By Dorothy J. Gentry
Sports Editor
Photos: Charles ‘City” Gbadebo
Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Wednesday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas was supposed to be it.
It was supposed to be the Dallas Mavericks’ comeback game; the game to get them back into the 2024 NBA Finals and give them a fighting chance at winning a second championship.
Instead, it will be remembered as the game in which star Luka Doncic fouled out with 4 minutes left in the game. It will be remembered as the game in which the Mavs – who came out like gangbusters scoring 31 points in the first quarter alone – lost their third straight to a highly talented Boston Celtics squad (without Kristaps Porzingis). The final score: 106-99 and the Celtics went up 3-0.
It will be remembered as the game that put the Mavericks one loss away from a sweep in the Finals by a Celtics team looking to win its 18th franchise championship.
Entering the 2024 NBA Finals, teams that win the first three games of a best-of-seven playoff series (any round) have a series record of 156-0. In the NBA Finals, teams that win the first three games have a series record of 14-0.
In other words, a team coming back from 3-0 has never happened.
Boston is the 15th team to win the first three games of an NBA Finals series. Of the 14 previous instances, the leading team won the series in four games nine times, in five games twice, in six games twice and in seven games once.
When it’s all said and done, the Mavs are in an impossible position.
But they say they aren’t giving up yet.
“We just gotta make history. We have to go out there and play like our lives are on the line,” said the Mavs’ Dereck Lively II, who finished the night with 11 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals.
“It’s not over til it’s over,” Doncic said postgame. “We just gotta believe. Like I always say, it’s first to four. We’ve got to stay together. We lose together, we win together so we gotta stay together.”
Wednesday night was only the third time Doncic has fouled out in his six-season career; and the first time he has fouled out in the playoffs. He finished the night with 27 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal.
Of the officiating on him tonight and the ultimate fouling out, Doncic had this to say: “I don’t want to say nothing but six fouls in the NBA Finals? I’m like this (hands held out, palms up). Come on man. Be better than that.’
The officials are not the only ones who needed to be better.
The Mavs knew after Game 2 that they needed to be better, and they were for the majority of the game. They came out of the gates red hot – scoring 31 points in the first quarter alone. Kyrie Irving, who struggled in Games 1 and 2 in Boston, finished the night with 35 points, 2 assists and 3 rebounds. Besides him and Doncic, PJ Washington Jr. (18 pts) and Lively were the only other Mavericks in double digits.
It was enough for a while as the Mavs led the Celtics but midway through the game, the team seemed to take their foot off the gas and allowed a red-hot Celtics team, clicking on all cylinders since Game 1, to make numerous runs and go up as much as 15 on the Mavs in front of a stunned home crowd.
The Mavs fought back, getting it down to a 1-point game on an Irving jump shot with a few minutes left in regulation. But the Celtics went on yet another run, this time their final run, and put the game away.
“The game of basketball is about runs. It’s never going to go like you expected. If you want to be a champion, you have to be resilient in those situations, and we did that tonight,” said the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum who finished with 31 points. Teammate Jaylen Brown finished with 30 points.
The Celtics won their 10th consecutive game in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, extending the longest playoff winning streak in team history. They are the ninth team to win at least 10 straight playoff games in a single season.
With the Game 3 win, the Celtics remain unbeaten on the road in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, improving to 7-0. Their seven consecutive victories are tied for the second-longest playoff road winning streak in a single season, one behind the 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers (eight).
And even though they can close out the series on Friday in Game 4 here in Dallas, head coach Joe Mazzulla said the team is not looking ahead to a celebration.
“You’ve got to understand we are just as vulnerable if not more vulnerable than they are,” he said. “When you understand that you’re vulnerable and your back’s against the wall, you’ve got to fight. And so that’s the mindset that we have to have.”
Dorothy Gentry is an award-winning journalist, PR pro and educator. A University of North Texas alum, she is the Sports Editor for Texas Metro News, Garland Journal and I Messenger.
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