DALLAS — If the dynamics of this series, these playoffs or the entire season, for that matter, were going to change, Wednesday night in Game 3 of the NBA Finals was the time.
TheBoston Celticswere on the road and missing centerKristaps Porziņģiswiththe displaced tendon in his left leg. They trailed by 13 points early, had to hold onto their hats in the headwinds of a furiousDallas Maverickscomeback in the fourth quarter, all with Super Bowl champion quarterback and noted Mavs fan Patrick Mahomes whooping it up on the sideline, a few seats over from Dallas royalty Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash.
Advertisem*nt
But the rhythmic beat of a season’s worth of dominance by Boston drums on. All is the same as it’s been since the ball first went skyward in October.
The Celtics received 31 points from Jayson Tatum and 30 points from Jaylen Brown in outlasting the Dallas Mavericks for a 106-99 win, placing a virtual lock on the 2024 NBA championship.
“We’re not necessarily saying ‘one more’ or anything like that — we are just saying, however long it takes,” said Tatum, who had a long embrace with Brown on the court after the buzzer sounded. “Nobody is relaxed. Nobody is satisfied.”
Boston, easily the NBA’s best regular-season team, is riding a playoff winning streak of 10 games overall and seven games on the road, and leads the finals 3-0. No team in league history has ever lost a series in which it won the first three games, and there is a large sample size — 156 teams have built 3-0 leads and went on to win, including 14 in the finals.
There has been no evidence presented to suggest the Celtics won’t follow suit.
The Mavericks trailed by 15 at the end of the third quarter and by 21 early in the fourth, before embarking on what would have been a historic rally had they pulled it off. They outscored Boston 22-2 over a six and a half minute stretch to cut their deficit to one. Luka Dončić, their superstar, fouled out with 4:12 to go, and Dallas hung in beyond that serious blow.
“We had a good chance; we were close,” said Dončić, who scored 27 points. “We just didn’t get it. I wish I was out there.”
Dončić was called for his sixth and final foul, at 4:12 of the fourth. He was guarding Jaylen Brown and there was contact, though it looked like Dončić stayed in front of Brown. Dallas challenged the call, and head referee Marc Davis said Dončić had not established position when Brown ran into him.
Advertisem*nt
“They called a foul. I was stuck. I had to challenge it,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said.
It was a two-point game when Brown rose up with about one minute left for a momentum-blunting jumper. The Mavericks had more chances, but P.J. Washington, Kyrie Irving and Tim Hardaway Jr. all missed 3s. Free throws by Tatum with 14.6 seconds remaining put the game out of reach.
Irving enjoyed what was easily his best game of this series, scoring 35 points on 14-of-26 shooting. Washington finished with 13 points and rookie Dereck Lively II added 11 off the bench.
Kyrie Irving is SIZZLING in the 1st half of Game 3 🔥
20 PTS and 4 3PM on ABC! pic.twitter.com/hDgNqBh5WP
— NBA (@NBA) June 13, 2024
Irving’s teams are now 0-13 against Boston since he left the Celtics as a free agent in the summer of 2019.
Game 4 at American Airlines Center is at 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday. Should the Celtics win, they will set the NBA’s new record with their 18th title.
Derrick White contributed 16 points for Boston, one of just three Celtics to score in double figures. The Celtics connected on 17 3s to the Mavericks’ nine, paced by four 3s each from Tatum and White, with Sam Hauser providing three 3s off the bench. Xavier Tillman, a reserve big man who made just eight 3s during the regular season, played 11 minutes with Porziņģis out and his lone points were, of course, a corner 3.
Brown, the Eastern Conference finals MVP who is making a strong case to win the award for the finals, scored 24 of his 30 after halftime. His emphatic dunk with seven seconds left in the third finished off a 15-point quarter for him and put Boston up by that many.
JAYLEN BROWN. MONSTER SLAM.
He finished the 3Q with 15 PTS!
Celtics looking to go up 3-0 headed to the 4th on ABC 👀 pic.twitter.com/qBuzzhPkpR
— NBA (@NBA) June 13, 2024
“How can I explain Jaylen,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “The guy just has a growth mindset. He just wants to get better. He yearns to get better. He’s not afraid to face his weaknesses on the court. So when you have that type of mindset, you’re just going to be able to take on every situation that the game brings you.”
Advertisem*nt
The Mavs’ ensuing fourth-quarter comeback — which would have tied an NBA record for the largest deficit overcome at the start of the fourth quarter, conjured memories of something Mazzulla said in his pregame news conference before Game 3. He said, “If you’ve ever been in a fight with someone and you think you’re about to beat them, you usually get sucker punched.”
It’s a philosophy Mazzulla often shares with his players about the danger of relaxing when you feel victory is in hand.
History suggests Boston has two hands and maybe a foot wrapped around the Larry O’Brien Trophy, and, again, according to the record books, there is nothing the Mavericks will be able to do about it.
The Celtics trailed the 2023 Eastern Conference finals 3-0 to the Miami Heat and won the next three games before falling in Game 7. Tatum sprained his ankle early in the first quarter of that game, and the Heat won easily.
“We really felt like we were going to come back,” Tatum said. “We almost did. You know, we were a sprained ankle away from having like a real shot. So, you know, we are not relaxing or anything like that.”
Dončić argued that the Mavericks have the same mindset, saying, “We’re still going to believe until the end.”
Required reading
- Celtics vs. Mavericks score, highlights and live updates
- Celtics’ transition 3s against Mavs: How they get them and why it’s important
- How did Mavericks go from draft lottery to NBA Finals? Blame P.J. Washington and Svi Mykhailiuk
- Can Kyrie Irving crack Celtics’ code? Mavericks’ NBA Finals hopes depend on it
(Photo: Kevin Jairaj / USA Today)
Joe Vardon is a senior NBA writer for The Athletic, based in Cleveland. Follow Joe on Twitter @joevardon
