POST GAME DALLAS - AWAY

STUDS AND DUDS: NOWITZKI, MAVERICKS BEAT CELTICS IN OT

WEEI

By Josue Pavon

The Celtics overcame a 17-point deficit, converted clutch fourth-quarter baskets and forced overtime — where the Mavericks knocked down four 3-pointers to beat the Celtics in a 118-113 win in Dallas.

The Mavericks took a 29-16 lead into the second quarter and extended it to 17 points — their biggest lead of the night. Dallas shot 48.8 percent in the first half. The Celtics rallied in the third quarter, outscoring the Mavericks 33-18 and went into the fourth quarter up, 72-70. Isaiah Thomas, who scored two points in the first half, found his offense in the third quarter by scoring 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

In the fourth quarter, Dirk Nowitzki caught fire — he scored 14 of his 31 points and propelled the Mavericks to a five-point advantage after converting a four-point play with 1:27 left in the game (89-94). However, the Celtics didn’t quit. They went on a 6-4 run to set up a chance for them to tie the game, down by three (98-95). With 14 seconds left, Jae Crowder was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and converted all three free-throws to send the game into overtime.

The Mavericks needed four 3-pointers in the extra period to fend off the Celtics. Dallas finished the night 16-for-34 from distance — where they shot 47 percent on the night.

Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart each scored 20 points to lead the Celtics, Avery Bradley added 19 points and eight rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki‘s 31 points led the the Mavericks. Deron Williams scored 20 and Zaza Pachulia grabbed a game-high 19 rebounds.

For a complete box score, click here. To go beyond the box, read on.

STUD OF THE NIGHT: Marcus Smart.

Smart did a little bit of everything. He scored (20 points), grabbed rebounds (eight rebounds) to help get the fast break going (31 fast break points) and finished the night with two steals. Smart also hit a big 3-pointer in overtime to pull the Celtics to within one point before Williams and Nowitzki hit back-to-back 3’s to extend the Mavericks lead up to four.

DUD OF THE NIGHT: Amir Johnson.

In a game where Pachulia pulled down 19 rebounds, the Celtics could have used some help from their 6’9″ big. Johnson finished the night with just two rebounds and a turnover in 13 minutes. When the Celtics made their second-half comeback, coach Brad Stevens knew he wasn’t going to get much from Johnson so he kept him on the bench.

VINE OF THE NIGHT: Clutch Crowder


WHINE OF THE NIGHT: Guarding Dirk

After the Celtics grabbed their first lead in the third quarter, the Mavericks turned to Dirk Nowitzki and he delivered — he scored 21 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. When it came to defending Nowitzki, the Celtics often found themselves caught in a switch, which led to easy jumpers for Dirk. In the fourth quarter, Nowitzki knocked down shots over Smart, Evan Turner or another undersized defender, which led to easy shots or trips to the free-throw line — where he went 12-for-13 on the night.

STAT OF THE NIGHT: 16-for-34

The Celtics couldn’t stop the Mavericks from knocking down 3-pointers, especially in the overtime period. Dallas drained a handful of contested 3-pointers (4) in the extra period but the Mavericks also made a lot of deep jumpers throughout the night. The Celtics back court were caught behind screens and often late on defensive switches, which led to open looks for the Mavericks. Drik Nowitzki (3-for-5), Chandler Parsons (4-for-6), Wesley Matthews (3-for-, Devin Harris (2-for-5) Deron Williams (2-for-5) and Raymond Felton (1-for3) all took turns knocking down jumpers from downtown.
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Mavericks built lead over C's by attacking Thomas

A. SHERROD BLAKLEY

The Dallas Mavericks’ game plan against the Boston Celtics, at least in the early going, was clear.

They were intent on attacking Boston’s leading scorer Isaiah Thomas as much as possible, whether it be posting up the 5-foot-9 guard or swarming towards him on offense while offering him little room to do much other than pass to his teammates.

