The Boston Celtics are one step away from their 18th NBA championship, defeating the Dallas Mavericks 106-99 in Game 3 of the best-of-seven 2023-2024 NBA Championship on Wednesday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, USA.
After winning Games 1, 2, and 3, Boston will play Game 4 on Friday at the same venue.
If the Celtics win Game 4, they will return to the top of the standings 16 years after winning the title in 2008 and become the 먹튀검증 NBA’s all-time leader with 18 championships.
Despite missing center Kristaps Porzingis with a torn tendon in his left leg, the Celtics got solid performances from Jayson Tatum (31 points), Jaylen Brown (30 points), and others.
Dallas lost its leading scorer, Luka Doncic (27 points), to a six-foul ejection in the fourth quarter in overtime, leaving the Celtics without the energy to chase Boston.
Boston led Tatum and Dallas led Doncic in the first half.
Boston trailed 50-51 at halftime, but exploded from three-point range in the third quarter to turn the tide. Jrue Holiday and Brown took turns hitting three-pointers, and even bench player Javier Tillman added a three-pointer to make it 85-70 at the end of the third quarter.
After Brown and Derrick White hit three-pointers in the fourth quarter, Dallas head coach Jason Kidd called timeout less than two minutes into the quarter.
Out of the timeout, a frightening Dallas comeback began.
Derrick Lively’s layup and George Green’s three-pointer started the comeback, which was capped by a Kyrie Irving jumper to cut the lead to 90-93 with 6:11 left.
With momentum on their side, Dallas suffered a setback when Doncic picked up his sixth foul with 4:13 left in regulation.
Doncic tried to stop a Boston Brown breakaway, but the call was overturned after a video review. It was the first six-foul ejection of his career in the playoffs.
Dallas closed to 92-93 on a two-pointer by Irving after Doncic’s ejection, but that was as close as they would get.
Boston regained the lead on Brown’s layup, and White’s 3-pointer pushed it back to 98-92 with 2:48 left in regulation.
Tatum rattled the rim for Dallas with a dunk, and White sealed the win with two free throws to make it 104-98 with 22 seconds left.