It felt … different … at the TD Garden ahead of their matchup with the Dallas Mavericks. Maybe it’s because the game was on ESPN, which always brings a bigger crowd onto the court. Maybe it was the fire towers the Celtics brought out for that extra touch in the pregame introductions. But it was certainly a lot different than your normal November matchup.
“I wasn’t expecting that the night before Thanksgiving,” Marcus Smart said. “We loved it. When our crowd is like that and they bring that energy, we feed off of that.”
It might seem like athlete lip service to say the crowd meant something, but the Celtics, already looking to make amends for a bad loss in Chicago, were more than happy to plug into that electricity.
“I kind of looked around and it was like, ‘Ooh, it’s one of those.’ You just felt it,” Al Horford said. “Everybody was here ready to go before, and that just really got us going. I looked at (Jayson Tatum) and was like, ‘Yeah. It’s just one of those nights’ That helped tremendously.”
The Celtics stormed out of the gates, and no matter who gets the credit, it was clear they were playing in a different gear. Right away, the Celtics were out and running in transition, and Jaylen Brown cut to the basket at just the right time, prompting Smart to thread a beauty of a bounce pass for a dunk. Later, Smart dropped a slick dime to a cutting Tatum.
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) November 24, 2022
“It’s definitely an example of the offense running at its best,” Smart said. “I was watching JT the whole time on the play. I was hoping he cut. I would have been pissed if he didn’t because it was wide open. But that's the true definition of our offense. When we're clicking on all cylinders, you see plays like that and it feels good for everybody.”
Oh it felt good alright. The Mavs came in top-10 in offense and defense, and the Celtics led 70-49 at the half. Their offense was in high gear, they protected the ball and didn’t give the Mavs a chance at any cheap fast breaks, and while Luka Doncic was hitting everything, no one else on the Dallas side did squat.
But, as if to remind everyone of how quickly things can change for the Celtics when they get a little loose, a 16-minute stretch of basketball starting with about four minutes left in the third happened. Boston turned it over three times and missed 12 of 22 shots, giving Doncic a chance to create his magic.
“(They got) out in transition and cross matches. We overhelped a little bit and had some defensive miscommunications,” Joe Mazzulla said. “He had four of those assists in transition so a lot of that is because of our offensive discipline.”
Boston was out-scored by 15 and the Mavs shot 64%, which is why Doncic went from one assist to nine assists in a hurry.
Boston, though, has one thing Dallas doesn’t have, which is a second star player. Doncic and Tatum can cancel each other out to some degree, but when Doncic gives it up, he’s not giving it up to a potential All-NBA talent.
“I definitely enjoy being on this team and playing with other really talented guys and how deep of a team we are,” Tatum said. “I think that’s what makes us really special. I’m grateful to have the teammates that I have, make my job easier and hopefully I try to do the same with them.”
They worked off each other in the closing stretch that finally put the Mavericks away. Tatum assisted on Al Horford’s killer 3-pointer and then scored four straight points and blocked Doncic off the backboard. Tatum came into the night listed as questionable with a sprained left ankle, and there he was putting his foot down to close the game.
“He was gonna play,” Brown said with a smile. “He knew who he was matched up with. He had that game circled, don’t let him fool y’all. He was playing the whole time.”
Tatum admitted Brown was right about that. This matchup on a national stage, after looking so bad in Chicago, against another MVP candidate wasn’t going to be one Tatum watched from the sidelines.
But this stage didn’t just include two guys playing at an MVP level. Brown’s night was as dominant as anyone’s. He was determined to get to the rim, and he did. Look at where he made most of his baskets:
“The things that he’s doing when he’s at his best, is the same things JT doing at his,” Smart said “I was joking with Jaylen, we have – in the Old Western, when you're in a shootout, you've got a gun on this one. And I told him we also have another one with you over here. We got two sharpshooters that can do some damage, so when JB is playing at his highest, he’s an MVP candidate as well.”