Mavs at Celtics: Kemba vs. Luka in a Battle of Early-Season Contenders

Mavs at Celtics preview: It's Kemba vs. Luka in a Battle of Early-Season Contenders

The 6-3 Dallas Mavericks' adversity has come in the form of a handful of unfortunate losses. The 7-1 Boston Celtics' adversity now comes in the form of the injury absence of standout forward Gordon Hayward, with a fractured hand that will sideline him starting tonight.

Hayward surely would have been helpful in this 6:30 p.m. CT start at Boston in terms of chasing around Dallas' Luka Doncic, who is inarguably playing like an MVP candidate. But the Celtics have plenty of talent to create a problem for a Mavs team that features Luka, then Kristaps Porzingis, and then a grab-bag of supporting cast members who have had more ups than downs.

All in all, the group earned Monday night pregame raves from Boston coach Brad Stevens.

Brad Stevens on the @dallasmavs, @luka7doncic, @kporzee and Rick Carlisle. pic.twitter.com/R4LVWlJnmW

— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) November 11, 2019

Speaking of injuries, Enes Kanter is returning to the Boston lineup to help with rebounding - an area in which Dallas (fourth in the NBA) has been stunningly good. The Mavs also don't have many problems scoring (though DFW native Marcus Smart of the Celtics might have something to say about that as a defender) and the Celtics can score, too, as evidenced by their 135-point outburst over San Antonio on Saturday.

Can the Mavericks play some defense against Kemba Walker, their top offseason free-agency target who spurned them for a jump to Boston? Dallas presently allows 111.9 points per game (11th-poorest in the NBA) ... so a Kemba-vs.Luka shootout might be part of the fun.