DALLAS — Deficits like that of the Dallas Mavericks facing the NBA Finals are never overcome nor do they interrupt the pride of the team trying to dig itself out of such a deep hole.
Luka Doncic After scoring 25 of its 29 points in the first half of Game 4, the Mavericks built one of the largest halftime leads ever in a Finals game and cruised to a 122-84 victory over the Boston Celtics for their first victory in this series. The 38-point margin of victory is the third largest in NBA Finals history.
“We had to play our A game — it was that or we were going on vacation,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said.
The Mavericks trail 3-1, and no team has ever come back to win an NBA playoff series after losing the first three games (0 for 156; 0 for 14 in the Finals). Game 5 is at 8:30 p.m. ET on Monday in Boston.
WHAT A FIRST HALF FOR LUKA DONCIC ????
25 points, 4 assists and a 61-35 Mavs lead.
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-NBA (@NBA) June 15, 2024
A large contingent of Celtics fans who flooded American Airlines Arena in hopes of seeing their team win a NBA-record an 18th title and become the first to win both a conference final and an NBA Finals. Instead, we witnessed a bizarre double whammy in which Boston’s vaunted defense was shredded and its powerful offense was thwarted. The Celtics’ 84 points were their fewest of the season, regular or playoff.
Another example of the general malaise: with 7 minutes and 28 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Boston grabbed 16 rebounds as a team; Dallas Rookie and Reserve Center Derek Lively II had 12 boards.
“I thought they outplayed us,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Dallas is a great team and you’re going to have to earn it. There are many things we can control. We’ll go back and watch it, and we’ll really try to be disciplined and control it.
Added Jaylen Brown: “These are the moments that can make or break you. We must come together.
The Celtics had won 10 in a row and seven in a row on the road but found themselves trailing 61-35 at halftime in Game 4. Only three halftime deficits are greater than these 26 points in Celtics history. NBA finals. Boston trailed by 48 points in the fourth quarter. Brown, the early favorite to win Finals MVP, had 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting. Jayson Tatum scored 15 points on 4 of 10 shooting.
Before Game 4, Kidd predicted there would come a time Friday night when a team — his or the Celtics’ — would have to decide whether to fold. In Dallas’ case, a concession would mean the offseason; in Boston, a Game 5 punt with a chance to win it all at home.
That moment came for good with 3:18 left in the third quarter and the Celtics trailing by 36. Mazzulla pulled all of his starters and they didn’t come back. The starters of both teams were out of the game before the end of the third quarter.
“We don’t need to complicate things, it’s not surgery – our group was ready to go,” Kidd said. “(The Celtics) were ready to party. We have taken a stand. We were desperate. … They let go of the rope.
From Kidd’s point of view, he can be certain that his players did not decide to permanently unlace their sneakers because of the 3-0 deficit.
While Dončić cooked in the first half, he also played noticeably better defensively, finishing with three steals. Dallas appeared to switch more to the pick-and-roll to protect Dončić from being caught in mismatches, but he held his own when challenged.
After his botched performance in Game 3, he was repeatedly beaten on defense and eliminated, thanks to four fourth-quarter fouls — Dončić was heavily criticized both for his defense and for his complaints to officials. Child asked critics to ‘give my man a break’ in his remarks before Game 4 and predicted that Doncčić would be better on Friday. He was right.
“He didn’t tell me anything specific, but it says a lot about him. He always supports the players,” said Dončić. “He always supports us. It’s a great thing to have a coach like that.
The Mavericks also received 21 points from Kyrie Irving and 11 points and 12 rebounds from Lively – who joined Magic Johnson as the only other 20-year-olds to have multiple double-doubles in the Finals.
“I’m not comfortable. We have to win…” Lively said. “We have to have a lot more wins. We have to win a lot more little battles. We have to stay disciplined. We just have to replicate what we did in this match. Do it next.
Derek Lively II was huge off the bench for Dallas in the Game 4 victory!
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-NBA (@NBA) June 15, 2024
Lively’s 3 from the corner in the first quarter was her first 3-pointer of the entire season – regular season or playoffs. Asked about it afterward, he pointed to the sky in honor of his mother, who died of cancer earlier this year.
“It is for her. She helped me get there,” he said. “She’s going to help me win a lot more.”
Before the pointless portion of the game, Dallas’ bench held a sizable advantage over Boston’s reserves — and it held even after both teams’ substitutes began bombarding 3s. When it was over, Tim Hardaway Jr. had made five 3s, all in the fourth quarter, and the Mavs bench dominated its counterpart 54-40.
Kidd turned more towards Dante Exum (10 points) in Game 4 and still hasn’t gotten much in terms of point production from starters PJ Washington, Derrick Jones Jr. And Daniel Gafford, but the Mavericks at least looked at the corner 3s and lob dunks that had been their favorite plays earlier in the playoffs. Until Friday, the Celtics had removed those options.
In a small twist to the series, Boston’s star center Kristaps Porziņģis, who missed Game 3, was available to play Game 4 but did not appear. Mazzulla warned that the 7-footer is “not quite there” to recover from the torn tissue and displaced tendon near his left ankle, and said the team would only use Porziņģis in a “very specific” situation.
None of that happened and Porziņģis never took off his warmups.
Maybe he’ll get the chance on Monday.
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(Photo: Peter Casey / USA Today)
