The Boston Celtics are making the Dallas Mavericks look like they don’t belong in the NBA Finals.
The Mavs do, of course — but you wouldn’t know it by the first three games. The Celtics have just been that good. And now, courtesy of a 106-99 road win on Wednesday, Boston holds a 3-0 series lead.
No team has ever come back from such a postseason deficit and there’s no reason to believe the Mavs will be the first. They just can’t get anything going on a regular basis.
On Tuesday, they burst out to a 9-2 lead, making each of their first four shots. It looked like they had finally found some rhythm — and maybe this would be the game in which they sent a message and won in a rout.
Instead, they trailed by 21 points early in the fourth quarter. That’s these Celtics for you. They have true stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and those two are surrounded by a bunch of winners — from Al Horford to Jrue Holiday to Derrick White and beyond.
Oh, and Boston did it without forward Kristaps Porzingis, a late scratch with a lower leg injury.
Dallas came charging back, cutting the deficit to three points with about 6 minutes to go. But the final four minutes had to come without star guard Luka Doncic, who fouled out on a questionable blocking call against Brown. The Mavs challenged … and lost.
That call has been the story of these last two games. The Mavs challenged … and lost. And now all that’s left to wonder is if the Celtics will sweep or win in five. If that’s even worthy of wonder.
Tatum and Brown were brilliant, with 31 and 30 points, respectively. The Mavs just don’t have anyone who can come close to defending either player. With that in mind, Boston has proven to be unbeatable when the likes of White (16 points), Holiday (nine), Sam Hauser (nine) and Horford (eight) can contribute at all.
Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving had his best game of the series 35 points and 4-of-6 shooting on 3-pointers. Problem is, Irving and Doncic (26 points) are getting almost no consistent help. And the Mavs’ offense has almost zero flow.
Boston’s defense has plenty to do with that and we all know what they say about defense. It wins NBA championships, and that’s precisely what the Celtics are about to do.
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When I was younger, lowering your shoulder meant you charged. And then Brown flopped. James Harden has made millions off of how that is officiated, but I hate it. Maybe we were taught wrong but it just seems wrong to the greatest game ever created.
After seeing the last 2 rounds, I have to wonder how close were the Cavs if healthy? If New York was healthy, I think they could beat these teams also.