The Boston Celtics were able to draw first blood in the NBA Finals as they obliterated the Dallas Mavericks by 107-89 on Thursday night. Kristaps Porzingis, who was playing his first game in over five weeks because of a calf injury, scored 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 20 minutes to put his team in front.
The Celtics out-scored the Mavericks by 37-20 in the opening quarter and from there on, it was just one-way traffic.
“Kristaps had a monster game for us,” Jaylen Brown, who top-scored for the Celtics with 22 points, said. “Just his presence shooting the ball and then him being able to attack those switches and mismatches, he made ’em pay every time, and that’s what we need going forward in the series.”
Porzingis was able to hit the ground running and gave credit to the home crowd for backing him to the hilt.
“I think, obviously, what helped me is just even from the walk out before the game and then getting on the court, getting that kind of support was unreal,” Porzingis said of the crowd. “The adrenaline was pumping through my veins, and that definitely helped.
“Obviously, it wasn’t ideal that I was out for such a long time, but I did everything I could to prepare mentally for this moment coming back, and it paid off, and we got the job done tonight and had a good game, and happy about the result.”
Porzingis was at his absolute best in the first quarter, scoring 11 points, 3 rebounds, and a pair of blocks.
“He’s a matchup nightmare,” Derrick White said lauded his teammate. “Even when you play good defense, he doesn’t really see you. It’s been unreal just watching him all year. Then defensively, he uses his size well, just impacts the games in so many different ways. He changes us, and he makes us a better team.”
On the other hand, Luka Doncic top-scored with 30 points but Kyrie Irving had a terrible game, scoring 12 points on 6-for-19 shooting.
The second game of the series will be played on Sunday night.
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