A seemingly sure blowout turned into one of the most exciting games of the young NBA season Monday night, with the Boston Celtics falling just short of a miraculous comeback.
The Dallas Mavericks, who led by as many as 31 points in the first half and as little as one in the fourth quarter, managed to hold off the Celtics for a 118-113 win.
— How unlikely would a Celtics comeback have been? Well …
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— Even still, Brad Stevens was not happy after the game.
— Jeff Green (game-high 35 points) and Avery Bradley (32) combined to score more than half of Boston’s points and did so by taking almost as many shots (50) as the rest of the team combined (52). They were the first Celtics duo to score 30 points in the same game since Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo did so back in 2009, per Celtics radio play-by-play man Sean Grande.
— Rondo led the Celtics in rebounds (nine) for the third time in as many games. He also dished out 15 assists, his highest total of the season.
— Chandler Parsons might be the most underrated player in the NBA. The 6-foot-9 small forward led the Mavericks with 29 points Monday night and was especially lethal in the early going. By the time Parsons went to the bench for the first time just over 10 minutes in, he already had racked up 14 points and had yet to miss a shot. He also helped salt away the game for the Mavs, scoring five points in 23 seconds to put Dallas back up 10 with 2:20 to play.
— Dallas’ point guards — Monta Ellis, Devin Harris and J.J. Barea — did an excellent job of cutting to the basket, drawing in defenders and kicking the ball out to the open man along the perimeter. The Mavs’ outside shooters did their job, too, as the home team went 14-for-25 from beyond the arc. Parsons and Dirk Nowitzki (27 points) were the Mavericks’ most effective weapons from deep, combining to sink eight of their nine 3-pointers.
— One pivotal and controversial play came midway through the fourth quarter with the Mavericks holding onto a 105-97 lead. Celtics center Kelly Olynyk stole a Jameer Nelson pass, setting up Rondo on a fast break. The point guard sank a one-handed, off-the-backboard floater while falling to his left but was whistled for charging after making contact with Ellis in the lane.
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Watch the video with volume to hear former Celtic and current broadcaster Brian Scalabrine’s opinion of that call.
— It didn’t warrant inclusion in our rundown of Marcus Smart highlights, but the foul the rookie drew during the second quarter made for quite the video/photo combo:
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Photo/thumbnail photo via Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports Images
