As Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown Take a Backseat, Magic Johnson Admits Celtics’ Heavy Toll on Mavs

Magic Johnson was hesitant to call it before but the team of his once biggest rival is proving him right. After Boston secured a 2-0 lead over Dallas in the finals, the 5x champion’s analysis is coming true. While Luka Doncic did his thing, scored 32 points and became the game’s leading scorer, tonight it was Jrue Holiday’s time to shine on the home court. Magic saw it coming before Game 2 ended 105-98 for the Celtics, a franchise Magic had his most epic clashes with.

As is customary for the league’s representative hypeman, he hopped on to X to give tonight’s star a shoutout. “The Celtics continue to prove that their overall talent is too much for the Mavs, winning tonight even without their stars Tatum and Brown as the lead scorer! They dominated both the paint and the perimeter – Jrue Holiday went 9-9 in the paint in his 26 point performance, and 4 other Celtics scored in double figures (Brown, Tatum, White, and Porzingis).”

Before the series began, Magic had a cautious analysis instead of an all-out prediction. When he says the Celtics have overall talent, he refers to Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum having reliable backups in Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, and Kristaps Porzingis. Before he was sure the Celtics can distribute the scoring burden, a privilege Dallas doesn’t seem to have.

He is a huge fan of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving individually. He even loves their backcourt chemistry. Moreover, the reformation of the Mavericks post trade deadline gave him a lot of hope. Sadly, Magic also predicted that Luka and Kyrie would be outnumbered with Dallas’ reliance on them.

Luka is consistently going 30+ points while Kyrie has had two disappointing games. Meanwhile, Tatum and White scored 18 each and Brown made 21. Holiday was at 26 points while Game 1’s hero, Porzingis was held at 12 points today. This kind of offensive distribution is something Magic saw coming.

Magic can see Celtics’ future

Ahead of the Finals, Magic presented a straightforward analysis. Both title contenders have a star duo – Luka and Kyrie, Jaylen and Jayson – but the Celtics have the “next best players,” Holiday, White and Porzingis. Yet he was wary of calling Celtics the winners as he’s seen teams packed with talent (like the ’04 Lakers) fall in the finals.

After Game 1, he had more confidence to  hail Celtics’ defense that “smothered the Mavs and took them completely out their game.” They key player in this game, as per Magic, was neither Brown nor Tatum, but Porzingis who returned after a month away from the court. He secured the 20 point lead and his team maintained it.

Magic’s analyst days are behind him but he can see that the Mavs’ heavy reliance on Luka and Kyrie is going against them. Dallas should take heed of his advice. He, after all, has experience beating the star-powered Celtics.