Carl Coulanges, The Sports Hit List Executive Producer
Desperate times, call for desperate measures. The Dallas Mavericks entered game four hanging by a thread from elimination. The Mavs would not allow the Boston Celtics to celebrate on their home floor. Dallas defeated the Celtics by 38 points (122-84).
From the start of the game, Dallas punched Boston with the early 13 point lead to end the 1st quarter. The defensive intensity was immediate as Guard Luka Dončić was guarding Wingman Jayson Tatum. Luka heard all the noise after game three about his defense. The wake up call from the media backlash ignited more effort from him. Luka finished with 29 points, five rebounds, and five assists.
Aside from Guard Kyrie Irving scoring 21 points on 55% shooting, “the others” finally showed up in this series. Shooting 40 % percent from three, P.J. Washington, Derrick Jones Jr., Dante Exum, and Dereck Lively all chipped in.
As for the Celtics, the city of Boston was ready for the champagne party, but the team looked unprepared to sweep. No offensive rhythm, foul trouble, the lack of defense play, are all a combination of factors that led to the embarrassing loss.
According to the Boston Herald Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla said “It’s about our opponent and having respect for them. And you have to give them credit for how well they played, and that’s the most important thing. So it’s less about us and more about how they played. They played well. They played hard. We have to be more disciplined in how we defend and attack them.”
One of the most difficult games is a closeout game. Did the Celtics give hope to the Mavericks? No team in NBA history has come back from down 0-3 (156-0) and only 4 teams have forced a game 7 (1951 New York Knicks, 1994 Denver Nuggets, 2003 Portland Trail Blazers, 2023 Boston Celtics).
Game five this Monday, June 17th at 8:30 pm from TD Garden in Boston.
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