8 things you might have missed from Game 1 of the NBA Finals

Game 1 of the NBA Finals was a thorough Celtics thrashing, a 107-89 blowout with only one brief stretch of drama in the third.

There were plenty of big takeaways. Kristaps Porzingis returned like a 7’3” bat out of hell, scoring 11 of his 20 points in the first quarter and winking at the bench while smacking every shot sent his way. Jaylen Brown notched big play after big play, dunking on foolish Maverick defenders on one end and then swatting away their attempts on the other. Doncic got buckets as the lone, exhausted Dallas samurai, but the Celtics limited him to a solitary assist. Kyrie Irving was horrendous, losing his dribble, traveling, and even shooting a shot off the side of the backboard. Outside of PJ Washington and some Jaden Hardy garbage minutes, no other Mav contributed anything of value, while six Celtics finished in double figures.

Boston’s defense did an incredible job limiting Dallas’ corner threes and their lobs, nullifying the Mavs’ biggest offensive strengths. The Mavericks’ ballhandlers never forced Boston’s defenders into rotation, letting them stay home on their marks. Dallas tallied just nine assists (and only five through the first three periods!), far below their season average of 25. Boston, meanwhile, tallied nine blocks as they consistently won dogfights around the rim. Poor Derrick Jones Jr. had two dunks blocked on the same possession:

Those are the high-level stories, and they’ll be well-covered by any media outlet. So, to provide a different angle, I tried to find little illuminating details here and there, things worthy of your money (or at least attention!).

In that spirit, here are eight things you may have missed watching the game (or not! If you’re a subscriber, you’re clearly a smart cookie).

1) Boston calling out screens

Boston must have used an anti-lice shampoo before the series; they don’t have too many nits to pick after that performance.

But nobody is perfect. It’s small, but Boston needs to improve its warnings to teammates on high screens. Several times, Boston defenders were laid out (sometimes literally) by picks set near half-court. The Celtics are usually excellent communicators on defense, but the arena was rocking, and it’s possible they simply didn’t hear teammates.

Some of these screens were vicious. Jaylen Brown needed a moment to collect himself after being blindsided here:

Holiday and Brown were locked in picking up Doncic at half-court, but that left them vulnerable. Teammates have to better alert Doncic’s man of the incoming danger to help the defense and avoid injury.

2) Flawless at the rim

One of the few things Dallas did well was preventing shots at the rim, as the Celtics only attempted 25% of their shots from that area. That’s a below-average mark.

Unfortunately, Boston made every single one of those shots.

You don’t see teams literally shoot 100% at the rim very often. Worse, Dallas excelled at paint defense during the regular season, posting the best opponent rim-accuracy numbers after their trades for Gafford and Washington.

The Mavericks’ defense was spread thin trying to defend the three-point line, and the Celtics also made a few difficult attempts. This Boston shot chart needs to be framed and mounted in the Guggenheim:

The highlights were highlightful, of course. We’ll see Tatum’s monster jam in a minute, but that was only the second-best dunk of the night. Jaylen Brown had an outrageous smash through waving defender arms, an action-movie fighter jet swerving between tight mountain corridors:

Boston won’t shoot 100% from the rim again (I assume?), but if they keep firing from outside, it will be difficult for Dallas to pack in and protect the paint. And that’s always been the thing with Boston; all seven of their top rotation guys can and will shoot from deep, which makes it so much easier for them to convert at the rim.

3) Mavs struggle in transition

According to Cleaning the Glass, the Mavericks averaged just .73 points per transition possession. **Rubs eyes, double-checks** Yep. .73. That’s abominable (and even worse than their half-court offense, which averaged an also-horrific .75 points).

Transition offense was a Mavs’ strength during the season, and Boston deserves much of the credit for slowing them down. Say what you will about the injury-hampered Pacers as an Eastern Conference Finals opponent, but nobody sprints like them. Indiana sharpened the Celtics’ transition defense to a spacetime-cutting edge, as shown in Game 1.

White-clad players sprinted back in transition, matched up beautifully, and rotated hard. Dallas rarely got a clean look at the basket in what are typically an offense’s most fruitful possessions. When they forced the issue, Boston forced back:

If the Celtics are this clean in transition the rest of the series, the Mavs will have a hard time finding points.

4) Tatum’s bad dribbling and encouraging passing