The Boston Celtics are well on their way to hanging the 18th banner on the TD Garden rafters after they survived a late Dallas Mavericks onslaught to take a 106-99 victory. They are now leading the 2024 NBA Finals, 3-0, and the Celtics fans are smelling blood in the water as they have the Mavericks on the ropes. In fact, Celtics fans are sensing that their team will already hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy come Friday night when they complete a series sweep in Game 4 even if Kristaps Porzingis is dealing with a rare injury.

Posting on Twitter (X), the ever-raucous Celtics fanbase rubbed salt on the Mavericks' wounds with a joyous celebration which is well-warranted given that they're only one win away from winning an NBA championship.

“celtics about to complete the sleepiest sweep in basketball history.” – @Mike_Eagle

“Ladies and gentlemen that’s it 4-0 Celtics sweep 😨. Celtics are in full drive and Celtics gonna go for the kill game 4.” – @Mannywizfresh

“‘Give the Celtics credit' 💀 lame mfs THEY ARE ABOUT TO SWEEP THE “GREATEST BACK-COURT” OF ALL TIME! 😂😭.” – @_KingxAri_

“Congratulations to the Celtics on #18… can’t believe the Mavs are about to be swept. The best result they can get would be a gentleman’s sweep.” – @TenoGreat

It's a testament to how dominant the Celtics and how under-the-radar their historic greatness this season have been this season that it's looking like the team to give them the most difficulties in their run to the NBA Finals was the Indiana Pacers — a team that they ended up sweeping.

“Celtics hardest series was the sweep of the Pacers lmao.” – @MoneyMaal1

“Celtics sweep would do wonders for my ‘The Mavs are functionally a similar tier to the Cavs/Pacers' agenda.” – @Handsome_Jake_

“That same team who almost beat the Pacers with four players was beating the Celtics, who are about to sweep the mavericks, in three of the four games they played with like a minute left. Lazy agenda. Knicks better than every team in the west not named Denver.” – @XTJonJon

With Jayson Tatum finding his shot, Jaylen Brown being as rock-solid as ever, and the team's snipers making some timely triples (shout out to Xavier Tillman Sr. for that one backbreaking corner three), fans have more confidence than ever that the Celtics will, once again, be the franchise with the most championships in the history of the NBA at the conclusion of Game 4 on Friday night.

Celtics are the puzzle the Mavericks simply cannot solve

Matchups have been the name of the game throughout the 2024 NBA playoffs. For instance, the Minnesota Timberwolves assembled a team that had the right personnel to dethrone the Denver Nuggets, but they did not have the secondary rim protection and shooting to make the Mavericks pay. Meanwhile, the Mavericks launched an all-out lob assault on the Timberwolves.

However, the Celtics pose a ton of matchup problems for the Mavericks that Dallas simply has not been able to solve. In addition to the five-out offense that has given the Mavs a ton of problems, the Celtics also don't have a defensive liability for Dallas to target on screening actions. The closest they have to a defensive weak link is 38-year old Al Horford, but Horford's veteran smarts and the rest of the Celtics team's connectivity and speed on the defensive end have more than made up for it.

Thus, the Mavericks have found it difficult to create easy points via lobs, as the Celtics have been resolute with their switching. Most of the time, the Celtics stayed in front of the ballhandler, which was usually Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving, negating any advantage and forcing them to take and make difficult shots.

With the likes of Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday being stifling at the point of attack, all the Celtics' backline defense has to do is to stay solid — stay home, close out on shooters, and anticipate the lob. Jayson Tatum has done a great job of handling anti-lob duties, and the Mavericks shooters have not shot the ball nearly well enough to create space in the paint consistently. The Mavs are yet to crack double-digits in made threes in this year's Finals — a testament to the Celtics' lockdown defense.

Simply put, the Celtics have outclassed the Mavericks on both ends of the floor. If they weren't careless with the ball or didn't settle for jumpshots in the fourth quarter of Game 3, then Dallas would not have been able to come back from their impressive run from the middle of the third to the start of the fourth. But as long as the Celtics stay the course, a sweep is looking likely.