2024 NBA Finals: Luka Doncic plans to have ‘fun’ in Game 4 as Mavericks in must-win situation against Celtics

The Dallas Mavericks’ loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the NBA Finals was not Luka Doncic’s finest moment. His numbers were fine, but his constant complaining to referees, turnstile defense and fouling out at a critical juncture with just over four minutes left severely hindered his team’s ability to complete a comeback. It was made worse when he doubled down on his complaining after the loss, blaming the officials for him fouling out instead of taking ownership of his poor effort on defense. 

He’s only a piece of the puzzle of the Mavericks’ woes against the Celtics, and on Friday night, they’ll be trying to stave off being swept and force a Game 5. As Dallas hopes to regroup from their most recent loss, Doncic has set his intentions for how he plans to attack Game 4.

“Go back to playing fun,” Doncic said. “We talk about how we come back from [21] points in the fourth quarter in the Finals. We were having fun. We were defending. We were running. Our pace was great. Just taking good shots.”

Doncic has used the refrain “playing fun” before, in fact he said something similar after the Mavericks beat the Thunder in Game 5 of their second-round series. That came after a Game 4 performance in which Doncic again spent too much time complaining to referees, and he bounced back to lead his team to a crucial win.

In Game 3, after falling behind by 21 points and getting booed by their own fans, the Mavericks nearly completed a comeback after going on a 20-2 run in the fourth quarter. They forced the Celtics to settle for low-quality shots, communicated on defense, and got solid production out of Kyrie Irving, PJ Washington and Dereck Lively II.

You could feel the Mavericks playing with renewed energy after a third quarter where they allowed the Celtics to blow the game wide open with a significant lead. But all that energy was zapped after Doncic picked up his fourth foul in the fourth quarter — sixth for the game — with under five minutes to play. The door was closing on Dallas’ chances of winning that game as soon as Doncic…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2024-nba-finals-luka-doncic-plans-to-have-fun-in-game-4-as-mavericks-in-must-win-situation-against-celtics/

Author : Jasmyn Wimbish

Publish date : 2024-06-14 14:48:06

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