Celtics nearly blow 21-point lead, hang on to seize control of NBA Finals

This was, simply put, torture for both sides. First, the home fans, watching their season slip away in methodical fashion, could only manage long, low moans as the Celtics mixed crisp ball movement and quality shot-making to score on their first seven possessions after halftime to seize control on the road. Then, it was time for the scattered green shirts in the building to experience deep queasiness when the Mavericks countered with a 22-2 run to slice the Celtics’ 21-point fourth-quarter lead down to one and set the stage for a high-pressure ending.

But the prospect of a classic Finals comeback fizzled when Mavericks star Luka Doncic fouled out with 4:12 remaining on a debatable blocking foul. Doncic, who was targeted defensively by the Celtics all night, fouled out for just the third time in his six-year career and for the first time in a regulation game without overtime.

“We had a good chance and we were close,” Doncic said. “We just didn’t get it. I wish I was out there. I don’t know. We couldn’t play physical. I don’t want to say nothing, but six fouls in the NBA Finals. Come on, man. [Be] better than that.”

Mavericks Coach Jason Kidd challenged Doncic’s sixth foul, which came as he was defending Celtics forward Jaylen Brown on the perimeter, to no avail.

“[Doncic] definitely has a bull’s eye on his chest,” Kidd said. “He’s got to guard. He’s carrying a load offensively, and they’re putting him in every pick and roll and [isolation defensively].”

Without its franchise player for the closing stretch, Dallas couldn’t conjure enough scoring to keep pace with Boston. Kyrie Irving, who finished with a game-high 35 points, took control of the offense late, but he missed a pair of clutch shots as the Celtics allowed only two field goals in the final two minutes and held the Mavericks under 100 points for the third time in three games. P.J. Washington and Tim Hardaway Jr. also missed opportunities to score with the game close.

The Celtics shook free from their agonizing dry spell on offense to seal the win with a group effort in the final three minutes: Jrue Holiday found Derrick White for a three-pointer from the top of the key, White found Jayson Tatum in the paint for a spinning dunk, and Brown dribbled into a double-clutch jumper near the free throw line to stave off the Mavericks.

“That lead dwindled fast,” Brown said. “They stormed back. That’s the beauty of basketball. … Sometimes when you are winning, comfort sets into your mind. You kind of relax. Your brain kind of wants to go at ease, and you’ve got to fight that temptation.”

Hosting their first Finals game sine 2011, the Mavericks came out of the gate with an urgency befitting their perilous position, going up 9-2 to force an early Celtics timeout before building their first double-digit lead of the series midway through the first quarter. Irving, coming off a pair of poor shooting games in Boston, hit four three-pointers in the first half to put Dallas up by as many as 13.

Knowing no NBA team has ever come back to win after facing a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series, Dallas pulled out all the stops. Dirk Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler, Shawn Marion, Jason Terry and other members of the Mavericks’ 2011 championship team pumped up the crowd from a luxury suite, and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who grew up outside Dallas, voiced a pregame motivational video that played on the jumbotron. Mavericks fans chanted “MVP” as Doncic piled up 13 first-quarter points, but the Celtics, who were without center Kristaps Porzingis because of a left ankle injury, hardly flinched.

Celtics Coach Joe Mazzulla continued to start Al Horford at center and plugged Xavier Tillman into Porzingis’s spot in the rotation. Tillman, acquired from the Memphis Grizzlies before the trade deadline, turned in hustle plays to buy time for the 37-year-old Horford, who wound up playing 37 minutes and didn’t leave the court in the fourth quarter.

Despite the result, Boston clearly missed Porzingis: Doncic and Irving found more room to attack going to the basket without his rim-protection ability, and the two guards combined for 62 of Dallas’s 99 points as only four Mavericks players finished in double figures.

Mazzulla revealed few details about Porzingis, who the Celtics said suffered “a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg” during Game 2. Porzingis had wanted to play in Game 3 after missing 10 games during the postseason with a right calf strain, but Boston’s medical staff nixed the idea, and he was officially ruled out roughly two hours before tip-off. His status for Friday’s Game 4 remains unknown.

“Porzingis didn’t look right,” Mazzulla said. “That was it. I wasn’t involved in it. It was out of his hands. It was up to the medical team. They watched him through some testing and they said it didn’t feel right, so you’re not playing.”

Without Porzingis to punish mismatches, the scoring burden fell to Boston’s star forwards. Tatum looked to score more often than he had earlier in the series: He had 20 points by halftime, and he helped stunt Dallas’s momentum with a leak-out dunk to close the first quarter. Though his shot selection got looser in the fourth quarter, he posted a team-high 31 points to go with six rebounds and five assists.

“Life is about roller coasters,” Tatum said. “The game of basketball and life and whatever your occupation is, we all go through ups and downs. In the toughest moments, that’s when your true character comes out.”

Brown added 30 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, scoring 15 points during Boston’s 35-19 third quarter and hitting his dagger jumper with just over a minute left in regulation.

“[Brown] yearns to get better,” Mazzulla said. “He’s not afraid to face his weaknesses on the court. When you have that type of mind-set, you’re just going to be able to take on every situation the game brings you. He puts himself in every situation he sees in a game. He uses six, seven or eight coaches a day. That’s how you grow.”

With a win in Game 4, Boston can become the first team to sweep the NBA Finals since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors and the first Eastern Conference team to do so since the 1988-89 Detroit Pistons. That would qualify as a resounding grand finale for a 64-win regular season team that is now 15-2 in the playoffs.

Hundreds of relieved Celtics fans stayed late after the buzzer, mugging for television cameras and fully expecting their faith to be rewarded. Tatum and Brown, so close to their first rings after seven seasons together, embraced at the final buzzer.

“Experience is the best teacher,” Brown said. “All year long we’ve been hearing about the Celtics of the past. For the last six to eight months, all we’ve been hearing is the different shortcomings we’ve had in the past. This is a new team. In these moments, you can see that we learned from it.”