The further she progressed, the more the final resembled a boxing match. The Celtics were playing their 101st game of the season, the Mavs their 104th. The fighters were tired and each blow was harder to digest. Friday, it was Boston who went to the ground, mowed down by a rarely effective direct shot (122-84). Monday, it was Dallas’ turn to quickly drop to one knee without then managing to recover enough to exist. As if the Mavs, surprise finalists after finishing fifth in the West, had done the essential thing by avoiding a sweep (4-0).
The return to Massachusetts had given the Celtics enough energy to provide a final defensive effort, leaving Dallas below the 100-point mark for the fourth time in five matches. An ability to hurt the opponent symbolized by a counter from the “little” Derrick White (1.93m) on the pivot Dereck Lively II (2.16m).
There was really only one match – or rather one worthy of the final – in the first half this Monday. A half ended with a basket scored from his own half by repeat offender Payton Pritchard.
With 21 points behind at the break (67-46), the Mavs were on the ropes. Their top scorer at that time was neither Luka Doncic nor Kyrie Irving, but Derrick Jones Jr, a sign that something was wrong. Barely three minutes after the restart, the Texans approached 30 points behind (78-52, 27th) and preferred to throw in the towel. The rest of the match was played with much less intensity, the TD Garden crowd being able to wait without worrying that the team would validate its 18th title, 77 years after the first.
This loyal and braying audience has actually been waiting for much longer. The previous title, that of the Ray Allen-Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce trio, dated from 2008. Since that date, their eternal opponents, the Los Angeles Lakers, had been crowned three times (two with Kobe Bryant, one with LeBron James), tying the C’s record. The latter therefore take sole control at the end of a season which they dominated head and shoulders with only 18 defeats in the regular season and three in the play-offs. A masterpiece.
” We did it ! », Jayson Tatum could only declare directly. If he was not elected best player (MVP) of the final, a trophy given to Jaylen Brown, still formidable in self-sacrifice in defense against Luka Doncic, the winger from Missouri accumulated 31 points and 11 assists decisive (including 9 in the first half) in this match 5. Enough to silence a lot of critics who had made it the symbol of Celtics always very well placed in recent years (six conference finals since 2017) but never winners in this version where the collective clearly takes precedence over the star system, with undoubtedly one of the best five assembled in this century.
Conversely, this final showed the limits of Luka Doncic. While he should be praised for having taken Dallas to the end of the season, which few predicted, the Slovenian paradoxically attracted attention with his glaring defensive weaknesses. Boston enjoyed it again in Game 5, constantly targeting him in attack, even if it meant attempting incredible shots just to try to make him a mistake. Obviously, he still finished with a lot of volume (28 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 7 loose balls), but for a former winner of the Euroleague and the European Championship, a setback in the final can only have ‘a taste of coming back.
