Banner Town Breakdown: Luka Hits Dagger to Take Down the C’s, 110-107
AP Photo | Charles Krupa
The Celtics fall to below .500, losing to the Mavs 110-107. Luka Doncic came up huge down the stretch, but some overall poor play from the C’s was costly in this one. There was a complete lack of offensive consistency, and the defensive intensity was lackluster at best.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were both named to the All-Star team prior to the game, and both put up All-Star numbers. Tatum finished with 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, while Brown had 29 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. The numbers looked fine, but the Celtics’ offense as a whole looked horrendous.
For the entirety of the game the C’s had one game plan - give someone the ball, let them work, and then scramble if that didn’t work out. It was fine when Tatum and Brown were able to nail a tough shot, but that didn’t happen every time. That type of offense is completely unsustainable in the NBA. This offensive inconsistency was a huge reason they could never build up a lead on the Mavs.
Doncic was the star of the show for Dallas. He ended the night with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists. The way he runs the offense is truly remarkable and the Celtics had a lot of issues defending it. He can drive to the basket and find open looks on the perimeter with ease. It also helped that Dallas’ bench was able to have a solid showing, putting up 51 points. The Celtics’ bench had only 19 points.
This wasn’t as much a testament to Boston’s bench being bad, however, they just didn’t get as many opportunities. The Celtics’ bench shot 6/14 on the night, while Dallas’ shot 19/37. The ball just wasn’t moving enough for the Celtics.
Neither team did a particularly great job of playing solid defense. The only time either side was able to get a stop was when the team on offense had a sloppy possession. That team ended up being the Celtics more often than not. It seemed as though there was no true game plan in place on the offensive end for Boston. This could especially be seen when Tatum was in the game. Whenever he was on the bench the team seemed to be super active on offense. However, when he was on the floor it was just him controlling the ball while the rest of the team stood around doing nothing.
The Mavericks started to build up a lead mid-way through the fourth on the back of Jalen Brunson. He finished the night with 22 points, with 16 of them coming in the fourth. It was the third game in a row the C’s collapsed in the final quarter. It’s one of the most concerning trends of the season, and there’s no hope in sight right now.
Boston’s lack of defensive intensity ended up costing them the game. Neither team was particularly great on that end, but Boston’s complete lack of offensive consistency was the nail in the coffin. A wild run late in the fourth saw the C’s almost mount a comeback, but it just wasn’t enough.
Doncic hit two big-time shots in the last 20 seconds of the game to win it for the Mavs, one being an actual game-winning three with 0.1 remaining on the clock. He led the Mavs to a 110-107 win over the C’s. Boston has a lot of problems right now and there’s no single solution. They’ll play game two of their back-to-back against Atlanta tomorrow at 7:30 PM EST on NBC Sports Boston.
