The Boston Celtics’ final game of a four-game road trip saw the champions take on the 24-21 Dallas Mavericks. With the Celtics coming off a poor performance in Los Angeles against the Lakers, Boston bounced back to win 122-107 with a solid team performance highlighted by all five starters scoring in double figures.
The seventh-placed Mavericks jumped out to an early lead over Boston behind Kyrie Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie’s neat shooting. Dallas managed to race out to an early 10-point lead at the four-minute mark.
Starters Derrick Lively II and Luka Doncic were not available for the home team, but offseason signing Klay Thompson returned to action following an ankle sprain. The veteran sharpshooter hit his first basket of the game as Dallas took an early 19-10 lead.
The early part of the game for Boston saw Jrue Holiday still struggle with his shot as he was 1-4 in the opening quarter. Jayson Tatum had 5 early points before he went to the bench with Derrick White. Kristaps Porzingis would stay on the floor and hit his first three-pointer of the game, and Jaylen Brown had a superb high arcing fade-away jumper to cut the lead to three points.
Jaylen Brown then went to work in the low block against Quetin Grimes with a strong up-and-under play but missed on the free throw attempt. Jayson Tatum would then return to the game and hit his 153rd three-pointer of the season as the Celtics logged a nice 7-0 run to cut the Dallas lead to one point. Boston overall responded well to Dallas’ early punches as the first quarter would end, Mavericks up 4 points, 29-25.
Boston has struggled to hit the three-pointer consistently on this road trip, and the team would open this game poorly, shooting just 20 percent from three in the first quarter. Jayson Tatum was the lone bright spot from behind the arc as he hit his second of the game to give Boston their first lead of the game. Payton Pritchard would then get in on the action, hitting on a corner three-pointer at the start of the second quarter.
Boston would then have 4 straight possessions with no score before the Celtics hit on a pair of back-to-back triples from first Jrue Holiday and then Kristaps Porzingis. Jaylen Brown would waltz into the Dallas painted area with no defender near him as Kristaps had a stellar bounce pass for the Celtics number 7 to convert on a loud one-handed dunk. Dallas head coach Jason Kidd was forced to call a timeout as Boston started to look comfortable, up 41-33.
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Boston flipped the script on the three-point shooting in the second quarter as the Celtics poured in 21 points from long range. In the same time span, Dallas logged just 5 made baskets as Boston’s lead ballooned to 51-39. Jrue Holiday reversed his early poor shooting, hitting 3 three-pointers in the second quarter to log 11 points at the half.
Kristaps Porzingis continued his strong post play that we have seen recently, as the 7-footer took it to the Mavs inside. The Latvian would lead the Cs in scoring at the half with 13 points, Brown added 11 points, and Tatum chipped in 10 points of his own to round out a solid team performance. Boston would end the half with a ten-point lead, 59-49, highlighted by 15 total assists.
The second half started with Klay Thompson, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Derrick White all connecting from the three-point line. Kyrie Irving had a spectacular fade away jumper from the right-hand side baseline as Dallas cut the lead down to 5.
Derrick White registered his second three-pointer of the game and had a breakaway dunk to give the guard his eleventh point of the quarter. White would be Boston’s lone scorer until Jaylen Brown’s loud two-handed, uncontested dunk at the seven-minute mark of the third quarter.
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Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images
Derrick White was certainly feeling it in the third, he had a career-high 16 points in the quarter, scoring from all over the court with a mix of floaters and long-range missiles. White would eventually go to the bench with the scores 81-65, Boston up.
Pritchard, Tatum and Hauser would all hit on threes for Boston as the TV broadcast panned to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with 2 minutes remaining in the third doing a double face palm. Boston would end the quarter up 20 points, (96-76) in total control of the game, thanks to a brilliant quarter from Derrick White.
Boston took the foot off the gas to start the fourth and the Dallas Mavericks managed to get back into the contest with a 6-point run, getting the Boston lead back to 13 points with almost 9 minutes left in the game. Boston rallied to do enough and hold the Mavericks at bay to keep the lead above double digits. A Jrue Holiday step back three saw the lead back at 14 points with three minutes to go.
The 37-point third quarter from Boston was notable following on from a lackadaisical last game versus the Lakers. Boston’s even scoring output was on full display all night as all 5 starters registered in double figures 9 players scoring for the away team. Jayson Tatum led the team with 24 points on the night, Derrick White had 23 points and Jaylen Brown added 22 points. Boston
Boston finish the four-game road trip 3-1 and move to 17-6 on the road for the season. The Celtics next travel home to TD Garden to host the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
