Tatum and Brown enable the Celtics to threaten the Mavericks.

In the fourth quarter on Wednesday in Dallas, Mavericks guard Luka Doncic attempted to get under and past Celtics guard Derrick White’s sticky defence.

To understand how deadly the Dallas Mavericks can be, all they have to do is watch the fourth quarter of Game 3.
With 31 points from Jayson Tatum and 30 from Jaylen Brown, the Celtics defeated the Mavericks 106-99 on Wednesday night, holding off a late comeback.

With a decisive 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, Boston came within one win of winning its 18th championship as a team. On Friday, the Celtics will play Game 4 in Dallas with the opportunity to finish the sweep.

terate as necessary—that is our credo. That’s how long it will take, no matter how long it takes. Nobody is making any effort to unwind.
Tatum recovered on Wednesday following two games in which he scored just 34 points. Derrick White scored 16 points for Boston, which also had eight rebounds and eight assists from Brown. In Game 2, big man Kristaps Porzingis (lower leg) had an injury in the third quarter that prevented him from playing.

Similar to Tatum, Kyrie Irving led the Mavericks in scoring with 35 points to make up for a lacklustre performance in each of the first two games of the series. Luka Doncic finished with 27 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, but with 4:12 remaining in the game, he fouled out, severely hurting Dallas’ chances of a comeback.

Although the Mavericks contested Doncic’s foul, the charge was upheld, and he was forced to leave the game. Four of Doncic’s six fouls were committed in the fourth quarter.

He declared, “We couldn’t play physical.” “I don’t want to remain silent. Six fouls in the NBA Finals, you know, I’m basically like this (palms out). Man, come on. superior to that.
When White made a 3-pointer with 11:07 remaining in the fourth quarter to put the Celtics up 91-70, it appeared as though the game was over.
However, Dallas soon grabbed control, scoring 28 of the last 37 points to close the gap to 100-98 on a slam by Dereck Lively II with 1:20 remaining.
The Celtics’ coach Joe Mazzulla stated, “You were going to expect a run from them because they had a 19-point (third) quarter.” “You could tell they were going to have some sort of run just by looking at the photos they take alone. A portion of those were caused by our offence.I believe that on three or four consecutive possessions, they switched matchups and we missed a few reads that would have changed coverages and allowed us to get the right shot.

But Brown ensured that Boston would never allow the Mavericks to tie the game when, with 1:01 left, he made a mid-range jumper at the top of the key to extend the margin to four points. Down the stretch, P.J. Washington and Irving both missed 3-pointers, but Tatum added two more free throws and White added two more to seal the victory.

With 5:11 remaining in the third quarter, Doncic’s layup put the Mavericks within 71-65. After responding with a 7-0 run, the Celtics led 85-70 going into the fourth quarter.

The lead switched six times in the second quarter, with neither side leading by more than four points after Dallas had led by as much as 13 in the first twelve minutes. Irving scored 20 points to help the Mavericks hold onto a 51-50 lead at the half.
Throughout the game, Boston outshot Dallas 46.3 percent to 44.2 percent.

The Celtics extended their winning streak to ten games overall and moved to 7-0 on the road in the playoffs.
To make up for their Finals loss, the Mavericks will require an unprecedented effort. Teams that are 3-0 up in NBA series are 156-0.
Doncic declared, “It’s not over till it’s over.” We simply need to have faith. As I usually say, the order is first to four. We’re not going to split up. Together, we triumph and lose.