Final: Celtics 114, Mavs 93 -- C's set season-high with 35 assists in second straight win

The Celtics' offense is predicated a bit more ball movement without Kyrie Irving and it came in handy for the second straight game in this one. Jaylen Brown led five Celtics in double figures as Boston tied a season-high with 34 assists for the second straight game on their way to an easy 114-93 win over the Mavericks.

Gordon Hayward flirted with a triple-double off the bench (16 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists) in his second straight strong performance as Boston rode their unselfish and hot 3-point shooting (21-of-45 from deep) to a runaway second half. Harrison Barnes had a team-high 20 points for the Mavs in the loss, who fell to 4-20 on the road for the season.

First Half Notes

• Another game without Kyrie, more terrific ball movement from the C's. They piled up 17 assists on 23 field goals in the first half, putting them on pace to tie their season-high.


• After a passive performance on Wednesday night, Jayson Tatum clearly had the green light early in this one, taking a game-high 12 shots in the first half. He leads all scorers with 13 and eight of those 12 attempts have come from downtown, mostly on high quality looks.


• Some encouraging minutes for Brad Wanamaker who hit a pair of 3s at the end of the first quarter to help build the C's lead to double digits. He's got a career-high eight points already in nine minutes and is seeing time over Guerschon Yabusele.


• Mavs opened up the game 1-of-16 from 3-point range before knocking down their final four of the half to trim C's lead down to seven.


• Dirk Nowitzki got a nice ovation from the Garden crowd but he can barely move out there. He was 0-of-3 in his seven minutes.


• Ugly scoring drought in the final few minutes of the half for the C's who saw their 17-point lead dissipate a bit as they went pretty cold from 3-point range and at the rim for a few possessions.


• Al Horford is really struggling against Jordan's length at the basket, starting 1-of-6 from the field. Jaylen Brown (10 points has stepped up big in his place.

• Kyrie Irving will miss his second straight game with an eye injury. The Celtics improved to 20-3 on Wednesday night in games played without Irving at the TD Garden (including postseason). They are 7-14 without him on the road.


• Rob Williams and Marcus Morris were both ruled out on Friday afternoon with a groin and neck injury respectively. There is no official word yet on who will start in place of Morris.


• Terry Rozier is averaging 16.5 ppg and 6.5 rpg in his three games as a starter this year. He's shooting over 50 percent from the field and 3-point range in those contests.


• The Mavericks have the worst road record (3-17) in the NBA, despite blowing out Charlotte on the road on Wednesday night.