Luka Dončić and the Dallas Mavericks are now a loss away from being swept by the Celtics in the NBA Finals after losing Game 3 at home, 106-99, on Wednesday night.
Dončić, who wasn’t happy with the officials after the game, had a simple message for his team when asked what they can do now being down 3-0 and having their hopes of winning a championship all but dashed by Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics.
There is no shortage of respect from Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd towards Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown.
Despite Brown being snubbed from both the All-NBA and All-Defensive teams this season, he has keyed the Celtics' playoff run, showing incredible two-way prowess en route to capturing Eastern Conference finals MVP.
Brown continued the momentum into Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, scoring a team-high 22 points, while adding six rebounds, two assists, three blocks and three steals in Boston's 107-89 win in Game 1.
Kidd was asked about the difficulty of game-planning for Brown, and his message was clear.
"Well, Jaylen's their best player," Kidd said during Saturday's media availability. "Just looking at what he does defensively. He picked up Luka full court. He got to the free throw line. He did everything, and that's what your best player does. Just understanding he plays both sides defensively and offensively at a high rate, and he's been doing that the whole playoffs.
"We talk about the Eastern Conference MVP, and it seems like he's continued to pick up where he left off. So he's playing at a high rate. We just got to be a little more physical with him and again, we gotta keep him off the free throw line and out of the paint, because he was finishing at a high rate or getting fouled and getting to the free throw line."
Jason Kidd was asked what makes going up against Jaylen Brown so challenging:
Brown has been Boston's most consistent player throughout the playoff run thus far, even if he doesn't garner the accolades like his teammate and first-team All-NBA selection Jayson Tatum.
Regardless, the Celtics will need both Brown and Tatum to be at their best in order to capture the franchise's 18th title this month.
Game 2 between the Celtics and Mavericks is set for 8 p.m. ET on Sunday at TD Garden in Boston.
After it was reported Porzingis was dealing with a "torn medial retinaculum," the Latvian big man was ruled out for Game 3 shortly before tip-off. The Celtics leaned on Al Horford, as they had for the many games Porzingis missed earlier in the postseason, and turned to Xavier Tillman Sr. for backup duty and he delivered. Boston ultimately prevailed in Game 3, 106-99, to take a nigh-insurmountable 3-0 lead in the Finals.
The Celtics will look to finish off the sweep in Friday's Game 4 and early reporting suggests Porzingis could be healthy enough to help. On Thursday, The Athletic's Shams Charania said Porzingis "has a chance" to suit up for Game 4.
After Wednesday night's victory the Celtics are 10-1 without Porzingis this postseason. They have shown time and time again that they can win without their starting center. But Boston's Game 1 win over Dallas showed how impactful Porzingis can be when he's healthy and cooking. The Celtics won that contest by 18, the only game they've won by double-digits so far.
Wins are wins but Porzingis's presence provides a fairly large buffer for Boston. He averaged 20.1 points and 1.8 blocks per game during the regular season. That production can be compensated for by the extremely strong roster the Celtics boast but there's a trickle-down effect with Porzingis out there and healthy that makes everyone else's lives much easier.
Dallas fell behind by 21 points in the fourth quarter and then had their furious comeback fall short thanks mostly to the fact that Luka Doncic fouled out with just over four minutes left in the game and couldn't help his team in the final stretch.
ESPN's Brian Windhorst was asked after the game by Scott Van Pelt about what he thought of Doncic's sixth foul and he did not hold back, blasting the guard for that play and crushing him for the way he's acted and played all series long.
"I thought it was perfect that Luka fell on on to the ground there in an unacceptable position to put himself in with four minutes left and five fouls and then immediately looks at the bench and says you better bleeping challenge it, as if its the bench’s fault that he just made a terrible play," Windhorst said.
His rant then got even more personal:
"I’m standing here in the Mavericks tunnel. Over there is the Celtics tunnel. That’s where the winners are. If Luka is ever going to be a winner coming out of this tunnel here he’s going to have to use what happened in this Finals as a learning experience. His defensive performance is unacceptable. He’s a hole on the court. The Celtics are attacking him. They are ahead in this series because they’ve attacked him defensively. And you’ve got a situation here where Luka is complaining about the officiating. They have begged him, they have talked with him, they have pleaded with him—he’s costing his team because of how he treats the officials. He’s a brilliant player, he does so many things well. They are here because of how he did. His performance in this game is unacceptable and the reason why the Mavericks are not going to win. He’s got to get over this. The fact that he came out after the game and blamed the officials showed me he’s nowhere close yet. So maybe over the summer someone will get to him because nobody with the Mavericks or anybody in his life has and that’s why the Mavericks are at this point. They’re never going to this tunnel with the trophy if he doesn’t improve" those aspects of his game."
Here's the video of that:
Brian Windhorst BLASTS Luka Dončić on 'SportsCenter with SVP' after Game 3 of the NBA Finals. 🏀🔥🔥🔥
Game 4 is Friday in Dallas. We'll see if Doncic and the Mavs can bounce back or if the Cetlics can close out their 18th championship in convincing fashion.
