POST GAME DALLAS - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Kyrie Irving’s 47 Points Lifts C’s To OT Win Over Mavs

NESN by Adam London on Mon, Nov 20, 2017

Kyrie Irving had yet to post a prolific scoring night as a member of the Boston Celtics, but that all changed Monday night at American Airlines Center. The star point guard scored a season-high 47 points on 16-of-22 shooting to lift the C’s to a 110-102 overtime victory over the Dallas Mavericks to extend their win streak to 16.

Irving got rolling from the get-go against the Mavs, but the Celtics collectively played sluggish basketball in the second and third quarters. Dallas appeared on its way to an upset win when it held a double-digit fourth-quarter lead, but Boston clawed back with a resilient late-game effort. Jaylen Brown (22 points, nine rebounds) and Jayson Tatum (15 points, nine rebounds) nearly posted double doubles for Boston, while Marcus Smart chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds. Harrison Barnes led the way for the Mavs with 31 points. With the win, the Celtics improve to 16-2, while the Mavericks fall to 3-15. Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE PG: Kyrie Irving SG: Jaylen Brown SF: Jayson Tatum PF: Marcus Morris C: Al Horford

BACKCOURT BONANZA The Celtics got on the Mavericks early and often thanks in large part to their starting guards. Irving led all scorers with 18 first-quarter points on 6-for-6 shooting, including three buckets from beyond the arc. Brown wasn’t too far behind his backcourt mate, posting 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting with two 3-pointers. Boston shot a collective 65 percent from the field in the first quarter and held a 34-22 lead over Dallas, which posted a 41 percent shooting mark including a lackluster 1-for-5 mark from 3-point range.

MAVS MARCH BACK The C’s, aside from Irving, weren’t nearly as efficient in the second quarter as the first, which allowed the Mavs to chip away and only be down 53-49 at the break. Boston only converted on seven of its 20 shots in the second stanza, three of which coming from Irving, who led all scorers with 25 first-half points on 9-for-10 shooting. Smart had a particularly rough for the Celtics, contributing only two points on 1-for-7 shooting, including five misses from beyond the arc. He also committed three of Boston’s eight first-half turnovers. But luckily for the C’s, Dallas’ below-average shooting prevented it from taking back the lead in the second. While Barnes (13 points) and Wesley Matthews (10 points) were strong in the first half, the Mavs shot 43 percent from the field and 33 percent from 3-point land heading into the second half.

MOMENTUM SHIFT Dallas started to show signs of life at the tail end of the second quarter, and it carried that momentum into the third frame. The Mavs came out firing in the quarter and grabbed a 55-53 lead on a Barnes layup at the 9:24 mark. The Celtics, conversely, were sluggish to start the third and didn’t log their first points of the quarter until a trio of Irving free throws at the 8:46 mark. Boston’s offense improved as the quarter progressed, but Dallas didn’t let up and grabbed its largest lead of the game with just under a minute left in the third when a J.J. Barea 3-pointer gave the Mavs a 77-69 lead. Barnes paced all scorers with 12 third-quarter points.

CELTS COME BACK The Mavericks showed no signs of complacency in the fourth quarter and grew their lead to as large as 13. But as they have done all season, the Celtics found a way to come back. After back-and-forth action in closing minutes of the frame, Tatum evened the score at 96-96 on an alley-oop from an Irving feed. Boston forced a turnover on Dallas’ next possession, but the C’s couldn’t convert on a potential go-ahead basket as an Irving 3-point attempt rimmed out. The Mavs suffered a similar fate on their next possession when Barnes missed a fadeaway with seconds remaining in regulation. The C’s had one last shot in the fourth, but an out-of-bounds play designed for a Brown tip-in came up short.

WINNING TIME Dallas jumped out to a quick 100-96 lead in overtime, but a pair of Irving layups on back-to-back Celtics possessions evened the score once again. Boston then grabbed its first lead since the third quarter when Brown nailed a jumper with 1:39 left in the frame. From there, the C’s didn’t look back. An Irving layup swelled Boston’s lead to four and Tatum tacked on a pair of free throws to boost the advantage to 108-102. The Mavericks didn’t score a point in the final 2:14 of overtime as Boston played stingy defense to preserve the win. PLAY OF THE GAME Now that’s how you send a game to OT.

