Jrue Holiday Brings Celtics A 2-0 Win Over Mavericks In NBA Finals

The Boston Celtics Jrue Holiday guard appears as a star (photo: x @celtics)

BOSTON Guard Boston Celtics Jrue Holiday appeared as a star on Sunday night, June 9 or Monday PAfi WIB. Holiday scored the team's most points with 26 points and 11 rebounds, leading Boston to a 105-98 win over Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.

The Celtics are now leading the best-of-seven series with a score of 2-0, where Game 3 is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12 in Dallas.

"I am a versatile player. I will do anything. I am here to win," said Holiday, who recorded 11 of 14 shots from the pitch. "I feel they brought me here to win, and I will do my best for it. But in the end, this is a team (Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown)."

Brown and Tatum remain important on Sunday night. Brown scored 21 points while Tatum collected 18 points plus nine rebounds and 12 assists. However, both realized that the draw might be a 1-1 draw without Holiday's big role.

"Tonight, they wanted to stress on loading, making us make the right decisions over and over again, and Jrue had a lot of chances tonight and he took advantage of them," Brown said. "He's an amazing player, an amazing guy, a great teammate."

Derrick White also contributed 18 points to Boston, while Kristops Porzingis added 12 points from the bench. White's biggest moment that night came at the end of the game, as he blocked PJ Washington's 50.5 seconds remaining. If Washington scores points, Mavericks will approach 103-100.

"That's amazing," said the Celtics coach, Joe Mazzulla, about the White block thwarting Washington's sanctions attempt.

Meanwhile Luka Doncic donated 32 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, and four steals for Dallas. He even managed to shoot better than Boston players with a percentage of 47.5 percent compared to 45.2 percent. Washington added 17 points, Kyrie Irving scored 16 points, and Daniel Gafford contributed 13 points.

Irving finds himself in a familiar situation. In 2016, Irving and Cleveland Cavaliers trailed 2-0 after losing two away games to the Golden State Warriors in the Final, but they managed to bounce back and win in seven matches.

"Now I really depend on what I've experienced, what I've learned, and some lessons I can understand about how to get up in this series," Irving said. "This will be something every holding has to do, and this will be the hardest thing we've ever done."

Mavericks tried to make a counter-attack at the end of the game after a three-point shot from Holiday and White successively put Boston 103-89 ahead with 3:34 seconds remaining. Derrick Jones Jr. scored four points in a row as part of a 9-0 attack that ended in a three-point game from Doncic, but the block from White and a layoff from Brown with 29.8 seconds remaining dashed Dallas's hopes.

Dereck Lively II did aduct to bring Mavericks closer to 63-61 with Whole remaining in the third quarter, but the Celtics then began to move away. Boston scored 17 of the next 23 points, where Brown's three-point shot made the score 80-67 with 2:04 remaining in the quarter.

Dallas cut the deficit to six points before the end of the quarter, but Payton way managed to score a three-point shot from 34 feet at the buzzer to bring Boston into the fourth quarter with an 83-74 lead.

Doncic took control of the first quarter, scoring 13 points to put Dallas ahead 28-25. The Celtics remained close to scoring 10 out of 10 free shots in the first 12 minutes.

After Doncic successfully entered the 10:08 home from the second quarter to push Mavericks' lead to 35-29, Boston carried out an 11-2 attack to lead 40-37.

No team took the lead over three points until Holiday scored three points with 37.1 seconds remaining in the first half to give Boston a five-point lead. Gafford answered with a blank, forcing the Celtics to end the first half with a 54-51 lead.

"We're not down. We're positive. This is a trusted group," said Dallas coach Jason Kidd. "We didn't get a chance to get a win here in the away. Now Boston is working. Now we have to go home and win at home."