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The Dallas Mavericks kept their slim championship hopes alive on Friday night by defeating the Boston Celtics to win their first game of this year’s NBA Finals in emphatic fashion.
Dallas entered Friday’s game trailing 0-3 in the best-of-seven series with no deficit NBA team ever recovered from the postseason. Luka Doncic has been heavily criticized for his defensive shortcomings so far in this series, but the Slovenian has tightened up that side of his game while maintaining his usual offensive prowess as he scored 29 points, 25 of them in the first half, in his a 122-84 beatdown team win.
“We had to play our A-game,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “It was this or we go on vacation. I think the group did a great job of not pushing, letting the game happen. The flow was there. We did that in the first three games, we just couldn’t capitalize.”
Such was the one-sided nature of the game that by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, both teams had benched most of their starters. The final margin of 38 points was the third largest in history The NBA Finals game since Chicago beat Utah 96-54 in 1998 and the Celtics beat 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 — snapped the Celtics’ franchise-record 10-game postseason streak and robbed them of a chance to become the first team in NBA history to win both the conference finals and the finals in 4-0 sweeps.
Jayson Tatum scored 15 points, Sam Houser had 14, while Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday each finished with 10 for the Celtics. Kyrie Irving scored 21 points for the Mavericks, while Derek Lively grabbed 12 rebounds.
The series now shifts to Boston for Game 5 on Monday, when the Celtics will try to win a record 18th NBA title. After Friday’s performance, that task looks a little more difficult.
“We have to play the same way [in Boston]Doncic said after the match. “Their fans will be loud so we have to stay focused and do the same things we did today.”
Doncic has had a number of injuries throughout the playoffs, but the win seemed to ease his pain. Asked how he felt physically, Doncic grinned and replied, “Unbelievable.”
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