Dave Portnoy and the rest of his fellow Boston Celtics fans will have to wait a while longer to light up their celebratory cigars – after a tough loss in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
The outspoken Barstool Sports supremo headed to Dallas after one championship win and emerged prepared with a cigar when his team got the job done.
Leading up to the game, Portnoy had been optimistic in his prediction that the Celtics would beat the Mavericks in four, but that proved misleading.
Instead, Luka Doncic put in a monstrous performance to help the Mavs to the third-biggest win in NBA Finals history, guaranteeing a Game 5 in Boston on Monday.
Not that Portnoy watched the entire game, as near the end of the third quarter he posted a video of himself outside the American Airlines Center.
Dave Portnoy left the NBA Finals Game 4 early and his Celtics lost badly
The clip starts with a cigar in Portnoy’s mouth, before he takes it out and stores it safely in a bag, before putting it in his back pocket.
He then followed up his video with a tweet listing the “positives from tonight.”
They were:
- 1. I’d rather be blown away like that than lose close
- 2. Dallas fans were very nice
- 3. More fun to win in Boston
Had Portnoy stayed until the end, he would have seen the Mavs pull off a 122-84 victory with Doncic scoring 29 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Portnoy sits courtside at the American Airlines Center ahead of Friday night’s Game 4
Luka Doncic put on a show, scoring 29 points in the Mavericks’ impressive loss in Boston
Portnoy was previously spotted at a Celtics game with Camryn D’Aloia, 25 (center right)
However, it’s still the Celtics who have a big lead in the finals, and they travel back to Boston on Monday with a 3-1 lead and the opportunity to win it at home.
The Celtics last won the championship in 2008 and tickets are expected to sell for thousands of euros on Monday evening.
Portnoy also has financial stakes when it comes to the NBA Finals, as he stands to collect $1.6 million if the Celtics win.
He claims to have already won $5.4 million from sports betting this year, and could take his winnings to $7 million early next week.
His bet was a two-leg parlay that started with Scottie Scheffler winning the Masters in April, and the second part was for the Celtics to win the final.