BOSTON (AP) — Jrue Vacation led the scoring. Derrick White added a chase-down block. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown pitched in, too — with their passing and protection.

The Mavericks can cease worrying about who Boston’s greatest participant is. Everyone seems to be contributing to the Celtics’ quest for an unprecedented 18th NBA championship.

Vacation had 26 factors and 11 rebounds, and White sprinted down the courtroom to swat away the Mavericks’ final likelihood on Sunday night time as Boston beat Dallas 105-98 to take a 2-0 lead within the NBA Finals.

Tatum made up for a tough capturing night time with 12 assists and 9 rebounds to go together with his 18 factors. Brown scored 21 with three steals, White had 18 factors and three steals, and Payton Pritchard’s solely basket of the sport was a banked half-courter to beat the third quarter buzzer and provides Boston an 83-74 lead.

“That’s why they’re the No. 1 group within the NBA with the No. 1 report,” stated Mavericks star Luka Doncic, who scored 32 with 11 rebounds and 11 assists — the primary NBA Finals triple-double in Dallas franchise historical past. “They’ve a number of nice gamers. Principally, anyone can get off.”

Doncic, who was listed as questionable to play lower than two hours earlier than the opening tipoff, had his tenth profession playoff triple-double. However he scored solely three factors within the fourth, changing a three-point play with 1:15 left as Dallas scored 9 in a row to chop a 14-point deficit to 103-98.

After Derrick Jones Jr. blocked Tatum’s dunk try, White ran down the court, joining with Brown to block P.J. Washington’s potential dunk. Brown made a layup on the different finish, after which Doncic missed a one-footed, operating floater from 3-point vary with 28 seconds left, ending Dallas’ final likelihood at a comeback.

“It’s not all on him. It’s a group,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd stated of Doncic, who had been battling chest, knee and ankle accidents. “He put us ready. He was actually good tonight. Sadly, we simply couldn’t recover from the hump. We’ve bought to seek out somebody to affix Luka and (Kyrie Irving) in that scoring class.”

Video games 3 and 4 are Wednesday and Friday in Dallas; Boston has not misplaced on the highway this postseason. It was the ninth time the Celtics have gained the opening pair within the NBA Finals: They’ve gained the earlier eight, and have by no means been pressured to a Recreation 7 in any of them.

A day after Kidd tried to sow dissension within the Celtics locker room by calling Brown — not Tatum, an All-NBA first-teamer — the group’s greatest participant, Boston confirmed why it doesn’t matter. The 2 All-Stars mixed to make 2 of 12 3-point makes an attempt, however crammed up the field rating in different methods.

“How they play collectively is sacred, and one thing that may’t be damaged,” Vacation stated. “I don’t choose one or the opposite, I choose each. As a result of they’re each superstars, they usually’re displaying it on the largest stage on this planet.”

Kristaps Porzingis limped his method to 12 factors for top-seeded Boston. Tatum was 6 for 22 capturing and 1 of seven from 3-point vary; the Celtics have been 10 for 39 from lengthy distance total.

“I’m actually uninterested in listening to about one man or this man or that man and everyone attempting to make it out to be something apart from Celtic basketball,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla stated. “All people that stepped on that courtroom right now made successful performs on each ends of the ground.”

In contrast to their 107-89 victory in Recreation 1, when Boston went 7 for 15 from 3-point vary within the first quarter to dash to a 17-point lead, the Celtics missed their first eight makes an attempt from lengthy vary on Sunday. Dallas led all the first quarter.

Tatum was scoreless within the first and had solely 5 at halftime, when he was nonetheless 0 for 3 from 3-point vary. Boston was nonetheless simply 5 for 30 from lengthy distance when Pritchard banked in a half-courter on the third-quarter buzzer to offer Boston an 83-74 lead.

That excited the group, which beforehand had spent most of its time serenading Irving with boos — and semi-vulgar chants. Earlier than the sport, the scoreboard confirmed Irving’s postgame quote from Recreation 1, the place he stated he thought the group could be louder.

The followers roared.

Irving, who scored 16 factors, has misplaced 12 video games in a row towards the Celtics.

“A little bit disillusioned in myself not with the ability to convert much more of my alternatives within the lane,” he stated. “My teammates search for me to transform a number of photographs and reduce the burden not solely on Luka however all the group.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA