Game 3 of the 2024 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks was the most thrilling game that fans have seen so far in this series. Heading into Game 3, the Celtics had a 2-0 lead and had successfully defended home court. Winning another game against Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving would ensure putting the Mavs in a 0-3 deficit.
That is exactly what the Celtics managed to accomplish in Game 3. Now, almost all hope of winning an NBA championship has been extinguished for the Mavericks. After all, no team in NBA history has ever successfully completed a comeback after going down 0-3 in a playoff series.
As the series appears to head towards a speedy conclusion, fans may want to know how Game 3 went down and what the Celtics did in order to win this match.
Jayson Tatum finally broke his shooting slump to lead the Boston Celtics in scoring
Given that Jayson Tatum had scored less than 20 points in the first 2 games of the Finals, he was already due for a good performance heading into Game 3. Tatum scored 31 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists to help the Boston Celtics defeat the Dallas Mavericks with a final score of 106-99.
Jaylen Brown has also proven to be the most consistent player for the Celtics in this Finals series and had 30 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. The main reason that the Celtics won Game 3 was their elite three-point shooting ability. Boston made 17 team three-pointers while the Mavs made just 9 long-distance shots.
Moreover, Luka Doncic got in foul trouble and missed the final crucial stretch of this game after being awarded 6 fouls. The Celtics went on an unexpected 35-19 run in the third quarter to secure a commanding lead. Although Dallas went on a run of its own to start the 4th quarter, it simply wasn’t enough to get them in the lead and to win this game.The Dallas Mavericks were unable to defeat the Celtics despite a solid performance from Kyrie Irving
In an interesting turn of events, Jayson Tatum and Kyrie Irving were the best players for their teams in Game 3. This is quite surprising given that both of them were struggling in Game 2. One could make the argument that Kyrie was the best player on the court for this game. After all, he finished the night with a game-high 35 points
Kyrie Irving, despite the loss:
45 minutes
35 points
13/28 FG
4/6 3PLeft it all on the floor. pic.twitter.com/fUcQXalfbE
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) June 13, 2024
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However, all of that came in vain as the Boston Celtics emerged victorious. Having Luka Doncic miss the last few minutes of the game certainly didn’t do the Mavs any favor in this pivotal Game 3. Now, Dallas faces the uphill task of trying to come back from an 0-3 deficit, something that no other team in the history of the NBA has been able to accomplish up until this point.