Celtics Defeat Mavs

Coming into tonight’s game the Celtics had a match up with both teams being 3 seeds respectively in their conferences. The Mavs without Luka Doncic, while the C’s without Gordon Hayward, Marcus Smart, and Robert Williams. Going into the game I knew Porzingis was going to be a problem. I mean he always will be as he’s a 7 foot shooter. Then you’ve got the 3 headed monster in Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown showing their dominance against defending opponents.

Quarter takeaways:

1st- Kemba started off scorching the Mavs dropping 16 (season high in any quarter this year) of his 32, but the Mavs fought hard at home and kept the game the C’s under control. The Celtics knotted things up at 29 with Tatum ending the 1st quarter with a one legged step back fader.

2nd- I mean we’re all ready for this right, Celtics show some struggles in the 2nd. Dallas having the height advantage was a key in missed shots and having 10 blocks in the game as a team to Boston’s 4. The C’s end the quarter down 5 at half.

3rd-Boston comes back and take its first lead since it was 32-30 in the 2nd on a Grant Williams three, add that to the track list of Williams bombers (2). The C’s showed great ball movement and the combo of Tatum and Brown show off scoring 15 of the teams 26 giving Celtics a 76-73 edge.

4th- The C’s started by adding to the lead, getting it up to 5. Then by the 3 minute mark the Celtics had a 12 point lead. Here’s where it gets sloppy. With 47 seconds left Grant makes 2 foul shots to make it a 10 point game, no way the Mavericks come back right?? Delon Wright makes driving dunk then the Mavs steal the inbounds pass and Broekhoff, who came into the game for Prozingis, drills a 3 to make it a 5 point game late. Dallas then has to foul as Kemba makes 1 of 2 to make it a 6 point game with 33.3 seconds left. Then, there’s a sloppy foul by Brown on 3 point attempt by Broekhoff, who hit the previous 3 with 20.3 seconds left. Ryan goes 2-3 from the line and Brown grabs the board gets fouled to shoot 2. He goes 2-2 with 16.2 left. Seth not Steph Curry misses in crunch time as the C’s get the board and give it to Kemba on the other end as time expires. Celtics win 109-103 when it should’ve been double digit deficit, but a wins a win and it was a hard fought game on the road in Dallas.

Keys to the game

– Kristaps drops 23 and 13 but fouls out late which may have helped the Celtics hold on with the sloppy play at the end.

– Kemba drops his 6th 30 point plus game of the season and the Celtics usage of Walker still remains unstoppable, with top of the key pop screen enabling Kemba to brush off Thies and others to create a quick pop up 3 either top key or each wing. With Kemba’s quickness, it allows him to take a smooth quick 3 or a tough driving lay up aided by his craftiness around the rim.

-Kemba, Jayson, and Jaylen combine for 27 of the Celtics 33 in the fourth.

-The Trio also combine for 82 of the teams 109 roughly 75% of the Celtics scoring.

Celtics head back home for a matchup against the Pistons on Friday ☘️