It put both Thomas and the Celtics on their heels in the first half which played a pivotal role in Boston’s three-game winning streak coming to an end following a 118-113 overtime loss to the Mavericks.

The Celtics (22-20) have now lost seven straight to the Dallas Mavericks, which equals the longest losing streak Boston has ever had to Dallas.

And a big part of the latest loss was Thomas’ inability to get the Celtics going at the start of the game.

Despite the slow start, Thomas bounced back with a strong second half to finish with 20 points.

But the rhythm that Boston had grown so accustomed to having with Thomas leading the way was not there to start the game.

Credit Marcus Smart for coming off the bench to score 11 of his 20 points in the first quarter which allowed the game not to get too out of hand after Dallas opened play with a 17-2 run.

“It’s real tough when you’re down 15 (points) to start,” said Boston’s Kelly Olynyk who had 17 points off the bench. “Giving teams a 15-point cushion in this league, it’s not easy to come back from that. We made a run, made it close, made a few mistakes at the end. We had an opportunity.”

Boston is no stranger to having to deal with in-game adversity.

But for Thomas to struggle (he missed five of his first six shots) as much as he did was the kind of setback the Celtics frankly, just weren’t used to having to deal for such an extended period of time to start a game.

In Monday’s loss, Thomas had an offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) of just 74.5.

But the second half saw his rating improve dramatically to 130.6.

Boston head coach Brad Stevens credits Dallas’ defense more than anything else, for Thomas having such a rough start to the game.

“First of all, they did a good job on him,” Stevens told reporters after the game. “Those are big, strong physical guards and that takes a toll on both ends. They posted him (Thomas) a lot. But he was much better in the second (half).”

Thomas’ second half success was a function of both him and his teammates finding their way into the paint with a lot more frequency.

After tallying just 14 points in the paint in the first half, Boston had 20 points in the third quarter alone.

The Celtics were a much more aggressive in getting into the lane, Thomas included.

But it ultimately wasn’t enough to get the win and serves as yet another reminder of what happens when the Celtics are not the aggressors at the outset of a game.

“When we settle, when we don’t at least feed the paint or (have) threats in the paint, we’re in trouble,” Stevens said.

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We got off to a cold start.  1-for-our-first 15.  After hitting everything against Phoenix we couldn't hit anything to start the game last night.  That we climbed back into this is a testament to our coolness and grit but we need to figure out how to be more assassin-like in our shooting.  This red-hot-tonight-iceberg-cold-tomorrow shit has to stop.  We had a 39 point first half yesterday.  We are not going to be allowed to come back from that type of offensive breakdown often.

1.  Sully rebounded but he also got killed on the defensive boards by Zaza, who just flat-outhustled him to the ball at least 4x that I counted.  Zaza had 19 rebounds, 7 of them offensive and half of those offensive rebounds were off Sully.  Other than that, Zaza was his usual pain in the ass.  Tommy loves instigators?  He'd adore Zaza in green.  Winston Churchill was once criticized for complimenting Josef Stalin.  Winnie replied "if Adolf Hitler invaded Hell I'd try to find something nice to say about the Devil".  That's about how I'd feel if Danny trades for Zaza.  He's a player that's easy to hate when you play against him but would love scrappin' for you.  Sully was 3-12 from the field with at least the first 4 of them being just ugly, ugly off-balance heaves at the basket from the paint.  Just throwing the ball at the rim.  Two good things about Sully's game last night are that he was 6-7 from the line and he only took 1 3pter.  Sad that hitting his fritos and not taking shots he shouldn't be taking are highlights.  He's shooting under 43% this season.  For a player who should buy a condo in the paint, that's not a very good fg%.  He has "upped" his 3pt fg% to 20%.  I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Brad had put Zeller, with his livelier body, on Zaza instead of 3-12 Sully?  We wouldn't have lost anything on offense and maybe Zaza would have been deprived of a rebound or two.

