CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks will battle in Game 2 of the 2024 NBA Finals tonight at TD Garden in Boston.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd created the storyline of the Finals so far when on Saturday he said that Jaylen Brown, not Jayson Tatum, is Boston’s best player.
Here’s a quick preview of tonight’s Game 2, along with some of what the key characters are saying heading into the contest.
Game 2 preview
When: Tonight, 8 p.m.
What: Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Boston leads, 1-0.
TV: ABC.
Where: TD Garden, Boston.
Odds: Boston - 6.5; Over/Under 215.5.
What to know
In Game 1, the Celtics made 16 3-pointers. They outscored Dallas by 27 points in that department in their 107-89 victory Thursday night.
“We’ve got to be better,” Kidd said. “Nerves or not being in this situation, we can’t use that as an excuse. It’s just basketball, and we’ve got to be better at the game of basketball on Sunday.”
Here’s a stat: When making 16 or more 3-pointers, Boston’s record is 51-6.
When Boston hits 15 or fewer 3-pointers, it has a 26-14 record.
What they’re saying
Boston’s Jaylen Brown:
“We’ve been just extremely focused on what our roles and our jobs are. We have all had to sacrifice. Right now, at this point, it’s whatever it takes to win. And we can’t let any outside interpretations try to get in between us.”
Mavs coach Jason Kidd:
“Jaylen’s their best player. He did everything (in Game 1), and that’s what your best player does. Just understanding how to play both sides — defense and offense at a high rate — he’s been doing that the whole playoffs.”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla:
“What goes on in our locker room, how we communicate with each other, how we build relationships with each other and how we treat each other on and off the floor, that’s the most important thing.”
Dallas’ Kyrie Irving:
“I’m just here to play basketball. You’ve got to be selfless in your approach. Obviously, you’re not going to get it right all the time, but as a teammate, you just want to push those other things to the side that don’t really matter or get you better as a team. So we just leave it to everybody else to argue whose team it is and who has the most responsibility. It’s all our jobs to be prepared.”
- Information from the AP was used in this post.