NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates
NBA: Finals-Boston Celtics at Dallas Mavericks
The discussion of these Celtics place franchise history can be put on hold. So can the overreaction to Luka Doncic’s defense.
With its season on the line, Dallas came out with a desperate energy and Doncic played like the superstar we’ve been waiting to see all series. Faced with that and the comfort of a 3-0 series lead, Boston never came close to matching that energy. There was no run. Look at it this way: Boston had the best offense (statistically) in NBA history during the regular season, a 122.2 offensive rating. In the first half of Game 4, they had a 76.1 offensive rating.
The result was a 122-84 blowout win by the Mavericks, which saw both teams pull their starters in the third. It forces a Game 5 Monday night in Boston.
Here are three takeaways from Game 4.
1) Desperate Dallas is the best Dallas
Was Dallas’ defense better? Yes. Was this the best Luka Doncic game of the NBA Finals? By far. That’s the Luka we’ve been waiting for.
However, any conversation about what Dallas did right starts with the desperate energy they played with from the opening tip.
“It’s real simple. We don’t have to complicate this. This isn’t surgery. Our group was ready to go. They were ready to celebrate. Understand, we made a stand. We were desperate,” Jason Kidd said. “We got to continue to keep playing that way, understand they’re trying to find a way 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.”
Dallas played faster, freer, and with the motivation of a team that did not want its season to end. Everything else flowed out of that.
“We waited until Game 4 to ultimately play our best game,” Kyrie Irving said. “Took long enough for all of us to get to the party together and to play for each other the way we did tonight.
“But it’s definitely a possibility that we can replicate it. We understand we’re going against the same great Boston team that is going to make it tough. We’re going into their home den. We have another opportunity to extend the season. That’s all we can ask…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mavericks-vs-celtics-nba-finals-083528808.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-06-15 08:35:28
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
