Mavericks’ hot shooting torches Boston in Finals rematch, Celtics lose 127-120

After a hard fought win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Celtics came home for a Luka-less NBA Finals rematch against the Dallas Mavericks. However, even with Dallas being short-handed, the Celtics were not able to overcome their hot shooting, losing to the Mavericks 127-120.

Jaylen Brown led the way for the Celtics with 25 points but it wasn’t enough to stop Klay Thompson who dropped 25 points on 11-17 shooting (3-6 from three). The Mavericks bench also came up huge as Spencer Dinwiddie scored 22 points and Naji Marshall scored 20 points. Dallas’ bench came up huge for them, outscoring Boston’s bench 49-15 before the Celtics put in the reserves. The Celtics allowed the Mavericks to shoot 56% from the field and 46% from three

Boston shot the ball well but turnovers at the worst possible times ended any chance of making a comeback. This is the third time the Celtics have lost the first game at home coming off of a long road trip.

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

Similar to Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Kristaps Porzingis opened the scoring for Boston with free throws and a three pointer. The TD Garden crowd boo’d Kyrie Irving when he touched the ball but the Mavericks were able to start off on 12-4 run.

Klay Thompson was hot early as he scored 10 points on 4-5 shooting (2-2 from three) in the first four minutes of the game. Derrick White would counter with 8 straight points for Boston but Spencer Dinwiddie fired back with 8 straight points for Dallas.

Turnovers were a real problem for the Celtics in the first quarter as they turned the ball over 7 times leading to 10 points for the Mavericks and a 32-23 lead for Dallas. The Mavericks shot 54% from the field and scored 14 fast break points to the Celtics 0.

Klay Thompson continued to light up the Celtics, scoring 9 straight points for the Mavericks to start the second quarter as an 11-2 run led to a quick timeout from Joe Mazzulla. That didn’t slow down Dallas’ offense however as Boston’s lackadaisical defense and lack of rebounding was a huge problem. The Mavericks bench was also an issue as behind Spencer Dinwiddie’s 15 point half, Dallas scored 27 points off of the bench.

Boston went on a 10-4 run to end the first half including a Derrick White buzzer beater but were still down 67-56 at the half. White led the Celtics with 13 points but the leading scorer was Klay Thompson who scored 23 points on 10-13 shooting (3-5 from three) in the first half. Boston shot 48% from the field and 50% from three but they allowed Dallas to shoot an absurd 59% from the field and 44% from three.

The third quarter started with another Thompson basket as Dallas started the second half on a 10-2 run as their hot shooting continued. The Mavericks started to pull away as they opened up a 21 point lead on the Celtics but Boston tried to comeback.

Kristaps Porzingis tried to electrify the crowd as his sequence of a poster dunk on Daniel Gafford, an and-1 layup, and a great tip for a Kornet layup cut the deficit to 15 points. However, Naji Marshall hit back to back shots to kill the Celtics momentum as turnovers continued to kill Boston.

The Mavericks continued to out shoot the Celtics as they scored 37 points in the third quarter to take a 104-83 lead going into the fourth. Boston allowed Dallas to score 54% from the field and 50% from three in the quarter. The Mavericks bench was also dominating the Celtics, outscoring them 44-10 through three quarters.

The fourth quarter started just like the other three quarters as even though the Celtics started scoring, the Mavericks continued to make everything. Boston essentially waived the white flag at the 9:27 mark of the fourth quarter as Drew Peterson, Neemias Queta and Jordan Walsh checked in.

However Boston’s subs started to make this a game. The went on a 22-5 run to cut a 27 point deficit to an 10 point deficit. Sadly the stay ready group could not make an immaculate comeback as the Celtics lose to the Mavericks.