2.  Isaiah started off cold, shooting 0-3 in the 1st and zero points.  Who would have thought we'd ever say that?  Jae was worse, shooting 0-6 for zero points.  It took a while for Thomas to heat up, somehow he still ended up scoring 20 on 8-19.  Jae never did, shooting an absolutely awful 3-13.  Jae did, however, hit those icy cold 3 ftm to get us to OT.  Yeah, we ended up losing but those were beautiful fritos.  I'm not talking about the stroke, I'm talking about how clutch Jae was to hit them.  We needed all 3, he hit all 3.  One should never underestimate the heart of a Champion and the heart of a Champion is clutch.  We're looking for keepers, for building blocks.  We're looking for clutch.

3.  I liked Kelly's game last night.  17 points on 6-11 and 5-6 from 3 in 26 minutes.  Pretty efficient.  He only had 6 points on 2-2 3s in the first half, so he really came alive offensively in the 2nd half.  He tapped out an offensive rebound, got it back and hit a big 3.  He is credited with 2 blocks but I swear I counted 3.  Regardless, his defense was pretty good too.  He closed out shooters in the corner like Felton (not his man) in the 1st and stayed in front of the VERY live body Dwight Powell (who turned out to be the best of what Dallas got from us in the Rondo trade) and making him miss from 4'.  I've been watching very closely now for over a month, as you've probably all noticed.  His defense reminds me a bit of Bird's.  Before everybody goes spazz because I mentioned Kelly in the same breath as Larry Legend, what I meant by that is that Kelly isn't a good man-to-man defender, just as Bird wasn't, but he's a pretty good help defender now that he's got the rotations down in his head.  Bird, of course, was 2x All-Defense 2nd team, and it sure wasn't because he was himself a defensive stopper.  Kelly seems to get in people's way when they penetrate, seems to end up with balls off deflections.  Nothing spectacular, although his blocks last night were nice, but 'present'.  Let's remember, people do score off of Kawhi, Draymond and LeBron too.  Second good game in a row for Kelly.  Time for a slump (I probably shouldn't jinx him like that, should I?).  Consistency of aggression, that's what Kelly needs.  When he is passive or tentative his game falls off significantly.  Can't help but love his 62% 3pt fg% over the last 5 games.  As was discussed on the Game On thread last night, whomever has the most consistently efficient 3pt shooters, wins.  This is why Kelly might be on the team long after the perhaps more talented Jared Sullinger and Evan Turner are gone.  When Kelly is on his game he screws up defenses.  And he is still only 2 1/2 years into his career and still learning.  You can see the game is just starting to slow down for him now a bit.

4.  I've been very down on Smart for his inability to finish.  The last two games he has been finishing very well indeed.  He's posting players up and hitting most of them inside.  3-4 from the paint and what's more important he shot those balls like basketballs, he didn't just rush to get them out of his hands before a shot blocker came over and shotput them poorly like an olympic shotput ball.  Our top scorers after that awful 1st quarter were Smart and Kelly.  They talk about how Smart has leadership skills.  Last night, with nothing working, he put the team on his broad shoulders and carried us until IT could find his shooting/driving rhythm.  20 points on 8-13 is nothing to sneeze at.  He even hit 2-4 from 3, although I still cringe when he hoists them.  We are just so much more ferocious on defense now that he's back.  Smart had 8 of his 20 in the 4th.

5.  Avery had a miserable first half, just like everybody else.  Then he started scoring and ball hawking.  19 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists is not a bad night.  He just works hard.  

6.  Dirk is freaking Dirk.  We had a real good chance of winning this game in regulation but they iso'd Dirk and there is nothing you can do about that.  That's why he's going into the HOF and if Kelly wants to be Dirk 2.0 that's what he needs to do too.  He needs to develop an unstoppable move, just like his hero has.  We did about as good as you can do on Dirk, we made him score his 31 points on 8-21.  His 12-13 from the line hurt.

