Celtics @ Mavericks tips and predictions: Life left in Dallas yet as the Mavs set to win Game Four
- George Dempsey
- 14 June 2024
The Boston Celtics are one win away from beating the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, but we’re anticipating the hosts to give a response on Friday night (0130 BST Sat).
The Boston Celtics can wrap up the NBA Finals with a win against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night but we’re predicting a home win.
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Boston Celtics @ Dallas Mavericks (0130 BST)
The Boston Celtics hold a commanding 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals and at this point, there is no way back for the Dallas Mavericks.
As silly as it may sound, there has been an improvement from Dallas game to game. They made a good start to game three and as we predicted, won the first quarter.
They even led at half-time, but Joe Mazzulla made the necessary adjustments and the Celtics murdered them 35-19 in the third quarter.
Dallas outscored Boston 52-36 in the paint and did a better job of protecting the paint in this match. Arguably, that was largely down to Kristaps Porzingis’ absence.
Yet even without that conundrum to solve, the Celtics spaced the floor well and made 17 of 46 from beyond the arc as they launched an all-out three-point assault.
And even though Dallas collapsed to trail 91-70, they didn’t accept their fate lying down, battling back to trail by a single point with 3:30 left on the clock.
The Mavs had found their defensive rhythm, they were comfortably outscoring the Celtics and the American Airlines Arena was electric. Then Luka Doncic fouled out.
Still, most teams would have crumbled, but Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Jaylen Brown made shots with impeccable timing to silence the building.
Boston have outscored Dallas by 33 points across the three victories, taking their point differential across the season to +11.65 which puts them among elite company.
Steph Curry’s 2017 Warriors produced a +11.63 differential across the season, Michael Jordan’s Bulls +12.24 and the 72 Lakers top the charts with a +12.28.
There’s no doubt that the Celtics at least deserve to be in the conversation of the most talented team, even if they need to win more to prove it.
Despite all of that, we’ll go with our gut for game four. Luka Doncic had an off night while Kyrie produced.
If Dallas gets them both firing and plays similar defence, they can extend the series.
