Luka Doncic got introduced Sunday night looking like a mummy. Bulky wraps covered his ankles, knees and torso, as he slapped hands walking through a tunnel of teammates and under a shower of boos. Then Doncic shed his wraps and took the floor.
Quick-witted Joe Ingles brought perspective to upstart Magic Hours later, this much was obvious for the Mavericks star: he better have more wraps when he gets home. The Celtics punched, elbowed, hammered and bullied Doncic’s Mavs into a Game 2 defeat at TD Garden. Boston’s 105-98 win was no showcase of modern basketball; perfect spacing, gorgeous shooting and passes whipped from all angles to all corners.
It was a slobberknocker. A game only a mother and sons of ’80s basketball could love. A slugfest the Celtics would have lost any other year of the Tatum-Brown era, but instead used to power themselves to a 2-0 lead in the Finals.
They held on, thanks to a Jaylen Brown layup with under 30 seconds left and countless bruising plays before it, including 10 steals and five blocks. Jrue Holiday and Derrick White pressured Kyrie Irving all over the floor, and Irving stunk again. He had 16 points on 7-for-18 shooting, plus a couple turnovers.
He’s now 0-for-8 from 3-point range in this series. The chanting, spiteful crowd has been right both nights. “Ky-rie sucks!” At the other end, Tatum lowered his shoulder into Dallas centers on drives over again and again, and banged down low battling for rebounds.
He finished with nine boards .
