Mavericks Believe They Need To Solve Celtics’ Kristaps Porzingis

Kristaps Porzingis returned to the Celtics lineup for Game 1 of the NBA Finals after a 10-game absence.

And he came up big!

The Boston center dropped 20 points, collected six rebounds and had three blocks in 21 minutes off the bench in the Celtics 107-89 blowout win over the Dallas Mavericks to take the 1-0 series lead.

The Mavericks had a hard time containing the big man, who scored 10 points in the first quarter.

“Yeah, he was great for them,” Mavericks guard Luka Doncic told reporters, as seen on NBA.com’s postgame coverage. “He was knocking down shots. He was blocking shots. So, he was really, really huge for them on both ends of the floor.”

In the first five minutes of his first NBA Finals appearance, Prozingis scored eight points, collected two rebounds and had one block. Mavericks forward P.J. Washington knows Dallas needs to find a way to slow him down in Game 2.

“We just have to be better. Not give them open looks,” Washington said, as seen on NBA.com’s postgame coverage. “We let him get comfortable and let him get warmed up in the mid-range, and it kind of led to them obviously getting a big lead. Just have to be better and be more locked in to their tendencies and just be more focused on that end.”

Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd was at the helm during Porzingis’ tenure in Dallas. He recognized the Celtics tilted the momentum when Porzingis came in off the bench.

“Yeah, KP was great. He knocked down shots. He changed shots. He blocked shots. He gave them a spark off the bench,” Kidd told reporters, as seen on NBA.com’s postgame coverage. “We’ve just got to make it a little bit tougher on the offensive end. We’ve got to make him do something different. He got great looks and knocked them down.”

Boston’s biggest lead of the game was 29 points, but Dallas cut the deficit to eight in the third quarter. Kidd believes the Mavericks can build on that heading into Game 2.

“A lot of good things in that third and fourth (quarters) that we can build on,” he said. “… We’ve got to be better in the first. They took advantage of that. They knocked down threes. But the big thing is, we have to be better as a team offensively and defensively.”

The Celtics look to take the 2-0 series lead on Sunday night when they host the Mavericks in Game 2. Tipoff from TD Garden is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.