in mid-December, when things were looking so bleak for Cleveland due to a slow start and Garland and Mobley were on the verge of missing two months, the Cavs shocked the NBA breaking the best record in the league from that time until the All-Star break. They did this by spacing the floor and shooting an obscene number of 3s, and slowly moved away from that style as the season progressed and Mobley returned to the lineup.

Cleveland has no choice but to play this way as long as Jarrett Allen is out – he missed his fourth straight playoff game with a rib injury. But it didn’t work against Boston.

On one hand, the Cavs continued their dismal outside shooting from last series, making just 11 of their 3s (after shooting about 28 percent from deep against the Magic). Second, the Celtics play small, with essentially three guards, Tatum and a big. They lead the league in 3s and were 18 of 46 on Tuesday.

The one-in-four-out style suits this Boston group perfectly. Just stay on the perimeter and bombard until the defenders dare to come out. When they do, Tatum, Brown, White and Jrue Vacations can put it on the ground and walk past his man.

We won’t know what kind of series it will be until Game 3, when we see how the Cavs perform at home. The last playoff game this franchise won on the road took place here in Boston six years ago – Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. There’s no reason to suspect this streak will end Thursday, barring a lapse in concentration on the Celtics’ part or a sudden change in Cleveland’s shooting percentage.

This is why Game 3 is the litmus test. Meanwhile, Mitchell became the fourth player in NBA history to score at least 30 in six consecutive games. His 33 points followed the 89 he scored in Games 6 and 7 against the Magic. Mobley’s 17 points and 13 rebounds were nice, but the Cavs didn’t have enough on their bench or Max Strus (shot 2 of 8). —Joe Vardon

(Top photo of Jalen Williams: Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

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