DALLAS – Joe Mazzulla has never been afraid of failure. He puts himself in compromising situations every day to feel comfortable and uncomfortable.
Everything is to prepare for a moment like this. On the verge of sweeping to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy, it’s hard to feel hopeless when there’s so much room for error.
“The closer you are to beating someone, the closer you are to getting your ass kicked,” Mazzulla said before Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. “Tonight I expect the best from Dallas and we have to prepare for the fight.”
Dallas fought back that night and it wasn’t enough. Then, with his back to the wall on Friday, with the celts on the verge of winning the title, the Mavericks played as if the last three games were a mirage.
It was such a complete reversal of everything that happened in this series that there was only one way to describe it.
“A simple way: a kick in the butt” Derrick Blanco saying. “That’s the easiest way.”
The Mavs beat the Celtics 122-84 to avoid a sweep and send the NBA Finals back to Boston doing everything that got them to the finals in the first place. They created three-pointers in the corners, dominated the rim and stood in Boston’s way. But they won because they had nothing to lose.
“It is very simple. We don’t have to complicate this. This is not surgery. Our group was ready to go. They were ready to celebrate,” Jason Kidd said. “Understand, we took a stand. We were desperate. “We have to continue to play that way (and) understand that they are trying to find a way to close the door.”
Final pic.twitter.com/kjPn3lbo6b
– Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 15, 2024
“We have to know that we are just as vulnerable as anyone else in this situation, and how we handle that will determine our fate,” he said Thursday. His destiny is to return to Boston, with the ships still waiting, to recover from this backlash.
“I think winning any game is difficult. But winning Game 4 of the NBA Finals is pretty difficult.” Jrue vacation saying. “I think they came out desperate and I think they punched us in the mouth and we couldn’t recover like we wanted to.”
It took too long, but the Mavs finally reminded people why they made it to the finals. This was the type of high-level basketball that survived the journey west.
Dallas finally got physical with its point-of-attack defense, keeping pace with the Celtics shooting 3-pointers and getting the best of Dereck Lively II. They found the right places to put Luka Doncic on defense, making him help Al Horford or even protect the rim sometimes. Their spacing was much improved as they finally generated corner threes for the first time in this series.
Boston took a 3-0 lead by eliminating many of the things that gave Dallas layers beyond Dončić and Kyrie Irving, but everyone returned so suddenly that the game ended just a few minutes into the second half. Dallas caught up to Boston in three-point shooting volume and dominated the offensive glass while building what at one point was a 48-point lead. It was Boston’s worst loss in the championship round, nullifying a 33-point Game 3 loss to the Lakers in the 1984 final that ended with a Celtics title.
“Preparation doesn’t guarantee automatic success, so I thought we had a great process,” Mazzulla said. “I thought we had a great shootaround. I thought we had a great movie session yesterday. I thought the guys came out with the right intentions. I just didn’t think everything went our way and I thought Dallas outplayed us. “They just played harder.”
Added Kidd: “The hardest thing in this league is closing the door when you have a group that has nothing to lose. You saw that tonight. “They let go of the rope pretty early.”
Mazzulla credited Dallas’ defense for flying up the floor and creating indecisiveness in Boston’s reads. Not only did Dallas get a snap at the rim to stop drives, it also helped defenders break up those drives, so the Celtics had to pick up their dribbling early. If the Mavs had a chance to overtake the Celtics or beat them to a spot, they took it.
“Every fumble, 50-50, they made it,” White said. “Honestly, turnovers, missed shots, combined, it’s not a winning recipe.”
The Celtics did not consistently get multiple drives on a possession. Even when they got to the paint, Dallas was more effective in limiting Boston to a passing option and then being in position to recover against shooters.
Most importantly, Dallas defenders directed attacks more effectively toward Lively, who put her hands in the passing lanes. Boston’s outlet passes were less accurate in this game, giving Dallas enough time to keep pace when in fight mode.
EQUIPMENT. DEFENDING.
Dallas doing it on both ends tonight 😤#NBAFinals presented by @YouTubeTV
🏆 Game 4 on ABC 🏆 pic.twitter.com/MsoJv5qEpK— NBA (@NBA) June 15, 2024
Jayson Tatum He was frustrated by the amount of contact he was allowed both while driving and in the air. But that weaker whistle landed perfectly in the hands of Dončić, who got the changes he wanted and worked his way deep into the paint. The irony was that he was even bringing Holiday and Horford to the low post, Boston’s two best defenders in those scenarios.
Even when they executed well, like on this play that drew Lively toward a shooter and fed Tatum in the post, someone like Dončić would step in to stop him.
Sometimes Dončić put himself in the right spot, so the Celtics had to try to score around him. But when they miss and the ball goes straight to Dončić, it can have dire consequences for Boston’s transition defense.
Luka goes up to Gafford for the oop!
Dallas extends lead in Game 4 on ABC pic.twitter.com/c9GUB2XXpF
—NBA (@NBA) June 15, 2024
“I think this is the closest we’ve been in this series,” Tatum said. “And the worst job is owning our space on the offensive end and doing what we wanted to do instead of what we were forced to do.”
The Celtics have to find a way to get the ball into the post with space that allows them to slide it. Tatum and Jaylen Brown I have to find different angles to attack to get Dallas’ defense into rotation. They didn’t have to make significant changes to the way they operated heading into Game 4, but now it’s their turn to respond.
“I’ve been in a lot of (series) and usually by the second game, you’re making adjustments,” Horford said. “We have had the first three games; We didn’t make any adjustments. Today they did something. We have to see what we can (do), how we can be better and prepare for it.”
This is a puzzle they have to solve. They’ve already eliminated teams in previous rounds, but there’s a different level of desperation when the championship is on the line. But the Celtics have one person they can turn to right now. Everyone on the Celtics roster can now say they’ve brought a team to the brink of a title, but Holiday is the only one who can say he’s brought it home.
So what’s the secret to getting that ultimate victory?
“I don’t know. I don’t know, although I’ve done it,” Holiday said. “They have to do it together as a team. They all have to click and be, again, the most desperate team.”
The Celtics are a process-oriented team built on consistency, and no one has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA Finals. But last year they learned that can be done. Now that Dallas has nothing to lose, this series comes down to more than just principles.
“What it really comes down to is when you get hit, are you going to hit back?” “He said cheerfully. “Or are you just going to give in?”
(Photo: Tim Heitman/Getty Images)