The Celtics Took Another Punch On The Chin And Still Buried The Mavs To Take Both Game 2 And Control Of The Finals

Nathaniel S. Butler. Getty Images.

LET'S. FUCKING. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

9 straight playoff wins. That's right. 9. At home, on the road, it doesn't fucking matter. I'm going to say something that might be controversial to some, but I'm not sure the Celts have even played well in these Finals yet. I mean, they had probably a B/B- performance in Game 1, and tonight they weren't all that better. Shit, they shot 25% from three and still found a way to win. All this talk about how if the game was close that would favor the Mavs and what do you know? The Celtics just beat the Mavs in a clutch time situation to take a commanding 2-0 series lead in the NBA Finals

I'm also going to be honest with you, my body is shaking as I type this, so I'm going to hope this all comes out coherent. That's just what happens when you're coming off a win like this and take a 2-0 lead with an NBA title being so fucking close. This was the game where we all expected the Mavs to throw a massive punch, and for the first half they did. Luka was possessed. I don't know how he does it but that man is a demon. A disaster defensively, but on the other end? Terrifying.

But the Celtics are more than just one guy. They are a team. They defend as a team, they play offense as a team, and they win as a team. Just look at this game. Jayson Tatum couldn't make a shot to save his life. So what did he do? He created for others (12 AST), and those "others" were ready to pick up the slack. Massive Jaylen Brown two way game, even MORE massive Jrue Holiday two way game, shit, even Derrick White made gigantic play after gigantic play down the stretch to put this game away

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Whatever you may have been expecting of Jrue Holiday this postseason, I feel confident in saying it's been 100000x better. Whatever dropoff he experienced as a Buck has been nowhere near the case as a Celtic. I could make the case that he's the current Finals MVP with how he's started this series, and it's coming on both ends. His individual defense on Kyrie completely removed him from the second half, huge steals and plays in transition, moving without the ball, big 3PM, Holiday legitimately did it all in this win. He gave the Celtics the performance that Brad Stevens traded for and then some.

If you're the Mavs, this is yet another blown opportunity. 8 missed FTs on the night (lost by 7), and you didn't take advantage of the 10-39 (25%) shooting night from the Celts. Bad news, they probably aren't going to shoot 25% again. When they leave the door open by brutal 3pt shooting, that's basically your only chance. If you don't take advantage, chances are you'll soon regret it.

Meanwhile, now the Celts head to Dallas with a chance to effectively end this series. That's why tonight was so important. A team that has not lost on the road so far this postseason now has as great a chance as any to go up 3-0 and put the Mavs on life support. It's now the Mavs who have all the pressure in the world, and you have to wonder if doubt is starting to creep in after how these first two games of the series went.

We've been here before though. As we know, 14 wins is not the goal. It's not even the hard part of a playoff run. The hard part is the final 2 wins. Those are the ones that matter most. But considering I still don't think we've seen an A game from the Celts so far, I'd say Game 3 would be a fantastic time to finally get one.

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We'll dive into everything in the morning. For now, drink up. The Boston Celtics are one step closer to Banner 18

14 down, 2 to go