This is why the Finals is seven games

All the indicators blinked in Game 2, every light on the dashboard warming under all the twinkles amid the oncoming lane, everything heading toward our direction. Lights in our eyes.

Kyrie Irving settled into his dutiful term, a dozen seconds of dribbling before a well-shouldered shot, 33 percent of what the Mavericks need to move toward the championship, as long as the other two-thirds (Luka Dončić, role players) show up.

Yet Kyrie couldn’t connect, two contests in a row. Jrue Holiday dug into his alluvial space, Derrick White lunged into what was supposed to the part of the stratosphere that only Irving’s shots dare touch. Kyrie averages 35 percent shooting in the 2024 NBA Finals, 28 points in two games on 37 attempts.

Room for two outlooks. Irving and those Mavericks are cooked. Or Irving and those Mavericks need a little while.