DALLAS — In Saturday’s NBA Finals rematch between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks, one team was whole and one team was hobbled.

The Celtics had their preferred starting lineup available when it was determined pregame that Derrick White would play despite left knee soreness.

The Mavericks were not only missing Luka Dončić; they also didn’t have starting center Dereck Lively II, who was walking around American Airlines Center with a protective boot on his fractured right ankle, and key reserve Naji Marshall missed his eighth game of the season with an illness.

The Mavericks lost the game, 122-107, and in the process, even more of their depth.

Maxi Kleber subbed off at the 6:26 mark in the second quarter and never returned. Medical imaging revealed a right foot fracture. That left Mavericks coach Jason Kidd with one healthy center to work with. Daniel Gafford’s 19-point, 15-rebound effort couldn’t prevent the Mavericks from getting routed by the defending champions.

“It’s a hole,” Kidd said of the growing injury list. “It’s tough. I’ve never seen anything like it. And it’s not going to get any better.”

Lively will miss a month — at minimum — with his right ankle injury. Kleber’s timetable is still unclear. The Mavericks said he will be re-evaluated later this week. Dwight Powell, another reserve option at center, missed his fourth game in a row Saturday with a right hip strain.

Gafford will have no problem handling a bump in minutes. He started 22 games in the postseason last year for Dallas, when it won three series in a row without having home-court advantage.

How Kidd decides to handle the center position when Gafford needs to rest is the big question. None of the options available inspire great confidence. On Wednesday, Kidd suggested second-year wing Olivier Maxence-Prosper and two-way player Kessler Edwards could see spot minutes at the position. Kidd joked that Kyrie Irving “might even sign up for the center position.”

“Just have to keep a cool head about it,” Gafford said. “It’s nothing to get flustered about. If we have patience and we lock into the things we need to do, we’ll be OK.”

The Celtics attempted 41.4 3-pointers in the finals. This season, they are launching 3s at an even greater clip. They came into Saturday’s game hoisting 48.9 3s per contest.

Boston shot 22 of 52 from behind the arc against injury-ravaged Dallas. Kristaps Porziņģis, who played at American Airlines Center for the first time since Dallas traded him in 2022, was responsible for three of those Celtics’ makes. All of Boston’s starters made three or more 3s, aside from Jaylen Brown.

“I like math because it doesn’t have emotions,” Irving said. “They are No. 1 in 3-point attempts and last in points in the paint. That pretty much tells you what their game plan is going to be.”

Irving led his team in scoring Saturday with 22 points on 11-of-23 shooting. The 32-year-old, who wore a shirt that said “Point God” to the podium Saturday, is having one of the most efficient scoring seasons of his career.

As well as Irving has played, the Mavericks have been a bottom-seven offense in the NBA over the past month minus Dončić.

Dončić was averaging 9.6 3-point attempts and 7.8 assists before going down on Christmas Day. Dallas badly misses his ability to generate high-quality 3-point looks. The Mavericks attempted only two more 3s (22) than the Celtics made Saturday.

Klay Thompson has been one of the Mavericks players most impacted by Donćić’s absence. Thompson took only four shots Saturday. He is averaging 11.5 points while shooting 36.4 from 3 post-Christmas. He averaged 14.4 points and was converting 39.1 percent of his 3s before the holiday.

At least there was one sliver of good news for Dallas on Saturday: Dončić underwent an MRI, which revealed “no setbacks,” one of Dončić’s representatives told The Athletic. The Mavericks play 10 more games before the All-Star break. Multiple reports have indicated that Dončić will be able to return to the court somewhere in that window.

Battered, bruised — and in Lively’s case, booted — Dallas is 4-9 in January with three games remaining this month. It next plays Monday against the Washington Wizards, the team Gafford was with before Dallas acquired him in February.

“It’s going to be tough when it comes to the injuries,” Gafford said. “That next-man-up mentality is the main thing we have to focus on. It’s a challenge. But we all for challenges.”

(Photo: Sam Hodde/Getty Images)