7.  Stat Roundup:  After shooting just awful in the first half we inched up to tie Dallas at 43%.  Where they killed us was with the 3-ball.  They shot 47% from 3.  We shot 40%, which would normally be more than enough, but not last night.  They also shot 92% from the line, 22-24, while we shot 81%.  81% isn't bad but it's those little things that kill us.  Hitting 1-2 doesn't seem bad, but when it happens a couple of times it has a habit of biting you in the ass in the end (Of course, where else would you get bit in the ass if not in the end?).  48 points in the paint for us vs 32 for them.  When you're shooting 50% from 3, like they did in the 1st half, who needs layups?  Well, we did.  We had, wait for it, 31 fast break points.  I'm not sure I've ever heard of a team with 31 fast break points in a game.





We had identical records to Dallas going into last night's game, and they are in the still-tougher WC.  This was a game that would have been good to win, not just from a pecking order perspective but also to drive UP the value of the 1st round pick we're getting from them.

As far as what impact the loss had on our standing, not much.  Orlando, who is on our tail, lost.  The Pistons, just ahead of us, lost.  And not to be overlooked, Brooklyn lost.  If only the Lakers could pull their purple-and-gold heads out of their asses and start winning...



bob


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Great post as usual bob, I admit it, the league has turned into basically whoever is hotter and better from the 3 will win the game, and you better be able to defend the 3 too, as Steven A was blasting Cavs ineptitude and coach being so unprepared to defend the best 3 point shooting team  with the best 3 point shooter on the perimeter. Get as many as you can, if 1 or 2 are off the others will compensate and carry you.....thats what the Warriors are doing and I HATE to say its working, ofcourse the Warriors also have rim protectors in Bogut and Ezeli and athletic wing defenders in Iggy and Barnes that can also get hot from outside too. Last night Klay Thompson was off, didn't matter, Steph Curry had a monster game and carried them, he was fucking toying with Lebron.

That game made me accept the new NBA.

On some of your points, if we gave Zeller say 15-20 minutes, Zaza might have had 24 boards as Zeller is a much weaker rebounder than Sully, who still managed to collar some boards. His elbow must be effecting his shot, never seen Sully in such an offensive slump for this long.

On Kelly, he can rotate better and he is coming up with steals, hes got good hands, but Bird while not a shot blocker still played way better physical defense than KO, no comparison and he was a bull on the boards, thats why he was 2 time 2nd team all defensive. In those 76er wars, Bird was routinely the best rebounder on the floor. But I like that KO is improving, if RJ and Young can get their shot together with AB able to have moments, as can IT, and I still think Smart can get better too....well we did play Warriors way better than Cavs, we easily could have/almost won that game.

Styles make fights, GS has Cavs number, you can't hide Irving and Love on defense, we need more pieces and the ones that stay have to improve, but I like that we have 2 very good defenders to go at Curry and Thompson. I actually can't think of a better Curry defender than AB.

Cowens,

"That game made me accept the new NBA." It sure is a different game. Back in 1964-65 the Celtics shot .414 on all field goal attempts - layups included ( no 3's then). That, according to Russ, was the best Celtic team that he ever played on. As of today the Warriors are shooting 3's at a .425 clip and 2's at .518. The league average back in 64-65 field goal attempts was only .426. Its now a game that's heavily dependent on the marksmanship of a bunch of long range gunners.

swish

Didn't the NBA move the 3 point line back a bit after a couple years? I know the NCAA did.

