NBA Finals: Celtics defeats Mavericks 105-98, take 2-0 lead

With 26 points from Jrue Holiday, the Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 105-98 on Sunday to grab a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

The team’s last-minute comeback was foiled. On a night when the Celtics had early trouble shooting from three-point range, their all-around performance on both ends of the court allowed them to win two straight games at home and take a commanding lead into Wednesday’s game three against Dallas.

Holiday gave Jayson Tatum credit for keeping the Celtics offence rolling after Tatum finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, and 12 assists in addition to 21 points from Jaylen Brown.

“I would say a lot of it was JT,” Holiday said.

“They were double-teaming him and he was making the right play. The way that he played tonight, the way that he led us, getting into the paint, making plays, finding me wide open — it was all about him,” Holiday added.

Hurting Mavericks star Luka Doncic — now nursing a chest contusion in addition to the right knee sprain and sore left ankle that have troubled him throughout the playoffs — delivered a triple-double of 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

But he didn’t get enough help from his supporting cast.

P.J. Washington scored 17 points and eight-time All-Star Kyrie Irving had 16 — connecting on seven of 18 shots and missing all three of his three-point attempts.

The Mavericks, trailing by 14 with less than four minutes remaining, made a final push and sliced the deficit to five with 1:15 to play, Doncic driving for a layup and converting the free-throw when he was fouled.

Boston’s Derrick White came up with a monster block on Washington and Brown made a layup as the Celtics closed it out.