Doncic fouls out and Mavericks fall into a 3-0 hole

DALLAS (AP):

Luka Doncic tried to set his feet just beyond the three-point line as the Dallas Mavericks were making a furious comeback attempt.

The superstar, in his first NBA Finals, was defending Jaylen Brown when the Boston guard dribbled between his legs, ducked his shoulder and made contact that sent both players hard to the ground with 4:12 left in the game. The foul was called against Doncic, who sat on the floor in disbelief ,with both of his arms stretched up into the air.

It was Doncic's sixth foul of the game, his fourth in the fourth quarter, and his night was done after coach Jason Kidd's unsuccessful challenge of the call. The Mavericks also were pretty much done for the game -- and maybe the series as well -- after the Boston Celtics won 106-99 on Wednesday night to go up 3-0 in the series.

"Yeah, we had a good chance. We were close. Just didn't get it," Doncic said. "I wish I was out there."

The Mavericks are now in a maybe impossible hole in these NBA Finals, after almost crawling all the way out of a big one before Doncic fouled out. They had a 22-2 run that began not long after his first foul of the quarter, and ended soon after he was sitting on the bench.

This is the 157th time a team has lost the first three games in a best-of-seven NBA play-off series. None of them has ever come back to win the series, and only four have even forced a Game 7 -- and the only time that happened in the NBA Finals was in 1951 by the New York Knicks.

Doncic had 27 points despite going only one of seven on three-pointers before he fouled out for only the third time in his six NBA seasons -- 400 regular-season games and 51 more in the play-offs. He had never had four fouls in the same quarter before.

Brown missed a 13-foot shot after the replay challenge, and the Mavericks -- who had charged out to a 22-9 lead in the first six minutes and 12 seconds of the game -- got a 17-foot jumper from Kyrie Irving to get within 93-92 with 3:37 left. That was the closest they got before Brown tipped in a miss by Jayson Tatum.

Game 4 is tonight and the Mavericks have to win just to send the series back to Boston.