Would they rules committee entertain moving it back a bit more of course there is the sideline short corner shot that cant be moved back much at all without the courts being wider....and that another issue altogether.

beat

cowens/oldschool wrote:Great post as usual bob, I admit it, the league has turned into basically whoever is hotter and better from the 3 will win the game, and you better be able to defend the 3 too, as Steven A was blasting Cavs ineptitude and coach being so unprepared to defend the best 3 point shooting team  with the best 3 point shooter on the perimeter. Get as many as you can, if 1 or 2 are off the others will compensate and carry you.....thats what the Warriors are doing and I HATE to say its working, ofcourse the Warriors also have rim protectors in Bogut and Ezeli and athletic wing defenders in Iggy and Barnes that can also get hot from outside too. Last night Klay Thompson was off, didn't matter, Steph Curry had a monster game and carried them, he was fucking toying with Lebron.

That game made me accept the new NBA.

On some of your points, if we gave Zeller say 15-20 minutes, Zaza might have had 24 boards as Zeller is a much weaker rebounder than Sully, who still managed to collar some boards. His elbow must be effecting his shot, never seen Sully in such an offensive slump for this long.

On Kelly, he can rotate better and he is coming up with steals, hes got good hands, but Bird while not a shot blocker still played way better physical defense than KO, no comparison and he was a bull on the boards, thats why he was 2 time 2nd team all defensive. In those 76er wars, Bird was routinely the best rebounder on the floor. But I like that KO is improving, if RJ and Young can get their shot together with AB able to have moments, as can IT, and I still think Smart can get better too....well we did play Warriors way better than Cavs, we easily could have/almost won that game.

Styles make fights, GS has Cavs number, you can't hide Irving and Love on defense, we need more pieces and the ones that stay have to improve, but I like that we have 2 very good defenders to go at Curry and Thompson. I actually can't think of a better Curry defender than AB.

cowens,

Maybe you're right about Zeller.  I just got SO frustrated with Zaza blowing past Sully for offensive boards, I'm looking for anybody who would be quick enough to put a body on him.  I don't care if Zeller rebounds, we have other players that can go to the ball, just keep Zaza the Hell off of it.

Yes, Bird was a SIGNIFICANTLY better rebounder than Kelly is, it's not even remotely close, but you don't get named 2nd team All-Defense just because you rebound.  Bird's forte on defense was help defense, NOT man-to-man.  He cheated positionally, he anticipated passes perfectly and you could not bring the ball out in front of him.  Kelly will probably never be better than an adequate man-to-man defender but he is improving as a help defender.  Last year he was still a step or two slow on rotations, which made him a poor man-to-man defender and a poor help defender, but this year he's getting to a spot where he can be a more positive influence on the defense a little quicker.  The rotations are now a part of him.  His first year, of course, he sucked totally.  Completely lost.  It seems like he's been around for such a long time but he has less than 3 years experience in the NBA.  It seems he's a veteran because we have had SO many new faces over the past 2 years, but we are now almost exactly at his 2 1/2 season mark.  That's not a long time, especially since veterans and refs will torture rookies and make their first year practically a frat initiation ritual where survival and getting through it is all you can think about.  Sully started off more confident (arrogant?) and had a year of Garnett University.  Who has Kelly had as a mentor and teacher?  

I like my bigs the same way you do, I like them down low in the paint punishing people, but if you look at the top BIG low-post bigs in the league today (e.g. Howard, Jordan, Pekovic, Whiteside, Duncan) the only one who has really accomplished anything is Timmy, and he's one of the best to ever play his position.  You cannot have a discussion for the GOAT at PF and not have Tim Duncan's name in the hat and he did it with exceptional BBIQ and solid fundamentals including some of the finest footwork I have ever seen in a man that size.  His high school coach should be bronzed, even if he's still alive.  In other words, Tim Duncan is an exception.  The other BIGS get spectacular blocks and muscle their way to dunks (in Jordan's case they have to be spoon-fed to him via lobs by CP3) but what have their teams ever done?

I've said, for years and years on this board, that I am not a fan of the "stretch 4" and "stretch 5s" are an abomination.  Well, I've had my nose rubbed in it enough to where I am forced to admit that things are different now.  Adapt or die.  Or continue to lose, and that is not an acceptable long-term alternative neither, not for a Boston Celtic fan.

