JUST IN: Boston Celtics made unbelievable vow, that no other NBA team has ever done.
NEW YORK – Despite the Boston Celtics holding a dominant 3-0 lead over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, coach Joe Mazzulla understands that the battle is far from won.
In an effort to emphasize the thin line between victory and defeat, Mazzulla has been showing his team UFC highlights during their film sessions.
“If you’ve ever been in a fight and you think you’re about to win, you usually get sucker punched,” Mazzulla explained before Boston’s 106-99 victory over Dallas in Game 3 on June 12.
“The closer you are to victory, the closer you are to defeat.”
With the Mavericks down 2-0 in the best-of-seven series, Mazzulla and the Celtics expected Dallas to fight back hard, and they did in the fourth quarter.
Boston was leading 91-70 with 11 minutes and 7 seconds remaining, but Dallas surged, scoring 22 of the next 24 points and closing the gap to 93-92 when Kyrie Irving hit a jumper with 3:37 left.
However, the Celtics held onto their lead and are now just one win away from securing their 18th title in franchise history.
Teams that have gone up 3-0 in a playoff series are 156-0, but that statistic doesn’t bring complete comfort to Boston.
Last season, the Celtics were in a similar position in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat, coming back to force a Game 7. Unfortunately, their star player Jayson Tatum injured his ankle just 26 seconds into the game, and Miami triumphed 103-84 to win the series 4-3.
Despite no team ever coming back from a 3-0 deficit, Tatum emphasized that the Celtics are focused solely on improving their performance in Game 4 on June 14 (June 15, Singapore time), rather than dwelling on historical stats.
“We still feel like there’s a lot more we can do; we are not relaxing or anything like that,” he said.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, have no intention of giving up.
Dallas superstar Luka Doncic believes his team needs to forget about the daunting challenge and focus on enjoying the game to mount a comeback.
“We talk about how we came back from (21) points in the fourth quarter,” he said after reviewing the Game 3 footage on June 13. “We were having fun. We were defending. We were running. Our pace was great. Just taking good shots.
“I really want to win. At the end of the day, I just really want to win.” REUTERS, AFP