Unfortunately, it has come down to this for the Dallas Mavericks. Either they beat the Boston Celtics at American Airlines Center on Friday, or their
season will be over.
The Mavs put themselves in this dark corner when they lost Game 3 at AAC, 106-99, Wednesday night to the Celtics to put themselves in an unimaginable 3-0 hole in this best-of-seven series in the NBA Finals. The hole is extremely deep considering that NBA teams are a combined 156-0 when they lead a best-of-seven series 3-0.
“We just got to make history,” said rookie center Dereck Lively II, who finished with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. “We got to go out there and we just got to play like our lives on the line.”
Part of the reason the Mavs’ lives are on the line is because point guard Luka Dončić fouled out for just the third time in his career, including only the first time in his playoff career. The unfortunate departure by Dončić came with 4:12 remaining in the game and the Mavs trailing the Celtics, 93-90.
“We couldn’t play physical so, I don’t know,” said Dončić, who picked up his fifth foul with 4:38 left in the game. “I don’t want to say nothing.
“You know, six fouls in the NBA Finals, basically I’m like this (motions with palms out). C’mon, man. Better than that.”
Coach Jason Kidd challenged the sixth foul whistled against Dončić, which was called a blocking foul that occurred against Jaylen Brown. But Kidd, unfortunately, lost that challenge.
“I was stuck,” Kidd said. “(I) had to challenge because it was a close call. But the referee called it a foul. Got to move on, move forward.”
The Celtics moved on and took advantage of the departure by Dončić with Jayson Tatum driving inside for a dunk to put the Boston up, 100-94, 2:17 left. But a pair of dunks by Lively helped the Mavs inch to within 100-98 of Boston with 1:20 remaining.
Brown, however, scored in the paint to give Boston a 102-98 lead with 1:01 left. Then, P.J. Washington’s three-pointer rimmed out for the Mavs, and a shot from downtown by Kyrie Irving also missed its mark.
A pair of free throws apiece by Derrick White and Tatum down the stretch closed the deal for Boston and put the Mavs on the brink of elimination. But Irving did his best in trying to keep the Mavs engaged after Dončić fouled out.
“Luka picked up his fifth and sixth in a matter of a three-minute or two-minute span,” Irving said. “It’s tough. We still had to figure out a way to win the basketball game.
“We put our best foot forward, especially being down 21. We easily could have packed up and folded, but we didn’t give up. We kept playing. The guys that were out there, we kept competing. Felt like we gave ourselves a chance to win down the stretch.”
The third quarter actually became the tipping point in this game. That’s when the Celtics outscored the
Mavs, 35-19, and carried an 85-70 lead into the fourth quarter.
Boston went on to pad that lead to 91-70 following a three-pointer by White less than a minute into the fourth quarter. But the Mavs regrouped and went on a thunderous 20-2 run to close the deficit to 93-90 with 6:11 remaining.
But not long after that, Dončić fouled out for the first time ever in a playoff game, and that all but took the life out of the building. However, the Mavs must be kicking themselves after they couldn’t take advantage of the fact that the Celtics were without center Kristaps Porzingis, who sat out the game with a tendon injury in his lower left leg.
The Mavs were repeatedly attacking the basket – and scoring – when there was no one there to protect the rim as they mounted a 22-9 lead with 5:48 left in the first quarter. But then 
the well went dry at the rim for the Mavs.
“We just missed some layups that we haven’t missed here in the playoffs,” Kidd said. “Give them credit. They make it tough.
“They will wear on you as the game goes on. We got off to a good start, but I didn’t see where they affected us in the sense of we missed some layups. That’s just the game of basketball. It happens.”
Other factors also happened that the Mavs will undoubtedly look back on that invariably cost them this game.
Irving led the Mavs with 35 points, Doncic collected 27 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Washington added 13 points and eight boards. For the Celtics, Tatum finished with 31 points, six rebounds and five assists, Brown contributed 30 points, eight boards and eight assists, and White poured in 16 points.
“It really comes down to us just taking our foot off the gas,” Lively said. “There were times in the game we allowed them to be comfortable, allowed them to wa
lk into threes.
“There were times in the third quarter and end of the second, that we just allowed them to go on runs. We allowed them to be comfortable. We can’t allow that to happen. We have to be up in their grill the entire game.”
And if the Mavs can somehow keep their foot on the gas, perhaps they can force a Game 5, which, if necessary, will be played Monday in Boston.
On his mindset in hopefully extending this series to a seventh game, Irving said he just has to “go home, get the ammo ready, get the bazooka, the 50 cal ready. Get everything ready, because when we come into Game 4, we know we got to shoot our shots and we got to do it with an aggression. Defensively, we got to finish to do the things that create that separation for us.
“They really rely on their three-point shot to create that separation for themselves, obviously to create that comfortability. We just got to stay positive. For me personally, I’m going home, dusting off the tools and getting ready for a tough Game 4.”
X: @DwainPrice
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