Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard score 59, beat Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks: Three reasons why Celtics won

The Celtics were shorthanded in Dallas after trading Anfernee Simons to Chicago, but Joe Mazzulla changed his lineup by moving Payton Pritchard to the bench and it paid off. Jaylen Brown was spectacular, out-dueling rookie Cooper Flagg, Pritchard fueled a monster night from Boston’s bench, and the Celtics were able to hold Dallas off after getting some separation in the third quarter. Boston wins, 110-100.

Box Score

Game flow: Jaylen Brown came out blistering hot, and Payton Pritchard came off the bench with incredible energy to help Boston take a 32-29 lead after the first quarter. The Celtics went on a big run to open up a 16-point lead, but the Mavs answered to cut that in half. Brown continued his mastery in the third, and then a three-point barrage from Luka Garza seemed to break the game open. But Cooper Flagg, who was relentless in this game, kept pouring it on in the fourth. Boston started fouling, and the game got uncomfortable, but the Celtics lead never dipped below double digits.

Here are three reasons why they won

Jaylen Brown was brilliant

He put up another double-double, with 33 points and 11 rebounds. He came out on a mission and never let up. He was 11-16 in the paint, 6-7 inside the restricted area, flashing his typical aggressiveness.

There was a stretch where he might have put his head down a little too much, getting away from the change-of-pace stuff that was working so well. Once he got back to that, he got back to dominating the game.

His absolute peak of this game, though, might have been his two passes to Neemias Queta:

Too smooth 😎 pic.twitter.com/NWAfctshzP
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 4, 2026

This is Brown’s 27th 30-point game of the season. He has a real chance at breaking Jayson Tatum’s record of 42. It was also his ninth double-double of the season, six of which have come since January 1.

Payton Pritchard was just as good off the bench

The Simons trade forced Joe Mazzulla to rearrange his starting lineup so he could get another ball-handler and scorer off the bench in Pritchard. The move paid off in a big way.

Pritchard dropped 26 points on 12-20 shooting to go along with seven assists. He had the whole thing working in this game.

If I had time (and knew how to do it), I could probably edit some of Pritchard’s moves into an old Gene Kelly movie.

pic.twitter.com/QaSOjX0cCJ
— John Karalis (@JohnKaralisClip) February 4, 2026

“When you're starting and you're playing with everyone else, you got to pick your spots,” Pritchard told reporters in Dallas about the difference between starting and coming off the bench. “When I'm coming in now, I just have, maybe, the ball in my hands more. So it's just more of like, control the pace, control the game a little bit more in that aspect, in those certain segments of the game.”

Luka Garza also helped the bench dominate

The Boston bench doubled-up Dallas’ 44-22. Pritchard’s 26 was enough to win the bench battle, but Garza’s 16 put this thing away. He had nine in the third quarter, all of them on three-pointers that he hit in rapid succession.

No one works harder than Garza in a basketball game. On top of the points, he had four offensive rebounds, two steals, a block, and an assist.

PLUS/MINUS

PLUSES

► Sam Hauser had another good all-around game with 11 points and six rebounds. He did a good job with Cooper Flagg until the fourth quarter, when he was part of the Celtics just fouling the Mavs on seemingly every play.

► Hugo Gonzalez is struggling with his shot, but he’s hustling and making plays. Once again, his +/- was big positive at +9 despite his lack of shot-making.

► Put Baylor Scheierman in that same boat. He was a team-high +16 despite just hitting one shot. He got the start and played 28:19, and he did a good job being physical with Flagg. Scheierman finished with three points, six rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block.

► Neemias Queta was solid with eight points, eight rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block.

► Boston took care of the ball, turning it over 10 times.

MINUSES

► The transition defense was not great. There's no reason to give up 14 points on 10 turnovers. That number could have been cut in half.

► I’m putting this here because he did it for the other team, but this was an amazing play. Cooper Flagg’s block on Baylor Scheierman in the third quarter was … wow

Coop hustle to Coop block!

16 points along with 2 blocks for Dallas 🫡

Tap to watch: https://t.co/XFeKFTpA1f pic.twitter.com/j4BAfHaJUC
— NBA (@NBA) February 4, 2026

► The fourth-quarter fouls were bad. Mazzulla couldn't even explain them away after the game. He said his team just fouled Dallas too much, which undoes a lot of the hard work on the defensive possession.

► Caleb Martin had another good night against the Celtics. I don’t understand what it is about Boston that lights him up, but he loves playing well against the Celtics.

NEXT: Celtics play the Rockets Wednesday night on the back-to-back.