The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Boston Celtics in Boston on Sunday night, losing 105-98. Jrue Holiday led another balanced scoring effort by the Celtics, scoring 26 points. Luka Doncic led the Mavericks in the loss with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
Despite Doncic’s questionable injury status, the Mavericks started the game with a flurry of scoring. Doncic found the bottom of the rim three times early, scoring six points before the first Celtics timeout near the eight-minute mark, putting the Mavericks ahead 13–6. Dallas’ overzealous defense led the Celtics to a bonus early. But despite turnover issues, the Mavericks managed to hold the lead for most of the quarter. Earlier foul problems caught up with the Mavericks, however, as the Celtics repeatedly went to the line. Kyrie Irving’s late scoring explosion put Dallas ahead 28–25 after one quarter.
Doncic looked unstoppable early in the second quarter, but so was Boston. A 9-0 Celtics run in the middle of the quarter gave the Celtics a three-point lead. Boston mistakes allowed Dallas to regain the lead. Both teams struggled to maintain the lead the rest of the time, but the Celtics took the lead late on Brown’s two free throws and then Holiday’s three-pointer. Dallas responded with a Daniel Gafford dunk and trailed 54-51 at halftime.
Dallas started the second half with goals for Gafford on post-ups and Washington on floaters. The Celtics maintained a two to four point lead for most of the quarter. Dallas only scored in response to Boston. Boston started to take the lead in the latter half of the quarter, as Dallas’ role players failed to connect on any looks. Thus, the Celtics were ahead by 12 points. But Dallas responded and narrowed it to six points, but Peyton Pritchard hit a banked three from 35 feet at the buzzer. Dallas was behind 83-74.
The Mavericks just didn’t want to die. Both teams would exchange baskets, but Dallas couldn’t cut the lead for long enough. Gafford’s free throws and Irving’s layup reduced the lead to seven and forced Boston to call a timeout. Every time Dallas made a run, the Celtics had the answer and the Celtics’ lead was back to 12. Once again, an Irving to Gafford connection cut the lead back to eight and the Celtics called a timeout with 4:40 remaining. But after getting the stop, PJ Washington made a terrible mistake at halfcourt, picking up his dribble. The Celtics forced a turnover and then hit a three. Irving missed another shot and Boston connected again on a three and Dallas was down by 14 with just two possessions remaining. Dallas closed it to six with an 8-0 run with 75 seconds remaining. Washington had a chance to further reduce the lead on a fast break, but the referee missed a clear push from behind that led to a Boston block. Maxi Kleber was left in the dust on the next Browns drive and the game was effectively over. Boston took a 2-0 series lead with a 105-98 win.
Dallas’ mistakes leave little room for error
There will be a lot of concern in Dallas that no foul call was made for Washington on that fast break drive with 50 seconds left. However, Dallas made so many mistakes that led to this deficit it’s hard to know where to start. Doncic and Irving combined to commit 10 brutal turnovers (Luka’s one mistake was Washington’s, stupid play in the half-court led to back-to-back Boston threes). Dallas missed eight free throws in a game decided by seven points. 10 Celtics offensive rebounds led to 10 second chance points. Not to mention the truly awful three-point shooting of everyone other than Luka Doncic. Dallas has to play better.
Everyone needs to play better except Luka Doncic
Some idiot in the comments is going to say Luka should defend better and not give up the ball. Well, there, did I say that right?
Can any of the other Mavericks appear for more than 4-5 minutes at a time? There is a long list of guys we can complain about because almost every Maverick was disappointing in some regard. Kyrie Irving played an embarrassing game, he should feel bad because he was awful again, 28 points, 13-37 from the floor, 0-8 from three in two games. Derek Lively needs to calm down. Josh Green, these shots are wide, wide open. Maxi Kleber, coast-to-coast layup attempt? On what layer of the multiverse is that acceptable? I’m sure there are more, but what in the world was that game guys? I can’t believe how bad these guys played.
This was a game that was hard to steal and it could haunt the Dallas Mavericks for a long time
The Celtics shot 10-39 from three, just under 25%. This game was about steals and the Mavericks couldn’t do that because of the mistakes I mentioned above. I’m just sad. They had a chance and they blew it. I hope they find a way to come back, but the hill they have to climb seems impossibly steep.
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