Sports Poets Society

Boston guard Jaylen Brown and Celtics fans celebrate as Mavericks guard Luka Dončić gets a hand from Kyrie Irving as they leave the court after head coach Jason Kidd calls a timout in the fourth quarter.  After a stirring Game 4, the Mavs couldn’t replicate that performance and fell to the Celtics 106-88, losing the NBA Finals in five games. (Smiley N. Pool/staff Photographer) Mavs’ season came a long way Unable to recapture Game 4 magic, Mavs fall in rout 18 Jun 2024 - The Dallas Morning News BOSTON — The Mavs are coming home without the finals or the Celtics, who may not make it out of the West End for a week. The locals take their hoops seriously. Deliriously, you might say. The Bruins flamed out, the Patriots stink and the Red Sox are already a dozen games back of the hated Yankees, but the C’s came through with their Nba-record 18th title and first in 16 years, locking down streets around TD Garden for blocks in anticipation of the post-game party. Back in Dallas, meanwhile, t...

Mavericks guard Luka  Dončić  finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in Game 5. He struggled from 3-point range and couldn’t get to the basket as easily as in Game 4. (Smiley N. Pool/staff Photographer) In loss to league’s best team, Dallas took step toward getting to top 18 Jun 2024 - The Dallas Morning News MIKE CURTIS mike.curtis@dallasnews.com BOSTON — The Mavericks’ underdog bid to win the NBA Finals as a No. 5 seed ended in Game 5 on Monday night, as the Boston Celtics celebrated their 18th championship with a 106-88 win in TD Garden. Here are five thoughts from the loss: A champion is crowned In the game’s waning moments, NBA officials began to rope off the entrances to the parquet floor of TD Garden, the universal sign that Boston was inching closer to the title. The Celtics had provided fans with black T-shirts featuring the phrase “ Whatever it takes ” with the Larry O’Brien Trophy serving as the “i.” It took a statement game from Jayson Tatum, who had...

Mavericks guard Luka  Dončić  turns the ball over against  Celtics guard Jrue Holiday during the first half. Smiley N. Pool/staff Photographer 18 Jun 2024 - The Dallas Morning News BRAD TOWNSEND btownsend@dallasnews.com BOSTON — The most implausibly long joyride in the Mavericks’ 44season history ended here Monday night, on Boston’s famed parquet court, at 9:59 p.m. Central. It ended with Boston’s 10688 victory in TD Garden in Game 5 of the NBA Finals and with the Celtics celebrating their league-record 18th championship. It ended on the 236th day and 104th game of a Mavericks season that basketball pundits were certain would end weeks ago. The ride’s over, but for the Mavericks and their fans, the thrill and sense of attaining the franchise’s third finals berth endures. “We’ve been together for five months,” said Luka Dončić, alluding to the trade-deadline deals that revamped the roster and catapulted Dallas through the playoffs. “I’m proud of every guy that stepped on t...

8 Jun 2024 - The Boston Globe By Amin Touri GLOBE STAFF  Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com. And so ends a rough return to Boston for Kyrie Irving, who through a smattering of boos, and with another awful shooting night, left the floor in the final minutes of a title-clinching defeat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals monday night. Irving knew the reception he’d receive in Boston, five years after he bolted for Brooklyn in acrimonious fashion, and the booing never subsided. he didn’t exactly answer it with his play: he was awful through the first two games of the series, averaging 14 points on a combined 13 of 37 from the field. He broke out of that slump with 35 points in another defeat in Game 3, and added a solid 21 points as the mavericks dominated Game 4. Then it all came crashing back down monday night, as Irving shot a paltry 5 of 16 as Boston put Dallas away. “Failing at this stage definitely sucks,” Irving said. “it’s a bitter feeling. “Basketball is a game of cent...