Dallas Mavericks are staring down the barrel as they are down by 0-3 in the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. They are now just one loss away from suffering a clean sweep but their talisman Luka Doncic is not ready to throw in the towel, just yet.
Mavericks suffered a 106-99 loss to the Boston Celtics at American Airlines Center to go down by 3-0 in the NBA Finals. No team has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit in the NBA playoffs. Teams are 0-156 in playoff series in NBA history after falling behind 3-0.
“It’s not over until it’s over,” Doncic said. “We just got to believe.”
Doncic was not happy with the officiating and felt his team could not play physically.
“We couldn’t play physical,” Doncic said when asked about the officiating. “I don’t know. I don’t want to say nothing.
“You know, six fouls in the NBA Finals, basically I’m like this,” Doncic added, motioning with his palms up. “Come on, man. Be better than that.”
Doncic finished with 27 points on 11-of-27 shooting but his efforts went in vain as he struggled offensively. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd feels the team is putting up a lot of load on Doncic and thus must come up with a collective effort.
“He’s definitely got a bull’s-eye on his chest,” Mavericks 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.”
Kyrie Irving said the team is fully backing Luka Doncic.
“You just got to let it breathe a little bit,” Irving said when asked what his postgame message to his co-star would be. “Let the human emotions come out. Just give him a hug. That’s it, man. It’s easy to point the finger at just him, say, ‘You could be better.’ That’s easy to say. I think he knows that. But, yeah, it’s reiterating that I have his back, we all have his back.”
The fourth game of the NBA finals will be played on Friday night.
