Luka Dončić fouling out of Game 3 was a pivotal moment

The most notable play of Game 3 – and possibly of this year’s NBA Finals series — occurred when a razor-close block/charge 50/50 call went against the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Dončić.

The play occurred with 4:12 remaining in a game the Mavs trailed, 93-90. Dončić was charged with a blocking foul, which was his sixth foul of the game.

Coach Jason Kidd challenged the call, lost the challenge, and the Mavs ultimately lost the game, 106-99.

Yes, the Mavs realistically still had a chance to win Game 3 after Dončić fouled out. But when one of best players in the world is on the bench and permanently out of the game due to fouls, the percentage of winning took a nosedive.

“I mean, we’re in the NBA Finals,” Mavs guard Kyrie Irving said. “I’m not really thinking I’ve got to tell my guys we still have a chance to win the game — we’re only down by three points. But yeah, I think probably in that stretch I definitely could have done a better job of just settling them for what’s coming.

“(The Celtics) knew they were going to pressure me to get the ball out of my hands. I just tried to make the right plays, make sure guys were in the right spots, have them understand that we still have a chance to win this basketball game. That was all I was thinking. Again, we could have folded but we kept playing.”

Dončić improved his defense by light years this season. But considering the injuries Dončić is playing with, the Celtics are going at him a lot when he’s playing defense.

“He’s definitely got a bulls-eye on his chest,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s got to be able to guard and understand that we’re there to protect him and help him if he does get beat.

“Again, he’s carrying a load offensively. They are putting him in every pick-and-roll and iso. He’s got to be able to play the game where he can rest on offense and let others carry the load.”

The Mavs are now 0-3 in this best-of-seven series with Game 4 set for Friday at 7:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center. NBA teams are a perfect 156-0 when leading 3-0 in a best-of-seven series, but the Mavs are not interested in dwelling on numbers of that nature.

“We all know what it takes,” center Dereck Lively II said. “We all know we got to put everything in our minds, our body and our soul into this game. We’re watching film, we’re talking to one another, we’re trying to figure out what we need to do.

“They’re a great team, so you got to give them that. They know how to score. They’ve been doing this for a long time. We just got to be able to step up, learn and be able to adapt.”

Here are the three takeaways from the Celtics’ seven-point win over the Mavs.

TATUM, BROWN, TOO MUCH: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were simply too much for the Mavs to handle. Tatum finished the game with 31 points, six rebounds and five assists. He also was 11-of-26 from the field, including 4-of-13 from beyond the three-point line. Brown, meanwhile, contributed 30 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and was 12-of-22 from the floor and 2-of-9 from three-point range. When the Celtics were busy getting some separation between themselves and the Mavs, it was Brown who did the most damage. In the third quarter – when Boston outscored the Mavs, 35-19 – Brown tallied 15 points on 6-of-9 shots, and also distributed three assists.

THIRD QUARTER WOES: That third quarter was a major heartbreaker – and backbreaker — for the Mavs. That’s where the game changed for the worst for the Mavs. After holding a slim, 51-50, lead at the game’s midway point, the Mavs got outscored, 35-19, in the fatal third quarter as Boston took an 85-70 lead into the fourth quarter. It was as if the Celtics couldn’t miss a shot in the decisive third quarter. As a whole, the Celtics were 13-of-20 (65 percent) from the field in the third quarter, including 5-of-11 from three-point territory. By contrast, the Mavs were just 8-of-21 (38.1 percent) from the floor in the third quarter. Boston also had eight assists in the third quarter to just four for the Mavs.

IRVING SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT: After scoring just 28 points on 13-of-37 shots in the first two games of this series up in Boston, Mavs guard Kyrie Irving put on a show Wednesday. Irving scored a game-high 35 points and was 13-of-28 from the field. And after missing all eight of his three-point attempts during the two losses in Boston, Irving was 4-of-6 from downtown in Game 3. Irving tallied nine of his points in the fourth quarter. That includes a jumper with 3:37 left to pull the Mavs within 93-92 of the Celtics. It’s the type of production the Mavs were hoping Irving would deliver when they signed him to a free agent contract last summer.

X: @DwainPrice