DALLAS — Facing potential postseason elimination entering Game 4 of the NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks used a 122-84 victory over the Boston Celtics at American Airlines Center to extend the series after facing a 3-0 series deficit.
“It's real simple. We don't have to complicate this. This isn't surgery,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “Our group was ready to go. They were ready to celebrate and we made a stand. We were desperate. We've got to continue to keep playing that way. They're trying to close the door. The hardest thing in this league is to close the door when you have a group that has nothing to lose. Tonight, you saw that.”
Luka Doncic set the tone with 29 points, five rebounds, and five assists on the night. He combined for 50 points with Kyrie Irving, who added 21 points and six assists. Dallas received an impressive double-double from Dereck Lively II with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Dante Exum added 10 points and two rebounds off the bench. It was an impressive all-around effort.
The Mavericks opened the game with a 4-0 lead, but with various miscues on offense and defense, Boston capitalized to pull ahead. With Doncic scoring six points and Irving adding four, Dallas did hold a 10-9 advantage midway through the opening period.
Lively hit his first career 3-pointer after spacing out while Doncic drew his man, Tatum, to help on a drive before spraying it out. Later, the rookie big man received a lob pass from Irving for a dunk, providing Dallas with the needed momentum to take control and never look back for the remainder of the night.
"No, he was in the right spot. He took it from there. He can shoot," Kidd said of Lively's shot. "That's the next step for his development, is being able to shoot the three. He's young. But as a 20-year-old, he's grown up in the AAU circuit where in high school, he could shoot, he could handle. He'd tell you he played point guard. His ability to be able to bring the ball, being able to shoot the three is the next step for him. He has all the skill set.
"Right now, for the role we need him to do, is do what he did tonight: offensive rebound, change shots and be able to guard," Kidd added.
Lively knew he had to stay ready to shoot and was grateful Doncic trusted him. "If they leave me open in the corner, I'm going to get them up, for sure. It's just having that trust," he said. "Luka is going to give me the ball. As soon as I shot it, he kind of jumped for joy when it went in. Just having that reaction from my teammates is just amazing. Makes you want to just learn, just practice and just do more."
As Doncic continued to attack downhill, he completed a finish to reach 12 points in the opening period, setting up a 25-14 edge for Dallas—the first double-figure lead for either team. Dallas ended the period with a 34-21 advantage. Boston was held without an offensive rebound, while the Mavericks' bigs thrived, crashing the boards throughout the game.
Dante Exum was brought off the bench early in the second quarter and immediately attacked the rim while being guarded by Payton Pritchard. He hit a corner 3-pointer after Lively sprayed the ball out to him after catching it on the roll, but the NBA determined at a later point that he stepped out-of-bounds and removed it. Dallas went from being up 19 to 16. Dallas outscored Boston by an 11-point margin in his first half minutes.
"Exum has played at a high level for us all season," Kidd said. "He's been able to run the offense. He stepped up and made big shots for us to win. Then I thought tonight even the one he shot from out of bounds, he made it, that could easily have changed his confidence. He was aggressive while he was out on the floor. He was great. We're going to need that on the road."
Exum emphasized the need for him to attack the paint when he comes into the game to help set the tone for the rest of the group. "I think it's contagious. I come in, I do it," he said. "Everyone starts to build that pace. Everyone's running their lanes. I think also it's getting defensive stops. That helps it a lot. I think my main focus when I go in, even when they do score, All right, let's go get it, try and push it during those times. It's easy to push when you have an advantage."
The Mavericks had a chance to further their momentum coming out of this sequence and took advantage. With continued defensive solid execution paired with Doncic beginning to heat up again, he scored inside the arc numerous times, including a step-back jumper on a nail isolation play and a baseline drive leading to an and-one. Irving attacked off the catch for a scoop finish to double up Boston's scoring total, 50-25.
“I think winning is hard. I think winning at any game is hard. But winning Game 4 of the NBA Finals is pretty damn hard,” Holiday said. “I think they came out desperate, and I think they punched us in the mouth, and we couldn’t kind of recover the way we wanted to.”
Dallas continued to hold the momentum carrying into halftime, with Doncic attacking in transition for a finish through contact against White, followed by a motion corner 3-pointer from Kleber to close the second period. The Mavericks were up 61-35 at the break, meaning Doncic (25 points) and Irving (11 points) combined for more points than Boston.
Irving was proud of how Doncic responded after being the focus of external criticism. "I think he made a few people eat their words. In a healthy way -- I'll say that in a healthy way ... He responded very well. I expected it," he said. "I think a lot of people expected it that have seen Luka and known Luka. Just didn't know how it was going to happen. He made some things happen tonight that I was very proud of him. He grew."
The Mavericks' grew to 33 points early in the second half using a 12-5 run, including Gafford blocking a 3-point attempt by Tatum in isolation and being on the receiving end of a transition alley-oop pass for a dunk. Doncic capped off this stretch by attacking off the catch for a floater. Dallas keep its execution dialed up offensively and defensively.
"We were locked in, especially on the defense end. We played with pace. It helped them," Doncic said. "I'm here to help them in every way I can. We just got to play like that."
Boston called a timeout with 5:29 left in the third quarter after Irving attacked the paint for a finish, keeping the Mavericks up 33 points. Boston had a chance to make a run during this segment of the game to get somewhat back on track, but was unable to generate momentum, leaving a short amount of time to make a rallying effort.
It didn't take long for the Celtics to pull their key players with such a significant deficit in the third quarter, with the Mavericks doing the same a few minutes later. It was a dominant effort from Dallas to extend the series for at least one more game while creating hope that perhaps making history to be the first team to overcome a 3-0 series deficit is alive.
With Tim Hardaway Jr. having a hot shooting streak that included five made 3-pointers, the Mavericks went on to lead by as many as 48 points. At one point, Olivier-Maxence Prosper checked into the game with Dallas being up by such a significant margin.
The series will continue on Monday with Game 5 played at TD Garden. Dallas remains encouraged by its opportunity to continue to live to fight another day this season.
“It doesn't change anything,” Doncic said. “Like I said in the beginning of this series, it's the first to four. And we're going to believe until the end. We're just going to keep going. I have big belief in this team that we can do it.”
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