The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Boston Celtics on Friday night in a commanding victory in the first game of this year’s NBA Finals, keeping their slim championship hopes alive.
Dallas entered Friday’s game trailing 0-3 in the best-of-seven series, the worst that any NBA team has ever come back from in the postseason. Luka Doncic had been heavily criticized for his defensive deficiencies so far in the series, but the Slovenian stepped up defensively while maintaining his usual offensive prowess, scoring 29 points, including 25 in the first half, to help his team to a 122-84 victory.
Best of 7 series. All times are Eastern Time (EDT).
June 6 (Thursday) Game 1: Celtics 107, Mavericks 89
June 9th (Sunday) Game 2: Celtics 105, Mavericks 98
Wednesday, June 12 Game 3: Celtics 106, Mavericks 99
June 14th (Friday) Game 4: Mavericks 122, Celtics 84
Monday, June 17 Game 5: Mavericks vs. Celtics (8:30 p.m., ABC)
June 20th (Thursday) Game 6: Celtics vs. Mavericks (8:30 p.m., ABC)*
Sunday, June 23 Game 7: Mavericks vs. Celtics (8 p.m., ABC)*
*If necessary
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“We had to be at our best,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “Without this, we had to take the day off. I thought our team did a great job of not pressuring ourselves and just letting the game flow. We had the flow. We did that the first three games, we just didn’t capitalize on it.”
The game was one-sided, with both teams benching most of their starting lineups going into the fourth quarter. The 38-point final score was the third-largest in NBA Finals history, behind Chicago’s 96-54 win over Utah in 1998 and the Celtics’ 131-92 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008. At one point in the fourth quarter, the Mavericks led by 48 points.
The loss was Boston’s first in five weeks, ended the Celtics’ franchise-record 10-game postseason winning streak and cost them a chance to become the first team in NBA history to win both a conference finals and the Finals 4-0.
“Preparation isn’t an automatic guarantee of success,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought we had a great process. We had great shooting practice. We had a great film session yesterday. I thought the guys came out with the right intentions. I just thought things didn’t go our way and I thought Dallas outplayed us. They just played harder.”
For the Celtics, Jayson Tatum scored 15 points, Sam Hauser had 14, and Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday each had 10. For the Mavericks, Kyrie Irving scored 21 points and Derek Lively had 12 rebounds.
The series shifts to Game 5 on Monday in Boston with the Celtics looking to win their record-tying 18th NBA championship, but Friday’s performance suggests the challenge will be a bit tougher.
“We had to play the same way. [in Boston]”The opposing team’s fans are going to be loud so we just have to stay focused and do what we did today,” Doncic said after the game.
Doncic has been plagued by injuries throughout the playoffs, but the win appears to have eased the pain. When asked how he was feeling, Doncic grinned and said, “Great.”
