The Boston Celtics are one game from Banner 18, though it may not have looked quite as easy as it could have. Leading by as many as 21 points, the Celtics surrendered a 20-2 run to the Dallas Mavericks in the fourth quarter, but made all the crucial plays in crunch time to secure a 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals, 106-99.
Jayson Tatum had a resurgent night, recording 31 points after struggling as a scorer in the first two games of the series. Jaylen Brown added 30, thriving in the second half, while Derrick White added 16. For the Mavericks, Kyrie Irving had his best game of the Finals with 35 points, but Luka Doncic (27 points) fouled out late in the fourth quarter. Dereck Lively II added a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Playing in front of their home crowd for the first time this postseason, the Mavericks looked energized to kick off the game. They opened the night on a 9-2 run, forcing Joe Mazzulla to call timeout less than two minutes into the game. Dallas pushed ahead to their largest lead of the entire series — which, remarkably, was just eight points — with a 13-5 early edge, and they extended it as high as 13 in the ensuing minutes as the Boston offense appeared to be reeling.
Their momentum fizzled as the quarter wore on. The Celtics steadied themselves, and methodically put together a run. Behind an encouraging start from Tatum (13 first quarter points) and a pair of threes from Sam Hauser, the Celtics built an 11-0 stretch and erased the Dallas lead. They trailed by just a single point entering the second quarter, 31-30.
Questionable coming into the night with a highly unprecedented injury to his left leg, Kristaps Porzingis was ultimately ruled out by the Boston medical staff for Game 3. In his absence, significantly increased responsibility was placed on Horford and the Boston reserves. Horford, as always, acquitted himself well in the first half, but the question mark was who Mazzulla would opt to bring off the bench.
The answer appeared to be Xavier Tillman Sr., who checked in twice off the bench in the first half as the clear backup to Horford. He responded brilliantly, defending decisively and aggressively and helping frustrate the Mavericks’ offense. He recorded just six minutes, but his +4 plus-minus in that stretch illustrated a notable impact, especially in a half in which all five starters recorded negative figures.
After a scoreless stretch to open the second, the Celtics claimed the lead for the first time…
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