This was nothing less than a show of defiance by the Mavericks.
They were down 3-0 in the NBA Finals and everybody knows what that means.
But they did not go down on their home floor and suffer the indignity of the Boston Celtics celebrating on the Mavericks’ logo.
The 122-84 butt-whupping the Mavericks administered on Friday night showed that they, indeed, are a worthy adversary to the might Celtics, who won 14 more games in the regular season than the Mavericks and who had won 10 playoff games in a row before Friday.