Celtics rout Mavericks to win record 18th NBA championship

The defeat marked a miserable end to the finals for Dallas duo Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, who had led the Western Conference fifth seeds on an improbable giant-killing journey to the NBA Finals.

Doncic, sensational during the Mavs’ game four rout of the Celtics, finished with 28 points.

But Irving scored a meagre 15 points while being taunted with chants of “Kyrie sucks!” by Celtics fans still rankled by his departure from the team in 2019.

Top-seeded Boston meanwhile reasserted their superiority in convincing fashion after their game four blowout, leading by double digits from late in the second quarter until the final buzzer.

The Celtics laid the foundations for victory with a controlled first-half performance that saw them open up a 67-46 lead at the break.

Payton Pritchard put the seal on a superb first two quarters for Boston, launching a mammoth buzzer-beating three-pointer from near half-way that gave the Celtics a 21-point advantage.

Boston had been swiftly into their groove early on, building a 9-2 advantage in the first quarter with their swarming defense never allowing Dallas to build any kind of rhythm.

After Boston took a 13-5 advantage the Mavs rallied to narrow the gap to two points at 17-15, but Boston’s defense reclaimed the initiative soon afterwards.

Two quick steals from Tatum and Sam Hauser allowed the Celtics to pull away to 28-18 at the end of the first quarter.