basketball
NBA Finals: Mavericks win by 38 points
Superstar Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks celebrates the victory against the Boston Celtics. Photo
© Julio Cortez/AP/dpa
With their backs against the wall, the Mavs discovered their defensive strength and dominated the Celtics. At one point they were even 48 points ahead. The NBA Finals could still last longer.
The Dallas Mavericks have won the decisive round of the NBA finals were postponed and the Boston Celtics were denied a quick championship celebration. In the fourth game of the series, Dirk Nowitzki’s former team won 122:84 and delighted the best German basketball professional in history.
“It shows that we have heart. I hope we can keep the momentum and then we’ll see what we can achieve in Boston,” Nowitzki said on US television. “I saw that coming in game three. It didn’t go the way we imagined. It’s good that we played so well today and gained some confidence.”
The Mavericks lost all of their first three games, and another loss would have decided the series in Boston’s favor. With 18 titles, the team from the east coast would then be the sole record champions of the best basketball league in the world. So far, they share this aura with the Los Angeles Lakers, who have also won 17 championships.
Both want to win
“We can’t lose anymore. We will believe in it until the end. Our energy was much higher today and we played much faster,” said Mavs star Luka Doncic, who scored 29 points and said of the upcoming fifth game in Boston: “We have to play the same way. We know how difficult it will be.”
For the first time in the finals, the Mavericks got the Celtics’ offense around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown under control. The Texans finished the first quarter with a 13-point lead, at halftime the lead was 26 points – and in the second half the buffer grew to 48 points at one point. The stars of both teams were already on the bench and were conserving themselves in view of the foreseeable outcome of the game for the fifth game on Monday evening in Boston. Both coaches switched in their role players before the end of the third quarter.
Kyrie Irving scored 21 points for the Mavericks. Maxi Kleber, who like Nowitzki comes from Würzburg, scored five points and played his part in the hosts’ much improved defensive performance. At halftime, the Celtics had scored just 35 points. “Boston is a difficult team to play against, we had our problems with them,” said Nowitzki. “It’s one game after another. You always want to win the next game. We have to extend the series as long as we can.”