Two days after one of their most uncompetitive games of the season, the Celtics looked like themselves again. And did so in a way that might’ve signaled their recent lull largely stemmed from some bad shooting luck and a needed uptick in effort.
Boston pulled away late, 122-107, despite the Mavericks threatening throughout. Luka Dončić and Dereck Lively didn’t play, a needed asterisk, though not indicative of the kind of threat the Celtics faced. Dallas led by 10 points four minutes into the first quarter, and racked up 28 free throw attempts and 13 offensive rebounds while holding Boston to 42.7% shooting. The Mavericks pushed within 11 points with 3:44 left in the fourth — but the Celtics held them at arm’s length after flipping the game with a nearly flawless second quarter.
That’s where the shooting luck changed for Boston after weeks where they couldn’t make threes and opponents poured it on from deep. Derrick White shot 7-of-16 (4-10 3PT) and Jrue Holiday managed 6-of-12 (5-10 3PT) after both experiencing grueling starts to January and missing 5-of-6 shots in the first on Saturday. After both teams missed 12 back-and-forth during a tough to watch three-minute stretch to open the second, Holiday stepped into a three with PJ Washington playing a few steps off him above the break. Kristaps Porziņģis, who remained an important and efficient offensive hub early, hit a three and found Jaylen Brown for a cutting dunk to cap a 16-4 run.
Meanwhile, Dallas’ shooting luck went the other way, Maxi Kleber missing all six shots in his 11 minutes while Quintin Grimes, Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving missed mid-rangers midway through the quarter while Dallas went scoreless on six out of seven possessions. Boston limited the Mavs to 20 threes, forced them into in-between looks and forced 12 turnovers. The Celtics committed only five, three of them coming later in the fourth.
That’s how Boston would draw it up, and while it wasn’t the entire story against the Lakers, Rui Hachimura shot 2-of-5 from three, Gabe Vincent went off for 4-of-7 and Dalton Knecht contributed 3-of-4. The Celtics hit only 38.5% of their field goal attempts the other way, and that clearly bled into their defensive effort alongside the back-to-back scheduling after an overtime win as part of a five games in seven stretch. Prior to Saturday, Boston shot 34.9% from three (20th) in January and allowed 35.2% (13th) in January. Dejounte Murray, Domantas Sabonis, Russell Westbrook and Lu Dort went off from deep in recent weeks, and there’s a sense within the team that those numbers have made a down month look worse than it actually was.
The Celtics’ effort, focus and execution aided better shooting fortune in Dallas and showed what they missed in other spots, whether transition defense, getting on the offensive glass and player movement offensively. They fell to last in passes at one point earlier this month. On Saturday, Boston inflicted six fouls on Spencer Dinwiddie, a sign of their ability to effectively exploit the mismatch without growing stagnant like they did on Thursday at LA. Daniel Gafford hurt the Celtics on the offensive glass, turning a 13-point game into a 10-point one before halftime with a three-point put back after Boston limited Dallas to 11 points in the second.
It wasn’t a perfect game.
It’s closer to what we expect from this group though, White playing like a borderline star into the third quarter with three triples, a put-back and a significant role in Boston’s improved ball movement. He and Porziņģis combined for a running alley-oop on the Celtics’ best offensive play. On another, three passes freed up Brown in the corner through Holiday for a missed three — Boston only shot 38.5% from three and could’ve won by more.
They led by as many 25 points in the third when Luke Kornet and Al Horford caught each other’s misses around the basket twice before Kornet kicked out a pass to Jayson Tatum for three. Tatum and Brown shot 18-for-43 from the field in another game featuring their new-look rotations. The win featured nice changes of pace to counteract those struggles, whether Brown’s cuts or Tatum posting-up Dinwiddie for a dunk try Gafford fouled him on that Dallas later reversed through a challenge. Porziņģis crashed and hit a three from the corner in the fourth quarter. All potential layers the Celtics could add to their attack even if they didn’t amount to a perfect win.
It’ll start with stringing two good games together. A challenge for this team in recent weeks, as Porziņģis admitted to reporters in Dallas after the game.
“We were a lion last season, and some games this season, we’ve looked like a house cat,” he said. “We want to have that spirit as a team this year, and it’s tough. Obviously, we can’t trick ourselves and make it like it’s playoffs every game. It’s tough, just human nature. But we know the group that we have, and we know that we’re going to bring it to the big games, but need to bring it consistently and keep building on good wins like tonight.”
- Porziņģis scored 18 points with five rebounds, four assists and two blocks on 6-of-12 shooting (3-5 3PT). Since his return from his last injury, he’s shooting 66-of-134 over his last 10 games (49.3%) and 49.3% from three. He joked with reporters that he’s 92.7% back physically.
- Luka Dončić, Dereck Lively II and Dante Exum missed the first Celtics-Mavericks meeting since the Finals. There’s some hope Dončić returns before the all-star break, but that would make his appearance in the Boston rematch on Feb. 6. Maxi Kleber broke his right foot in Saturday’s game and is out indefinitely.
- Jaden Springer entered the game for the final two minutes, appearing in the final three games of the road trip and accumulating 6-of-11 shooting and went 4-for-8 from three with 18 points, four rebounds and five steals. He didn’t receive rotation minutes in the Lakers or Mavericks games, though his contributions helped clinch the Clippers game into overtime.
