The Boston Celtics are one victory away from winning their National Basketball Association record 18th world championship.
The Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 106-99 on Wednesday night to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals in Dallas.
In a game that featured two big momentum swings in the second half, the Celtics managed to hold off a big Mavericks rally in the fourth quarter to take the victory. After trailing 51-50 at halftime, the Celtics outscored Dallas 41-19 to take a 91-70 victory early in the fourth quarter.
While being sparked by a raucous home crowd, the Mavericks responded with a 20-2 run to cut the Celtics’ lead to 93-90 late in the game. That was when Mavericks star Luka Doncic picked up his sixth personal foul and was disqualified from the game.
Boston’s dynamic duo of St. Louisan Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined to score 61 points. Tatum finished with a game-high 31 points, six rebounds and five assists. He scored 20 of those points in the first half to keep the Celtics in the game after a strong Dallas start. Brown finished with 30 points, including 24 in the second half. He also had eight rebounds and eight assists to lead the team in both categories. Guard Derrick White added 16 points.
Guard Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 35 points to lead the Mavericks while Doncic added 27 points before he fouled out.
The series will resume on Friday night with Game 4 in Dallas. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ABC.
