Kristaps Porzingis Leads Celtics Blowout Over Mavericks

The first game of the 2024 NBA Finals is over, and it wasn’t nearly as competitive as you’d think. It took place at the Boston Celtics‘ home, TD Garden, but it also served as a homecoming for Kristaps Porzingis, who was playing for the first time in over a month. And thankful for the rest of the Celtics, the 7-footer had some pretty fresh legs and helped the Celtics go on several runs against the Dallas Mavericks, including a 15-2 one in the first quarter, during which he also poured in 11 points, three rebounds and three blocks.

 

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By the end of the first quarter, the Celtics were already loving their home-court advantage, with a sizeable 37-20 lead. Dallas, on the other hand, continued to block three-pointers from Luka Doncic, the step back king, and some misses from Kyrie Irving. Much of the same continued into the second quarter, with Porzingis depending on his size and range to easily pull up over his defenders for the easy basket. At the close of the first half, Boston was up 63-42 –equaling the largest Finals comeback deficit ever—with the only Maverick appearing to step up being Doncic, which foreshadowed the third quarter. After halftime, Doncic quickly began building on his already-notched 17 points. As his team finally started getting some stops and scoring in the paint, Doncic hit two threes, cutting the lead to only eight points. However, that’s when the Celtics took the game back, immediately getting the lead back up to 16 points, thanks to a 14-2 run, and ending the third quarter 86-66. It was much the same in the third quarter as Jaylen Brown continued with some big dunks and stops at the rim. Doncic was able to notch 30 points, while Irving was unable to get going offensively, only scoring 12 points as the Mavericks fell 107-89. While much of social media was in awe of Porzingis’ return and stunning for the first time in the playoffs, they also got a good laugh from Taylor Rooks. The sports reporter is known for athletes who are a bit overzealous in their talent when in her presence (like that time Jaylen Brown told her he’d win five championships by 28), but this time, it was just a fan. Rooks wasn’t wearing any discernable team colors showing her allegiance, but a Celtics fan seated next to her appeared to be engaging with her while she was completely unbothered. Even she caught wind of the memeable photo and knew it would go viral, tweeting, “Omg this photo is never going to die. sorry to that man.” See some of the best reactions to the actions surrounding Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals below.

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