Mavericks' Game 4 Win Was Third Largest In NBA Finals History

The Dallas Mavericks' 122-84 Game 4 blowout victory against the Boston Celtics on Friday night was the third-largest win in NBA Finals history, ranking below the Chicago Bulls' 96-54 thrashing of the Utah Jazz in 1998 and the Celtics' 131-92 rout over the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008.

Dallas Mavericks stars Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving carried team to Game 4 victory against Boston Celtics

Luka Doncic scored 25 of his 29 points in the first half and Kyrie Irving added 21 for the Mavericks. Dallas' stars were resting by the end of the third quarter. The Mavs led by 13 at the end of the opening quarter, 26 at the half, and by as many as 38 in the third before both sides emptied the benches.

It was a must-win game for Dallas to keep its season alive.

“It's real simple. We don't have to complicate this. This isn't surgery,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “Our group was ready to go. They were ready to celebrate, and we made a stand. We were desperate.

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“We've got to continue to keep playing that way. They're trying to close the door. The hardest thing in this league is to close the door when you have a group that has nothing to lose. Tonight, you saw that.”

Doncic has now scored 607 points this postseason, which is the 23rd most in a single playoff run. Michael Jordan tops the all-time list with 759 points in 1992. LeBron James is second with 748 points in 2018.

Boston Celtics trailed by as many as 48 points in Game 4

However, the Mavericks still face a 3-1 series deficit.

“It doesn't change anything,” Doncic said. “Like I said in the beginning of this series, it's the first to four. And we're going to believe until the end. We're just going to keep going. I have big belief in this team that we can do it.”

Furthermore, the Celtics trailed 61-35 at halftime. The 35 points represented Boston's lowest-scoring total in a half, in coach Joe Mazzulla’s two seasons as coach. The halftime deficit was the Celtics' largest ever in an NBA Finals game.

Before Friday night's matchup, the worst NBA Finals loss for the 17-time champion Celtics was 137-104 to the Lakers in 1984. A 33-point loss was nothing compared to Game 4. The Mavs' biggest lead in the fourth was 48 — the largest deficit the Celtics have faced all season.

Boston's defeat snapped its 10-game postseason winning streak, the longest in franchise history. The C's would have become the first team in NBA history to win both the conference finals and the Finals in 4-0 sweeps.

The Celtics host the Mavericks in Game 5 on Monday.