Tag: Mavericks

Mavericks trade Tim Hardaway to Pistons for Quentin Grimes

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FILE– Tim Hardaway Jr. #10 of the Dallas Mavericks is headed to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA. Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP 

The Dallas Mavericks are trading Tim Hardaway Jr. and three second-round NBA draft picks to the Detroit Pistons for Quentin Grimes, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Friday because the exchange of shooting guards can’t take effect until after the new league year begins July 6.

Trading Hardaway provides some financial flexibility in free agency for general manager Nico Harrison. The 32-year-old Hardaway is owed $16.2 million next season, while the 24-year-old Grimes is due $4.3 million for the final season of his rookie contract.

READ: Luka Doncic: NBA Finals loss can be springboard for Mavericks

Hardaway averaged 14.4 points and 1.8 assists per game in 79 regular-season games for the Western Conference champion Mavericks this season. Hardaway had primarily been the first player off the bench for a team led by Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, but his role began to change after the midseason acquisitions of P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford.

By the end of the playoffs, Hardaway had fallen out of the Dallas rotation and his future with the team was in doubt with one season remaining on his contract.

Dallas got Hardaway from the New York Knicks in a January 2019 trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas. The Mavericks signed Hardaway to a $75 million, four-year contract before the 2021-22 season.

Over 11 NBA seasons with the Knicks, Atlanta and the Mavericks, Hardaway has averaged 14.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.

In the NBA Finals earlier this month against Boston, Hardaway scored 15 points on five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter of Game 4 that Dallas won in a blowout. He was 0-for-8 shooting in only 36 total minutes while playing in three of the other four games.

Grimes was drafted 25th overall in 2021 by the Los Angeles Clippers, who then immediately traded him to the Knicks. New York dealt him to Detroit on Feb. 8, but he played only six games after that because of right knee soreness. Grimes has averaged 8.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 168 career games, starting 90 of those.



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Doncic, Irving can’t deliver for Mavericks in NBA Finals clincher

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Dallas Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving (11), P.J. Washington (25), Maxi Kleber (42) and Luka Doncic (77) head to the bench during a timeout in the second half of Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals against the Boston Celtics, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

BOSTON — Short jumpers rolled off the rim and 3-pointers went in and out. Even free throws were a challenge for Luka Doncic in the clinching game of the NBA Finals.

Dallas needed Doncic and Kyrie Irving to be at their best in Game 5 against the Celtics on Monday night. Instead, the Mavericks’ best players got off to a terrible start, and by the time their shots started falling the Celtics were coasting to a 106-88 victory and an unprecedented 18th NBA title.

“It just wasn’t our night offensively,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said after his fifth-seeded team fell short of its second NBA title. “We’re a young team. We have a young core, and so this is an exciting time to be a Mavs fan and to also be a coach for the Mavs.”

Doncic missed his first six 3-point attempts and finished 12 of 25 from the floor. He scored 28 points — 10 of them in the fourth quarter, when Dallas never got closer than 18 points. He had 12 rebounds but also turned the ball over seven times. He was 2 for 5 from the free throw line, a problem that has bothered him throughout the series.

“He’s one of the best players in the world,” Kidd said. “For him at the age of 25 to get to the finals, to be playing his basketball at the level that he’s playing — now it’s just being consistent.”

READ: Celtics rout Mavericks to win record 18th NBA championship

The Slovenian star said injuries — a bruised chest, and problems in his right knee and left ankle — weren’t the problem.

“It doesn’t matter if I was hurt, how much was I hurt. I was out there,” he said. “I tried to play, but I didn’t do enough.”

Irving was 3 for 9 from 3-point range and 5 of 16 overall while fending off boos and crude chants from his former fans every time he touched the ball. He had nine assists but 15 points — six of them in the fourth quarter, when the game was already out of reach.

READ: Postseason like almost none other for Doncic, even without NBA title

“The crowds can chant whatever they want to chant. When we’re away, they’re obviously going to go against us,” Dallas guard Josh Green said. “He does a great job of not letting it affect him and I think that goes back to his leadership on and off the court.

“So we have nothing but respect for Kyrie. … We all got his back, for sure.”

Irving and Doncic shared a hug at the end of the game.



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“We said, ‘We’ll fight together next season,’ and we (are) just going to believe,” Doncic said. “I’m proud of every guy that stepped on the floor, all the coaches, all the people behind. Obviously, we didn’t win finals, but we did have a hell of a season and I’m proud of every one of them.”

