For the first time all playoffs, the best player in a Celtics series won’t wear green and white.Starting Thursday might, he’ll dance, perhaps dominate and definitely whine in Mavericks blue.Luka Doncic is a top-3 player in the world playing at the peak of his expanding powers, the sun around which these Finals will revolve. He is Dallas’ driver and engine, a scheme-proof, matchup-resistant star.Doncic scores at an elite level at every level. He passes as well as anyone in the league and manipulates half-court defenses, sowing doubt and cracks he can exploit, better than anyone on the planet.As a fellow top-10 player, Jayson Tatum resides comfortably in the same starry neighborhood as Doncic. It’s just that Doncic lives at the end of the cul-de-sac, up on a hill with more cars in the driveway and a bigger pool out back.Now, the Celtics shouldn’t care about the gap between Tatum and Doncic. Overall, they boast superior talent and the better team. But Boston ought to be wary of the gap between Tatum and the next best player in this series, and who that player is.More to the point: will it be a Celtic or a Celtics villain?If Kyrie Irving is the thirdbest player in the Finals, he will swing a series expected to end with Banner 18 into toss-up territory and maybe in Dallas’ favor.The Mavericks are coming off consecutive upsets of Oklahoma City and Minnesota because Irving and Doncic out-shone the opposing stars in both series. The Mavs didn’t win those series playing 2-on-2 — and the Finals won’t be a 2-on-2 test, either — but make no mistake: it’s star power that makes Dallas go.No one else on their roster is scoring even 14 points per game in the playoffs. Just one, P.J. Washington, is averaging double figures. Together, Doncic and Irving scored or assisted on 74.3% of the Mavericks’ points this season, the highest percentage of any duo to reach the NBA Finals the last 25 years, according to ESPN.Both stars are elite scorers and playmakers, able to create shots from nothing for themselves and teammates. If Irving elevates above everyone else in the series, excluding Doncic and Tatum, he’ll take the rest of the Mavs with him.Simply forcing the ball out of his hands with help or doubleteams isn’t an option. Oklahoma City loaded up against Irving and Doncic in the second round, using full-court pressure and ...
