How Celtics Humbled, Made Example Of Mavericks In Road Victory

The Boston Celtics continue to tally up impressive regular-season wins, doing so this time in their 119-110 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night.

Fresh off a road victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night, the Celtics got right back to work and didn’t allow the toss back into action to dictate their night. Boston, matching up with a playoff-contending Dallas team, which hadn’t played in four days, didn’t latch onto any excuse. Even without starting center Kristaps Porzingis, the Mavericks didn’t get any other version of the Celtics other than the one that’s made Boston an NBA-best 34-10 team thus far.

“I had just told our guys in the locker room there’s only one time where I saw the schedule catch up to us, but 99% of the time this year, I can never tell if it’s the first night of a back-to-back or the second night of a back-to-back,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “Only once. So, our guys just bring it, every single night. It doesn’t always mean we’re gonna win, doesn’t mean we’re gonna play perfect, but our guys are just always ready to play, regardless of the schedule. I forgot it was a back-to-back, just watching our guys compete. I couldn’t tell. It’s a credit to them.”

Jaylen Brown, more than anyone else, took a step forward. The 27-year-old took on the assignment of guarding Mavericks star Luka Doncic and humbled him — especially offensively. Brown, a much more physical overall force, scored 34 points on 13-of-22 shooting and even dropped Doncic with a behind-the-back crossover move in the second quarter — showcasing various strides made in the offseason.

Doncic was noticeably gassed, scoring a team-leading 33 points on an inefficient 12-of-30 shooting, including 2-of-8 from 3-point range.

Jayson doing the talking after that Grant swat.

(Second night in a row the Celtics stuffed a halftime heave) pic.twitter.com/4A7UoL11aT

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— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) January 23, 2024

Jayson Tatum, who led all scorers with 39 points, bounced right back from an off-night in Houston — Tatum scored a modest 18 points and shot an uncharacteristic 4-of-17. Taking on an unparalleled Mavericks team, including ex-Boston teammate Grant Williams, Tatum seized the opportunity to dish out a quick reminder of who he is.

Unfortunately for Williams, that made for a viral halftime moment.

With the clock ticking right before the first-half buzzer sounded, Williams attempted a deep, half-court heave that went five rows into the stands. That’s because Tatum viciously swatted Williams’ attempt like a school-yard bully, dropping the now-Mavericks forward down to the ground — likely filled with some level of regret.

“I tried to kick that (expletive), I ain’t gonna lie,” Tatum told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston. “I can repeat what I said. It was all friendly, competitive nature, but I had to get that one off.”

Tatum added: “Tonight I just wanted to come out and play better than I did yesterday.”

Redemption was in line for the Celtics, who during their last second night of a road back-to-back endured their worst loss of the season, a 135-102 defeat at the hands of the Eastern Conference rival Milwaukee Bucks.

“We’re a smart group of guys, right? A prideful group of guys that — that last back-to-back we had, didn’t go as we wanted it to,” Tatum explained. “And like I said, we got another chance to redeem ourselves on the second night of a back-to-back after traveling and I think we came out with the right intentions throughout the entire game and made winning plays.”

Mazzulla ran with an eight-man rotation — Tatum, Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Al Horford, Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet and Payton Pritchard — and mentioned that the ongoing intensity prevented Boston from making any major rotational adjustments. The Celtics didn’t ease off on the Mavericks, who are clamoring at a favorable playoff position, but can easily fall off, and Boston made the eventual winning plays. Boston even overcame an ice-cold 1-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter.

The only outside shot hit in that frame was by Brown — a dagger of a 4-point play to put Boston ahead, 109-98, and send the Mavericks packing.

The Celtics improved to 6-2 on the second leg of back-to-backs, have won their last three over Dallas, and have now defeated Kyrie Irving nine straight times dating back to 2021.