NBA Finals loss can be springboard for Mavericks

On: By: admin


Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks reacts during the fourth quarter of Game Five of the 2024 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on June 17, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. Elsa/Getty Images/AFP

Dallas star Luka Doncic was still absorbing the bitter blow of NBA Finals defeat, but one big lesson from the Mavericks 4-1 loss to the Boston Celtics was already clear.

“We’ve got to fight next season,” the 25-year-old Slovenian said, adding that the example of the Celtics themselves — back in the winner’s circle after falling in the finals in 2022 then missing out on the title series last year — was one to note.

“They’re a great team,” Doncic said. “They have been together for a long time, and they had to go through everything, so we’ve just got to look at them, see how they play, (they have) maturity, and they have some great players.

“We can learn from that,” Doncic said.

Doncic spearheaded an often sluggish Mavs offense throughout the series, despite playing with nagging knee and ankle injuries and a painful chest contusion.

READ: A postseason like almost none other for Doncic, even without NBA title

“It doesn’t matter if I was hurt, how much was I hurt,” said Doncic, who scored 28 points in Monday’s Game 5 defeat that saw Boston clinch a record 18th NBA title.

“I was out there. I tried to play, but I didn’t do enough.”

Having extended the series with a game-four blowout, Dallas never led on Monday, trailing by double digits throughout the second half.

But Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said just booking the title showdown with the 64-win Celtics — a year after Dallas failed to make the playoffs — was a harbinger of what this Mavs team can accomplish.

“This is just the beginning,” Kidd said. “A lot of people — excluding the people in the locker room — didn’t have us here.

READ: Doncic, Irving can’t deliver for Mavericks in NBA Finals clincher

“Yes, we lost 4-1, but I thought the group fought against the Celtics and just unfortunately just couldn’t make shots.”

As the game ended, Doncic exchanged an embrace with teammate Kyrie Irving, an NBA champion alongside LeBron James with Cleveland in 2016 who was brought in to bolster the Mavs in February of 2023.

“We said we’ll fight together next season, and we’re just going to believe,” Doncic said.

The Mavs’ post-season push was buoyed at the trade deadline by the acquisitions of P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, and guard Josh Green said Dallas has the raw materials to challenge again.

“I think we got here and everyone is hungry now and obviously we didn’t get what we wanted. We need to regroup and be back here again next year,” Green said.

Added Irving: “Failure at this stage definitely sucks. It’s a bitter feeling because you want to keep playing and you feel like your best game is coming up next.



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“But I’m grateful for the opportunity to grow with these guys in this locker room, and everybody across the organization.”

Celtics rout Mavericks to win record 18th NBA championship

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Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics hugs head coach Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics during the fourth quarter of Game Five of the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden on June 17, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. Adam Glanzman/Getty Images/AFP

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics again stand alone among NBA champions.

Jayson Tatum had 31 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds as the Celtics topped the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 on Monday night to win the franchise’s 18th championship, breaking a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most in league history.

Boston earned its latest title on the 16th anniversary of hoisting its last Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2008. It marks the 13th championship won this century by one of the city’s Big 4 professional sports franchises.

READ: NBA Finals: Celtics back home with chance to clinch record 18th title

Jaylen Brown added 21 points and was voted the NBA Finals MVP. Jrue Holiday finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Center Kristaps Porzingis also provided an emotional lift, returning from a two-game absence because of a dislocated tendon in his left ankle to chip in five points in 17 minutes.

It helped the Celtics cap a postseason that saw them go 16-3 and finish with an 80-21 overall record. That .792 winning percentage ranks second in team history behind only the Celtics’ 1985-86 championship team that finished 82-18 (.820).

Second-year coach Joe Mazzulla, at age 35, also became the youngest coach since Bill Russell in 1969 to lead a team to a championship.

Luka Doncic finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds for Dallas, which failed to extend the series after avoiding a sweep with a 38-point win in Game 4. The Mavericks had been 3-0 in Game 5s this postseason, with Doncic scoring at least 31 points in each of them.

Kyrie Irving finished with just 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting and has now lost 13 of the last 14 meetings against the Celtics team he left in the summer of 2019 to join the Brooklyn Nets.

READ: NBA Finals: Celtics take season’s worth of lessons into Game 5

NBA teams are now 0-157 in postseason series after falling into a 3-0 deficit.

Boston never trailed and led by as many as 26 feeding off the energy of the Garden crowd.

Dallas was within 16-15 early before the Celtics closed the first quarter on a 12-3 run that included eight combined points by Tatum and Brown.

