The Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 106-99 in game three of the NBA Finals.  The Celtics now lead the series 3-0 and are well on their way to hanging Banner 18 in the rafters of the Boston Garden.  The only question left may be if they will sweep the Mavs and have to celebrate on the road or if Dallas can salvage a game and let the Celtics celebrate in front of their home town fans. 

I really do not have much to say about game 3.  It went the way all the other games went and as I expected it to go.  It went exactly as the first two games went. And if I had to bet on it, it’s exactly how game 4 will go. Kristaps Porzingis was unable to play and while it did have an effect on the game, it didn’t have one on the outcome.  I hope he is able to get on the court at least a little bit for game 4 so he can be out there if they win.  I would have him active no matter what so he can be in uniform if it does end tonight. I do want to point out that 20-point leads are nothing in the NBA anymore and teams blow those leads all the time now.  And it would have been nice to have a 7 foot plus guy to give the ball to down low to help end the run.  But when it came down to it, it didn’t matter.  I’m not celebrating anything yet.  There Is still a long way to go.  I do think that if the Celtics can get up big in game 4, the Mavs will roll over the way the Lakers did in 2008 and the Celtics will be able to finish this off. 

With that said, I want to talk about something a little to the side of the Finals.  I want to talk about how people are talking about Luka Doncic now.  A lot of people have turned on Luka and have been trashing the man they all thought was a top 3 player in the league.  Brian Windhorst went viral for “Blasting”, “Killing”, and “going off” on Luka after game 3.  What he said, just exactly what I have been saying for at least the last three years.  I said it going into this series.  His defense is worse than his offence is good and they will never win if it stays that way.  I said was shocked they were able to play enough defense to get this far.  I still have no idea how they did it.  The Celtics have absolutely abused him on defense to the point where even Jason Kid has pointed it out.  The fact that everyone else is finally coming around on this is great but also frustrating because they all act like it’s some new idea when I have been preaching this for years. 

I always say you do not have to be great on defense in the NBA, you just have to not be a hole.  Your team can’t be playing 4 on 5 on that end of the court.  It’s one thing to be a “small” guy and have issues on the defensive end, it’s another thing for it to be a complete lack of effort.  The Celtics have a great defense partly because even Payton Pritchard works his ass off on that end.  Doncic is 6’7″, he has no excuse. When the series started the announcers were saying the Mavs got Luka and Kryie “to participate” on the defensive end in the playoffs.  1) It’s beyond sad that they have to convince their stars to try on defense. 2) If Luka was participating in the West playoffs, he stopped participating when the Celtics showed up. This is the reason I have never considered the Mavs real contenders. It’s the reason I never considered the Embiid/Harden Phila teams real contenders. I have never been a “defense wins championships” guy (especially in basketball), but you have to be competent on that end. Luka being on your team makes that near impossible.

I always love when I have an opinion about something, sports or otherwise, and then everyone else comes around to it.  Validates my feelings. I am glad everyone is finally coming around on Luka.  It will be interesting to see if he plays this way next season and people stop talking about him as a top 3 MVP candidate.  I doubt it. 

Game 4 can go a couple of ways.  As I said, the Mavs could get behind early and give up.  They could also play free and lose with nothing to lose and score 130 and force a game 5.  Assuming the Celtics finally put this to bed, I don’t care if it happens in a record setting sweep or if they celebrate on the parquet.  Just, for the love of Red Auerbach, finish this off.   

P.S. If you think this was a bit of a rant and self serving, wait until they actually win. I’ve got a doozie planned.