Mavericks starter makes surprising remark after Game 1 loss

BOSTON — As the Celtics put the finishing touches on their blowout Game 1 win over the Mavericks, they were able to slow down the Dallas offense. The Mavs mustered up just 89 points in the 107-89 Boston win, failing to score 25 points in any of their four quarters.

While Luka Doncic finished with 30 points and 10 rebounds, he had just one assist as his playmaking wasn’t quite there throughout Thursday’s game. Kyrie Irving also had a forgettable night, putting up just 12 points on 6-for-19 shooting, including an 0-for-5 mark on 3-pointers. But despite those offensive struggles, P.J. Washington didn’t think that was part of their issues.

“I don’t really think the offense was our problem tonight,” Washington said. “I think they hit a bunch of 3s that we need to do a better job of contesting. Had a bunch of offensive rebounds that led to second-chance points. That’s what we need to focus on. Offense will come. We are good enough to score. So not really worried about that side of the ball.”

So clearly, Washington doesn’t think that offense will be an issue going forward. That’ll require the Mavs to put together a better showing than they did Thursday. They shot just 41.7% from the field, including just 7-for-27 (25.9%) on 3-pointers.

Washington was the Mavericks’ second-leading scorer with 14 points, shooting for 5-of-11 from the field. Notably, the Mavs also had just nine assists total for the game — that’s compared to nine blocks for the Celtics as they swatted away shots all night. Regardless, the Celtics will look to continue making life difficult on the Mavericks after they took the 1-0 series lead in the NBA Finals.

“We just have to stay connected, stay together,” Washington said. “I felt like we let the crowd get to us a little bit, let the refs get to us, let them making shot get to us. But at the end of the day, we just have to stick together and be ourselves. We are a great team. They are a great team at the end of the day. We’re aleight. It’s only one game. We’ll be better and we’ll be better for Game 2.”