On Wednesday night in Dallas the Boston Celtics take their 2-0 series lead and perfect road playoff record into Texas to try and take a dominant 3-0 series lead without Kristaps Porzingis. The Mavericks will look to defend home court and get back into the series with the news that the Celtics will be without Porzingis this may be their best shot to get back into the series. Boston will need more out of their superstar in Jayson Tatum in this one with the absence of Porzingis, the Celtics will need Tatum to find his offense if they’re going to put the Mavericks on the brink of elimination and Boston on the brink of another title.
First Quarter:
Boston would roll out it’s normal starting five without Porzingis with Horford starting in his place, Boston would need to rely on the 38 year old heavily again with Porzingis out. Dallas would strike first in game 1 with Kyrie Irving who struggled in the first two games scoring first giving the Mavericks an early 2-0 lead. Dallas would come out with a lot of jump in game 3 getting out to a quick 9-2 lead with 10:12 to go in the first quarter forcing Joe Mazzulla to call an early timeout. The Celtics would immediately answer out of the timeout with a Horford 3 pointer cutting Dallas’ lead to 9-5 with Horford scoring all 5 points early for Boston. Jayson Tatum would continue to struggle early in this one having a few turnovers and missed buckets from in close giving Boston fans some cause for concern early.