Jayson Tatum scored 31 points, Jaylen Brown added 30 and the Boston Celtics held off a Dallas rally and took a 3-0 lead with a 106-99 win over the Mavericks in the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, moving within a record-tying 18th championship.
Brown had eight rebounds and eight assists, and the Celtics extended their franchise record with their 10th consecutive playoff win, improving to 7-0 on the road this postseason. They were able to win the series and Breaking the tie with the Lakers With a win at Dallas on Friday, they extended their record for most NBA championships.
Boston also improved to 10-1 in this playoff run without Latvian forward Kristaps Porzingis, who was sidelined hours before the game due to a leg injury sustained in Game 2.
It’s questionable whether Porzingis will be available for the remainder of the series, but that may not matter: 156 teams have faced a 3-0 deficit and never pulled off a comeback victory in an NBA playoff series.
The Mavericks nearly pulled off a crazy comeback to avoid defeat, 13 years after the only comparable comeback in the NBA Finals came against Miami to spark Dallas’ only title win.
Boston finished with a 20-5 run to lead 91-70 early in the fourth quarter on Wednesday, but Dallas responded with a 22-2 spurt to get within one. But after a missed challenge with 4:12 left and Luka Doncic picked up his sixth foul, Kyrie Irving, who finished with 35 points, made a jump shot to put Dallas within one.
Tatum and Brown saved the Celtics, with help from Derrick White, who added 16 points. The trio led Boston to the final 13 points.
“They never gave up, so kudos to them,” White said. “Obviously, our play has to be better, especially in that stretch… We’ve got to be better and we’ve got to learn from it.”
On this play, Luka Doncic was ejected for a blocking foul on Jaylen Brown.
It’s the first time he’s been fouled out this season.pic.twitter.com/cUroS5et73
— BasketballNews.com (@basketballnews) June 13, 2024
\n\n”}}” config=”{“renderingTarget”:”Web”,”darkModeAvailable”:false,”updateLogoAdPartnerSwitch”:true,”assetOrigin”:”https://assets.guim.co.uk/”}”>
On this play, Luka Doncic was ejected for a blocking foul on Jaylen Brown.
It’s the first time he’s been fouled out this season.pic.twitter.com/cUroS5et73
— BasketballNews.com (@basketballnews) June 13, 2024
The game appeared to be over early in the fourth quarter, but the score remained at 93-90 for more than three minutes, including when Doncic was called for a blocking foul on Brown while driving.
Doncic was unhappy with the officiating calls throughout the night, and while the final foul that got him ejected from the game appears to have been legal, it may not have been called if Brown hadn’t fallen to the floor.
“We just weren’t physical,” Doncic said after the game when asked about the officiating. “I don’t want to say anything.” [But] Six fouls in the NBA Finals? Come on.
Without Doncic, Dallas trailed by two before Brown made a pull-up jumper with a minute left. P.J. Washington, Irving and Tim Hardaway Jr. all missed 3-pointers in the final minute, pushing Irving’s losing streak against his former team to 13 games.