UP NEXT The Celtics’ road trip continues with a Wednesday night matchup against the Heat in Miami. Tip-off from American Airlines Arena is set for 7:30 p.m. ET
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Celtics push winning streak to 16 games, beating Mavs in OT, 110-102

NBC SPORTS BOSTON By A. Sherrod Blakely November 20, 2017 11:07 PM

Flat. Round. Octagon.

It doesn’t matter.

This is Kyrie Irving’s world, one in which he can do some pretty amazing things like lead the Boston Celtics to an improbable comeback that finally ended with a 110-102 overtime win for Boston.

Irving delivered as near-flawless a game scoring the ball as we’ve seen since he became a Boston Celtic.

He finished with a game-high 47 points, which included 10 in overtime as the Celtics (16-2) extended their winning to 16 straight which ties the fourth-longest winning streak in franchise history.

Jumpers. 3-pointers. Lay-ups.

Irving gave the Celtics anything and everything they needed down the stretch for what might have been the toughest win for them during this amazing stretch of success.

We have seen the Celtics blaze their way down the comeback trail before, and Monday was no exception. They closed out the fourth quarter with a 17-7 run over the final 5:22 to force the overtime session.

Boston led for most of the first half, but Dallas opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run to lead 58-53, and continued to surge ahead before the third finally ended with the Mavericks pulling ahead to the fourth quarter with a 77-69 lead.

The Mavericks continued to control the game for most of the fourth quarter and took their first double-digit lead, 83-72, following a driving lay-up by Yogi Ferrell which led to Brad Stevens calling a time-out with 9:19 to play.

Boston’s struggles in the second half were in sharp contrast to what the Celtics were able to do in the first two quarters.

The Celtics went on a 25-8 run in the first quarter which set the tone for the C's 34-22 lead at the end of the first.

Boston went to its bench and they did what we’ve seen them do a lot this season, missing a bunch of wide open to lightly contested shots from the field.

Stevens has been looking for them to develop some kind of flow offensively, and probably kept them on the floor longer than he should have.

Boston’s double-digit lead was all but wiped out in the second quarter, with the Mavericks coming within 44-43 following a 3-poiner by Wesley Matthews. The Celtics managed to take a slimmer-than-expected 53-49 lead into the half.
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Irving's 47 lead Celtics past Mavericks to maintain streak

ESPN BOSTON

DALLAS -- Kyrie Irving scored 10 of his season-high 47 points in overtime as the Boston Celtics rallied once again from a double-digit deficit to beat the Dallas Mavericks 110-102 and extend their winning streak to 16 games.

The Mavericks led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter, but as they have several times during their winning streak, the Celtics stormed back.

The winning streak ties the fourth-longest in Celtics history.

Boston tied the game at 96 when Irving stole the ball from Dirk Nowitzki and fed Jayson Tatum for an alley-oop lay-up that hung on the rim for a full second before dropping through.

Irving scored his team's first six points of overtime. Then after Jaylen Brown gave Boston a 104-102 lead with a jumper with 1:39 to play, Irving went to work on Yogi Ferrell, backing him down and drawing contact on a lay-up with 48.5 seconds to play. Though Irving missed the free throw to keep the score 106-102, Dallas never got closer.

Harrison Barnes scored 31 points and Wesley Matthews had 18 for Dallas, which came back from an early double-digit deficit as the Celtics went cold for much of the second and third quarters.

Irving and Barnes had chances in the final 30 seconds but both missed shots that would have given their teams the lead.

The Mavericks fell behind by as many as 15 points in the first half, outscoring the Celtics 55-35 over the second and third quarters.

Dallas took its biggest lead of the game when Yogi Ferrell fed a cutting Dwight Powell for a lay-up to make it 87-74 with 7:47 to play before the Celtics rallied.

Boston shot just 10-for-34 over the two middle quarters after building the early lead.