Stephen Asshole Smith is a moron.  Blatt's to blame for not being prepared for the best 3pt shooting team in the league?  How about the other 25 coaches?  We're halfway through the season and the GSW have lost 4x.  4.  Is Jason Kidd of the Bucks known for his preparation?  He got lucky because he got GSW on the 2nd night of a back-to-back, the last game of a long 7 game road trip, and we were the first game of that back-to-back, the next to last game of that road trip, and we took them to 2OT and wore them out.  Is Rick Carlisle of Dallas a genius?  I like Carlisle and have a lot of respect for him but Curry didn't play in the game  they lost to Dallas.  Denver, who won a game but lost another to GSW?  How about SVG of Detroit?  Is Stephen A saying that Stan Van Freaking Gundy is a better coach than Blatt?  GSW is just that good, they are just so good there isn't a freaking thing you can do against them except hope they have an off night and you have a really good one.  Stephen A is a sewer-sucking sycophant who adores LeBron and he's having trouble dealing.

Yeah, we definitely need more pieces.  We are 2 1/2 years into the minimum 3-5 year rebuild.  We've got a few keepers, I think, which is a few more than we had 2 years ago after Pierce and KG got shipped out and Brad was brought in.  We have IT, Jae and Bradley (although I would give up Bradley, Sully, draft picks and tell me who else you want for Jimmy Butler).  We have other players that are valuable, but below that level, such as Sully, Amir, Smart and Kelly.  Of those 4 players I'd say only Smart and Kelly have more upside.  Amir and Sully are more "fully formed" and are better players today, but they are who they are and I'm not sure I see either of them going up another level.  I can see that potential with Smart and Kelly (caveat:  "potential" does not mean it's going to happen.  It just means they have the skills and tools, so it's possible).  Below them are the "nice to haves but happy to throw them into a deal if you'll take them" in Jerebko and Turner.  Lee, Zeller and the rest of the flotsam and jetsam of this roster are trade bait.  I'd like to hold off on trading any of the 3 rookies for now.  I think each of them fill a specific role we need.  Rozier is a ballhandling point guard.  If I can replace Turner as the floor general, I'd do it, especially with someone as quick as Rozier.  RJ fills the need for a shooter.  His shooting has been awful season-to-date but he is a shooter and he'll always be a shooter until his legs go on him.  His head is just exploding because he's a rookie.  Mickey would be our best shot blocker the second he steps on the court, but if Danny can get a proven NBA shot-blocker and Mickey has to go to get him then that's that.  But make me an offer I can't refuse and they're gone too.


bob


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Stephen A is a sewer-sucking sycophant who adores LeBron and he's having trouble dealing.



About fell out of my chair !!

thanks Bob

beat

Steven A calls it like it is....I want his job and I can shout alot louder and kick his ass!!! I like him, his point was all the wide open 3's that GS got, that other coaches told him Cavs were not prepared for that onslaught. I saw the start of that game and was tuning in during our game, Cavs perimeter D was non existent.

On Avery Bradley, hes my favorite C right now for obvious reasons, in this new NBA your gonna need that kind of defender to hound the shooting/scoring points in the league. I also very much like Marcus Smart, wish Sully could get his act together and KO is a valuable piece in this day and age, hope he gets more consistent too.

Right now Golden State IS that good.

How do you defend 27-28 foot three pointers and still stop penetration? As long as GS can maintain their current level of play it is likely to take some team to come up with the answer to my question to beat them

Chris Forsberg
ESPN Staff Writer

In its Last 2 Minute report, the NBA acknowledged referees missed a traveling violation on Zaza Pachulia with 5.6 seconds remaining in regulation that might have given Boston a final-shot opportunity before going to an extra session. (on.nba.com/1ZLworC) The Mavericks went on to win 118-113 in overtime.

14h