Recap: Celtics Can’t Climb Back vs Mavericks
Credit: Brian Babineau | NBAE via Getty Images
The Boston Celtics fell to the Dallas Mavericks 113-108 Wednesday night at the TD Garden. They got themselves into a hole in the first half and couldn’t climb out by the end of the night.
Head Coach Brad Stevens was frustrated by the loss.
During his post-game press conference, he said, "I'm not gonna again sit up here and talk about what we can do and what we hope to do and all that crap. I've been around good teams and I've been around bad teams and we're very average right now, because we don't do it every night."
He was asked if there was anything positive that the team could take away from the loss.
"If anything? Yeah. If anything. There isn't anything," said Stevens.
The game’s leading scorer was Luka Doncic. He poured in 36 points to go along with 7 assists for the Mavs. He did so on an efficient 11-15 shooting.
The Celtics got healthy contributions from the usual suspects. Jayson Tatum led the way with 25 points despite shooting just above 40% from the field and missing seven of his eight three-point attempts. Aside from Tatum, Jaylen Brown had 24, Kemba Walker 22, and Marcus Smart 17.
As a team, Boston shot just 11-47 from the three-point line.
The game wasn’t close for the majority of the night, but it got interesting in the fourth quarter. At first, it looked like it was going to be more of the same. Boston not playing with energy and not making up any ground. However, they put together a big-time run towards the middle of the quarter. The C’s were able to get within six points of the Mavs, but froze up every time they got the chance to get any closer.
The team couldn’t get open shots to fall all night, especially when they needed them badly.
"The game rewards the way you play and that was the game being honest with us," Stevens said.
That is, until the final minute.
Kemba Walker made a huge three for the home squad, bringing them within four with just under 30 seconds to play. The Celtics then forced a turnover and scored another quick two. That would be as close as they got. Dallas made their free throws and took the win.
The C’s really lost the game in the second quarter. They couldn’t hit the side of a barn and the Mavericks couldn’t miss. More specifically Doncic. The Mavericks’ star lit up the Garden in the first half.
He had 24 points by halftime and had missed just one of his nine shots.
The Celtics lacked good defensive energy for most of the game, despite showing some fight towards the end of the first. Dallas got wide-open looks and made them count. They were able to balloon the lead to 19 by halftime.
When asked about the poor showing in the quarter, Stevens said, "it's probably our reputation now. We don't respond in the middle quarters."
