The Dallas Mavericks kept their slim championship hopes alive Friday night as they defeated the Boston Celtics to win their first game in this year’s NBA Finals in emphatic fashion.
Dallas came into Friday’s game trailing 0-3 in the best-of-seven series, a deficit that no NBA team has ever recovered from in the postseason. Luka Dončić had come under heavy criticism for his defensive shortcomings in this series so far, but the Slovenian honed that side of his game while maintaining his usual attacking excellence as he scored 29 points, 25 of which came in the first half, in the 122 points from his team. -84 defeat victory.
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“We had to play our A-game,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. ‘It was this, or we go on holiday. I thought the group did a good job of not pushing and letting the game happen. The power was there. We did this in the first three games, but we just couldn’t take advantage of it.”
Such was the one-sided nature of the game that by the time the fourth quarter started, both teams had most of their starters on the bench. The 38-point final margin was the third-largest ever in an NBA Finals game, behind only Chicago beating Utah 96-54 in 1998 and the Celtics beating the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 in 2008. At one point in the fourth quarter, the Mavs led by 48 points.
The loss – Boston’s first in five weeks – broke the Celtics’ franchise record of a 10-game postseason winning streak, and it took away the chance they had to be the first team in NBA history to win both the conference finals as won the finals in the NBA. 4-0 sweeps.
“Preparation does not automatically guarantee success,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought we had a great process. I thought we had a great shooting. I thought we had a great film session yesterday. I thought the guys came out with the right intentions. I just didn’t think it was going our way, and I thought Dallas outplayed us. They just played harder.”
Jayson Tatum scored 15 points, Sam Hauser had 14, while Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday each finished with 10 for the Celtics. Kyrie Irving had 21 points for the Mavericks, while Dereck Lively grabbed 12 rebounds.
The series now moves to Boston for Game 5 on Monday, when the Celtics will attempt to win a record-breaking 18th NBA championship. After Friday’s performance, that task seems a little tougher.
“We have to play the same way [in Boston]”, said Dončić after the match. “Their fans will be loud, so we have to stay focused and do the same things we did today.”
Dončić suffered a number of injuries during the play-offs, but winning seemed to ease his pain. When asked how he felt physically, Dončić grinned and replied: “Great.”