Celtics miss chance to clinch title on road, suffer Game 4 blowout loss
The Celtics pulled their starters in the third quarter after Dallas pushed its lead to 36.
The Celtics will need to wait a few days for a chance to clinch Banner 18.
With a chance to win a title on the line, Boston offered little resistance to a desperate Mavericks team — with Dallas building a 26-point lead at halftime en route to a 122-84 Celtics loss in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
Boston, which saw its 10-game playoff win streak snapped, will now get a chance to try and win a championship on its home court, with Game 5 at TD Garden set for Monday night. Tip-off from Causeway Street is set for 8:30 p.m.
The Celtics picked a dreadful time to submit their worst first half of the season, entering the break staring at a 61-35 deficit. Boston’s 35 points marked the fewest points scored in any half by the Celtics since Joe Mazzulla took over as head coach.
Things didn’t improve all that much in the second half, with Mazzulla eventually pulling all of Boston’s starters with 3:18 left in the third quarter and the Celtics down by 36 points.
Mazzulla inserted Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard, Oshae Brissett, Luke Kornet, and Svi Mykhailiuk into the game, with that secondary unit playing a heavy portion of the second half at was an extended stretch of garbage time.
Boston’s struggles were compounded by several shortcomings across the court. Much like Game 2 at TD Garden, the Celtics labored with their shooting in Game 4, only sinking 34.1 percent of their shots from 3-point range and finishing 29-for-80 from the field.
Jaylen Brown shot 3-for-12 from the field, while Jayson Tatum finished with 15 points over 27 minutes. Boston’s backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White shot a combined 6-for-18 from the field with five turnovers.
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving combined for 50 points before getting pulled in the closing minutes of the third quarter, while the rest of Dallas’ supporting cast finally delivered by sinking 14 of their 23 shots from beyond the arc.
Boston has overcome cold shooting stretches on several occasions this postseason. But the Celtics’ hopes of sweeping the Mavericks dissipated in short order due to Boston’s lack of urgency on both the defensive end and on the boards.
Dallas out-rebounded Boston, 52-31, including a decisive 13-4 edge in offensive boards.
LIVE UPDATES:
11:00: Final: Celtics fall to the Mavericks in Game 4, 122-84 . A major letdown for Boston with a title within their grasp. Game 5 set for Monday night at TD Garden.
10:46: Series does get more interesting from here, no doubt. Still, as ugly as this result is, not sure Celtics fans should really get worked up over a game where it does seem like everyone that could have gone wrong — did go wrong. Boston is still the better team in this series.
10:27: Mazzulla calls timeout with Boston down 36 with 3:18 left in the third. Looks like all of Boston’s starters are getting pulled. We’ll see you on Monday night.
Pritchard, Svi Mykhailuk, Oshae Brissett, Sam Hauser & Luke Kornet are in.
10:16: Dereck Lively now with 7 offensive boards. Boston has two offensive rebounds as a team so far.
10:12: Now a 33-point game. This one sure feels over.
10:07: Tatum now with four fouls and he heads to the bench. This team just looks fried.
10:05: Al Horford makes his first shot of the game with 11:25 left in the third. 63-38 game.
10:03: Second half is underway. Boston has its work cut out for it.
9:54: 35 points is the lowest point total in any half for the Celtics under Joe Mazzulla.
9:53: Not great!
9:46: HALF: Celtics trail Dallas, 61-35. Boston picked a pretty bad time to have their worst half of the season.
9:43: Celtics have been out-rebounded 36-17 so far tonight.
9:41: 3 fouls on Jaylen Brown.
9:40: Celtics have a whopping 2 field goals so far in the second quarter. Not gonna win most games like that.
9:33: Sam Hauser hits a 3 — to cut the lead down to 22.
9:29: Celtics have quite the hole to dig themselves out of.
9:26: Kyrie Irving with a hustle play to set up a 3-point play for Doncic — then Derrick White airballs a 3-pointer. Been that kind of night so far.
It’s 45-25 Mavs in the second. Doncic and Irving outscoring the whole Celtics team, 27-25.
9:23: 9-0 edge in second-chance points for Dallas.
9:22: Really good defense from Tillman on Luka on back-to-back possessions.
9:18: Exum’s 3-pointer wiped out, as he was out of bounds. 36-21 game.
9:13: Exum hits a 3-pointer and Dallas opens the second with a 5-0 run. Boston now trailing 39-21.
9:11: Celtics aren’t happy with the officials, but they can’t let that consume them in a clinching game like this one.
9:10: A bad combo for Boston: Celtics out-rebounded 16-6 (4-0 OFF) — and shot 38.1% from the field.
9:09: END FIRST: Celtics trail Dallas, 34-21. Rough start for Boston, who were smoked on the boards by Dallas. Kyrie and Luka have combined for 22 points, Boston with just 21 total points.
9:05: White with the deep 3-pointer off that jump ball. Great awareness with seconds left on the shot clock.
9:03: Tatum not happy with the lack of a call there while driving to the rim. He converts on the shot, but he then has words for the refs after he fouls Doncic.
9:01: Tatum cuts hard to the basket and converts the layup. Tatum with 9 points in the first quarter.
8:59: 10 straight points for the Mavs, and 19-5 run. Celtics getting smoked on the boards, 13-6.
8:52: That was just the fourth alley-oop for the Mavs in this series. Boston taking away a key piece of Dallas’ offense.
8:51: TD Garden is bumping.
8:50: Xavier Tillman is the first sub off the bench for Boston.
8:48: Celtics are just 1-for-6 from 3-point range so far tonight. All things considered, they should be happy with a 10-9 deficit.
8:37: Game 4 is underway.
8:30: I see we’re doing this again.
8:22: Meanwhile, at what already looks like a rocking TD Garden — the Celtics are all accounted for.
8:15: Sure feels like Porzingis is more of a victory cigar tonight than an actual option on the court.
8:15: A whole lot of Celtics fans there in Dallas.
8:05: Celtics starters: Holiday-White-Brown-Tatum-Horford
8:00: Geno Time already in Dallas?
7:40: It will be fascinating to see how much Porzingis plays on Friday. With Mazzulla noting that Porzingis is “not quite there” and will only play under “specific instances”, it does seem like Boston will only turn to the big man under dire situations — or perhaps with just a few seconds left in a win.
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7:30: The Jays have arrived.
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