Celtics One Win Away from Being NBA Champions for the 18th Time
Boston - The Celtics have yet to lose on the road in this postseason, winning their last nine road games in a row. This is the longest stretch of road wins since the 2017 Golden State Warriors. This was Dallas' last chance to shift the momentum and win a game in this series. No team has ever come back to win a series after being down 3-0, an astounding 156 times. The Celtics are now one win away from hanging banner number 18 in the rafters. It’s an exciting time to be a Boston Celtics fan and Game Four on Friday, June 14th will be pure fun.
Luka Doncic and company got off to a terrific start. They were playing with emotion as they were playing at home and couldn’t afford to go down 3-0 in the series. To begin the game, the Mavericks went on a 9-2 start and Joe Mazzulla was quick to shut that down. Kyrie Irving and Luka were cooking all throughout the first quarter until Jayson Tatum started to catch fire. He led the Celtics on a massive run to eliminate an early 13-point deficit. Doncic and Tatum were tied for the leading scorer with a respective 13 opening points. Dallas held a 31-30 one-point lead heading into the second quarter.
After Tatum had only scored 13 first-half points in the series, he scored 20 in the first half of Game Three. As Luka was starting to show his frustration, complaining to the refs and talking to the crowd, Kyrie was there to take over. As J.J. Reddick described him, “He is an ethical scorer, doesn’t look for fouls…”. Between the two of them, they combined for 37 of their 51 first-half points. No other Maverick player scored over five points as Doncic and Irving took matters into their own hands. Not having Kristaps Porzingis in the paint gave them the confidence to be aggressive. Meanwhile, Sam Hauser was the spark off the bench the Celtics were looking for. Going 3/3 from deep was of great importance to keep the game close.
After what was a crazy, thrilling opening quarter, both teams started to settle down. Each squad was going shot for shot, which was expected between these high-powered offenses. To end the quarter, P.J. Washington's hustle gave the Mavericks a halftime lead. With the score being 51-50, the second half was anybody’s game. Crazy enough, all of the starters on the Celtics had a negative +/- and everyone who came in off the bench had a positive +/-. Kyrie Irving had finally answered the call, but it still wasn’t enough to build a generous lead. It’s hard to sustain this play from both teams and other players were tasked to step up.
There were almost 10 different lead changes in the opening two minutes of the third quarter. As a neutral basketball fan, that is the type of basketball you dream of watching. Both teams taking swings and not backing down is peak basketball. The Celtics finally started to break through as they went 6/6 to start the second half before Jason Kidd could call timeout. After a slow first half, Jaylen Brown finally got things going on offense. Derrick White was also having a great second half but on the defensive end. As NBA analysts from all media sources have described him, he is truly one of the best, if not the best, blockers at the guard position. Overall, the Celtics were just simply playing better team basketball than the Mavericks which allowed them to go on the run that they did.
By themselves, Tatum and Brown outscored the Mavericks in the third quarter. To describe how well the Celtics were playing, Xavier Tillman Sr. knocked down a corner three in front of the Dallas bench. Everything was falling for the Celtics and the Mavericks could not answer. Jaylen Brown threw down a savage slam in their final possession of the quarter to finish off a dominating performance. The Mavericks got outscored 35-19 in the third quarter alone as Luka and Kyrie couldn’t keep up with the full attack from the Celtics. The fifteen-point Celtic lead was a lot to overcome with only 12 minutes remaining.
As Mike Breen said so poetically, “It’s a Celtic Tsunami”. Within the first minute of the fourth quarter, the Celtics already extended the lead to 21 points. Jason Kidd was in obvious frustration, and he was letting his players hear it. Luka responded by immediately working his magic and getting to the hoop with some fancy dribbling. They were roaring back in the blink of an eye, going on a 12-0 run with just over seven minutes remaining. P.J. Washington finally rose to the occasion as he was needed in their comeback. His ability to shoot the corner three and fight for rebounds off the glass was key. With 6:11 remaining, the Mavericks had gone on a 20-2 run to eliminate the 21-point deficit and get within one possession.
Credit to Evan Abrams, the media & research director for Action Network, for releasing the stat the Celtics are 99-1 straight up when leading by 15+ points entering the fourth quarter since 2020. The Mavericks were on the verge of history. Unfortunately for the Mavs, Luka picked up his sixth and final foul of the game with 4:12 remaining. This was just the third time Luka had ever fouled out of an NBA game. After only scoring two points in around eight minutes, the Celtics found their offensive rhythm once again to diminish the hope of a Maverick’s comeback. That still didn’t stop Kyrie and company from giving it everything he had. Dereck Lively II was huge off the bench, securing a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. With 22 seconds remaining, the Celtics held a six-point advantage and that would be all she wrote. In the end, the Celtics would win Game Three of the NBA Finals in a 106-99 victory. Kyrie Irving’s 35-point vintage performance was not enough to get it done and the Celtics are one win away from becoming NBA Champions, once again.
