BOSTON – For the Dallas Mavericks, the math is simple. Win Game 5, and there will be a Game 6. Win Game 6, and there will be a Game 7.
But the first calculated move for the Mavs is to make sure they make all the numbers add up while they try to take care of business and find a way to win Game 5 — which is Monday at 7:30 p.m. at TD Garden — and send this series back to Dallas.
The Mavs trail the Boston Celtics, 3-1, in this best-of-seven series in the NBA Finals. And the Mavs are outwardly sure that the pressure is squarely on the lofty shoulders of the Celtics, who don’t want to hop on a plane and fly back to Dallas for a Game 6, which will be Thursday.
“Obviously, we are going to be upbeat,” Mavs guard Dante Exum said. “We’re focused throughout practice on what we have to do. It’s just about being relaxed and making sure we’re ready once the game comes.
“We know it’s going to be loud and it’s going to be an atmosphere the fans want to see them win, but it’s our job to stop that as much as possible. We know it’s going to be loud and rowdy. We just need to make sure that we stick to our game plan and stick together as a team.”
And if the Mavs can get from Tim Hardaway Jr. what they got from him during last Friday’s 122-84 blowout victory over the Celtics in Game 4, they believe their game plan will be a smashing success. In just 12 minutes Friday, Hardaway fired in five three-pointers in seven attempts and scored as many points (15) as Jayson Tatum, who led the Celtics in scoring.
“(Hardaway) was just playing with a liberation within his game and came out knocking down shots,” guard Kyrie Irving said. “That’s what we need from him is just to stay confident, stay fluid.
“He’s been going a great job with the young guys on the bench as well, keeping them engaged. I think that’s the next part of his evolution — including all of ours — is just continue to be a better teammate, regardless if you’re shooting the ball or not. I think that helps reward you when you’re doing those things.”
In a way, for a player who didn’t score any points in the Western Conference Finals against Minnesota and entered last Friday’s game scoreless in this series against Boston, Hardaway could invariably wind up being the X-factor against the Celtics.
“He looked like he joined a special company,” coach Jason Kidd said, referring to Hardaway’s hot shooting in Game 4. “He looked like (Golden State’s) Klay (Thompson) and Steph (Curry), so we’re going to need that here in Game 5.
“If it’s a close game, hopefully he is able to knock down those same shots, get those same shots. But it was great to see Timmy knock down those shots. Hopefully he can build on that, and as a team we can build on that. We are going to need that here in Game 5.”
Before Game 4, the Mavs talked about making history and the belief that they can become the first team in the history of the NBA to win a series after successfully rallying from an 0-of-3 deficit.
“I think the most important thing is to show that we believe,” point guard Luka Dončić said. “I think we showed it in Game 4. If not, if we wouldn’t believe, we probably wouldn’t have
won that game.
“I think obviously the talk is easy to talk about it, but then showing it is another thing.”
As for what changed for the Mavs in Game 4 when they easily manhandled Boston while holding the Celtics to their lowest scoring output of the season, Doncic said: “The change is we needed to win the game. I think we didn’t play our best the first three games, so we had to change something and play better in Game 4.
“Every team plays the whole season to be here. We are the one to be here in Boston, obviously, so it’s a little bit different. But you’ve got to play basketball. You’ve got to give everything you have.”
That means diving for loose balls, winning the battle of the 50/50 balls, converting free throws and just making sure they win the intangible portion of the game.
In analyzing Game 4, forward P.J. Washington said: “I felt like we played free. We got out in transition and played great defense. I think the energy was transformed here into Boston and everybody is in a great mood.”
Washington noted that while the Celtics were crowding and sending double-teams at Dončić and Irving, the Mavs’ role players were simply missing wide open looks at the basket in the first three games of this series. All of that changed in Game 4 with every role player in the Mavs’ rotation made at least 50 percent of their field goal attempts.
“I think we were in our heads,” Washington said. “Those were shots we’ve been getting all year and taking them with confidence. We just have to continue to do that.
“(Dončić and Irving) are putting us in great positions to be successful, so we just have to step up to the plate and take them with confidence.”
The Mavs are also hoping Irving steps up to the plate and have a much better performance than he did when this series opened in Boston. In Games 1 and 2 in Boston, Irving combined to score just 28 points on 13-of-37 shooting while he was harassed by the crowd at TD Garden.
Since then, Irving scored 35 points in Game 3 in Dallas, and 21 points in Game 4 in Dallas.
“I think, and I’m not speaking for (Irving), but just from experience, just as an athlete, you want to get another opportunity, and he has that opportunity here tomorrow night,” Kidd said. “Hopefully he can take full advantage of that — make some adjustments and look back at Game 1 and 2 and see what they were doing to him defensively and hopefully take advantage in Game 5.”
Irving, who is 0-7 in games played in Boston since he left the Celtics in 2019 to go play for Brooklyn, feels if he’s making positive contributions and not really worrying about what the fans are saying, that could work to his advantage.
“When the fans are cheering, ‘Kyrie sucks,’ they feel like they have a psychological edge, and that’s fair,” Irving said. “Of course, if I’m not making shots or turning the ball over, that makes it even more of a pressing issue that they can stay on me for.
“I think in order to silence even the self-doubt — let alone the crowd doubt — but the self-doubt when you make or miss shots, that’s just as important as making sure I’m leading the team the right way and being human through this experience, too, and telling them how I feel. I try to pay attention to the positive things that got us wins here earlier in my career, but also thinking about things that I can learn from in performances that I’ve had here where I didn’t play up to par.”
Either way, Kidd hopes his team will be up to the challenge of putting even more pressure on the Celtics with a victory in Game 5.
‘It’s just take each possession one possession at a time, and hopefully we can put ourselves up winning each quarter,” Kidd said. “We ended up doing that (in Game 4).
“Same thing that we are talking about today and tomorrow is we can only focus on Game 5, and trying to find a way to win here in Boston.”
X: @DwainPrice
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