With a chance to win their franchise’s 18th NBA championship, the Boston Celtics laid a goose egg as they got blown out of the water in Game 4 by the Dallas Mavericks.
The Celtics lost, 122-84, a 38-point defeat that ranks as the third-worst Finals loss in the NBA history.
Boston didn’t look anything close to the team it was through the first three games of the series as they simply had zero offensive rhythm while defensively they looked almost uninterested in making the extra effort to close out to Dallas players on the perimeter.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had forgettable performances as they only combined for 25 points, while the rest of the starters fared no differently themselves.
However, the Celtics can at least bank on coming back home for Game 5 where they’ve played exceptionally throughout the 2024 NBA postseason.
Boston has been compared to all-time great teams like the 2000s Los Angeles Lakers and 2010s Golden State Warriors, but Mike Guardabascio said that those conversations need to stop after their Game 4 loss, via Jenkins and Jonez.
“Stop comparing this Celtics team to all-time great teams,” Guardabascio said.