The Celtics are almost certain to see a familiar face in the NBA Finals after the Mavericks took complete command of the Western Conference Finals on Sunday night. Dallas pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 116-107 victory in Game 3 to take a 3-0 series lead over Minnesota at American Airlines Arena. The man leading the way for the Mavericks on their path towards the team’s Finals appearance since 2011 was none other than old friend Kyrie Irving.
The veteran point guard scored 33 points on 12-of-20 shooting in a Game 3 win, carrying Dallas along with Luka Doncic with some efficient shot creation. The performance was one in another long line of efforts from Irving this postseason that should open old wounds for Celtics fans who had hoped he would do the same in Boston throughout his career.
Irving is playing his best basketball since a 2016 Cavs run to the NBA Finals during this postseason, the kind of play Boston Danny Ainge bet big on in the summer of 2017 when they landed the disgruntled guard. Through 15 postseason games in Dallas, Irving is shooting 49 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3-point range while averaging 22.4 points per game.
Irving has balanced between tough shot-making and a facilitating second option beautifully next to Doncic during the Mavericks run. Stunningly, he’s also held his own defensively in most matchups, but his play in crunch time has stood out the most. He scored 14 fourth quarter points in Game 3 and has 31 points overall in the series during the fourth quarter.
“Unbelievable. That’s why some people call him Mr. Fourth Quarter, right?” Doncic told reporters in Dallas after Game 3. “Just amazing. He’s born for these situations. He’s born for the clutch situations, so we just get the ball to him.”
Irving has relished playing the second option next to Doncic in his second year in Dallas after a disappointing stint in Brooklyn.
“Down the stretch, that’s where we make our money, man,” Irving said. “I think we have that poise now, and we’re showcasing just our skill sets out there that a lot of teams have to guard, the depth that we have. A lot of teams have to guard each one of us, and you got to pick your poison.”
The performance has lifted the No. 5 seed Mavericks to emerging from a loaded Western Conference while also bringing back some painful memories of Irving in the process for Celtics fans. This type of effort was nowhere to be found from the All-Star guard during his lone active postseason with the franchise back in 2019.
It did not take the Celtics long to bounce back from Irving’s free agency departure in 2019 so it’s in a strange way fitting that he is one of the main remaining obstacles left standing in the way between the franchise’s first title in 16 years. It’s been a relatively drama-free road to the NBA Finals for the Celtics this year, absent of much oppositional star power and emotion. That changes later this week once Boston and Dallas both officially punch their ticket to the final dance.
