Luka Doncic This Friday he directed a monumental festival of dallaswhat avoided being swept by the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. Thanks to the fundamental contribution of the Slovenian, author of 29 points, the Mavericks They triumphed 122-84 in the fourth game and now they were down 3-1 in the series that will return to the Celtics’ home for the fifth game.
Yes ok no team managed to come back from 0-3 in a series of NBA ‘playoffs’ in 156 precedents, the Texan team still dream of a historic rise. Perhaps that is why in this fourth game he showed a fierce reaction of pride, to beat the Celtics who had just won ten consecutive victories in this postseason, but who left a poor image tonight.
The Mavericks had a maximum advantage of 48 points at the American Airlines Center and crushed the Celtics who, despite this defeat, will be able to win the title this Monday at the TD Garden in Boston.
This victory was the third largest in the history of the NBA Finals. The record is 42 and is held by Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, who defeated the Utah Jazz 96-54 in the 1998 Finals. The second record also corresponds to the Celtics, in a 2008 final against the Lakers in which They won 131-92.
Doncic excelled under the watchful eye of Sergio Ramos. The Spaniard, sitting at the foot of the field wearing a Slovenian shirt, watched as the Dallas star signed a form with 29 pointsfive rebounds, five assists and three steals, in 32 minutes of play
With more than 30 units of advantage, The European was able to rest the entire fourth perioda true blessing for him, who has had knee and chest problems for weeks.
They are zero out of eight in triples It remained an anecdote, as well as Kyrie Irving’s one of six from the arc (21 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists). And if the triple didn’t work for the two stars, Tim Hardaway Jr came out with five of six attempts and fifteen points, the first of a series in which until now he had barely had a role.
“We have to play the same way (in Boston). We know how hard it is to play there, we know their fans are going to scream a lot. So we have to stay focused and do the same things we did today,” Doncic told the broadcast on the ESPN network as soon as the fourth game ended.
In that direction, he added: “We knew we had to get it. We couldn’t lose more. As we always say, we will believe until the end.”
Doncic received criticism after the third game, in which he was eliminated for fouls and was far from his best level, but he assured that those opinions did not affect him. “I don’t pay much attention. There will always be criticism no matter what happens. I was just focused and helped my team win,” he said.
Dallas coach Jason Kidd: “It was this or we were going on vacation”
Jason Kidd, coach of the Dallas Mavericks, expressed this Friday his satisfaction with his team’s resounding victory. “We had to play our best game, It was this or we were going on vacation.. We’ve done it in the first three games, but we couldn’t take advantage of it,” Kidd said at the American Airlines Center postgame press conference.
Kidd also praised his leader Luka Doncic: “He was great, he has been in this series. He is averaging more than 25 points per game in this series. He is playing at a high level, he is doing everything for us in defense and attack.” .
“It was not a different Luka. He is playing at a high level, no matter how much people want to criticize him, he is a great player,” he added.
And he took pressure off his team, which is now preparing to travel to Boston and play the fifth game of the series. The Celtics are one win away from the title.
“It’s very simple, we don’t have to complicate things. They were ready to celebrate, and we were desperate. We have nothing to lose by going to Boston,” he said.
For its part, Celtics coach Joe Mazzullapraised the Mavericks this Friday and assured that the defeat was due to the high level of Dallas and not so much to Boston’s failures.
“I think you have to give credit to Dallas. It’s not about us. It’s our opponent and we have respect for them. You have to give them credit for how well they played and that’s the most important thing,” he said in a press conference.
And he concluded: “So it was less about us and more about how they played. They played well. They played hard. We have to be more disciplined in how we defend and how we attack them.”