Final: Celtics 116, Mavs 106 -- Eight straight for Cs

Kemba Walker found himself in a duel in the fourth quarter with Luka Doncic but came out as the clear winner in this one. The point guard erupted for 24 of his 29 points in the second half, setting a new season-high with eight 3-point makes, including seven in the second half alone before leaving late in the fourth quarter with a tweaked neck. Jaylen Brown chipped in with 23 points for the hosts but it was Walker who was the hero after jumpstarting a 21-5 Celtics run midway through the fourth quarter to erase a Mavs lead and seize command late. Doncic finished with a late push (game-high 34 points) but the C's pulled out their eighth straight win despite a horrific shooting night from Jayson Tatum (1-of-18 from field).

TWO UP

Brown:  The swingman continued his hot streak from San Antonio posting a game-high with 12 points and 7 rebounds in the first half while getting to the charity stripe five times. He also continues to show off improved passion vision as evidenced by another full-court bounce back that produced an easy layup in transition.

Celtics’ bench: A weak spot in the early part of this season has appeared to turn the corner even with Marcus Smart being inserted into the starting five. Brad Wanamaker (8 first half points) and Javonte Green (7 first half points) were leading scorers for a stretch of the first half, providing Boston with some much needed buckets down low. With Rob Williams still an efficiency machine on offense (xx percent shooting) it

TWO DOWN

Carsen Edwards: The rookie got another shot in the rotation in the wake of Hayward’s injury but struggled in his five minutes, particularly on the defensive end where he got picked off a pair of times, which led to easy layups. With his jump shot still not falling regularly, it’s getting harder to justify any minutes for him.

Jayson Tatum: The sharpshooter got off to one of the worst offensive starts of his career in the first half, missing his first eight shots of the night on his way to just three first half points. A number of his attempts came from point blank range as he was bother by the length of the Mavericks frontcourt for most of the night.

• Enes Kanter will play his first game for the Celtics since opening night after being cleared by the training staff following a seven-game absence. He will come off the bench and face a minutes limit but just how many minutes he takes away from Rob Williams and Daniel Theis will be intriguing to watch after both big men have played well of late.


• Romeo Langford will be on the active roster after being called up from the Red Claws on Monday for added depth. Do not look for him to have an extended stay with the big club however as the team would prefer him to get additional reps with the Red Claws.


• The Mavericks enter tonight's game as the top offense in the NBA thanks to the play of Luka Doncic who has looked like an MVP candidate during the first few weeks of the regular season.


• The Celtics are the only team in the league that have a top-5 offensive rating and defensive rating entering tonight's game.