Luka Dončić fouls out as Celtics beat Mavericks to move within one win of NBA title

Jayson Tatum scored 31, Jaylen Brown had 30 and the Boston Celtics held off a furious rally in Dallas to move to the brink of a record 18th championship with a 106-99 victory over the Mavericks on Wednesday night and a 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals. .

Brown finished with eight rebounds and eight assists as the Celtics extended a franchise record with their 10th straight playoff victory. They also went 7-0 on the road this postseason. They can win the series and breaking a tie with the Lakers for the most NBA championships with a win Friday in Dallas.

However, Tatum said the Celtics are not taking anything for granted. “We have to keep fighting, we can’t relax… ‘No matter how long it takes’, that’s our motto,” he said after the match.

The Mavs nearly pulled off a frenzied comeback to avoid defeat – 13 years after the only other rally to match it in the NBA Finals gave Dallas their only title, against Miami.

Boston led 91-70 on Wednesday at the end of a 20-5 run early in the fourth quarter before Dallas answered with a 22-2 spurt to get within a point. But Luka Dončić picked up his sixth foul with 4:12 to go before Kyrie Irving, who scored 35 points, hit a jumper to pull Dallas within one.

Tatum and Brown saved the Celtics from there, with some help from Derrick White, who scored 16. Those three combined for the remaining 13 Boston points.

“Credit to them, they never gave up,” White said. “Obviously our execution, especially in that area, has to be a lot better… We have to be better and learn from it.”

In a match that seemed to be over early in the fourth over, the score remained at 93-90 for more than three minutes. That included when Dončić was called for a blocking foul on a driving Brown.

Dončić was dissatisfied with the service all night. The final foul that excluded him from the game appeared to be correct to the letter of the law, although it may not have been given had Brown not fallen for the field.

“We couldn’t play physically,” Dončić said when asked about the referee after the match. “I don’t want to say anything. [But] six fouls in the NBA finals? Come on man.”

Without Dončić, Dallas managed to get within two minutes before Brown hit a pullup jumper with a minute left. PJ Washington, Irving and Tim Hardaway Jr each missed a three-pointer in the final minute as Irving’s personal losing streak against his former team reached 13 games.

Boston also improved to 10-1 in these playoffs without Kristaps Porzingis after the Latvian was ruled out hours before the game due to a leg injury suffered in Game 2. Porzingis’ status for the remainder of the series appears in doubt, but it could be that does not matter. None of the previous 156 teams that faced a 3-0 deficit have rallied to win an NBA playoff series.