The Mavericks’ Luka Doncic controls the ball against Jayson Tatum during Game 2 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden.

DALLAS – Star guards Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic had their combined best offensive game of the NBA Finals. 

It still wasn’t enough for the Dallas Mavericks to beat the Boston Celtics. 

The Celtics took control of the Finals Wednesday with a 106-99 victory for a 3-0 series lead. They are one victory away from their first championship since 2008 and their 18th overall, which would break a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for most titles in NBA history.

Game 4 is Friday in Dallas (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

It was a hectic fourth quarter. Dallas trailed 91-70 with 11:03 left in the game but a 22-2 Dallas run trimmed Boston’s lead to 93-92.

Doncic fouled out with 4:12 left in the fourth quarter, trying to stop Jaylen Brown from driving to the basket. Dallas coach Jason Kidd challenged the call and lost. Doncic finished with 27 points, six assists and six rebounds. He was 11-for-27 from the field and 1-for-7 on 3-pointers, and Irving scored a team-high 35 points.

Boston held on for the victory despite scoring 21 points in the fourth.

At some point in the series, Boston needed a big-scoring game from All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum. He produced his best scoring performance of the Finals with 31 points on 11-for-26 shooting. Brown had 30 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Trailing 51-50 at halftime, Boston outscored Dallas 35-19 in the third quarter for an 85-70 lead headed into the fourth. Brown had 15 points in the third, including a one-handed dunk at the end of the quarter. The assault continued in the fourth. Derrick White’s 3-pointer put the Celtics ahead 91-70.

Boston is now 15-2 in the playoffs, including 7-0 on the road. The Celtics have won 10 consecutive games and haven’t loss since Game 2 of the second round against Cleveland on May 9.

The Celtics were without center Kristaps Porzingis, who sustained a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in Game 2. The Celtics missed him but still won.

The 3-pointer continued to play an important role. Boston shot 37% on 3s and outscored Dallas 51-27 from that range.

The Mavs face what historically has been an impossible task: coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series. Teams that have fallen behind 3-0 in the NBA playoffs are 0-156 and just four teams have forced a Game 7. The only time one of those teams pushed the series to seven games in the Finals was in 1951. This is the 15th time a team has taken a 3-0 lead in the Finals.

Dallas didn’t have much offensive help for Irving and Doncic. After three quarters, no other Mavs player had more than six points. P.J. Washington finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.