BOSTON — The Celtics’ Western Conference woes continued Friday night.
The visiting Dallas Mavericks sliced and diced through Boston’s defense in Rajon Rondo’s return to TD Garden, dominating the first and third quarters en route to a 119-101 win.
It was in the latter portion of those frames that the game was won: The Celtics were held scoreless for the final 4:40 of the opening quarter and managed just three points over the same time period in the third.
All the while, the Mavericks’ offense, which came into the game ranked No. 1 in the NBA, was busy lighting up the scoreboard. The 119 points were the most Boston has given up in a game this season.
“It was our defense,” Celtics guard Avery Bradley said after the game. “We had a lot of defensive breakdowns. We’ve been saying it all year, even (head coach Brad Stevens): Our defense has to get better. And tonight, we didn’t play very good team defense at all.
The Mavericks finished off the third quarter on a 17-1 run, putting the Celtics in a 28-point hole they were unable to climb out of.
“I think we, especially at the end of the third quarter, we let them go on a long run — a big run,” center Tyler Zeller said. “… We’ve got to minimize those runs, and then be able to go on runs of our own.”
— Zeller was Boston’s best player for much of the night. The center finished with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and pulled down more than one-fourth of the Celtics total rebounds (10 of 38). It was Zeller’s second double-double in Boston’s last five games.
— That changed in the fourth quarter, when Bradley finally decided to join the fun. After going a miserable 2-for-11 for five points through the first 36 minutes, Bradley exploded for 17 points in the final frame while logging 10:39 of floor time.
This production helped power a furious Celtics comeback. Boston began the fourth quarter on a 23-5 run to get to within 10 points of the Mavericks before Dallas ultimately pulled away late. It was a rally reminiscent of the last time these teams squared off, when the C’s whittled a 31-point Mavs lead down to one in the third game of the regular season before falling 118-113.
“I was just trying to come back,” the guard said of his offensive awakening, during which he made seven of his nine shots. “We didn’t want it to be an embarrassing loss. We just wanted to leave everything out on the floor.”
— Dallas absolutely dominated Boston on the boards, outrebounding the Celtics 52-38. Tyson Chandler was particularly effective in this area; he finished with just eight points but grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.
— Ex-Maverick Jae Crowder had the greatest impact of the three Celtics newcomers against his former team. He finished with just four points, two steals, one rebound and one assist, but as usually the case with the 24-year-old forward, his most important contributions were of the unquantifiable variety.
“I just think Jae Crowder’s energy’s a positive to our team, regardless,” Stevens said. “But certainly it had an impact on the (fourth-quarter) run, yes.”
— The Celtics have played six of the eight current playoff teams in the West and lost to all six.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
