The Mavericks certainly played like a team that knew how to shut down the Celtics on Friday. Boston arguably played its worst game of the season. The 35-point first half was the lowest-scoring half in Joe Mazzulla’s two years as head coach. The 84 points were the fewest it scored in a game this season. The 36.3 percent it shot from the field was its second-worst mark of the year.

Furthermore, the Celtics’ 0.875 points per possession was the worst mark they’ve had in a game since October 2021, per Celtics radio announcer Sean Grande. Their 87.5 offensive rating in Game 4 was their worst of the season, breaking the previous low of 96 from their November loss to the Magic.

Offensively, the Mavericks had their best night of the series, by far. They shot 50.5 percent from the field and 40.5 percent from deep, cracking 100 points for the first time in the NBA Finals. The 122 points were the second-most points the Celtics have allowed in a game this postseason, while the shooting marks were the fourth-highest for an opponent against the Celtics in the playoffs. The Celtics’ 127.1 defensive rating was their fourth-worst mark of the season.

Dallas was able to find some of its bread and butter offensively in Friday’s Game 4 as well. It made three corner 3-pointers after making just five on 14 attempts of attempts through the first three games of the series.

Lively was among the group who hit a corner 3-pointer on Friday. The rookie center’s 3-pointer late in the first quarter was not only his first made shot from beyond the arc in the playoffs, but it was also his first made shot from deep in his career. He only attempted two 3-pointers during the regular season.

As the Celtics let Lively open for the shot, he promised that he’ll continue to take if Boston is going to continue to concede that look.

“If they leave me open in the corner, I’m going to get them up, for sure,” Lively told reporters after the game. “It’s just having that trust. Luka [Doncic] is going to give me the ball. As soon as I shot it, he kind of jumped for joy when it went in. Just having that reaction from my teammates is just amazing. Makes you want to just learn, just practice and just do more.”

While the Mavericks were making corner 3-pointers, their ratcheted up defensive effort in Game 4 came after Doncic was widely criticized for his play in Game 3. The Mavericks’ star fouled out after trying to force a change on back-to-back possessions on Wednesday. His blow-by percentage through the first three games was also the worst for a player in a series in the last three years, per SecondSpectrum.

Doncic had three steals and made things tough for the Celtics along the perimeter, allowing fewer attempts at the rim in Game 4. Lively said that they were going to back his star up, but he had one message for Doncic ahead of Game 4.

“Only thing I told him, ‘Look, going out there, first two times you get fouled, don’t say nothing to the refs. That’s all I got. Just please don’t do that, and I’ll make sure you get open, make sure you’re going be comfortable on the offensive and defensive end,’” Lively said.

“So just knowing that whenever he is going out there playing defense and he’s locked in on defense, he just makes everything fall into place better on the offensive end.”

As the series heads back to Boston, Lively and the Mavericks might feel like they have figured out the Celtics. But Al Horford pointed out that it’s the Celtics’ turn to make a move in the chess match.

“Usually, you know, I’ve been in a lot of these, and usually by the second game, you’re making adjustments,” Horford told reporters. “Third game, you’re making another adjustment, and that’s kind of how it is.

“And for us, we’ve had the first three games, we didn’t really make any adjustments. So today, they did something. We have to see what we can – how we can be better and prepare for it. That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

The Celtics have done well after a loss this season. They’ve gone 16-4 on such occasions and haven’t lost back-to-back games this postseason.

Even though the stats say there’s a solid chance that Lively’s words could come back to bite him, Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki liked the confidence out of the rookie.

“Well, that sounds good if he thinks that,” Nowitzki told Salters in the fourth quarter of Game 4. “But yeah, it almost seems like the lid is off the basket today. We’re moving the ball and we’re finding the open shooters. If we keep this up, hopefully, we can make it a game in Boston. It’ll be fun.”