TIP-INS

Celtics: Marcus Smart came into the game shooting just 27 percent from the field, worst among NBA players with at least 10 attempts per game. And he shot 3-for-15 Monday as the Mavericks backed off and dared him to shoot. But Smart's 3 with 1:24 to play in the game put Boston within 96-94. . The game was a homecoming for Boston rookie Semi Ojeleye, who played college basketball at SMU in Dallas.

Mavericks: Guard J.J. Barea won the NBA Cares Community Assist Award for October for the relief work he did in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in his native Puerto Rico. He was presented with the award at halftime. Barea has provided more than 100,000 pounds of supplies to the island, and he has raised nearly $750,000 in funds through his own efforts and a YouCaring.com fund drive.

UP NEXT

Celtics: At Miami on Wednesday. The Celtics beat the Heat on October 28 for win number four of their streak.

Mavericks: At Memphis on Wednesday for the team's third meeting of the season. Each team won at home in a back-to-back series in late October.

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80 - 2 THE DREAM LIVES ON!

112288

WILL BRAD FINALLY FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IRVING MORE ENGAGED WITH THE SCORING.........HE IS DUE TO BREAKOUT OF HIS SLUMP!


LOL!!!!!!!!!

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Ugly-Wins-R-Us

What's happened to the bench? This can't persist or Al Horford is gonna be run into the ground.

It's weird to feel Danny should make a trade when it's a 16 game win streak. It's just Tatum and Brown are much better than anyone could have expected and the C's could possibly compete for the title with them. Other guys like Semi, Nader, Larkin and Yabusele don't seem to be working out. There's no reason to still think this is a bridge year after the hot start.

It'd be nice to add one or two vets to solidify the core. Let LeBron get burned out fighting for the fourth seed. Most games Al shouldn't have to play much more than thirty minutes. 39 is too much. A fresh Al is a much better Al.

Brad has his work cut out for him. The starters are clicking, but the bench is a mess.

Since Al has been put at the 5 by Stevens his game has deteriorated severely. He has become very hesitant and was much more effective at the 4 when Baynes or Theis were starting. Morris coming off the bench makes a lot of sense since the bench needs scoring help. I don't usually criticize Coach, but this seems so obvious to me.

Be that as it may we are 16-2 and counting. Danny getting Irving was a master stroke.

Berlin-T

Hi,
Yes, it was an ugly win. If the league establishes a new award "The ugliest win" Celtics definitely will be a main contender.
At some point the whole team just stopped playing. I'd understand if they were 25-30 points ahead but not 10-12 points.
Also, why they tried to make Smart a designated shooter. That he is not.
I hope they adjust something, somehow. Because what you could do against Dallas won't fly in Miami.

AK

Perhaps a bit of playing to the level?


beat

Great comeback - strong final 5 minutes and Kyrie is on another planet.

Once again, we defy gravity, and the streak is now






It's Kyrie's world, and it's flat, we just live in it.  Kyrie was otherworldly, but take him out of it and we sucked.  38-84 for 45.2% with him, 22-62 for 35.5% without him, and that's still with Jaylen Brown shooting a very healthy 8-13.  They are the only two players who showed up on offense.  Horford 1-5 and very tentative, passing out when he has the ball 4' from the rim.  Marcus Morris 3-11, the bench a combined 4-22.  We scored 14 points in the 5 minute OT (but could only score 19 points in the 12 minute 2nd quarter and 16 points in the 12 minute 3rd quarter) and Kyrie scored 10 of those 14 points.



Jay King @ByJayKing

yesterday

Kyrie Irving scored 17 points over the last 12:50, including overtime. So did the Mavericks.
reply retweet like



Brian Robb @BrianTRobb

yesterday

Kyrie Irving shooting splits over his last two games: 76/77/93 26-of-34 FG 10-of-13 3pt 15-of-16 FT 77 points
reply retweet like




