Here are my 5 takeaways from the Dallas Mavericks’ 113-104 victory over the Boston Celtics on Saturday night at American Airlines Center:
1. MAVS HAVE AN EDGE TO THEM: OK, so trying to beat the Mavs straight up wasn’t working for the Celtics. So they did the next best thing. They tried to muck up the game and get the Mavs off their game by resorting to needless pushing and shoving and by using unnecessary forearm tactics. But that didn’t work either. A long time ago in Portland, I was sitting courtside when one of the Blazers leveled Mavs center Shawn Bradley – and amazingly no Mavs came to Bradley’s defense. On Saturday, when the Celtics tried to play roughhouse with Luka Doncic and J. J. Barea and Maxi Kleber, every Mavs on the court who was breathing came to their defense. After the game, coach Rick Carlisle admitted that his team has an edgy side to them. In other words, mucking up the game may not be the best way to beat the Mavs.
2. WHAT CAN’T LUKA DO: There was a time earlier this season when I would watch Luka Doncic play and ask myself: “Is this kid for real?’ I don’t’ do that anymore. What I now do is get amused when the opposing team thinks Doncic is just another rookie they can manhandle, another rookie they can put in the corner and teach a lesson. But what’s been happening is what happened against the Celtics. Doncic is the one doing the teaching and putting defenders in a corner. Just to let folks know he’s for real, Doncic has this way of exploding out of the gate and setting the place on fire. He did it again against the Celtics when he went 3-for-3 from downtown and had nine points and five assists while playing nine minutes in the first quarter. All this came while he was starting at point guard for the first time this season. In other words, start expecting the expected from Doncic, and he will deliver.
3. WHO HAS THE BEST BENCH: One of the major topics of conversation entering Saturday’s game was which team has the better bench. Especially since going into the season one publication ranked Boston’s bench as the best in the NBA and Dallas’ bench as the 17th-best. With that backdrop, on Saturday the Mavs’ bench scored 40 points, collected 17 rebounds, distributed 11 assists and picked up five steals. They also were 17-of-34 from the field. J. J. Barea led the Mavs’ reserves with a team-high tying 20 points , a team-high tying eight assists and two steals. On the other side, the Celtics’ bench tallied 27 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, handed out seven assists, had one steal, and were 7-of-19 from the field. Flower Mound Marcus high school product Marcus Smart led the Celtics’ reserves with 19 points.
4. MAVS WERE LASER-FOCUSED: Working intently on the 3-point shot in pre-game warmups and being focused on the task at hand proved to be very fruitful for the Mavs. And once the game started, it was bombs away from downtown for the Mavs. Riding the wave of their recent superb play, the Mavs smacked the Celtics in the jaw early and often. By the time there were 3:49 remaining in the first quarter, the Mavs already had pieced together a 28-18 lead. And much of that came on the strength of Dallas converting its first seven shots from 3-point territory. Harrison Barnes and Luka Doncic each drained all three of their 3-point shots in the first quarter as the Mavs established a tone that made things very difficult for the Celtics all night long. Also, the Mavs had 10 assists among the 12 field goals they converted in the first quarter, which is another sign of being laser-focused.
5.MAVS CONTINUE HOME DOMINANCE: Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. The Mavs have been on a roll lately, and most of it has come on their home court and mostly against some very worthy opponents. The win over the Boston Celtics was the sixth straight victory at home for the Mavs. It was one of those games where the Mavs dominated throughout – they only trailed one time by one point. And it came against a Celtics team that was one win away from representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals last season. The victory also came one week after the Mavs held serve at home and defeated the two-time defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors. In fact, three other wins at home during this streak of wins at home were also against teams – Washington, Oklahoma City and Utah – that advanced to last year’s playoffs.
Share and comment