Game 1 of the NBA Finals is in the books, and it did not go the Dallas Mavericks’ way losing the game 107-89. The Mavericks find themselves yet again down 0-1 in a series this year. However, every time the Mavericks have been down 0-1 in these playoffs, they have responded and tied the series 1-1. They did it in the first round against the Los Angeles Clippers and the second round against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The lone series that they won game one in was against the Minnesota Timberwolves and they still won game two in that series as well.
With the Dallas Mavericks winning every game two in these playoffs, they will look to do it again in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, June 9th. So, now the question becomes, how will they be able to win game two on the road against a Boston Celtics team that beat them by 18 points?
How The Dallas Mavericks Can Keep Their Game Two Winning Streak?
What Dallas Needs to Do Better to Win Game 2
This is a similar position that the Mavericks are in, but they are facing a loaded Celtics team that can attack you in many different ways. However, with how Game 1 went there are very obvious areas for improvement the Mavericks can make. To try and win game two like they have in all of these playoff series.
Offense
The first one is they need to start faster and can’t get behind 10 plus against the Boston Celtics. Throughout the whole game, the Mavericks were down by double-digits and you aren’t going to consistently beat the Celtics playing from behind. They will have to start faster in game two for them to have a chance, and if they can force Boston to call the first timeout that will be a good start.
The second thing the Dallas Mavericks need to do better is to move the ball better on the offensive end and not play so much iso-basketball. The Mavericks only had nine assists with Luka Doncic only having one. You can’t have your superstar player who averaged almost 10 assists in a game this season only getting one and expect to win. The Celtics have great one-on-one defenders and when you play iso-basketball it plays right into the Celtics’ hands. If you want to beat the Celtics, you have to move the ball around and spread their defensive shell out, so you can get better looks.
Kyrie Irving
Another thing is the Dallas Mavericks need more from their second star Kyrie Irving. In the other series, you were able to get by with some struggles from Irving because your role players were able to step up. However, this is the NBA Finals and you are the only one on the Mavericks that have been to the Finals so the role players are going to look for you. Also, if the Mavericks want to get back in this series they are going to need Luka and Kyrie both to combine around 60 every night with how explosive the Celtics can be. If you can get that production from them, on top of the production from your role players that helped get you to the Finals, in P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, Derick Lively II, and Derrick Jones Jr. The Mavericks will be in a good spot in this series.
Defense
The Dallas Mavericks played pretty good defense in Game 1. Holding the Celtics to just 107 points is good enough to beat them. The Mavericks only had one bad quarter defensively and that was in quarter one when they game up 37 points. However in quarters 2-4, the Celtics only outscored the Mavericks by one 70-69. If the Mavericks can play with defensive intensity for the whole game and not just for three quarters even when their offense is struggling at times. They will be in good shape. The Celtics have a lot of weapons on offense and if you can hold them to around 100 points, that is good enough to be able to have a chance to beat them.
The Last Word
The Dallas Mavericks have been in this position before and will look to tie the series up 1-1 heading back to Dallas. If the Mavericks can make the necessary adjustments for Game 2, they will be in a good spot to take game two against the Celtics. It will be very interesting to see if the Mavericks can keep their game two winning streak alive, or if the Celtics will be able to defend home court and take a commanding 2-0 series lead.
