1 Big reason why Mavericks fell way short to Celtics in NBA Finals
The Dallas Mavericks have fallen to the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals.
Many reasons happened for this to occur, but in the end, Boston showed why they were the best team in the league all season long
However, there was one aspect of the game that could’ve made Game 5 more competitive than what the final score showed.
Mavericks’ perimeter shooting once again lays an egg
With the Mavericks shooting 11-37 it certainly didn’t help their chances at all of forcing a Game 6. While Boston didn’t shoot that much better at 13-37 from 3-point range for the entire game, there was more wiggle room for Boston to miss rather than Dallas when it came to 3-point shooting.
This was a similar poor shooting performance from Dallas from beyond the arc in their first two games in the NBA Finals.
Even the Mavericks superstars couldn’t find their stroke. Luka Doncic shot 2-9 from 3-point range, including going 0-6 at one point. For Kyrie Irving, not much better. He shot 3-9 from deep.
The bench provided help in Game 4 when it came to 3-point shooting. That did not happen in Game 5. While Josh Green was by far the best bench player for Dallas, it wasn’t close at all to get by in the entire game.
Tim Hardaway Jr. provided at least some hope in Game 4 with his great shooting but was virtually nonexistent in an elimination game, giving only nine minutes on the floor and missed his only shot attempt of the game.
Luka Doncic is 0-6 from 3-point range, has four of Dallas’ nine turnovers, and has gotten caught watching in a couple key sequences – including Boston’s string of offensive rebounds, late in the 3rd.
He’s also got 18 points on a decent shooting night (8-19), has four assists…
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) June 18, 2024
The Mavericks showed that when they’re a hot shooting team, there are not a team to be messed with, even when big man Dereck Lively II showed his off his touch from outside in Game 4, nobody on the Mavs could get anything going in the most important game of the season.
Even if Dallas was able to match Boston’s shooting from deep, they still might’ve come up short, due to the fact that this Boston team showed all year to the whole league why they were the most dominant force in the NBA all season.