The expulsion of Luka Doncic due to accumulation of fouls opened the door for the Celtics, who led by a brilliant Jaylen Brown, won in Dallas and have the Mavs against the wall by beating them 3-0 in the NBA Finals.
On June 12, 2011, the Mavs won the title led by Dirk Nowitzki by defeating the Miami Heat in Game 6. It seemed that that date would be a good omen for Dallas, who received Boston at home without Kristaps Porzingis and they started Game 3 led by an inspired Kyrie Irving.
However, despite the efforts of Irving and Luka Doncicthe rest of the Mavs cast was not even and the Celtics took advantage of that to wake up in the second half led by Jaylen Brown and put the Texas team 3-0 in the NBA Finals.
Boston is now 9-0 on the road during the 2023-24 playoffs and is close to sweeping the best-of-seven series.
These are the keys to the Celtics’ victory in Game 3.
1.- Explosive second half by Jaylen Brown. The guard was ‘off’ in the first half, only contributing 8 points and leaving all the weight of the offense to Jayson Tatum; However, for the second half, Brown exploded to finish with 30 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds in 41 minutes.
While Brown was not fine, his accomplice, Tatum, was the one who carried the Celtics offense to finish the night with 31 points.
2.- Celtics defense. Despite not having Porzingis, the Celtics made the necessary adjustments in the second half to once again limit Dallas’ assists, which remained at 15 to Boston’s 26. Hence, Doncic and Irving had to figure out how to resolve the game.
And it seemed that in the fourth quarter, when the Mavs closed a 21-point deficit and went ahead, Game 3 would see their first victory of the Finals. Irving and Doncic, with 35 and 27 points each, led the Mavs’ comeback, but the rest of the starting cast could not support them by only adding 20 points, having a slight spark from PJ Washington, who had a stellar moment by hitting 3 triples of the 6 he tried.
Mavs led the last quarter 20-8 with 6:00 left, but came the expulsion that changed everything…
3.- Expulsion of Luka Doncic. With 4:12 left, Doncic committed his sixth foul and the door opened for the Celtics to regain control of the game.
From that moment on, Boston, led by Brown, once again took control of the game and never let go to win Game 3 and have the Mavericks against the wall.
As a fact, Kyrie Irving has a record of 0-13 against his former team, Celtics.
When and at what time is Game 4 of the NBA Finals Celtics vs Mavericks?
He Game 4 of the NBA Finals will take place on Friday, June 14 at the American Airlines Center at 6:30 p.m. CT.
