After the Boston Celtics looked categorically dominant in Game 1 and then made the fundamentals of the matchup appear unsolvable for the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2, the series suddenly had the potential to be intriguing again with Kristaps Porzingis’ mysterious foot injury. Porzingis was the energizing turbo button to the Celtics’ blowout win in Game 1, and his presence and then absence in Game 2 were equally conspicuous. 

The Celtics contain more multitudes than any title contender in recent memory given how long they’ve been in this position and the quality and diversity of their top-6. And they possess enough dominant ways to play to withstand a vintage Kyrie Irving performance to take a one-point deficit in halftime and transform it into a 91-70 lead early in the fourth following a 35-19 third quarter and a pair of quick three-pointers in the fourth from Jaylen Brown and Derrick White.

The third quarter ended with Jrue Holiday standing up a P.J. Washington isolation and then a Brown monster dunk down the lane.

Those multitudes also contain the scenario where they can blow a 20-point fourth quarter lead in The Finals.

Up to the start of the fourth quarter when things were veering toward a blowout for the Celtics, Game 3 had delivered the type of star shotmaking and lead changes we were expecting heading into the series. A classic game emerged in what will be an abbreviated series. 

Irving was playing quicker and more potently off the dribble, getting into the paint more decisively and easily than he had in either game in Boston. Irving gave Jason Kidd and the Mavericks everything they needed from him and more.

Jayson Tatum similarly played with far more force and aggression from the outset. Tatum still wasn’t at the peak of his efficiency, but he took advantage of the space he was afforded by the Mavericks instead of stubbornly insisting on getting to where he wanted on the floor. Brown continued to be the most reliable star in the series and made the single biggest shot of the game with a minute left in the fourth to extend the Boston lead from two to four. Tatum and Brown each had a 30-5-5 in the game, the first time teammates ever posted that type of statline in The Finals.

But the Mavericks unexpectedly made that final minute close with a 22-2 run over the entire middle portion of the fourth quarter, culminating with Irving beating Jrue Holiday at the free throw line to make it a 93-92 game. This came immediately after Doncic committed two fouls in 26 seconds, to go with two more fouls at the start of the quarter, to prematurely exit the game with six. 

After Brown’s jumper made it a two-possession game to start the final minute, the Mavericks missed a pair of opportunities to cut it to one with the first coming from P.J. Washington, and then Irving isolated on the right wing against Al Horford. Irving began the game calling for Horford to defend him in isolations and winning the battle, but Horford won the critical one late.

The Mavericks played a desperate Game 3, but were without Doncic for the final 4:12 in what was a performance from him he will presumably regret for a long time. Doncic allowed himself to become undone at multiple points in the game.

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These Finals should be the NBA’s most immersive game watching experience. 

This is unquestionably the culmination of scrupulously built rosters, dogged player development, good vibes and good luck. If externalities are overshadowing it and these games cannot stand on their own without distraction, then something about the fundamentals of the league have gone awry. 

The substance of the first three games, despite it being three consecutive wins for the Celtics and what inevitably will now be their 18th championship, have been encouraging. There has been drama and even the most ardent Boston skeptics are ready to give them their flowers.  

Two odd things have struck me in recent years on how the NBA is consumed.

• The way a growing number of people follow the league at a deeply studied level, yet don’t watch actual games with any type of regularity. 

• The way people curate their preferred version of the NBA with the content diet of their choosing. 

The varied way we project our own values and interests upon a passionate shared interest such as sports is manifest in how the conversation around it is so different depending on who is talking. The “Inside The NBA” experience is far different than the “Dunc’d On” one, which is far different than “Six Trophies” and “No Chill” with all points in between. There has been a considerable response about the possibility of “Inside The NBA” being lost forever with TNT exiting as an NBA media partner in 2025. They were the pre-internet part of how we experienced the NBA and the last real surviving monoculture entity of the league.

The extent of our choices is astonishing, but the games, especially the Finals needs to continue to tie it all together. Without it, the league devolves to regionalism and a fragmentation that lessens the entire experience and we’re only left with superficiality.

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Daybreak of Game 1 last Thursday started with a throwback “Woj Bomb” as Adrian Wojnarowski reported on the Lakers’ “relentless” attempts to hire Dan Hurley away from UConn as head coach. The Lakers reportedly had targeted Hurley as their No. 1 choice since they began this process back in early May, but nothing surfaced publicly until mere hours before the league’s signature event. Wojnarowski proceeded to go on all the morning ESPN shows to discuss it. Throughout the weekend, minor updates to the story were suspensefully added with the eventual declaration that a decision would be reached by Monday.

Regardless of the actual seriousness of Hurley’s deliberations to leave UConn for the Lakers, there was clearly an orchestration and selling of the story to peak in the hours leading to Game 1. The Lakers’ coaching search had appeared to settle on J.J. Redick and there was a general expectation it would be settled after he completed his broadcasting duties at The Finals. Redick leaving ESPN’s lead booth to become a head coach just a few months after replacing Doc Rivers under similar circumstances was a background story, likely one of minor annoyance to ESPN and the NBA, but Redick was certainly not trying to bring attention to it. The Hurley story was foregrounded during its five-day news cycle spanning the day of Game 1 to the day following Game 2.  

Redick still appears to be the presumptive favorite for the job, but the Hurley story succeeded in creating a release valve for him. 

In the decade-and-a-half since the “Woj Bomb” term was coined, it has come to mean something different than it’s original definition. Whereas now it means an unexpected breaking of news coming from nowhere to the shock of everyone, as this Hurley to the Lakers qualifies, it previously was in reference to his columns mixed with original reporting, but also a no holds barred commentary that is jarring to reread all these years later. Wojnarowski hasn’t written those types of pieces for years with the closest return to the form coming in 2020 when Irving was labeled “a disruptor” for questioning whether the players should agree to participate in the Orlando bubble. 

He had understandably moved on from that style of reporting long ago. The role he occupies now is far different, more expansive and more subtle. He’s now an insider insider instead of the outsider insider he was at Yahoo. The influence he possesses is enormous and the subtext is now where the real story comes through.

Still, in this instance, the story of the story became the story. 

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Doncic led the Mavericks to The Finals by being a transcendent all-time talent, but the hopes this season have severely stalled and more quickly than expected. Disproportionate credit predictably comes before disproportionate blame. 

Doncic has not reached this strata by being humble and one would never expect fervent accountability from him. The Mavericks have burned through most of their future draft capital to get to this point, so he will have to somehow go up another level to win a title in the near future.

Does Doncic have a revenge season in him? A season where he begins with an offseason of drastically changed habits and a commitment to his fitness that could allow him to keep up with his copious style of play? Does he have a curiosity for how good he could be then?