This was the scene on Thursday--an absolutely electric Garden hyped for game one. When about eight minutes into warmups the Jumbotron showed KP walking down the hallway and onto the court, the entire place erupted. I'm guessing they showed it on TV, but I doubt it did the experience justice. From tip-off until they pulled the starters, the place was rocking--even when the lead got down to eight (more on this and the thread title in a moment). The cheap but necessary joke is that I had to do my part to ensure the game would be sold out, but really I was fulfilling a childhood dream of seeing the Celtics play in the NBA Finals. When we first got a VCR, the only videocassette I would want to rent at this mom-n-pop rental store in Cambridge was Pride and Passion, the retrospective on the 1984 Celtics (side note: you can find it on YouTube, you just have to deal with the distraction of Spanish subtitles). Of course my parents and siblings had other preferences, but I wanted to see Gerald Henderson steal the ball and an exasperated Pat Riley call timeout after a Celtics run. This was that experience all over again, and I'm hoping tonight's crowd not only sells out but brings the same energy.
About getting that lead down to eight. I was actively reminding myself during the ballooning 29 point lead that Dallas had a run in them, and sure enough they did. For about eight minutes--the final :45 of the second quarter and the first 7:00+ of the third quarter, Dallas came roaring back, and had they not missed a couple decent looks after Joe called timeout, could've had it within three. Whereas last year's Joe Mazzulla might not have called that timeout, this year's Joe did, so kudos to him. The Mavericks had the talent for a run, but it was aided by the fact that the C's failed to stay dialed in. During those eight minutes they weren't attacking the rim, they weren't keeping pace, and they were settling for bad shots while not locking down on defense. As we know, they eventually snapped out of it and proceeded to put the game away.
The Mavs do not want to go down 2-0. They are going to come tonight with everything they have, and we probably can't count on another subpar performance from Kyrie Irving. So tonight, remember that 48 > 40--instead of 40 minutes of lights out basketball, we need all 48 minutes. I don't suggest this is easy--the physical toll is bad enough, but the mental toll of being "on" for 48 action-packed minutes is draining by itself. Do that, and we head to Dallas up 2-0.
Injuries
BOS - No injuries to report
DAL - Luka Dončić (PROBABLE - knee/ankle)
Logistics
8:00p EDT tip at the Garden. ABC/ESPN Radio/98.5 FM/SiriusXM 86 (Celtics), 212 (Mavericks), 80 (National).
WIN.
