BOSTON — Five could serve as a lucky number for these Dallas Mavericks.
At least, that’s what history suggests. The Mavericks are faced with a pivotal Game 5 on Monday night that could decide the outcome of their season.
A win guarantees an extension in the NBA Finals and another game at American Airlines Center. A loss marks the climactic end to of one of the most successful seasons in franchise history.
The Mavericks are undefeated in Game 5s throughout the postseason (3-0) and they’ve won four out of six Game 5s since Jason Kidd was hired as coach in 2021. Dallas has accumulated a 5-3 record in Game 5s since Luka Doncic was drafted in 2018.
Kidd was asked if there’s something to infer from Dallas’ recent success in Game 5s after Sunday’s practice in Boston.
“Yeah, I think there’s probably something to that,” Kidd said. “If we look at the analytics of our group, they are young, and as the series goes on, they get better. Hopefully, that’s true tomorrow night. Sometimes when you do play an opponent over and over, you get used to the tendencies and you start to capitalize on that on both ends, defensively and offensively. Hopefully, our group has seen enough of Boston to understand what they are good at, and hopefully, we can take that away tomorrow night.”
Dallas is coming off a dominant 122-84 rout over the Celtics on Friday night. It was a night when mostly everything went well for the Mavericks on both ends of the floor, and almost nothing went right for the Celtics. Boston produced poor shooting splits and lost the rebounding battle in their second game without Kristaps Porzingis. An uncharacteristic game for the Celtics, who now look to win their first championship since 2008 in the presence of their home fans.
All three of the Mavericks’ Game 5s from this postseason were victories on the road in front of hostile opposing fanbases. Luka Doncic has been at the center of every win. He scored 35 points with seven rebounds and 10 assists to lead Dallas to a resounding 123-93 blowout win in Round 1 over the LA Clippers. He recorded a triple-double of 31 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder on their home floor.
The magnitude of the first three rounds shrink in comparison to the Mavericks’ current situation. Game 5s against the Clippers and Thunder were considered swing games because the series was tied at two games apiece. Dallas held a commanding 3-1 lead against the Minnesota Timberwolves, a closeout game that Doncic embraced by exploding for 20 points in the first quarter.
The Mavericks have had their backs against the wall before throughout the season, but the stakes have never been higher. This time around, Dallas is faced with elimination going into Monday’s Game 5.
“I mean, it’s obviously different because it’s the Finals,” Doncic said. “Every team plays the whole season to be here. We are the one to be here in Boston, obviously. So it’s a little bit different. But you’ve got to play basketball. You’ve got to give everything you have.”
Boston’s two Game 5s from this season were closeout games that resulted in the elimination of the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics didn’t let the Indiana Pacers sniff a Game 5 after sweeping them in the Eastern Conference finals.
Avoiding elimination is going to be the scenario going forward and it could require either a duplicate team effort from Game 4, or a breakout performance from Kyrie Irving, similar to his 40-point outburst in Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals. He and LeBron James both scored 41 points to help Cleveland overcome the odds to overcome a 3-1 playoff deficit.
Irving foreshadowed the Mavericks’ return to Boston at the conclusion of their loss in Game 2. He showed all five fingers on his left hand and told Celtics fans “See you in Game 5″ as he walked through the tunnel. The prediction likely didn’t include a 3-1 deficit, but the Mavericks are indeed back at TD Garden to play a Game 5.
Irving said the process of overcoming the gargantuan task is to put their best foot forward and focus on the task at hand.
“Man, by just thinking about the goal that we have in front of us as best we can, and try not to get tired of everyone talking about the history that has not been made,” Irving said. “It’s basketball. Win or lose, that’s all that can happen. Just want to be as prepared as we can for whatever the environment is going to be like in terms of what’s expected from you. But what I’m sharing with my teammates now is just enjoy the moment. We got a chance to accomplish one of our goals, which is to make it back to Boston. We have another goal in front of us, and that’s to make it back to Dallas.”
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