It’s all over but the trophy presentation. The Boston Celtics are clearly the superior team on both ends of the floor, and have ridden their strength to a 3-0 series lead and a potential NBA Finals sweep of the Dallas Mavericks. Boston has sometimes let its foot off the gas, but they have the scoring, passing, playmaking, defending advantage. Dallas has Luka. Now, Doncic is the best player on either team and a great asset to have. But he can’t do it all, and at this point it doesn’t seem he can defend even a little bit. He’s never been a great defender, but he also seems to be doing his Luka thing where he runs out of gas down the stretch.
But this isn’t about Luka Doncic not holding up his end of the bargain. This is about the rest of his Dallas teammates delivering next to nothing against the formidable Celtics. Kyrie Irving has basically had one good half. That is one more half of quality basketball than most other Mavs not named Dereck Lively.
Enjoy some basketball and get ready for the Jaylen Brown Finals MVP ceremony.
Game Vitals
When: 8:30 p.m. ET
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Watch: ABC/ESPN
Odds: Mavericks +1.5
Boston Celtics (3-0)
Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford
Dallas Mavericks (0-3)
Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Derrick Jones Jr., PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford