DALLAS — The shorthanded Celtics are one win away from their 18th championship in franchise history after a 106-99 victory in Game 3 over the Mavericks Wednesday night. It was the 10th consecutive postseason win for Boston who has now taken a 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals.
Boston played without Kristaps Porzingis who was ruled out by the team two hours before the opening tip due to a a torn medial retinaculum in his left leg suffered during Game 2.
Without the big man, Jayson Tatum played his best game of the series, scoring 20 of his team-high 31 points in the first half. Jaylen Brown added 30 points and a team-high eight assists in the victory.
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Kyrie Irving (game-high 35 points) and Luka Doncic (27 points) had big offensive games of the series but it wasn’t enough as the Mavs supporting cast floundered around them for much of the night, leading to a 0-3 series hole for the hosts. No team in NBA history has come back from an 0-3 deficit in a playoff series.
The Mavericks came out of the gate with a ton of energy, jumping out to a 25-12 lead in the opening six minutes of the game thanks to some red-hot shooting from Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic.
The Celtics fought back quickly with a 18-6 run of their own to close out the opening frame, led by Tatum (13 first quarter points) and some terrific shooting from Sam Hauser (3-of-3 from 3-point range in first half).
The offense slowed down for both sides in a sloppy second quarter with easy baskets tough to come by for both sides. Irving and Doncic combined for 37 of the Mavericks 51 points in the first half but the Celtics hung close thanks to Tatum’s best half of the series (20 points).
The Celtics took command of the game at the start of the third quarter by making six straight shots to open the frame, targeting Doncic constantly in the half court to put the Mavericks in rotation. The visitors started to pull away at the end of the third quarter using a 33-11 run to push their lead to as high as 21 points early in the fourth quarter. The Mavs fought back with a furious 20-2 run midway through the frame. However, Doncic fouled out of the game with 4:12 remaining, stalling the Mavericks’ comeback after they got the Celtics’ lead down to one.
The Celtics and Mavericks only get one day of rest on Thursday before squaring off in Game 4 back in the American Airlines Center on Friday night with Boston getting a chance to win their first title since 2008.
