Celtics hang on to defeat Mavericks in Dallas, claiming 3-0 stranglehold of NBA Finals

Joe Mazzulla is a big fan of UFC matches and splices highlights of fights into some of the basketball video he shows the Boston Celtics.

He doesn't do it for entertainment purposes or to make players laugh. He does it for a simple reason. He wants the Celtics to have a fighters' mentality.

"If you've ever been in a fight with someone and you think you're about to beat 'em, you usually get sucker-punched," said Mazzulla, the second-year Celtics coach. "The closer you are to beating them up, the closer you are to losing."

A pair of big runs — 23-8 in the first half, 20-5 in the second half — represented what became the knockout blows in this game, and maybe this series. Boston frittered away almost all of what was a 21-point lead before winning 106-99 to take a 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals, moving one win away from what would be their record-setting 18th championship.

"Our guys have a great basketball IQ and have a great understanding of are we playing the right way, taking the right shots and giving up the right shot." Mazzulla said. "They know exactly when we are not doing that. So, they have an innate ability to control the runs of the game with the philosophy that we have."

As is often the case with fights, the judges — in this case, the referees — had a big decision to make and it wasn't one that was popular. Luka Doncic fouled out with 4:12 remaining, a call that held up under review despite Dallas' arguments that Jaylen Brown initiated the contact on that play, and the Mavs were without their best puncher in what amounted to the 12th round of this fight.

Luka Doncic has fouled out of Game 3 after the Mavs challenge on this call was unsuccessful <a href="https://t.co/jePE4S147b">pic.twitter.com/jePE4S147b</a>

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