In Game 3 of the NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks at least provided some entertainment value, but the Boston Celtics seem poised to win the championship. The Mavericks mounted a fierce fourth-quarter comeback on Wednesday, but the Celtics held on to take a 3-0 series lead.
The Celtics lead Game 3 by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter and held on for a seven-point victory despite Kristaps Porziņģis’ injury. With -10000 odds, the Celtics are clearly the overwhelming favorite to win the series. In the playoffs, no NBA club has ever recovered from a 3-0 series disadvantage. Dallas’ only goal right now is to stay out of the sweep.
Here are the odds and stories for Game 4 on Friday in Dallas.
All odds fromBetMGM. Find the best deals on StubHub for tickets.
Boston Celtics at Dallas Mavericks
How to watch: 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC
Celtics lead series 3-0
Series odds: Celtics -10000, Mavericks +2000
There are two ways for a third party to look at what happened in Game 3. On the one hand, Dallas finally won a game in the last few seconds. The Mavericks were down 21 points early in the fourth quarter, but they came back with a 22-2 run. After Luka Dončić fouled out with 4:12 left in the game, Dallas had a tough stretch. However, he and Kyrie Irving scored 62 points together, and the Mavs showed they can beat this Boston team.
Boston, on the other hand, is up 3-0, but that may not matter because Dallas showed they have a good chance to avoid rolling over. There is still a small chance that the Mavericks will win Game 4 at home, but not as much as the 2.5-point spread for Game 3.
Irving played well for the first time in this series. He scored 35 points by making 13 of 28 shots. Dončić scored 27 points, but only made one of seven 3-point shots. He also fouled out with a lot of time left in a 3-point game, which was a huge setback for Dallas’s chances of coming back. Nine points were made by the Mavs in Dončić’s 38 minutes on the court. Boston beat Dallas by 16 points while he was out.
Dallas had to get back together for Game 3 in order to beat Boston. The plan seemed to be there in Game 3, but it wasn’t quite enough.
This is Boston’s first chance to win the NBA Finals since 2018, when the Golden State Warriors did it to the Cleveland Cavaliers. That was the year that Irving left Cleveland for Boston. The Cavaliers were down 3-0 to Golden State in the series the previous year, but Irving scored 40 points in Game 4 and the Cavs won easily.
