Final: Celtics 106, Mavs 88 - Celtics clinch Banner 18

BOSTON CELTICS va DALLAS MAVERICKS

NBA Finals, Game 5

Celtics lead 3-1

TD Garden, 8:30 p.m. - ABC

Line: Boston -6.5

INJURIES

Boston: Kristaps Porzingis (AVAILABLE, ankle)

Dallas: Luka Doncic (PROBABLE, thoracic contusion)

SERIES

Game 1: Celtics 107-Mavericks 89 

The teams went back and forth to start the game, but Boston went on a monster 25-7 run fueled by Kristaps Porzingis and great overall defense, to take a 17-point lead after one. Jaylen Brown helped push the lead as high as 29 before a late flurry cut it to 21 at the half. The Mavs went on a huge run to cut the lead all the way down to eight, but Boston answered, behind some amazing defense by Brown, to get it back up to 20. It got up to 25 in the fourth, and Boston cruised from there.   

Game 2: Celtics 105-Mavericks 97

The Celtics really struggled with their shooting in the first quarter while Luka Doncic dropped 13 and Kyrie Irving added eight. But Boston was only down three thanks to going 10-10 from the line. Jrue Holiday found openings around the rim on his way to an 11 point quarter, flipping the deficit to a three-point lead at halftime. The lead got up to 13 despite the rough shooting, but the Mavs were able to cut it to six before a Payton Pritchard buzzer-beater sent the crowd into a frenzy. They got the lead back up to 14 late in the third after Holiday and Derrick White hit consecutive 3-pointers. The Mavs made one last push but White's key late block sealed the win.

Game 3: Celtics 106-Mavericks 99

The Celtics fell behind by 13 early in the first quarter as the Mavs came out blistering hot and aggressive. But the Celtics chipped away, got 13 from Jayson Tatum, and answered to go into the second quarter down only one. Tatum and Kyrie Irving dueled to a standstill in the second to keep it a one-point game at halftime. Boston dominated the third, out-scoring Dallas 35-19 behind a monster quarter from Jaylen Brown. It got up to 21 early in the fourth but Dallas went on a 20-2 run to cut the lead to three. The teams went back and forth but Dallas was never able to tie the game. 

Game 4: Mavericks 122- Celtics 84

The Celtics and Mavs played some back-and-forth basketball for the first few minutes with Boston holding an early 11-10 lead. Everything fell apart after that. The Celtics were outscored 24-10 the rest of the quarter, 27-14 in the second, and 31-25 in the third. The Celtics shot like hot garbage, they didn’t rebound, and they didn’t defend. The result was one of the worst losses in NBA Finals history. 

THING I’M LOOKING FOR

1: Read the game: No one should be doing anything on their own. The Celtics know exactly what to do against the Mavs defense, they just need to be disciplined and focused on making the next right play. Read the game, make the play that is there, and dictate the terms of engagement. Make them try to figure things out. 

2. Stay in the moment: No complaining to the refs, no hanging heads after mistakes, no over-the-top celebrating after big plays. Stay in the moment and move on to the next play. String a bunch of them together and things will take care of themselves and you can celebrate when they call timeouts. 

3. Hit some damn shots: I’d like one last game of the Celtics we all know … those dudes who can’t be stopped from 3 and I get to tweet things like “great adjustment by Joe Mazzulla to get his team to hit 50% from 3. Should have done that in Game 4.” I’d like to copy and paste that, please. 

Follow along with my thoughts as the game goes on. They’ll show up below and in the comments section, so hop in and share your opinion as well.