A night full of surprises when Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers faced each other in the East and Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks in the West. Victory for both “guests”, who sensationally overturned the pre-match predictions in which they were considered clear underdogs, re-establishing parity in their respective series which are both at 1-1. Mithcell, LeVert and Mobley’s double double sensationally knock out the Celtics who waste too many opportunities. On the other side, double doubles from Doncic and PJ Washington put the Mavericks back on track, ready to fight until the end, trying to reach the NBA Finals.
Boston sinks: Cleveland believes it
Subpar performance during the night for Joe Mazzulla’s men, who had to deal with the usual Donovan Mitchell in excellent form, 29 points and 8 assists for him. Supporting him were LeVert and Mobley who contributed exponentially to the Cavaliers’ victory. The hosts approached the match in an unrealistic way, failing to make an impact and wasting too many 3-point shots – 22.9% of successful shots, too low a percentage for Tatum & co. – leaving too much parquet to the opponents who took advantage of it to rekindle their dreams of victory. For the Celtics the point leader is Tatum with 25 points, including 2 successful triples out of 5 attempted. Brown and White try but this time the register shows negative performances compared to what was seen in Race 1 94-118 for guests.
Luka “Magic”: Doncic leads the Mavericks
Oklahoma falls against Dallas, dragged by Doncic’s double doubles (29 points and 10 rebounds) and PJ Washington (29 points and 11 rebounds), supported by Irving’s 11 assists, bringing back the series tied. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander once again dominant with 32 points, 12 rebounds and a triple double blocked by 8 assists, but the score scores 110-119 for guests. Unfortunately, the super performance of the Canadian basketball player is not enough to avoid the return to fame of the Dallas Mavericks, who will play the next two games at home. The American Airlines Center will thus be the stage on which Doncic&co. they will try to take advantage of the home factor to take another step towards the 2024 Finals.