The Celtics did it again in the second quarter when the Mavericks trimmed what had been a 15-point deficit to nine. Boston ended the period with a 19-7 spurt that was capped by a a half-court buzzer beater by Payton Pritchard – his second such shot of the series – to give Boston a 67-46 halftime lead.

Over the last two minutes of the first and second quarters, the Celtics outscored the Mavericks 22-4.

The Celtics never looked back.

Russell’s widow, Jeannine Russell, and his daughter Karen Russell were in TD Garden to salute the newest generation of Celtics champions.

They watched current Celtics stars Tatum and Brown earn their first rings. It was the trade that sent 2008 champions Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn in 2013 that netted Boston the draft picks it eventually used to select Brown and Tatum third overall in back-to-back drafts in 2016 and 2017.

The All-Stars came into their own this season, leading a Celtics team that built around taking and making a high number of 3-pointers, and a defense that rated as the league’s best during the regular season.

The duo made it to at least the Eastern Conference finals as teammates four previous times.

Their fifth deep playoff run together proved to be the charm.



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After both struggling at times offensively in the series, Tatum and Brown hit a groove in Game 5, combining for 31 points and 11 assists in the first half.

It helped bring out all the attributes that made Boston the NBA’s most formidable team this postseason – spreading teams out, sharing the ball, and causing havoc on defense.

And it put a championship bow on dizzying two-year stretch for the Celtics, that saw them lose in the finals to the Golden State Warriors in 2022 and then fail to return last season after a Game 7 home loss to the Miami Heat in the conference finals.

NBA Finals Game 5 Boston Celtics-Dallas Mavericks

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2024 NBA Finals schedule (June 18, Game 5)

8:30am – Boston Celtics at Dallas Mavericks

FULL NBA FINALS SCHEDULE HERE.

NBA Finals: Rookie leaving an impression as Mavs try to stay alive

Boston Celtics players sit on the bench during the final moments of their loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 4 of the NBA finals, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Poised for an NBA coronation in Dallas, the Boston Celtics instead suffered the most lopsided Finals loss in franchise history, but with a 3-1 series lead Jaylen Brown says there’s no need to panic.

“These are the moments that can make you or break you,” Brown said after the Mavericks demolished the Celtics 122-84 in game four of the best-of-seven championship series. FULL STORY

NBA Finals: Rookie leaving an impression as Mavs try to stay alive

Dereck Lively NBA Finals Dallas Mavericks

Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II (2) scores against the Boston Celtics during Game 4 of the NBA basketball finals, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Dallas. (Stacy Revere/Pool Photo via AP)

Dereck Lively II drained the first 3-pointer of his career, forced a missed layup at the other end and ping-ponged back down the court to slam home an alley-oop pass.

The Dallas Mavericks didn’t trail again in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against Boston following that first-quarter sequence from their 7-foot-1 rookie center.

And while a series loss to the Celtics with the title on the line still seems inevitable, the 20-year-old from Duke has left an impression on the global basketball stage. FULL STORY

NBA Finals: Celtics back home with chance to clinch record 18th title

Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks Game 4 NBA Finals

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) and guard Jrue Holiday react as Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) and forward P.J. Washington walk off away after the Celtics won 109-66 in Game 3 of the NBA basketball finals, Wednesday, June 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Sam Hodde)

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics’ catastrophic performance in Game 4 of the NBA Finals gave them a chance to clinch another championship on Monday night under the 17 banners already hanging in the TD Garden rafters.

And, coach Joe Mazzulla reminded them, that they would still have two more chances after that.

“We don’t like to lose,” Celtics guard Jaylen Brown said before practice on Sunday. “I think we are ready for Game 5. I think that’s the best answer that I’ve got. I think that we’re ready. We’re at home. And we’re looking forward to it.” FULL STORY

In hostile Boston, Mavs’ Irving aims to keep focus on NBA Finals

Kyrie Irving Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics NBA Finals

Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks looks to pass the ball during the third quarter against the Boston Celtics in Game Two of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden on June 09, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts.  (Getty Images via AFP)

NEW YORK – Resigned to the villain’s role in Boston, Dallas star Kyrie Irving is less concerned with silencing hostile Celtics fans than with quieting self doubt and leading the Mavs in a must-win NBA Finals game five.

“Let’s just call it what it is,” Irving said Sunday as the Mavs prepared to try once again to fend off elimination in the championship series, in which they trail the Celtics 3-1.

