Jaylen Brown made sure to not let the Celtics veer into complacency after Boston kicked off the NBA Finals with a win.
Joe Mazzulla did the same after his team protected home court again and put itself within two wins of a championship.
The C's didn't play their best basketball Sunday night, but they did enough to earn a 105-98 win over the Mavericks in Game 2. A number of timely shots and excellent defensive plays allowed Boston to fend off Dallas, which received a big-time performance from franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic.
Doncic's efforts tested the Celtics' mettle, and the Eastern Conference champions answered the bell. Mazzulla clearly was proud of how his team rose to the occasion Sunday night, but he knows there's room for improvement.
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"They brought the best out of us tonight -- we keep that up, man," Mazzulla told Celtics players in the locker room, per a team-provided video. "We gotta be hungrier. We gotta be hungrier."
If past playoff rounds told us anything, Boston will embrace Mazzulla's challenge. The Celtics continue to play better as the stakes increase, as they haven't lost since the conference semifinals.
Boston also has yet to drop a road game this postseason. So while Kyrie Irving might be confident in the Mavericks' chances moving forward, Dallas' season might not make it to the weekend.
Featured image via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
