(TWO) Mavs 98-105 Celtics
Game Two was close into the 3rd quarter, then the Celtics ran off and left them. I thought Jrue Holiday was the Man of the Match. Porzingis was fine but not the electric presence he was in Game One.
Game Three was, again, close into the 3rd quarter, then the Celtics ran off and left them--well....sorta. The Celtics went on a run, got the lead up to 21, then kinda fell asleep as the Mavs clawed back to cut the lead to 1. Then the Celtics finished strong and won rather easily after Luka fouled out (in major frustration mode). If you wanna say Jaylen Brown was the Man of the Match for fouling out Luka, I guess I'd go with that.
(FOUR) Celtics 84-122 Mavs
Game Four was over quick, as the Celtics threw in the towel rather early, allowing the Mavs to have one big explosion in front of their home fans (the epitome of the 'Gentleman's Sweep'). You knew someone was gonna suck tonight and I figured it would be the Celtics (I put the chances at 75% Celtics, 25% Mavs). One way or the other, you just knew the 4th quarter of this game was gonna be a snooze.
Game Five was a slow motion stomping. The Celtics took control in the 2nd quarter, but somehow there was still this nervous feeling they were gonna blow it. But...how was that gonna happen? We established in Game One that the Mavs needed perfection from Luka AND from Kyrie AND from the bench to even have a shot in this series. Well, outside of Game Four, that never came close to happening. This series was DOA, Porzingis nailed the coffin shut in the 1st half of the 1st game!
The deal is this Celtics version is one of the most perfectly constructed teams I've ever seen--so perfectly constructed that it was hard to recognize because there was no clear and obvious star or dominant attribute. They were just plain good at every phase of the game. This was a top down creation where each player was given a free run to be his best self because the GM and the coach knew exactly how the pieces on the chessboard were gonna win the game.
Personally, I thought the MVP of this series was Jrue Holiday, that guy was everywhere on defense, had an important offensive blow out in Game Two and just generally held everything together. Brown is a fine choice, he was good, too. But so was Tatum and Derrick White and though Porzingis played limited minutes, one could argue that he sealed this series in his first appearance. Al Horford was good, Peyton Pritchard was good (btw, I totally knew that half court buzzer beater was going in, knew it before he even got the ball), Sam Hauser hit some big shots in Game Five (and just missed on a few others) and even Xavier Tillman had a nice Game Three. Throw in that Coach Mazzullo was punching all the right burtons and it was just a reminder that the Celtics were the best team all season long, we just weren't sure until the trophy was hoisted.
Yes, they didn't have to play Giannis or Emibiid or Jimmy Butler or the scrappy Knicks but...so what? I think they would've beaten them anyway (hell, I think only the Knicks would've really made them sweat). Nor did they have to play the Nuggets (but they were hurt and just not as good as last year, so I think the Celtics could've/would've beaten them) or the Wolves (looking back on it, they might have been the toughest match up for the Celtics, but I think the Celtics would've won) or the Thunder (they didn't have the playoff experience to get through the West much less the Celtics).
Turns out the Celtics had to beat the teams that got to them and they dispatched them all with ease. This was a steady good team, it wasn't a dominant team or a team that you slobbered over all season long, but this Celtics team is ultimately one of the most complete, all-around teams I think I've ever seen. Tatum and Brown are an all-time great duo, White and Holiday are the perfect complementary players for them, Porzingis was a zany wild card (that may well have been an all-star on a lot of other teams), Horford was the right grizzled vet to keep them in line and even the bench guys (Pritchard, Kornet, Hauser) generally handled their tasks accordingly. This team is set for the next 2 years, Coach Maz knows what he's doing and GM Stevens has shown that he understands the soul of this squad and won't hesitate to make big deals. Huzzah to the Celtics!
I said it last year, I'll say it again this year: I got Nuggets over Celtics in the next Final (watch out for the Bucks and the Thunder).
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