Just when you're ready to throw Marcus Smart's limp, lifeless body into a dumpster and drive away he starts making Marcus Smart Hustle Plays like this one:  

https://twitter.com/celtics/status/932817304286511105


You forget that he blew an easy shot in the lane.  What you remember is that he flew in from nowhere to be in the right place to save Tatum's "pass" and then out-rebound 2 Mavs for his own miss and throws it directly to Kyrie while falling out of bounds.  Smart has said he isn't worried about his shooting because he puts too much work into it for it not to work out, but when Oh Lord?!  When!?  He was 3-15 last night, 2-11 from 3.  3-15.  Let that sink in for a second.  He couldn't throw the ball in the ocean from the edge of the pier but he took 15 anyway.  I showed how poorly we did if we take Kyrie's numbers out, do the same for Smart and our 45.2% shooting goes up to 50.7% (35-69).  We had a 15 point lead and he started his 3pt chucking and the lead evaporated, and he still kept shooting.  We wouldn't have needed his heroics in the 4th quarter if he shot anything that roughly resembles a professional basketball player in the first 3 quarters.  We've all said that going into the hole every game and climbing out to win is not sustainable.  Marcus Smart's shooting is the leading reason why we go into that hole.  The Cardiac Kid.  You've heard of Hack-a-Player defenses?  Last night the Mavs were using Shoot-it-Smart defense, falling off of Smart and begging him to shoot.  It was the best defense they played all night and erased a 15 point deficit for them.

Not that the rest of the bench covered themselves in glory either.  Rozier 1-4.  Brad played them a grand total of 87 minutes in 265 player minutes.  That showed zero confidence by Brad, as they deserved.  NOT good.

This is the 3rd consecutive 20+ point game for Jaylen and he's doing very efficiently.  If/when he figures out his fritos he's in line for an All-Star performance.  He was 3-6 from the line last night, starting off 0-4.  You could see him change every one of his first 4 frito attempts as he tried to "find" his shot.  That is not a shot you're supposed to find, it's a shot that's automatic.  As is his way, he's overthinking.  Despite shooting fritos worse than Andre Drummond this year he still put up 22 points.  How do you shoot 3-6 from 3 with a defender running at you and 3-6 from the line when you've got all the time you need and no defense?  Don't ask me, ask Jaylen.  If you look at his shot chart you'll see his fgm were from all over the floor.  Both sides of the court, inside and outside.






Tatum was having a nothing game, just didn't hear his name being called much, and then he came on in the 4th quarter by running the floor, playing solid defense and grabbed 4 rebounds in OT.  He's another Marcus Smart, he just lights up in crunch time.  One big difference though, is that he only needed 9 fgas to get his 15 points, Smart would have need 25.  Tatum's poise is blowing me away.  Danny has come up with a brand-new drafting strategy, drafting for character, him and Jaylen.






While Morris had an awful shooting night at 3-11 he's usually an effective offensive player.  That's why I think he should be moved to the bench, to provide offense for out offensively-challenged bench.  That won't make him happy, he sees himself as a starter, but so what?  If he's not willing to do what's necessary for the team to win, and in this case that means using his offensive skills to power the 2nd unit, then he needs to be sent to a team he can start on.  I'm liking Morris, this isn't a knock on him.  In fact, just the opposite, I'm saying I value his skills so much I want to apply them where he can do the most good.

Rick Carlisle pulls Nerlens Noel out of mothballs with 1 second left in regulation to defend the inbounds pass and then sits him down again.  I think the love is long gone because that is downright insulting.

Boxscore:
http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975000



Chris Forsberg @ESPNForsberg

about 8 minutes ago

Winning streak leaves Celtics with absurd season projections like ... BPI currently favors the Celtics in 59 of their remaining 64 games. Celtics project at 61.5 wins and a 15.6 percent chance to win title. 



We have the best record in the NBA, the longest winning streak in the NBA BY FAR, beat GSW, are 9-0 on the road and are 6-0 against Western Conference teams and we only have a 15.6% chance of winning the Championship?  Really?









bob



.

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Yes, it was an ugly win. If the league establishes a new award "The ugliest win" Celtics definitely will be a main contender.
At some point the whole team just stopped playing. I'd understand if they were 25-30 points ahead but not 10-12 points.
Also, why they tried to make Smart a designated shooter. That he is not.
I hope they adjust something, somehow. Because what you could do against Dallas won't fly in Miami.

