The Boston Celtics took a 3-0 series lead in the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, taking down the Dallas Mavericks by a score of 106-99. Despite being without Kristaps Porzingis, the Celtics pulled through, slowing down Luka Doncic and blowing by him on the other end.
Here are three things you might have missed in Game 3.
1. Jrue Holiday makes the pass of the night
At this point in the game, the Celtics were reeling. The Mavs had finally found a way to cut into Boston’s lead, and the Celtics’ offense turned to dust.
Then, Jrue Holiday drove to the rim, drew multiple defenders, and made an over-the-head pass to Derrick White at the three-point line. And White sunk it, as he does.
2. Joe Mazzulla’s UFC examples
Throughout the course of the season, Joe Mazzulla has emphasized the importance of staying focused. His general idea is that the closer a team or person is to winning, the closer they are to effectively taking their eyes off the prize and losing.
Mazzulla is a big UFC fan, so he sometimes shows his players clips of fights that pertain to this ideology. Before Game 3, he shared some hilarious examples.
“There’s a lot of them,” Mazzulla said. “Usually every single fight. I think it was (UFC) 302, guy gets hits in the nuts, complains to the ref, complains to the referee, gets distracted, he gets choked out the next round. He lost his focus. You see (Alex) Pereira, gets hits in the nuts, looks at the referee, knocks the guy out five seconds later.
“So it’s the approach to what happens to you and how you handle it. But the closer you think you are to beating someone is the closer you are to getting your ass kicked. Tonight I expect the best out of Dallas, and we got to get ready for a fight.”
3. Luka Doncic mocks Sam Hauser
Early in the game, Doncic scored a bucket on Hauser.
As he was running back on defense, the jumbotron caught him motioning to the Celtics bench. He smirked, pointed at Hauser, looked at Boston’s bench, and motioned as if to say, “You’re going to let this guy guard me?”
Well, considering Doncic shot 6-for-18 in the final three quarters of the game, it’s safe to say Boston’s trust in Hauser, and the rest of their team, paid off.
