The Boston Celtics have been struggling lately. They’re on maybe the most brutal stretch of the season, having just caught the Los Angeles Lakers as their 5th game in 7 nights this past Thursday. Today, they find themselves in Dallas to face off against the Mavericks, now playing an early 5:30 PM EST game after back-to-back games which started at 10:30 PM and 10:15 PM respectively. Between that back-to-back and today’s game, they’ve had just one day of rest. The Celtics haven’t had much time to catch their breath, so they’ll need to take advantage of Dallas’s run-down roster.
The Mavericks are currently without their superstar, Luka Doncic, as well as Dante Exum, Dereck Lively, Naji Marshall, and Dwight Powell, with Klay Thompson and Jaden Hardy listed as questionable. The Celtics, on the other hand, are nearly at full strength – Derrick White being the only name on the injury report as he holds a questionable tag.
How much extra motivation does Dallas have from the Finals?
This is the first time that these two teams are facing off since the Celtics defeated Dallas to bring Banner 18 back to Boston. While Boston didn’t make any significant changes to their roster, the Mavericks had a decent amount of turnaround. Rotation guys like Derrick Jones Jr., Tim Hardaway Jr., and Josh Green all found themselves on new teams, while Klay Thompson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Naji Marshall, and Quentin Grimes all made their way to Dallas.
For today’s matchup, Kyrie Irving, P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, and Maxi Kleber are going to be the only active returning regulars from the team the Mavericks rolled out in the Finals. Usually, the team that lost has the extra motivation, playing with a chip on their shoulder and hoping to win back some pride. With a small subsection of their rotation returning for the matchup, it may be harder for Dallas to find that extra push.
Will the Celtics continue to take short-handed teams lightly?
They’ve had a history of doing it for years now. They allowed it to happen again as recently as this past Wednesday when they faced off against the Clippers who only had one of their regular starters active. Boston ultimately pulled out the win, but only after letting the game go to overtime, and nearly blowing two different late leads.
Dallas is not the team to mess with. Going in with a similar injury list, the Mavericks managed to stun the Thunder in Oklahoma City, beating out the top team in the West this past Thursday. For a team that is badly in need of some momentum, the Celtics can’t let the Mavs catch them by surprise.
Can this be Payton Pritchard’s bounce back game?
After being stellar for most of the season, Payton found himself in a bit of a mini-slump these past two games. In them, he was a combined 6-23 from the floor, 2-12 from three. It’s felt as though he’s held on to the ball more than usual, and has forced up shots while trying to rediscover his rhythm. With Derrick White potentially missing today’s game, it becomes even more important for Pritchard to go back to his steady play from earlier in the season. Payton has played in every single one of Boston’s games over this season and the last, so it’s possible the fatigue is catching up with him.