“When the fans are cheering ‘Kyrie sucks’ they feel like they have a psychological edge, and that’s fair,’” said Irving, who was hounded by Celtics fans still rankled by his departure in 2019 after two seasons with the team. FULL STORY



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Celtics aim to regroup after Mavericks avoid sweep

On: By: admin


Boston Celtics players sit on the bench during the final moments of their loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 4 of the NBA finals, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

NBA Finals 2024 Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks

Poised for an NBA coronation in Dallas, the Boston Celtics instead suffered the most lopsided Finals loss in franchise history, but with a 3-1 series lead Jaylen Brown says there’s no need to panic.

“These are the moments that can make you or break you,” Brown said after the Mavericks demolished the Celtics 122-84 in game four of the best-of-seven championship series.

“We have to reassemble,” Brown said. “We have to look at it and learn from it, and then we’ve got to embrace it and attack it.

“It’s going to be hard to do what we’re trying to do. We didn’t expect anything to be easy, but it’s no reason to lose our head.”

Boston forward Jayson Tatum said the key to moving past the big defeat was “not to harp on it too much”.

“We’re not making any excuses,” Tatum said. “We need to be better, and we will.”

READ: NBA Finals: Celtics back home with chance to clinch record 18th title

Certainly, the Celtics still have the upper hand heading into game five on Monday, where they’ll try to clinch a record-setting 18th NBA crown.

After all, no team has come back from 0-3 down to win an NBA playoff series.

But a Celtics squad schooled by coach Joe Mazzulla on the hunting tactics of killer whales looked more like the hapless seal pups on the beach as Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the rest of the Mavs roared to a 38-point game-four win.

It was the third-largest margin of victory in Finals history, and the worst pounding the 17-time champion Celtics had ever taken in the title series — surpassing their 137-104 loss to the Lakers in game three in 1984.

Kyrie Irving Dallas Mavericks beat Boston Celtics Game 4 NBA Finals

Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving, center, drives to the basket against the Boston Celtics during the first half in Game 4 of the NBA basketball finals, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

The Celtics won that series in seven games, and they still have three chances to close out the Mavs.

But from talk of a sweep the question now is could they become the first team to blow a 3-0 series lead.

Dallas, meanwhile, know the magnitude of the task they face.

“History is going to be made either way,” said Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving, who won a title alongside LeBron James in Cleveland in 2016. “We’d like to be on the right side of it.

READ: Celtics knocked down hard in Game 4, but go home with chance to clinch

“We waited until game four to ultimately play our best game,” Irving added. “Took long enough for all of us to get the party together and to play for each other the way we did (Friday).

“But it’s definitely a possibility that we can replicate it.”

Irving will have to perform better than he did in games one and two in Boston, where Celtics fans still bitter over his 2019 exit after a two-year tenure with the team, hounded him relentlessly.

“When we go to Boston, there’s going to be a bunch of them yelling a whole bunch of crazy stuff still, but I think we’ve been able to grow and face kind of this adversity head on.”

Mavs star Luka Doncic will also have to maintain the intensity he displayed in game four, when he scored 29 points with five rebounds and five assists while sitting out all of the fourth quarter to answer critics who questioned his maturity and effort.



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“I think he made a few people eat their words — in a healthy way,” Irving said.

Luka Doncic fouls out, Mavericks fall into 3-0 hole

On: By: admin


Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) looks on as referee John Conley (79) gives a review on a play against the Boston Celtics during the second half in Game 3 of the NBA basketball finals, Wednesday, June 12, 2024, in Dallas. Doncic fouled out in the fourth quarter. (AP Photo/Sam Hodde)

SCHEDULE: NBA Finals 2024 Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks

DALLAS— Luka Doncic tried to set his feet just beyond the 3-point line as the Dallas Mavericks were making a furious comeback attempt.

The superstar in his first NBA Finals was defending Jaylen Brown when the Boston guard dribbled between his legs, ducked his shoulder and made contact that sent both players hard to the ground with 4:12 left in the game. The foul was called against Doncic, who sat on the floor in disbelief with both of his arms stretched up into the air.

It was Doncic’s sixth foul of the game, his fourth in the fourth quarter, and his night was done after coach Jason Kidd’s unsuccessful challenge of the call. The Mavericks also were pretty much done for the game — and maybe the series as well — after the Boston Celtics won 106-99 on Wednesday night to go up 3-0 in the series.

“Yeah, we had a good chance. We were close. Just didn’t get it,” Doncic said. “I wish I was out there.”

