The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Boston Celtics 106-88 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals as the Celtics have officially won the NBA Championship, the 18th banner in the franchise’s history.
Boston took the lead early in the game and never looked back. Hot shooting carried them to a dominant win in which they never trailed once, with the lead growing to as many as 26 points in the second half.
Neither team opened the game shooting well. The two combined for just six points in the first three minutes, with the Celtics taking a slim 4-2 lead.
Boston kept a slight lead for the next few minutes as the Mavericks got their offense going, with the Celtics leading 17-15 with 3:07 left in the game after a free throw by center Kristaps Porzingis.
The first quarter of the game ended with the Celtics extending their lead to 28-18, as Boston went on a 9-0 run to end the quarter in the final 1:55 of the action.
Mavericks guard Luka Doncic ended the quarter with five points while guard Josh Green collected six points after back-to-back three-point jump shots, but the team as a whole shot just 35% from the field and 25% from the three-point line.
Boston stayed aggressive to start the second quarter as the lead grew to 41-27 with 8:10 left in the half following a three-point jump shot by guard Jrue Holiday.
The Celtics extended their lead to as large as 15 points, but the Mavericks fought back with a quick scoring run to cut the Celtics’ lead to 48-39 with 4:54 left in the half.
Despite the Mavericks’ scoring run, the Celtics went on another scoring run to end the first half, capitalized by yet another half-court buzzer-beater by guard Payton Pritchard to end the half with a 67-46 lead.
Doncic finished the half with nine points, six rebounds, and four assists, while guard Kyrie Irving managed to contribute just five points and shot only 2-8 from the field.
Dallas shot just 31.6% from the three-point line, while the Celtics shot 47.6% from three-point range and made 10 of their attempts.
Boston continued the scoring barrage at the beginning of the third quarter, making multiple quick three-point jump shots to increase the lead to 78-52 less than three minutes into the half.
Dallas attempted to cut the lead down as Doncic and Green put together six quick points to cut the score to 80-62 with 5:09 remaining in the third quarter.
The Mavericks continued to trim the lead to just 16 points, but the Celtics ended the quarter on yet another scoring outburst to keep the lead with a score of 86-67 heading into the final quarter of the game.
The Mavericks attempted to crawl back into the game, and a Doncic three-point jump shot cut the Celtics’ lead to just 88-70 with 8:50 remaining.
Boston stayed aggressive as forward Jayson Tatum scored four straight points for the Celtics to give them a 102-78 lead with only 4:39 left in the game.
Dallas’ efforts were not enough as the Celtics cruised to a 106-88 victory as the game ended.
Doncic finished the game with 28 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists, while Irving finished with only 15 points and managed to shoot just 5-16 from the field.
A panel of voters selected Celtics forward Jaylen Brown as the Finals MVP after averaging 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.6 steals. Brown shot 43.3% from the field and 31.8% from behind the three-point line. With this recognition, he officially became the first player in NBA history to win both the NBA Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals MVP awards.
This victory marks the 18th championship for the Boston Celtics since the franchise was formed in 1946. Most of those championships came from a dominant run by the late Bill Russell-led teams, which won 11 titles in 13 years.
Dallas will now look forward to the upcoming offseason, where the franchise will look to continue growing the team in hopes of winning a title in the 2024-25 season.
