Sunday, November 25, 2018

'Edgy' Mavs handle Celtics 113-104, climb up to .500

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DALLAS - Looking to get back to .500 for the first time since October 20th, the Dallas Mavericks took on the Boston Celtics at the American Airlines Center in the first of two scheduled matchups between the two teams. Despite being without the services of Dennis Smith Jr., Dallas would jump on the the Celtics early and often, leading by as many as 16 points and going on to win in convincing fashion in a 113-104 decision. 


After starting the season 2-7, there were questions about the makeup and cohesion of the Mavericks roster. Since that point, Dallas has gone 7-2 against tough competition, bringing their record back to .500, and moving them half a game back of the Sacramento Kings for the eight spot in the Western Conference. Their now 9-9 record also pulls them even with the likes of the Houston Rockets, and ahead of the likes of the San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves, all of whom were (or still are) projected to finish ahead of Dallas in the standings. 


What does .500 mean?


“It means a lot,” forward Harrison Barnes said. “I think after the way we started, things were tough. We were trying to do the right thing, but we couldn’t get together, couldn’t do it as a cohesiveness unit. But since then I feel like we’ve bounced back and we’ve been in the right direction.”





Saturday night showed all of us not only what a complete game from the Mavs can look like, but that their best effort is good enough to take down the NBA's elite in either conference. Offensively, the Mavs were balanced and efficient throughout most of the game, five players finishing with 14 points or better, and all 10 players who saw time getting on the score sheet. Harrison Barnes and J.J. Barea tied as the team's high-scorers with 20 points a piece, with Barnes shooting 7-12 from the floor and 5-7 from beyond the arc, while Barea finished 9-16 and added eight assists. 






While it was Barea and Barnes who closed things out for the Mavs, it was rookie phenom Luka Doncic who got things going early in the game, finishing with 15 points (nine of which came in the first quarter), a career-high tying eight assists, and a career best three steals. Doncic was also 5-11 from the field, 3-4 from beyond the arc, and took the best shots both physically and mentally from last year's Eastern Conference champs. 






He also dished some of his own edgy mentality right back at his opponents, refusing to back down when they tried to get in his head. It is the kind of mentality you love to see from a rookie, who as a young European player, whether it is fair or not, carries the stigma of being soft and easily intimated along with him each and every night. 






Wesley Matthews would also add 15 points, while Devin Harris was plus-15 with nine points, and DeAndre Jordan finished with his 12th double-double in 18 games. (Oh, and the 80-percent shooter even got to attempt a free throw following a technical foul on Boston. Alas, he missed.) As a team, the Mavs shot 48.3-percent from the field, 39-percent from three, and assisted on 27 of 42 made field goals. 


The Celtics did their best to cut into the large Mavs lead in the fourth quarter, but were unsuccessful thanks to some hard-nosed Mavs defense that forced 17 turnovers and had 12 steals. Without Gordon Hayward in the lineup due to a sore ankle, Jayson Tatum would go on to lead the Celtics with 21 points, while Marcus Smart and superstar Kyrie Irving tallied 19 each. 


The Mavericks will a couple of well-earned days off before they have the opportunity to go back above .500, when they travel to Houston to take on the Rockets for the first time this season. The Rockets have won the last eight in a row against the Mavs, who have not defeated their rivals to the south since April of 2016, when they took home an 88-86 win in Dallas. Dallas has not won a game in Houston since the 2013-14 season, when Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points in a 111-104 win. 




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