AK

Offense has to take what the defense gives, they left him wide open, brick after brick, does his defensive abilities overcome all the bricking? I'll let you guys decide.

Is it just me or did Harrison Barnes who is a legit 6'8" look like a midget compared to Jaylen and Jason? Jason is really developing as a great modern finisher on the break, who said hes unathletic? Jaylen now getting confident at crunch time, great to see. For my money, best offensive PG in league is Kyrie, just sick so many ways he can get his shot off.

Just when you think the Celtics have come to the end of their winning streak they pull off an unreal come from behind win on the road against a team still searching for their identity.  

Baynes did not start last night and now the Celtics are in the plus column in terms of outscoring opponents in the first QTR.  The Irving/Brown backcourt propelled Boston to a 34-22 1st QTR lead.

The Celtics keep finding ways to win in spite of a bench that does not do a very good job pushing the lead.  Last night the bench scored 15 points (12 by Smart and 3 by Rozier) There where no other non starters that scored.

When a team has won 16 straight games there should be very little room for criticism.  20 games from now no one will remember that the bench was putrid.  The game turned into another W in the standings.  That is the ultimate goal for this team and they achieved that last night.

It is difficult to expect production from the bench when one guy takes most of the shots (15-22) and misses most of those shots, (3-15). Baynes, Nadar and Larkin all went 0-1 from the field.  Rozier in limited action was 1-4.  So basically Marcus Smart was the entire offense off the bench as he hosted up 15 out of 22 bench shots and was as dreadful as ever.  

The Celtics were a respectable 13/36 from behind the arc last night for or 36.1%.  The notion that they could achieve that number is even more amazing because Smart went 2-11 from behind the arc.

Coach Stevens is one of the reasons why Marcus has a green light to chuck away.  Stevens wants everyone to take open shots.  Marcus has obliged with a seemingly unconscious barrage of the next one will go in 3 point shots that defies logic.  The second reason why Marcus launches so many three point shots is because of Marcus himself.

During the game on thread I mentioned that an open shot is not a good shot when Marcus is the one taking the shot.  I can easily accept the fact that Marcus is an extremely poor shooter from distance but what I cannot accept is the fact that he continues to fire away knowing that he is a poor shooter from distance.  Marcus is living in a dream world.  I am quite certain that he realized this.  We have seen a few games were he avoids taking the 3 point shots.  He knows that he stinks up the place.  Yet he continues to shoot away and Brad has yet to put him in check.

Brad will never publicly criticize any of his players which I think is a tremendous attribute as a coach.  However,  I do not think he is helping Smart come to terms with his short comings.  Maybe Brad does not want to put it in his head that he is a poor long distance shooter  but it is already in his head.   I find it hard to believe that a coach who swims in analytics could ignore this.

In baseball when a guy is not hitting he gets buried in the lineup.  In football when a running back is not making first downs in short yardage situation he gets less touches.  

There are a lot of players in this league that know what shots to take.  They will self-discipline to avoid taking shots that they are unlikely to make. Players that do this have high basketball IQ's.  And the coach may have told them do not take those shots because it hurts the team.  

Last night Smart made some dazzling plays on defense.  Those plays contributed to the win so all should be forgiving right?

I do not think so.  Marcus needs to stop taking so many three point shots and then all will be forgiving.  Celtics fans by in large love Marcus for the things that he brings to the game but fans should not accept him being a high volume non-shooter.

dboss

A new Kyrie Irving dribble.  THE best handle in the NBA.  Absolutely sick.

JJ Barea had NO idea how to guard this.

Kyrie dribbles through his legs, off his foot, you name it.

https://twitter.com/celtics/status/932790957451313152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sbnation.com%2F2017%2F11%2F20%2F16683454%2Fkyire-irving-dribble-ball-handling-celtics


S.I.C.K.


bob


.

I would never sign this - as you cannot neuter a basketball player. But figured some of you would get a kick out of it.

https://www.change.org/p/boston-celtics-stop-marcus-smart-from-shooting?recruiter=836397275&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=sms&utm_campaign=share_sms_responsive