With their season on the line, the Dallas Mavericks really didn’t have much choice but to put in their best effort as they staved off elimination on Friday night with a massive 122-84 victory. Luka Doncic finally put in the effort on defense and as a unit the entire Mavericks played consistently on the both ends, holding the Celtics to just 36% shooting from the field. The sweep has been avoided, can the Mavs now make things even more interesting with another victory in Game 5 on Monday? If that were to happen, they would have to play a near perfect game on the road at TD Garden, a place where they are yet to score 100 points in this series. Increasing the tempo might just be the winning formula, the Celtics struggled a lot on the interior in Game 4 without Kristaps Porzingis.
The Latvian’s status is still unclear for Monday’s game, a bit of nervousness might creep into the Celtics ranks if he isn’t able to suit up. Game 4 was a performance to forget for most players on the roster. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined to go 7-for-22 from the field, finishing with just 25 points. Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard finishing the game as the 2nd and 3rd leading scorers on the team is everything you need to know about the way Boston performed in Friday’s game. Whether or not that was just a minor bump in the road will be seen on Monday. Boston remains in the drivers’ seat ahead of Game 5, the oddsmakers have them as 7-point favorites to win it and raise banner number 18. In 10 home games played this postseason they’ve lost only twice, they have the 4th best offensive rating and the 5th best defensive numbers.
