While the Celtics proceed their tear to what ought to undoubtedly land them the No. 1 seed, a welcomed problem awaited them because the calendar turned to March: Five consecutive video games towards the most well liked groups within the league, one of many hardest stretches of their schedule that ought to be helpful to them for the long term.
But proper now, nobody is hotter than the Celtics.
Jayson Tatum scored 32 factors, Jaylen Brown had 25 and Kristaps Porzingis added 24 because the Celtics rolled to a dominant 138-110 win over the Mavericks on Friday night time at TD Garden as they continued their current dominance with their season-long tenth consecutive victory.
Luka Doncic recorded a triple-double with 37 factors, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for the Mavericks, who had received eight of their earlier 10 video games. He led the guests for so long as he might as they put in a robust bid to threaten the league’s finest crew, however the Celtics utterly overwhelmed them within the second half to safe this victory. In a matchup of two of the NBA’s finest 3-point capturing groups, the C’s made 21 3-pointers whereas the Mavs made simply 9 and shot 26.5 % from deep.
While the Mavs missed many open seems to be, the Celtics had been nonetheless having hassle placing them away because the guests racked up second-chance factors and Doncic dominated throughout some stretches. The C’s led a lot of the night time however solely by two halfway by the third, when P.J. Washington had an opportunity to place the Mavs in entrance however missed a 3-pointer.
But that’s when the Celtics went on their run. Brown and Tatum linked on back-to-back 3-pointers because the Celtics went on a 14-3 run to take management of the sport. They led by 17 early within the fourth after Brown made a powerful spin transfer for a layup on the rim earlier than drilling one other 3-pointer, and the C’s by no means seemed again behind an offensive avalanche that the Mavs couldn’t sustain with.
The Celtics utterly dominated on each ends of the ground within the fourth quarter to seal the win. Al Horford performed like a person possessed, which included a ridiculous block of Josh Green. Tatum, who scored 21 of his 32 factors within the second half, drilled a step-back 3-pointer to go up 21. Then, after Kyrie Irving missed a layup as he crumbled to the courtroom, Horford hit a 3-pointer in transition to place the Celtics up 24 earlier than making a gesture that the sport was over.
Other takeaways:
– Xavier Tillman had not acquired significant minutes in his first three weeks with the Celtics as he recovered from an harm, the All-Star break got here and went and he continued to acclimate to a brand new crew. But Mazzulla put him in Friday to begin the second quarter in a double-big lineup alongside Al Horford, and the outcomes had been encouraging. On one sequence, Tillman contributed to a cease, beat everybody down the ground for a transition layup after which performed robust protection on a drive from Derrick Jones to power him into a troublesome miss. Tillman then beat everybody once more down the ground and Tatum discovered him beneath the basket, however the cross slipped by Tillman’s palms out of bounds.
– Kyrie Irving was as soon as once more greeted with heavy boos from the Boston crowd as he made his newest return to his former residence. The boos got here throughout warmups, pregame introductions and each time he touched the ball, and cheers adopted at any time when he missed a shot or made a mistake. He began the sport 3-for-10 from the sector.
Irving completed with simply 19 factors on 9-for-23 capturing.
– Jrue Holiday leads the NBA in nook 3-point share and he continued to make his mark from the nook on Friday. His made his first three 3-pointers from the nook, together with an unattainable one in transition when Derrick White discovered Holiday, who canned a glance whereas being defended nicely as his steadiness took him out of bounds.
Source: www.bostonherald.com