BOSTON– Short jumpers went off the rim and 3-pointers came and went. Even free throws were a challenge for Luka Doncic in the deciding game of the NBA Finals.
Dallas needed Doncic and Kyrie Irving to be at their best in Game 5 against the Celtics on Monday night. Instead, the Mavericks’ best players got off to a terrible start, and when their shots began to fall, the Celtics were cruising to a 106-88 victory and an unprecedented 18th NBA title.
“Failing at this stage definitely sucks,” Irving said as the Celtics celebrated in the locker room down the hall. “It’s a bittersweet feeling because you want to keep playing and you feel like your best game is coming and the shots you’re going to make in the next game are coming.
“We reached the top of the mountain and failed. So now we have to start at the bottom, and that should be inspiring,” he said. “It’s going to be a long summer, but I’m looking forward to the start of next season.”
Doncic missed his first six 3-point attempts and finished 12 of 25 from the floor; by the time he made 3, Dallas was already down by 21. He scored 28 points – 10 of them in the fourth quarter, when Dallas never got closer than 18 points.
He grabbed 12 rebounds, but also turned the ball over seven times. He went 2 for 5 from the free throw line, a problem that bothered him throughout the series.
“It just wasn’t our night offensively,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said after his fifth team fell short of a second NBA title. “We are a young team. We have a young core and so this is an exciting time to be a Mavs fan and also to be a Mavs coach.”
The Slovenian star said the injuries – bruises on his chest and problems with his right knee and left ankle – were not the problem.
“It doesn’t matter if I got hurt, how much I got hurt. I was out there,” he said. “I tried to play, but I didn’t do enough.”
Irving was 3-for-9 from 3-point range and 5-for-16 overall. He had nine assists, but scored 15 points – six of them in the fourth quarter, when the game was already out of reach.
“I see this as an opportunity for us to look at what we did well this year as a group and how Luka and I can be better as team leaders,” he said. “When you fail in the finals, it’s not something you want to carry the disappointment with you forever or into the next season. We worked hard to be one of the last two teams. We didn’t reach our goal, but we achieved most of our goal. So this is just the last step we have to go back to and we know it won’t be easy.”
Irving’s failure brought joy to Boston fans, who booed him every time he touched the ball – still angry that he opted out of his contract with the Celtics in 2019. Irving, who admitted this week that the crowd had a “ psychological advantage” over him, he averaged 14.3 points in the three games in Boston and 28 in the two in Dallas.
“The crowds can sing whatever they want. When we’re out, they’re obviously going to come at us,” Dallas guard Josh Green said. “He does a great job of not letting it get to him and I think that’s because of his leadership on and off the court.
“So we have nothing but respect for Kyrie. … We all have his back, for sure.”
Irving and Doncic hugged at the end of the game.
“We said, ‘Let’s fight together next season,’ and let’s just believe,” Doncic said. “I’m proud of every guy that stepped on the court, of all the coaches, of all the people behind it. Obviously, we didn’t win the finals, but we had an incredible season and I’m proud of every single one of them.”
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