READ: Celtics hold off Mavericks for commanding 3-0 NBA Finals lead

The Mavericks are now in a maybe impossible hole in these NBA Finals, after almost crawling all the way out of a big one before Doncic fouled out. They had a 22-2 run that began not long after his first foul of the quarter, and ended soon after he was sitting on the bench.

This is the 157th time a team has lost the first three games in a best-of-seven NBA playoff series. None of them has ever come back to win the series and only four have even forced a Game 7 — and the only time that happened in the NBA Finals was in 1951 by the New York Knicks.

Doncic had 27 points despite going only 1 of 7 on 3-pointers before he fouled out for only the third time in his six NBA seasons — 400 regular-season games and 51 more in the playoffs. He had never had four fouls in the same quarter before his whistle-plagued 7 1/2-minute span.

“I mean, I don’t know. We couldn’t play physical. I don’t know. I don’t want to say nothing,” Doncic said.

“You know, six fouls in the NBA Finals, basically I’m like this,” he said, motioning with his palms held out. “C’mon, man. Better than that.”

READ: NBA Finals: Luka Doncic triple-double not enough for Mavericks

Brown missed a 13-foot shot after the replay challenge, and the Mavericks — who had charged out to a 22-9 lead in the first 6:12 of the game — got a 17-foot jumper from Kyrie Irving to get within 93-92 with 3:37 left. That was the closest they got before Brown tipped in a miss by Jayson Tatum.

Doncic’s sixth foul came only 26 seconds after his fifth, also a play involving Brown when it appeared the Celtics guard may have hooked Doncic.

“Yeah, it looked … looks can be deceiving,” Kidd said.

There was no challenge then, but Kidd certainly had to try on the next one in an effort to keep Doncic in the game.

“I was stuck. I had to challenge it,” Kidd said. “Had to challenge because it was a close call. But the referee called it a foul. Got to move on, move forward.”

Game 4 is Friday night, and the Mavericks have to win just to send the series back to Boston.



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“It’s not over till it’s over. We just got to believe. Like I always say, it’s first to four,” Doncic said. “We’re going to stay together. We lose together, we win together. So we got to stay together.”

Luka Doncic, Mavericks crush Celtics to avoid sweep

On: By: admin


Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) and center Dereck Lively II (2) prepare their defense against the Boston Celtics during the first half in Game 4 of the NBA basketball finals, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

DALLAS— Luka Doncic scored 25 of his 29 points in the first half, Kyrie Irving added 21 points and the Dallas Mavericks emphatically extended their season on Friday night, fending off elimination by beating the Boston Celtics 122-84 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

The Mavs’ stars were done by the end of the third quarter, with good reason. It was all Dallas from the outset, the Mavs leading by 13 after one quarter, 26 at the half and by as many as 38 in the third before both sides emptied the benches.

The 38-point final margin was the third-biggest ever in an NBA Finals game, behind only Chicago beating Utah 96-54 in 1998 and the Celtics beating the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 in 2008.

READ: Luka Doncic learning in first NBA Finals, but not conceding to Celtics

Before Friday, the worst NBA Finals loss for the 17-time champion Celtics was 137-104 to the Lakers in 1984. This was worse. Much worse, at times. Dallas’ biggest lead in the fourth was 48 — the biggest deficit the Celtics have faced all season.

The Celtics still lead the series 3-1, and Game 5 is in Boston on Monday.

The loss — Boston’s first in five weeks — snapped the Celtics’ franchise-record, 10-game postseason winning streak, plus took away the chance they had at being the first team in NBA history to win both the conference finals and the finals in 4-0 sweeps.

Jayson Tatum scored 15 points, Sam Hauser had 14 while Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday each finished with 10 for the Celtics.

Dallas Mavericks Dereck Lively NBA Finals Mavericks vs Celtics

Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II (2) celebrates a score against the Boston Celtics during the second half in Game 4 of the NBA basketball finals, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 15 points, all in the fourth quarter, and Dereck Lively II had 11 points and 12 rebounds for Dallas. It was Lively who provided the hint that it was going to be a good night for the Mavs in the early going. He connected on a 3-pointer — the first of his NBA career — midway through the first quarter, a shot that gave the Mavs the lead for good.

READ: ‘Fun’ key to Mavs’ bid for unprecedented NBA Finals comebac–Doncic

And they were off and running from there. And kept running.

It was 61-35 at the half and Dallas left a ton of points unclaimed in the opening 24 minutes as well. The Mavs went into the break having shot only 5 of 15 from 3-point range, 10 of 16 from the foul line — and they were in total control anyway.

