BSJ Game Report: Celtics 124, Mavericks 95 - Tatum triple double, bench boost, fuel blowout win

DALLAS - Everything you need to know about the Celtics' win over the Dallas Mavericks, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics looked crisp from the beginning of this one, moving the ball well and generating some really good looks. They saw shots falling early, and for the first time in a long time, their bench and role players carried them through a tough spot with Jaylen Brown in foul trouble. The main guys, Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Marcus Smart, did almost all of the damage in the third to extend the lead and basically cruise through the fourth.

Box Score

HEADLINES

That's more like it: A top-to-bottom effort, great ball movement, and great pace. This was a game the team could be proud of. 

“Just responding playing the right way,” Tatum said, “Obviously we made more shots, but I think it was because of how hard we were playing on both ends, making the right play. And the game rewards effort and toughness. We brought that tonight from the jump and everybody felt a little bit better about themselves.”

The team had 29 assists on 41 made baskets, 10 of which belonged to Tatum as part of his second career triple-double. 

Bench steps up: Boston’s bench outscored Dallas’ 43-34 after being pressed into service early due to Brown and Derrick White getting into quick foul trouble. Joe Mazzulla challenged the role players to step up (more on this separately) and they did. 

Mavs ice cold: Texas is full of barns and the broad sides of them all are safe. The Mavs couldn't hit anything, shooting 7-32 (21.9%). If it wasn’t for the rarely-used Jaden Hardy going 3-3, the regular Mavs squad was just 4-29. Gross. 

TURNING POINT

Luka Doncic cut Boston’s 21-point lead down to 13, but Brown, Smart, and Malcolm Brogdon hit consecutive 3-pointers to rebuild their lead. It was part of a 17-6 close to the quarter to head into the fourth with a 24-point lead. 

FIVE UP

Jayson Tatum: He didn’t shoot well, but he played pretty well in general. 29 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists is a great night no matter what, and the best part about it is I don't think he forced too much offensively. Doing the other stuff while shooting poorly is exactly what you want from a star player.

Jaylen Brown: He took on the challenge of guarding Doncic early on, telling Mazzulla that he wanted the assignment. Mazzulla and Smart both said they felt the team fed off that energy. Brogdon concurred. 

“When your best player wants to guard the best player, or one of your best players wants to guard the best player, it sends a message to the whole team,” he said. “When I was in Milwaukee, that's how Giannis (Antetokounmpo) was. So to be on another team where your best players want to take the challenge on the defensive end every night, that's a championship caliber.”

Marcus Smart: He had a tough game in Oklahoma City, but he bounced back with a much better night against Dallas. 

“He called me out today actually, Joe did, about when I'm locked in and playing like that, it makes his team better. And he's right,” Smart said. “I have to play with more energy and more passion and get back to playing the way that I know how to play basketball and not really focusing on the things that I can't control. I've been doing really good at that, I'm human and I slipped up Tuesday night, but to be able to come back and respond, I'm just happy to be able to do that.”

15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists for Smart. He scored 9 points in that third-quarter stretch that helped Boston pull away.

Malcolm Brogdon: It's been, as they say, a minute since he’s had a game like this. 15 points on 4-8 shooting, 3-5 from 3, and 4 assists is a wonderful bounceback for him.

Grant Williams: A nice all-around game for Williams with 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. He was a critical part of the early offense, combining with Brogdon for 21 in the first half to help the Celtics put up 64 halftime points.

NONE DOWN

This was actually a pretty well-played game all around. I suppose I could go to the other side of the box score and reiterate the Mavs shooting was atrocious. Doncic seemed to be sick, coughing a lot throughout the first half and his stat line reflected that. But the Celtics played a pretty good game top to bottom. 

TOP PLAYS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- That was great. Now go do it again. 

Mazzulla said after the demolition at the hands of OKC that this team would be judged on how it responded. Well, they responded. 

“They showed me they can do it one time,” Mazzulla said. “We have to do it over and over again.”

Ah yes, that part.

“It’s easy to bring it against Luka when it’s a nationally televised game like tonight,” Brogdon admitted after the game. It’s not much of an admission, though. We all could see this kind of effort coming from a team known to get for these big games. How do they get up for the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday after a big win like this, with a Friday night off, and revenge against Chicago waiting for them at home?

“We got to focus on ourselves,” Brogdon said. “Tonight. We made it about ourselves. We didn't make it about Luka. We knew the challenge in front of us ahead of us, but we made it about ourselves and how good we had to be and I think we got to do the same thing against San Antonio.”

Yes, they have to do the same thing against the Spurs. This team is great at saying what they have to do, but not always good at doing what they said. Everyone saw them on TNT Thursday night and will walk away thinking “oh they just had a bad night in OKC, this is who they really are.” But who they really have been is a team that hasn’t had the same level of respect for all their opponents. 

“We got to develop habits,” Mazzulla said. “When we're at our best, we play really good basketball on both ends of the floor with high effort for a long period of time, and then we go through a couple games where we lose that. And so what I love about tonight was we did bounce back. Can we do it over and over again to develop those great habits?”

San Antonio should be a win, but no wins are easy in the NBA. Mazzulla talks about humility, and did so again after this game. The humility to understand that a low-energy game against San Antonio will lead to another loss has to be there for Boston. The Spurs won’t be frightened by this win over Dallas. They’ll be excited by the way OKC played. They’ll try to come out with that same effort and see if they can catch Boston sleeping. 

“It’s got to be just as easy to get up for them as it is for Luka,” Grant Wiliams said. “They play fast, they're young, and they're playing with confidence … they’ve been playing a lot of close games recently. We just gotta do our job.”

Yes, you do. Will you?