The Mavericks built a double-digit cushion in the first quarter and never looked back as they took a 61-35 halftime lead against the Celtics, who will get their second chance at their first championship since 2008 in Monday’s Game 5 at TD Garden. Boston’s embarrassing no-show performance marked the third-worst playoff loss in franchise history, surpassing a 47-point loss to the Orlando Magic in 1995 and a 44-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017. Dallas’ 38-point win. It was the second largest playoff margin in franchise history.
“We shouldn’t overcomplicate it,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “This is not surgery. Our team was ready to go. We took a stand. We were desperate. The hardest thing in this league is to close the door against a team that has nothing. You saw that tonight. [The Celtics] Release the cable first.
Lively’s three-pointer wasn’t entirely unprecedented — he made two during his freshman year at Duke — but it delighted a nervous home crowd and relieved the Mavericks, who had struggled to score in the first three games of the series and were criticized for fouling out late in a tight Game 3 by Luka Doncic. .
With the pressure temporarily relieved, Doncic finished with a game-high 29 points to go with five rebounds and five assists in 33 minutes, as Dallas found quality scoring for the first time against Boston’s stout defense. Five Mavericks scored in double figures, and the Mavericks shot 15-for-37 (40.5 percent) on three-pointers – easily one of the best outside shooting performances of all time.
“[Doncic] He’s been doing everything for us,” Kidd said. He played the game tonight. We talked about playing fast and I thought that set the tone for us. Other than that, he was no different. He was great. It was great. He is one of the best players in the world. As much as we want to criticize him, he’s a hell of a player.
Celtics center Kristaps Porzingi missed his second straight game with a left ankle injury, and the Mavericks consistently capitalized on high-quality opportunities in the paint. Irving had 21 points, six assists and four rebounds to snap his personal 13-game losing streak against his former team, the Celtics.
After Celtics coach Joe Mazzula spent the last three days preaching against mental stress, his team’s offense got off to a fast start. Jayson Tatum scored 15 points — all in the first half — but it wasn’t enough for Boston to make its first Finals appearance since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors. Jaylen Brown, the early favorite for Finals MVP, looked out of sorts in the opener, scoring 10 points on 3-for-12 shooting.
“I think that’s pretty much where we’ve been in this series,” Tatum said. “[This was] Owning our position on the offensive end is the worst job, and [not] Doing what we want, not what they force us to do. We did a good job in the first three games. This one, we didn’t,” he said.
As thousands of Celtics fans roared at Texas in hopes of a title celebration, their pregame enthusiasm faded early in the second half. Boston suffered its first playoff loss in eight road games, snapping a 10-game winning streak in the second round against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“Dallas is a great team,” said Mazzula, who refrained from criticizing the Celtics. “We have to get it. [Our effort] It wasn’t as good as Dallas. Theirs was much better.”
Dallas, whose first three Finals games were held under 100 points, reached that mark and led by 48 with just over nine minutes remaining. With 15 minutes left in the game, Mazula pulled the starters. The fourth quarter was garbage time, even though Mavericks guard Tim Hardaway Jr. had cheers and “Mavs up by seven!” They bounced back from a month-long slump to finish with 15 points on five threes.
Doncic, fuming after the Game 3 loss, said the big win gave him a big postgame smile and confidence that Dallas could make NBA history. Like the Celtics, teams that win the first three games of a seven game streak are 156-0 in NBA playoff history and 14-0 in the Finals.
“We believe until the end,” Doncic said. “Now we have to move on. I have a lot of faith in this team that we will do it. … Everyone played with a lot of energy. That’s how we should do it. We have to think the same in Game 5 in Boston.
The Celtics will have two days off to figure out why they lacked the momentum necessary to close out the series in emphatic fashion. As the Mavericks proved in their Western Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves, a Game 5 feat has the power to erase all memories of a 4-game drubbing.
“They played better than us,” Celtics center Al Hofford said. “They clearly played us. This is hard to take, but this is the truth. One thing I can tell you about our team is that we have responded time and time again when faced with a problem.