Can Luka Force a Game 6? Betting on Celtics vs Mavericks Game 5 Odds

The Boston Celtics didn’t bother showing up for Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday in Dallas as the C’s were destroyed with a chance to complete just the second Finals sweep in franchise history.

They try again for a record 18th championship tonight at home in Game 5 against the Mavs and are solid favorites on the NBA odds.

Dallas Mavericks Betting Odds +216

As poorly as the Mavericks played in losing the first three games of this series by at least seven points each was as well as they played Friday in a 122-84 blowout of Boston, the third-largest margin of victory ever in a Finals game. There were four lead changes and no ties in the game. The Mavericks’ largest lead was 48 while the Celtics’ was three.

Luka Doncic shot 12-of-26 from the field and 5-of-7 from the foul line to finish with 29 points 29 points, five rebounds, five assists, and three steals in 33 minutes. He didn’t play heavy minutes because of the blowout.

After receiving significant criticism for his play in the aftermath of Dallas’ Game 3 loss on Wednesday, Doncic was better in Game 4. He scored 25 points in the first half, becoming the third-youngest player to score at least 25 or more in the first half of an NBA Finals game. The only two players ahead of Luka on that list are Kyrie Irving (2017) and Hakeem Olajuwon (1986). Doncic missed all eight of his 3-point attempts, but he was nearly unstoppable inside the arc and only committed one turnover.

Doncic avoided the distraction of complaining to officials, instead pouring that energy into defensive effort and interacting with his teammates. He efficiently attacked offensively, too, scoring 22 of his 29 points in the paint. In addition, Doncic competed on defense, forcing misses on the Celtics’ first six attempts with him serving as the primary defender.

He forced Jrue Holiday — someone who hadn’t committed a single turnover all series — into four turnovers when serving as Holiday’s primary defender. Those elements helped Dallas hold the Celtics to just 35 points in the first half — their lowest-scoring half under head coach Joe Mazzulla.

Kyrie Irving ended a personal 13-game losing streak to Boston and had 21 points, six assists and four rebounds as Game 4 marked was the first time in this series that Irving has shot 50% or better from the field as he was 10-for-18 overall and made nine of his 12 2-point attempts but was just 1-for-6 from deep. Outside of Game 3, when he shot 4-of-6, the 3-point accuracy has not been there for Kyrie. In Games 1, 2, and 4, he was a combined 1-of-14, well below his mark for the postseason (40.5%).

In just 12 minutes Friday, reserve guard Tim Hardaway fired in five three-pointers in seven attempts and scored as many points (15) as Jayson Tatum, who led the Celtics in scoring. Hardaway had been invisible in this series.

Rookie Dereck Lively had 11 points and 12 rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench. It was his second double-double of the Finals, joining Magic Johnson as the only 20-year-olds to accomplish multiple double-doubles in the Finals.

The Mavericks have been marginally better than the Celtics in the paint throughout the series. But on Friday, it got ridiculous. They had a monstrous 60-26 advantage in the paint in Game 4. Add that on to a 16-2 advantage in second-chance points, and no way the Mavericks were going to lose this game. The Celtics had only four offensive rebounds, two in each half.

Boston Celtics Betting Odds -263

Probably just human nature that the Celtics mailed it in Game 4 with a chance to sweep, knowing that no club has ever blown a 3-0 playoff series lead in the NBA and lost. Dallas took more shots and hit more 3-pointers, while the Celtics were heavily out rebounded and threw the ball all over the place, committing 14 turnovers that became 17 Mavericks points.

The Celtics’ franchise-record playoff winning streak stands at 10 straight games, marking their first loss since Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 9. Only eight other teams in NBA history have recorded at least 10 consecutive playoff wins in a single postseason, with an NBA record of 15 (Warriors – 2016-17).

The Celtics shot just 29.7 percent in the half of Game 4, and scored just 35 points, or 10 more than Luka Doncic scored by himself. The C’s had just 13 rebounds, or three more than Dereck Lively had by himself. The Celtics were a little better in the second half, shooting 41.9 percent. But by then the issue was settled. Boston struggled to keep Dallas out of the paint from the start of Game 4, and Joe Mazzulla decided to pull the plug with about four minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Tatum had just 15 points on 4-for-10 shooting as his shooting woes continued in these playoffs. Since Tatum was drafted in 2017, he has scored the most playoff points in the NBA (2,680), with teammate Jaylen Brown in second with 2,259. Brown amassed only 10 points on Friday. He entered Game 4 as the betting favorite for NBA Finals MVP honors, and that remains the case despite Boston getting blown out.

Center Kristaps Porzingis was available to play in Game 4 in Dallas in certain situations, Mazzulla said. With a blowout, that never happened. And the Celtics’ coach did not tip his hand about Porzingis’ availability for Game 5 when he addressed media members Sunday. “He’s doing everything he can to try to put himself in position to be out there,” he said. “I know that for sure.”

Boston is now 100 games into its season. Still, it has never lost more than two consecutive games. Add in the fact that no team in NBA history has ever overcome an 0-3 deficit to win a series, and the odds are certainly still looking great for the Celtics to win their 18th title on the 16th anniversary of their last one.

Bet Mavericks at Celtics NBA Odds

When: Monday, 8:30 PM ET
Where: TD Garden
TV: ABC
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: ESPN Radio

🚨🚨🚨NBA FINALS GAME 5 🚨🚨🚨

Mavs (+220) vs Celtics (-6.5)

Can Boston close it out tonight or will Luka and Kyrie keep the Mavs hopes alive?

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