How many teams have been swept in the NBA Finals?

The Dallas Mavericks are in a tough spot heading back home after dropping the opening two games of the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics. Their focus should be on winning the series, but before they can do that they just need to win a game to avoid joining an infamous list of Finals failures.

Mavs back home needing a win

Luka Doncic and the Mavs got wiped out in their first game in Boston, allowing a 23-5 run at the end of the first quarter that they never recovered from. Kristaps Porzingis returned from injury after almost 40 days on the sidelines and lifted the Celtics to a Game 1 blowout win.

Dallas kept it a little closer in Game 2, but the Celtics still pulled off the win despite shooting just 25.6% from behind the arc and keeping Jayson Tatum quiet for most of the game. The second of the two games at TD Garden may be what is most demoralizing for the Mavs. While they didn’t play well, Boston didn’t have their best game either, which raises the question: Do the Mavs have a chance to win a game?

Luka Doncic has had to do just about everything for Dallas as his teammates have yet to show up in the NBA Finals. The Slovenian is averaging 31 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6 assists a game, but no one else is contributing. Kyrie Irving has struggled to shake off the boos and jeers of the Boston fans that used to cheer him on when he wore the Green and White. PJ Washington and Derick Jones Jr. are having trouble stretching the defense out with the three point shot, but it’s not just them. Luka is shooting 8/21 from downtown, while the other starters are shooting just 3/21 from three point distance.

Finals Sweeps and sweepers

There is a long way to go and a lot of basketball to be played before we go crowning the Celtics champions. Dallas is back home, but they have only won 4 of their seven games at the American Airlines Center while the Celtics have an overall record of 14-2 in the playoffs and have yet to lose on the road.

In the history of the of the NBA, there have been 10 sweeps in the NBA Finals. The first one came all the way back in 1959 when Bill Russell and Bob Cousy led these same Boston Celtics to a 4-0 sweep over the Minneapolis Lakers. Since then there have been nine over sweeps in the Finals with the last one coming in 2018 when Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors swept LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in four games.