DALLAS — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown shared a long hug after helping Boston avoid the biggest collapse in an NBA Finals game since at least 1997.
The reward? The Celtics stars are about to join the litany of big-name predecessors in placing a banner on the parquet floor at home.
Tatum scored 31 points, Brown had 30 and the celts withstood an angry Dallas demonstration to come to the brink of a record 18th championship with a Victory 106-99 about him Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night for a 3-0 lead.
Brown finished with eight rebounds and eight assists as the Celtics extended their franchise record with a 10th straight playoff win and moved to 7-0 on the road this postseason. They can win the series and break the Lakers’ tie for most NBA championships with a win Friday in Dallas.
And Boston can forget about nearly blowing a 21-point lead with 11 minutes left.
“I’m not really trying to dig too deep,” Tatum said. “The game of basketball is about racing. It’s never going to go the way you expect. If you want to be a champion, you have to be resilient in those situations, and we did that tonight.”
Boston also improved to 10-1 in these playoffs without Kristaps Porzingis after the 7ft 2in Latvian was ruled out about two hours before the game due to a rare tendon injury in his lower left leg that he suffered in Game 2.
Porzingis’ status for the rest of the series appears to be in doubt, but it may not matter. None of the previous 156 teams that faced a 3-0 deficit came back to win an NBA playoff series.
The Mavs nearly pulled off a crazy comeback to avoid the big hole, 13 years after Dallas had the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in the NBA Finals play-by-play era (since 1997), when a 15-point comeback In Game 2 they began their run to the franchise’s only title against Miami.
Boston led 91-70 at the end of a 20-5 run early in the fourth quarter before Dallas responded with a 22-2 run to pull within one point with 3½ minutes remaining.
The problem was, Luka Doncic committed his sixth foul with 4:12 remaining when a challenge was unsuccessful before Kyrie Irvingwho scored 35 points, hit a jumper to bring Dallas within one.
Tatum and Brown saved the Celtics from there, with some help from Derrick Blancowho scored 16. Those three combined for Boston’s remaining 13 points to put the Celtics one win away from their first title since 2008, and just their second since 1986.
The last time the Mavs were down 3-0 was nine years ago, when they lost to Houston in five games in the first round.
“We just have to make history,” the rookie center said. Animated Dereck II saying. “We have to go out and play like our lives are on the line.”
In a game that seemed over at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the score was stuck at 93-90 for more than three minutes. That included when Doncic was called for a blocking foul on a driving Brown.
The Mavs had nothing to lose from the challenge, as it meant trying to save their superstar from disqualification.
Without Doncic, Dallas managed to get within two before Brown hit a jumper with a minute left. PJ WashingtonIrving and Tim Hardaway Jr. each missed a 3-pointer in the final minute, as Irving’s personal losing streak against his former team reached 13 games.
“We had a good opportunity,” Doncic said. “We were close. We just didn’t understand it. I wish it was out there.”
A spirited Dallas crowd was ready for its first Finals game in 13 years, featuring the Super Bowl-winning quarterback and a Mavs fan. Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs Get up frequently from your seat near midcourt.
The Mavs took advantage of the momentum needed after two losses in Boston, taking their biggest lead of the series while taking a 22-9 lead. Doncic and Irving looked for baskets and at the same time scored a three-pointer each.
The Celtics responded with a 21-9 finish in the first quarter. Sam Hauser He made two of his three-pointers in the first half, on three attempts, to help close a streak that began with four points from Brown and a three-pointer from Tatum.
The defense dominated the start of the second quarter, with Boston holding a 5-2 lead for nearly six minutes before Irving and Tatum traded 3-pointers to start a scoring run.
“They came out on the right foot,” Tatum said. “It was to be expected. They were at home, the public supported them. We were waiting for their first hit.”
Once they held on, it looked like the Celtics would slide after outscoring the Mavs 35-19 in the third quarter, before the Mavs’ eventual comeback.
After it ended, groups of Celtics shouted with joy in a nearly empty arena, seemingly beginning the celebration of the inevitable.
For everyone except the Celtics.
“You have to understand that we are just as vulnerable, if not more so, than they are,” coach Joe Mazzulla said. “When you understand that you’re vulnerable and your back is against the wall, you have to fight. And that’s the mentality we have to have.”