The rapid freefall for the Celtics (15-16 overall, 7-11 road) continued in spectacular fashion tonight at American Airlines Center on the second stop of their doomed three-game road trip. The Mavericks (15-15 overall, 8-8 home) led by 11 points late in the fourth quarter before Boston rallied to go ahead 105-104 on shooting guard Jaylen Brown's (team-high 29 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals) short jumper in the lane. Dallas' superstar Luka Doncic (game-high 31 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists) answered with a patented step back 3-pointer. After a layup by Brown tied it, Doncic iced it with another step back three with 0.1 seconds left in regulation. Dallas won 110-107 to climb back to .500 after going 7-3 in their last 10 games. Conversely, the Celtics are fading away (3-7 in their last 10) into oblivion and dropped under .500 for the first time since Dec. 27 when a loss at Indiana made them 1-2.
Earlier this evening, swingman Jayson Tatum (28 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Brown were named as reserves for the Eastern Conference at the All-Star Game in Atlanta next weekend. It will be Tatum's second All-Star appearance after he made it last year and the first of Brown's career. Those are both significant accomplishments that deserved to be noticed but at the moment, it's hard to feel good about anything involving the Celtics. After Sunday's blown 24-point lead and overtime loss to the Pelicans (13-17), you hoped that the team would exhibit some sort of anger and bounce back, especially with Mavericks center Kristaps Porzingis (back tightness) missing this contest. Instead, they let a one-man team beat them. Point guard Jalen Brunson scored 22 points off the bench for Dallas, he was on fire in the fourth quarter before Luka predictably took over. Shooting guard Josh Richardson added 16 points while small forward Tim Hardaway Jr. (14 points) and goofy giant Boban Marjanovic (10 points, 8 rebounds) also scored in double-figures off the bench (which outscored Boston's 51-19!) for Rick Carlisle's club.
Celtics point guard Kemba Walker (21 points) was up and down but he hit a clutch 3-pointer that cut Dallas' lead to one point late in the fourth quarter. With how this turned out, sadly now nobody except him will ever remember that. Power forward Tristan Thompson (8 points, 10 rebounds) was alright and power forward Semi Ojeleye (8 points, 7 rebounds) was a bright spot off the bench but Brown, Tatum and Walker were their only players to score 10 points or more for the visitors. My favorite stat of the night came from C's rookie small forward Aaron Nesmith who played 22 minutes off the bench but didn't attempt a single shot (or free throw). This from a guy who was drafted 14th overall strictly because of his shooting ability, what else is he known for?
The C's and Mavs always seem to play close and entertaining games which made this one the latest installment. Other than that late run by Dallas, it was tight the whole way as the home team led 34-31 after the first quarter but trailed by one point (56-55) at halftime. The Mavericks outscored the Celtics 25-20 in a rock fight of a third quarter before that crazy fourth quarter unfolded. Besides the huge difference in bench points, the only other real different stat was in points off turnovers which Dallas doubled up on (18-9).
There is no time for Boston to feel sorry for themselves since they are back in action tomorrow night (7:30, NBC Sports Boston) at Atlanta (13-18 overall, 7-9 home). We know that Kemba will be out since it's the second game of a back-to-back and who knows what other ailments could be affecting them. You'll remember that they lost to the Hawks last Wednesday at the Garden (122-114) then beat them two nights later (121-109) so Atlanta is more than capable of knocking them off yet again and their young phenom Trae Young promises to be extra spicy after he was somehow left off the All-Star team (so far). In other words, it's hard to believe with how rough this has been lately for the C's but this could get even worse very soon.
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