Jayson Tatum scored 31 points and Jaylen Brown had 30 as the Boston Celtics held off a fearsome comeback attempt by the Dallas Mavericks and moved within one victory of an 18th championship with a 106-99 victory , Wednesday.
The Celtics lead the NBA Finals series 3-0.
Brown also provided eight rebounds and as many assists for the Celtics, who improved a team record with a 10th straight playoff victory. They improved to 7-0 on the road during the spring tournament.
One more win would allow them to break a tie with the Lakers for the most championships in NBA history.
And the Celtics can forget the fact that they almost squandered a 21-point lead with 11 minutes left in the game.
“I don’t want to spend too much time thinking about it,” Tatum said. There are always streaks in basketball. It will never go exactly the way you want it to. If you want to be a champion, you have to be resilient in these moments. That’s what we did tonight. »
Game 4 will take place Friday in Dallas.
The Celtics were without Kristaps Porzingis, dealing with a left leg injury suffered in Game 2. It’s unclear if he’ll return from the show, but it might not matter. No team in NBA history has won a series on 156 occasions after falling behind 0-3.
“We just have to make history,” Mavericks rookie center Derek Lively II said. We must play with the energy of despair. »
The Mavericks tried everything to avoid finding themselves in this ditch. The Celtics led 91-70 early in the fourth quarter when Dallas scored 22 of the next 24 points. The Mavericks closed to within one point of their rivals with about three and a half minutes remaining in the game.
However, Luka Doncic received a sixth foul with 4:12 remaining, before seeing Kyrie Irving, who scored 35 points, make a shot to bring the Mavericks within one point of the Celtics.
“We had our chance, we came close, but we didn’t finish the job,” Doncic said. I would have liked to stay until the end. »
Tatum and Brown, however, saved the visitors, with the help of Derrick White, author of 16 points. These three players scored the Celtics’ last 13 points.