NBA Playoffs: the Thunder tie the series against Dallas and Boston reaches the Eastern Finals

(AFP) With a thrilling final comeback, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Dallas Mavericks 100-96 on Monday and tied this NBA Western Conference semifinal 2-2, while in the East the Celtics took a 3-1 lead against the Cavaliers.

In Dallas, the Mavericks dominated the scoreboard for much of the game, but ended up sinking in the final stretch, paying for the poor performance of their stars.

Luka Doncic had 18 points with a series of 6-20 from the field and also missed a key free throw with ten seconds left.

Kyrie Irving only scored 9 points and distributed 9 assists, while PJ Washington was Dallas' top scorer for the third game in a row with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

On the other side, Canadian point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shone with 34 points and was responsible for lighting the Thunder's comeback in the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma City, the first seed in the West, was 15 points behind at the American Airlines Center on a disastrous night in outside shooting, with only 7 triples made out of 27 attempts (25.9%).

But the young team led by Mark Daigneault, the NBA Coach of the Year, resisted tooth and nail to a defeat that would have left them on the brink of the abyss.

The locals allowed them to stay alive with their disastrous statistics in free throws, with only 12 of 23 converted (52.2%), and turnovers (13 to 7 for the Thunder).

With five minutes remaining, Gilgeous-Alexander began a streak of eight straight points for Oklahoma City that allowed them to tie it at 86.

Rookie center Chet Holmgren then nailed a three-pointer that gave the visitors their first lead since the second minute of the game.

The Mavericks still had a chance to tie the game when Doncic went to the line with 10.1 seconds left, but the Slovenian missed the first of two shots and left the Thunder in a lead that they maintained until the end.

"We went possession by possession and eventually the game turned for us," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "We've been in this situation many times. I think we lead the league in double-digit comebacks. We knew what was needed, and tonight we did it."

The Canadian, who averages 31.8 points on 48.4% accuracy in this series, is clearly surpassing Doncic (22 on 39%) in this duel between finalists for the MVP award.

The tie now returns to Oklahoma City for Game 5 on Wednesday.

The Celtics, one victory away from advancing to the Eastern Finals

With 60 combined points between Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-102 at home and were one win away from returning to the Eastern Finals.

The Cavaliers were facing the duel with the hard loss of their star, Donovan Mitchell, due to a calf problem.

Despite suffering several disconnections, the Celtics ended up exploiting the losses of Mitchell and center Jarrett Allen to score a victory that practically sealed the tie.

Jayson Tatum set the pace from the first quarter, in which he scored 16 of his 33 points of the game, to which he added 11 rebounds.

His partner Jaylen Brown supported him with 27 points and 8 rebounds, which were also key to stopping several local attempts to react.

Darius Garland, who reached 30 points, put Cleveland ahead at the beginning of the third quarter, after neutralizing a 15-point deficit.

The point guard made four triples and guard Max Strus another five, but the Cavaliers lacked offensive variants against Boston's experienced defense, which entered the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead.

Boston, the best team in the regular phase, will have qualification in hand in the fifth game, on Wednesday in front of its home crowd.