The lowlights for Boston were many, some of them historic:

— The 35 points represented the Celtics’ lowest-scoring total in a half, either half, in Joe Mazzulla’s two seasons as coach.

— The 26-point halftime deficit was Boston’s second biggest of the season. The Celtics trailed Milwaukee by 37 at the break on Jan. 11, one of only eight instances in their first 99 games of this season where they trailed by double figures at halftime.

— The halftime deficit was Boston’s largest ever in an NBA Finals game, and the 35-point number was the second-worst by the Celtics in the first half of one. They managed 31 against the Lakers on June 15, 2010, Game 6 of the series that the Lakers claimed with a Game 7 victory.

Teams with a lead of 23 or more points at halftime, even in this season where comebacks looked easier than ever before, were 76-0 this season entering Friday night.

Make it 77-0 now. Doncic’s jersey number, coincidentally enough.

The Celtics surely were thinking about how making a little dent in the Dallas lead to open the second half could have made things interesting. Instead, the Mavs put things away and fast; a 15-7 run over the first 4:32 of the third pushed Dallas’ lead out to 76-42.

Whatever hope Boston had of a pulling off a huge rally and capping off a sweep was long gone. Mazzulla pulled the starters, all of them, simultaneously with 3:18 left in the third and Dallas leading 88-52.



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The Mavs still have the steepest climb possible in this series, but the first step was done.

NBA Finals Game 4 Celtics vs Mavericks

On: By: admin


2024 NBA Finals schedule (June 15, Game 4)

8:30am – Boston Celtics at Dallas Mavericks

FULL NBA FINALS SCHEDULE HERE.

NBA Finals: Celtics take nothing for granted on brink of crown

The Boston Celtics bench looks on as Dallas Mavericks forward P.J. Washington attempts a shot during the second half in Game 3 of the NBA basketball finals, Wednesday, June 12, 2024, in Dallas. The Celtics won 106-99.(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Jayson Tatum has known since he was drafted by the Celtics in 2017 that the measure of success in Boston is an NBA title, but he’s not chalking up championship No. 18 just yet.

“Even now, up 3-0, nobody is celebrating or anything,” Tatum said Thursday, a day after the Celtics thwarted a late Dallas rally to beat the Mavericks 106-99 and take a stranglehold on the best-of-seven NBA Finals. FULL STORY

NBA Finals: Celtics offer little on Porzingis after leg injury

Kristaps Porzingis Boston Celtics NBA Finals

Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis talks with reporters before basketball practice, Tuesday, June 11, 2024, in Dallas, in preparation for Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

DALLAS— Kristaps Porzingis didn’t do an encore with reporters two days after Boston’s big man answered questions in the immediate aftermath of the announcement of his rare lower left leg injury.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t offer much insight, either, which means Thursday’s injury report will be the closest thing to any official word on whether Porzingis’ latest ailment will keep him out of Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Dallas on Friday night. FULL STORY

Luka Doncic learning in first NBA Finals, but not conceding to Celtics

Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic NBA Finals Celtics vs Mavericks

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic heads to the lockers after Game 3 of the NBA basketball finals against the Boston Celtics, Wednesday, June 12, 2024, in Dallas. The Celtics won 106-99. (AP Photo/Sam Hodde)

DALLAS— Luka Doncic winced ever so slightly as he stepped onto the stage to address reporters a day after his Dallas Mavericks fell behind Boston 3-0 in the NBA Finals.

A rough first finals for the 25-year-old superstar, no doubt — an injury-filled postseason punctuated by fouling out for the first time in his playoff career, thanks to a four-foul fourth quarter in a 106-99 loss to the Celtics in Game 3. FULL STORY

‘Fun’ key to Mavs’ bid for unprecedented NBA Finals comeback–Doncic

Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks reacts after fouling out in the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics in Game Three of the 2024 NBA Finals at American Airlines Center on June 12, 2024 in Dallas, Texas.

DALLAS, TEXAS – JUNE 12: Luka Don?i? #77 of the Dallas Mavericks reacts after fouling out in the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics in Game Three of the 2024 NBA Finals at American Airlines Center on June 12, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. Stacy Revere/Getty Images/AFP

LOS ANGELES – Dallas superstar Luka Doncic says the Mavericks must set aside the enormity of the task facing them in the NBA Finals and get back to having fun if they are to mount an unprecedented comeback against Boston.

The Slovenian fouled out with just over four minutes remaining in game three on Wednesday and could only watch from the bench as the Celtics thwarted the Mavs’ late rally for a 106-99 victory and a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven championship series. FULL STORY



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