**NBA Finals: Mavericks Dominate Celtics in Game 4 to Extend Series**
**DALLAS** — The Dallas Mavericks faced a simple choice: pack for Boston or pack for vacation. Boston won.
These NBA Finals are far from over, thanks to one of the biggest blowouts in title-round history. Luka Doncic scored 25 of his 29 points in the first half, Kyrie Irving added 21, and the Mavericks emphatically extended their season on Friday night, fending off elimination with a 122-84 rout of the Celtics in Game 4.
The 38-point margin was the third-largest ever in an NBA Finals game, surpassed only by Chicago's 96-54 win over Utah in 1998 and the Celtics' 131-92 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008.
“It’s real simple. We don’t have to complicate this. This isn’t surgery,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “Our group was ready to go. They were ready to celebrate, and we made a stand. We were desperate. We’ve got to continue to keep playing that way. They’re trying to close the door. The hardest thing in this league is to close the door when you have a group that has nothing to lose. Tonight, you saw that.”
The Mavericks’ stars were done by the end of the third quarter, with good reason. Dallas dominated from the start, leading by 13 after the first quarter, 26 at the half, and as much as 38 in the third before both teams emptied their benches.
“Preparation doesn’t guarantee automatic success,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought we had a great process. I thought we had a great shootaround. I thought we had a great film session yesterday. I thought the guys came out with the right intentions. I just didn’t think it went our way, and I thought Dallas outplayed us. They just played harder.”
The loss — Boston’s first in five weeks — snapped the Celtics’ 10-game postseason winning streak, the longest in franchise history, and ended their chance to be the first team in NBA history to win both the conference finals and the finals in 4-0 sweeps.
Jayson Tatum scored 15 points, Sam Hauser had 14, while Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday each finished with 10 for the Celtics. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 15 points, all in the fourth quarter, and Dereck Lively II added 11 points and 12 rebounds for Dallas. Lively provided an early hint of a good night for the Mavs, hitting a 3-pointer — the first of his NBA career — midway through the first quarter, giving Dallas the lead for good.
“It doesn’t change anything,” Doncic said. “Like I said at the beginning of this series, it’s the first to four. And we’re going to believe until the end. We’re just going to keep going. I have big belief in this team that we can do it.”
Dallas led 61-35 at the half, despite missing numerous opportunities. The Mavs shot only 5 of 15 from 3-point range and 10 of 16 from the foul line in the first half but still maintained total control.
“I think winning is hard. I think winning at any game is hard. But winning Game 4 of the NBA Finals is pretty damn hard,” Holiday said. “I think they came out desperate and I think they punched us in the mouth, and we couldn’t kind of recover the way we wanted to.”
The Celtics’ first-half struggles were numerous and historic:
- The 35 points were their lowest-scoring total in any half under Mazzulla.
- The 26-point halftime deficit was Boston’s second-largest of the season, trailing by 37 against Milwaukee on Jan. 11.
- The deficit was Boston’s largest ever in an NBA Finals game, and the 35 points were their second-worst first-half performance in Finals history, following a 31-point half against the Lakers in Game 6 of the 2010 Finals.
Teams with a 23-point or more lead at halftime were 76-0 this season before Friday night. Make it 77-0 now, fittingly the number on Doncic’s jersey.
Boston hoped to chip away at Dallas' lead to start the second half, but the Mavericks quickly dashed those hopes. A 15-7 run over the first 4:32 of the third quarter pushed Dallas' lead to 76-42. The Celtics' chances of a comeback vanished, leading Mazzulla to pull his starters with 3:18 left in the third quarter and Dallas ahead 88-52.
“I expect us to be much better on Monday,” Celtics center Al Horford said.
The Mavericks still face a steep climb in this series — no team has successfully rallied from a 3-0 deficit in NBA history — but they’ve taken the first step.