Los Angeles -The Boston Celtics held off a furious Dallas rally to beat the Mavericks 106-99 on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) and take a 3-0 stranglehold on the NBA finals.Dallas cut a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit to two points but Boston held on to push the Mavs to the brink of defeat in the best-of-seven championship series.The Mavericks will try to claw back a game when they host game four on Friday, knowing full well that no team has rallied from 3-0 down to win an NBA playoff series.

Center Kristaps Porzingis did not play for the Celtics in Game 3 because of an injury suffered in the previous game.