The NBA Finals are only two games old, but the Dallas Mavericks suddenly find themselves in a must-win situation.
The Mavs trail the Boston Celtics, 2-0, in this best-of-seven series for pro basketball’s most prestigious prize. And as both teams head into Game 3 Wednesday night at 7:30 at American Airlines Center, it’s imperative that the Mavs find a way to win, or else they would have to do something that’s never been done before.
No team has rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven series in the history of the NBA playoffs. The record is now up to a staggering 155-0 in favor of the team that has raced out to a 3-0 lead.
But the Mavs hope to even this series at 2-2 over the next three days as Game 3 and Game 4 on Friday will both be played in Dallas, after the Celtics captured the first two games on their home floor.
“We’re home,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “Understanding that Boston held serve. That’s what we’re talking about is just focusing on Game 3.
“We felt in Game 2 we had opportunities we just let get away from us. For us at home, protecting home court, but the cliché is role players play better at home, so we’ll see.”
The Mavs need their role players to step up and play an all-around efficient game so they can put some pressure on a Boston team that is an impressive 14-2 in the playoffs.
“We all believe in those shots,” point guard Luka Dončić said, referring to the shots the Mavs’ role players have gotten in this series. “That’s how we came to the Finals. That’s how we played the whole season.
“We believe in those guys. Everybody believes. If you’re open, just keep shooting. You’re going to knock it down at some point.”
While Dončić is averaging 31 points, 10.5 rebounds, six assists and three steals in this series — and also shooting 51.1 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the three-point arc — the Mavs are hopeful that guard Kyrie Irving will find his shooting touch. Irving is only averaging 14 points while shooting just 35.1 percent from the field (13-of-37) and has missed all eight of his three-pointers .
“First thing of that is just accepting that I haven’t played well or up to my standards, as well as I would have liked,” Irving said. “Being back in Boston, there’s such a level of desire that I have inside of me to play well. (I) wanted to be there for my teammates.
“As a competitor, it’s frustrating. But I don’t want to let that seep in or spill over to any other decisions I have to make.”
Dončić, by the way, is listed as probable for Game 3 with a thoracic contusion.
Meanwhile, Irving said he wants to continue to feed his teammates confidence because he knows a series isn’t over until one team wins four games. Plus, Irving was part of the Cleveland Cavaliers who were down, 2-0, to the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals, then rallied and won that series in seven games.
“(I) have been down 0-2 before — lost a series, won a series,” Irving said. “I know what it takes. Also, (I know) how to prepare for something like that mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physically.
“First is just respecting your opponent. Then most importantly, putting your best foot forward out there when we go out there. It’s as simple as that.”
And that’s precisely what the Mavs hope to do Wednesday. Put their best foot forward and live with the results.
Here are some other nuggets surrounding Game 3 between the Mavs and Celtics.
*Game 3 is an urgent situation for the Mavs if they want to keep alive their chances of winning the franchise’s second NBA title. Kidd pointed out that his players need to
just relax and just play the game they’ve been playing for over half their life. I think the urgency started for us awhile back,” Kidd said. “I think we’re used to that. I think the game of basketball is about makes and misses and capitalizing on mistakes. We just haven’t had that opportunity to capitalize. But there’s two teams playing, so we can relax and enjoy this and have fun. That’s what it’s all about. Hopefully we can do that (Wednesday) night.”
*Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis is listed as questionable with a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg. Porzingis was pivotal in Game 1 when he scored 20 points and blocked three shots, and in Game 2 when he tallied 12 points and blocked two shots in 23 minutes.
*The Mavs hope to re-introduce the lob dunk back into their offensive attack. They produced 54 of those in the first three rounds of the playoffs, but that very critical part of their offense has basically been non-existent against the Celtics. “The only thing I would say they’re probably doing differently is just one through five, switching on every screen-and-roll,” 
Mavs center Daniel Gafford said. “But we’ve found ways to get around that. Of course, we want to get a lob every now and then, but we can find other options on the floor besides lobs. It’s always good, because we have a lot more weapons in our arsenal.”
*Celtics guard Jrue Holiday noted that the way Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have lived in the paint has been very beneficial to Boston in this series. “The way they’ve been playing, the way they’ve been touching the paint and getting to the basket has been huge for us, and one of the reasons why we had such a good game last game,” Holiday said. “Again, I think JT driving and attracting two or three people and collapsing the defense has made our offense a lot easier.”
*The Mavs want the sellout crowd that’ll be inside American Airlines Center to be loud and make life difficult for the Celtics in Game 3. “Hopefully they’re going to blow the roof off,” center Daniel Gafford said. “They should hear us on the other side of Texas.”
*The Celtics haven’t lost a game since suffering a 118-94 loss to Cleveland on May 9 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Since then, the Celtics have rattled off nine straight wins.
BOSTON CELTICS (2-0) at DALLAS MAVERICKS (0-2)
When: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas
TV: ABC
Radio: KEGL 97.1 FM The Eagle; 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish)
X: @DwainPrice
Share and comment