The NBA Finals started on Thursday evening with the Boston Celtics hosting the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the series.
From pretty much the get, Boston dominated on its home court. Returning from injury, Kristaps Porzingis set the tone in the first quarter. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum followed suit.
As for the Mavericks, Kyrie Irving struggled big time against his former team in what ended up being a 107-89 loss. Here, we look at the 10 biggest winners and losers from Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals.
Winner: Kristaps Porzingis, Boston Celtics
Returning from a calf injury he suffered in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, Porzingis was dominant early on Thursday. The big man posted 11 points with three rebounds and two blocks in the first quarter alone. Porzingis ended the game with 20 points and six boards on 8-of-13 shooting. Getting that third scorer proved huge for Boston in its blowout win.
Loser: Dereck Lively II, Dallas Mavericks
This rookie from Duke was absolutely brilliant in the Western Conference Finals. Lively averaged 9.5 points and 7.8 rebounds while hitting on all 16 of his shots. Game 1 of the NBA Finals was a completely different story. He scored just two points with five rebounds in 18 minutes of action. Dallas was also minus-15 with Lively on the court. That’s not going to cut it.
Related: Key matchups, storylines and predictions for 2024 NBA Finals
Winner: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
Doncic was pretty much the only player on Dallas to step up in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The game’s best player scored 30 points on 12-of-26 shooting. He added 10 rebounds. While Doncic did record only one assist, a lot of that had to do with his teammates missing contested shots. Sure, the Mavs need more behind Doncic moving forward in the series. But he did his thing. That can’t be ignored despite the blowout loss.
Loser: Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics
Boston will need Pritchard to step up at some point in this series if it is going to take home the Larry O’Brien trophy. He has done it at times thus far in the postseason, averaging 7.5 points on 46% shooting from three-point range heading into Game 1. That was not the case Thursday night. The former first-round pick missed on all seven of his shots, including going 0-for-5 from distance. That’s just not going to cut it.
Winner: Boston Celtics defense
Boston stepped up big time on defense Thursday night. It held Dallas to 42% shooting, including a 26% mark from three-point range. The Mavericks had all of nine assists in the game, too. Holding Doncic to one dish was an absolute win for the home team. Meanwhile, multi-time All-NBA Defensive Team performer Jrue Holiday had Kyrie Irving (12 points) on lock down throughout Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Loser: Josh Green, Dallas Mavericks
It’s hard in today’s NBA to play north of 20 minutes and come away with three points. That’s exactly what we saw from Green to open the NBA Finals. He shot just 1-of-4 from the field, adding three rebounds with zero assists. Dallas is going to need more from its second unit if the team hopes to make this a series It starts with Green.
Winner: Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
Tatum was not necessarily in his bag to open the NBA Finals. He shot just 6-of-16 from the field, scoring 16 points. But the forward’s all-around game was absolutely stellar. He grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out five assists with Boston finishing plus-19 in Tatum’s 42 minutes. He also took turns on Doncic, making him a one dimensional player.
Loser: Derrick Jones Jr., Dallas Mavericks
Jones Jr. was solid throughout Dallas’ run through the Western Conference Playoffs. The veteran forward headed into Game 1 of the NBA Finals shooting 40% from three-point range while averaging nearly 10 points per game. He just did not have it against an elite Boston defense. Jones Jr. shot just 2-of-9 from the field while attempting a mere two three-point attempts. That lack of aggressiveness hurt Dallas in what ended up being a blowout 107-89 loss.
Winner: Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
Brown actually finished Game 1 as the Celtics’ leading scorer with 22 points. He shot a solid 7-of-12 from the field, including 5-of-6 from inside the three-point line. Brown added six rebounds, two assists, three steals and three blocks in a stellar all-around performance. He’s the early favorite to come away with the NBA Finals MVP.
Loser: Kyrie Irving, Dallas Mavericks
Whether it was Celtics fans booing him during introductions or something else, Irving was a disaster class against his former team to open the NBA Finals. He was bad. Really, really bad. The point guard hit on just 6-of-19 from the field. He missed on all five of his three-point shots, scoring a mere 12 points. Irving also turned the ball over three times while dishing out just two assists. If he doesn’t play better, this is going to be a short series. It’s that simple.