The Dallas Mavericks at least made Game 3 of the NBA Finals entertaining, but the Boston Celtics are also in the running to win it. The Celtics survived a furious fourth-quarter comeback by the Mavericks on Wednesday to take a 3-0 series lead.
Despite missing Kristaps Porzingis with an injury, the Celtics led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter in Game 3 and went on to win by seven points. The Celtics are clearly the favorites to win the series at -10000 odds. No team in the NBA has ever come back from a three-game series loss in the playoffs. For now, Dallas is focused on avoiding a complete loss.
Let's take a look at the odds and storylines for Game 4 in Dallas on Friday.
All odds are taken from BetMGM. Find the best ticket deals on StubHub.
Boston Celtics v Dallas Mavericks
How to watch: 8:30pm ET on ABC
Celtics lead series 3-0
Series Odds: Celtics -10000, Mavericks +2000
From a neutral perspective, there are two ways to look at what happened in Game 3. On the one hand, you could say Dallas was in control until the end. Sure, the Mavericks were down 21 points early in the fourth quarter, but rallied back with a 22-2 run. Dallas struggled late after Luka Doncic fouled out with 4 minutes, 12 seconds left in the game, but he and Kyrie Irving combined for 62 points and the Mavs showed they had a path to victory against a Boston team.
Meanwhile, Boston is up 3-0, which may not matter, except that it shows Dallas has a good chance to avoid the sweep. The Mavericks are still favored to win Game 4 at home, albeit by a small margin (smaller than the 2.5-point margin they had in Game 3).
Irving was on a roll for the first time this series, scoring 35 points on 13 of 28 shooting. Doncic scored 27 points but made just 1 of 7 3-pointers and fouled out with plenty of time left in the game, a major blow to Dallas' comeback. The Mavs outscored Boston by nine points in Doncic's 38 minutes of play. Boston outscored Dallas by 16 points during his 10 minutes of rest.
Dallas went into Game 3 having to regroup to find a way to beat Boston, and while they seemed to have the blueprint in Game 3, it just wasn't enough.
Boston is now looking for its first sweep in the NBA Finals since 2018, when the Golden State Warriors swept the Cleveland Cavaliers the year after Irving left Cleveland for Boston. The year before, Irving and the Cavaliers were down 3-0 to Golden State before Irving scored 40 points in Game 4 and the Cavs swept the series.
There have been nine sweeps in NBA Finals history. Can Boston pull off a 10th sweep en route to the franchise's 18th championship?
If the Celtics win on Friday, Jaylen Brown is projected to be the Finals MVP, at least according to the betting odds. Brown is at -350 to win the award. He is averaging 24.3 points, 6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2 steals per game. Jayson Tatum is at +275 to win Finals MVP despite shooting just 35.9 percent from the field in the series. He scored 31 points in Game 3 and could win the award if he plays big in Game 4.
Celtics vs Mavericks expert predictions
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(Photo of Luka Doncic and Jaylen Brown by Stacey Revere/Getty Images)
