BOSTON – In the aftermath of losing Game 5 to the Boston Celtics on Monday night at TD Garden, 106-88, thus losing the NBA Finals, Dallas Mavericks
coach Jason Kidd reminded his listeners that this is just the beginning of a journey for his young team.
Kidd also paid homage to the Celtics, who now have won 18 NBA titles – the most by any team and one more than the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I think when you look at (the Celtics’) journey for seven years, there’s been ups, there’s been learning experiences for them with winning and losing,” Kidd said. “And so understanding for us, we’ve been together for five months — some of us.
“So, this is a really positive journey that we’ve been on here, and we’ll look at what we can do as we get to the Finals, just understanding we have to play our best basketball. Unfortunately, Boston was better than us in this series and they won the championship.”
Monday’s loss likely was excruciatingly painful for Mavs’ fans to watch. After the Mavs destroyed the Celtics, 122-84, last Friday in Dallas, it was generally assumed that there would be a carry-over into Game 5.
Not only did the carry-over not occur. But the Celtics led from wire-to-wire, led 28-18 after the first quarter and by as many as 26 points – 78-52 – when Jrue Holiday scored inside with 9:10 remaining in the third quarter.
Luka Dončić paced the Mavs with 28 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. But Kyrie Irving struggled again against his former team, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting – he was 3-of-9 from three-point range – and also added nine assists.
“I mean, basketball is a game of centimeters, man, sometimes inches,” said Irving, who is 0-8 in this building since his left the Celtics in 2019 to go play for the Brooklyn Nets. “So, when a ball is flying off your hands, sometimes it’s going to feel good, sometimes it isn’t. That’s the maturity aspect.
“You got to move on to the next thing, and I’ve been talking about that. Whether I’m playing well specifically scoring-wise or I’m not, there is a team aspect here that 
we’re becoming more gelled into or dialed into.”
From an offensive standpoint, the Mavs had problems getting dialed into anything. They appeared so out of sync and shot only 29.7 percent (11-of-37) from beyond the three-point arc.
“We had some great looks there that just didn’t go down for us,” Kidd said. “Kai has a layup that rims in and out.
“P.J. (Washington) had great looks. It just wasn’t our night offensively.”
As expected, the Celtics came out firing on all cylinders while bolting to a quick 9-2 lead. Thanks to a pair of three-pointers by Josh Green, Dallas was within 19-18 of Boston with 1:55 remaining in the first quarter after a three-pointer by Dante Exum.
Then the roof caved completely in.
The Celtics ended the first quarter on a 9-0 run and then after the Mavs were within 48-39 with 4:53 left in the second quarter, the Celtics ended the half on a 19-7 run.
That explosive run was capped by a halfcourt shot from Payton Pritchard at the buzzer as the Celtics raced to the locker room nursing a comfortable 67-46 lead.
“Turnovers,” said Washington, summing up the ends of the first and second quarters. “They got out in transition and made shots.
“They made a lot of threes. That’s what happened.”
Things got progressively worst for the Mavs in the third quarter as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and company continued to pour it on. Tatum finished with 31 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists, and Brown collected 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists and was named the Most Valuable Player of the Finals.
“They were physical a lot,” said Dončić, who was 12-of-25 from the field. “They have great defenders. They’re a great team. That’s what they do.”
The closest the Mavs got within the Celtics in the second half was 17 points. But Boston was off and running again while snuffing out any serious threats the Mavs tried to pose.
“I can score 25 points, but if I don’t, we got to be able to pick each other up,” Irving said. “And I think that’s what we’re learning about each other now, where they’re going to be games where the shooting is not going to go well particularly for me or someone else on the team.
“And that’s where we have to galvanize as a group and other players make plays and opportunities created for one another. I’ve been at the point of attack through most of my drives going against the Celtics one-on-one or coming off screens. So, that’s what the summer is for is just continuing to work on those things that I saw this year, the physicality, being able to adjust to it and by next year be in a better position.”
On this night, the Celtics were in better position to win, Green said, because “they came out aggressive, man. They were good defensively.
“They’re a great defensive team. Respect to them and respect to the coaches for their defensive scheme.”
Green, who scored 14 points and was 4-of-6 on three-pointers, acknowledged that the loss ate at the Mavs’ core, but vows to be back at this juncture sooner than the critics expect.
“We got here and I think everyone’s hungry now,” Green said. “Obviously, we didn’t get where we wanted to, but it’s not the end of the world.
“We know that we need to regroup and be back here again next year. That’s the goal every single year.”
It was a playoff run by the Mavs that saw Dončić’s name constantly on the injury list with a myriad of issues. But he didn’t want to address any of that during his postgame interview session.
“It doesn’t matter if I was hurt, how much was I hurt,” Dončić said. “I was out there. I tried to play, but I didn’t do enough.”
Dončić also didn’t want to discuss any takeaways that could possibly help the Mavs get back to the Finals next season.
“That’s not what I’m thinking,” he said. “But they’re a great team. They have been together for a long time, and they had to go through everything.
“So, we just got to look at them, see how they play, maturity. We can learn from that. We got to fight next season.”
As far as what must happen for the Mavs to get over the final hurdle and win another championship, Kidd said: “I think the first step is just to be in it. I think that’s a
big thing. A lot of us — when I say a lot of us, excluding the people in the locker room — didn’t have us here. And so to be able to start the playoffs in L.A. (against the Clippers), to start the playoffs in Oklahoma, to start the playoffs in Minnesota, to understand that that’s not easy to do.
“I thought the group did a great job. Yes, we lost 4-1 (to the Celtics), but I thought the group fought against the Celtics and just, unfortunately, we just couldn’t make shots when we had to, or we turned the ball over and they took full advantage of that.
“So, there’s a lot of positives in this run that we were on during the playoffs, but also since March we’ve been playing basketball at a high level.”
Irving said there’s no reason for him or any of his teammates to hang their heads or be flustered because they lost to a Celtic team that had the best record in the NBA this season.
“Success can be new for a lot of people too, but when you fail at the Finals, it’s not something that you want to carry the disappointment forever or on to next season,” he said. “We worked extremely hard to be one of the final two teams. We didn’t achieve our goal, but we achieved most of our goal.
“So, this is just the last step that we have to get back to, and we know it’s not going to be easy. We’re going to be going against a lot of young teams that are emerging, but we’re going to get better as well, and I think this experience will carry us forth in the following series that we play next year. God willing we make it back to the playoffs and get the chance to play our best basketball.”
X: @DwainPrice
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