Cardiac Celtics Part V: The Celtics won a close game against the team no one thought they’d beat in a close game (2024)

Hey, you didn’t think we’d all get through the NBA Finals without at least one more heart monitor article, did you?

Well, the Boston Celtics’ 105-98 win in Game 2 certainly got the blood flowing.

They did the impossible (that is, if you asked the national media prior to this series). Boston managed to come out on top, despite being in a back-and-forth battle with the Dallas Mavericks.

The best part of the whole thing is that it felt like a game that Boston was meant to lose. They just didn’t.

Anyway, here’s how it all happened and how it affected my heart.

Typically, I start off in the 50s, in terms of beats per minute, but tonight was special. With it being the NBA Finals I got started at 64 bpm when I saw Dallas wearing white uniforms on the road (disgusting, Adam Silver should be jailed for allowing it).

Though they looked ridiculous wearing home uniforms on the road, the Mavs came to play in this one. You could immediately tell that they were more engaged and active on the defensive end, while both Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving carried the early offensive burden. As I watched the Cs fall into an early hole, my heart rate climbed to 68 bpm.

Also evident from the jump was Boston’s inability to sink threes. Regardless if those shots were coming off of great penetration and ball movement, or from early shot clock chucks, they just weren’t going in. Jayson Tatum’s first side-step three of the night shot me up to 74 bpm.

To their credit, the Celtics did just about everything else right to bring the game within a point with just seconds left in the first quarter. Then, both Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis jumped at a Josh Green pump fake, which resulted in a foul on a three-point shot. Even with Green making just two-of-three from the line, I was sitting at a perturbed 66 bpm.

The second quarter didn’t start the way that I’d hoped. Boston failed to carry the momentum they’d built at the end of the first and quickly fell down six points, while I jumped up to 74 bpm.

Thankfully, they woke up. This became a game where it felt like the Celtics should be down more. Doncic couldn’t miss, scoring 22 first-half points, Tatum missed some shots he’d usually make, and the Cs couldn’t buy a three. Yet, they found themselves with a three-point lead at halftime. Tatum elected to pass up a wide-open three, which resulted in Boston failing to get a final shot up before the break. Though I was pleased that the fellas had a lead, my heart was firing off 72 bpm.

Both teams exchanged buckets coming out of halftime. This is the type of scenario that many “experts” feared that the Celtics would struggle with in this series. Yet, it felt like the Mavs didn’t have a prayer on the defensive end. Whoever was handling the ball would get Luka in a switch, then promptly dribble past him as he caught his breath.

Speaking of No. 77, Jay King tweeted that Wyc Grousbeck was getting into a back-and-forth with him. Does he know that Luka feeds off of that? This whole storyline was good enough to get me pumping at 67 bpm.

Fortunately, Wyc didn’t wind up paying for his exchange with Doncic and the Cs built themselves a crisp 12-point lead with about three minutes to go in the third. Jrue Holiday sank a tough reverse layup to cap off an exciting run and my ticker was juiced at 78 bpm. The Mavs remained poised, got stops, and got buckets as the seconds ticked off. They had cut the lead to six, but then Payton Pritchard sank one of his signature buzzer-beating heaves to bring it back to nine and settled me at 72 bpm.

Game 2’s fourth quarter was a bit of a roller coaster. Boston managed to maintain control through the opening six minutes or so. They matched Dallas’ scoring and didn’t let the lead dwindle, even though I felt as if they would benefit from some more cushioning. My heart was racing at 82 bpm as I waited for the Cs to make one final run to put the game to bed.

To make matters worse, Porzingis appeared to injure his leg while battling PJ Washington for a rebound. He limped up and down the floor until Joe Mazzulla called a timeout with the Mavs down just eight with 4:40 to play. I just watched two rounds of playoff basketball without KP and had no interest in watching any more. As he exited the game, I was beating at 74 bpm.

Boston quickly raised my spirits (as well as the spirits of many others) thanks to a tremendous sequence from the Holiday/White “Stock Exchange.” Jrue did a great job of pressuring Washington as he tried to dribble the ball up, even deflecting his pass attempt to Doncic. Once Luka caught the ball, he had to fire it over half-court to try and avoid an eight-second violation. His pass found the hands of White, who rewarded an open Holiday, who then drilled a massive three.

White sank a triple of his own on the next trip down the floor, pushed the lead to 14, and my heart rate to 82 bpm.

From this point on, the team tried to kill me. They continuously failed to put this game to bed and let the Mavs cut the lead down to just five points with 1:15 remaining. In response, Tatum went for an ambitious dunk attempt and missed.

Dallas ran off of the miss and found a sprinting Washington down the floor.

The Celtics also ran off of the miss, thank goodness.

White and Brown were able to get back and team up to reject PJ’s dunk attempt, effectively sealing the victory for Boston.

While all this chaos was happening, I hit my playoff-high of 107 bpm.

All I could think about was Boston’s 2022 Game 7 win over the Miami Heat, where they did EVERYTHING possible to blow a double-digit lead in the final minutes. Fortunately, Jimmy Butler came up short on a go-ahead triple and the Cs advanced to the Finals.

Two years later, they’re back in the same spot.

This time, they’re not messing around and will take a 2-0 with them to Dallas for Wednesday’s Game 3.

I’ve been rolling with the heart monitor threads over on Twitter throughout the playoffs. So, if you thought this was funny, follow me over there @SamLaFranceNBA for the latest on my ticker.