Boston Beatdown: Celtics Blow By Mavs Despite Doncic's Efficient Scoring
The Dallas Mavericks hoped to start off a tough, three-game road trip before Thanksgiving by bouncing back into the win column against the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Wednesday.
The Celtics, who had fallen victim to Luka Doncic and Spencer Dinwiddie game-winning shots the last three times they had played the Mavs, had other plans, as they rode a hot-shooting first half en route to a 125-112 win. The Celtics improved to 14-4 on the year, and the Mavs dropped to 9-8.
Doncic, as he usually does, showed up on Wednesday even though his supporting cast did not for most of the contest. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, imagine showing up for your Thanksgiving family gathering only to find out that there is exactly one dish prepared. That's one way to put into perspective what the Mavs had to work with for the first three quarters of this one.
Doncic finished with 42 points, eight rebounds and nine assists on 17-28 shooting, including 3-7 from deep and 5-9 from the free-throw line. He had his way with the Celtics' defense all night long, but the Mavs' defense couldn't prevent Boston from shooting 17-33 from 3-point range.
To be completely fair to the Dallas supporting cast, Christian Wood did join Doncic at the party eventually, but it was too little, too late. Wood finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds in a season-high 34 minutes of action. He shot an efficient 10-14 from the field, including 2-3 from deep.
Dinwiddie pitched in with 15 points and four assists while shooting 6-8 from the field, but he was a team-worst -24 in 32 minutes. Dorian Finney-Smith was the only other Maverick to score in double-figures with 10 points on 4-9 shooting.
Boston's dynamic duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had their way with the Mavs, as they scored 37 and 31 points respectively. All Celtics starters scored in double-figures on the night.
The Mavs will now get a few days off – a Thanksgiving break if you will – as their next game will be on Saturday against the Toronto Raptors. Dallas beat Toronto 111-110 on Nov. 4 at American Airlines Center. We'll see if the Mavs can avoid a three-game losing streak.
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