Final: Mavericks 107, Celtics 104 - Luka Doncic rips Boston's heart out again

Game 10: Celtics (4-5) vs. Mavericks (5-3)
American Airlines Arena
8:30 PM, NBC Sports Boston

PROJECTED STARTERS 

BOSTON: Marcus Smart, Dennis Schröder, Jayson Tatum, Robert Williams, Al Horford

DALLAS: Dorian Finney-Smith, Kristaps Porzingis, Dwight Powell, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Luka Doncic

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Jaylen Brown (right hamstring) is out for Boston. Maxi Kleber (left oblique strain) is out for Dallas.

- Dallas is currently 3rd in the West but they have the conference’s fourth-worst point differential. Their wins have been by an average of six points, their losses have been by an average of 23.

- Mavs are favored by 3

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

- Jaylen Brown has flown back to Boston to have his right hamstring evaluated. 

“It's something that he's dealt with before, but he's also bounced back pretty quickly,” Ime Udoka said. “They're a little different with everybody and so, depending on the strain, the grade of the strain, it could be anywhere from a week to two weeks, depending on the person. So he's come back quickly in the past and we'll know more when we find out the severity tomorrow.”

The Celtics have three days off before facing Toronto at home on Wednesday, so they’ll catch a little break there with Brown’s injury. If he misses a week, it could only cost him two or three games. 

“He's obviously played at a high level,” Udoka said. “We had some good, good play by the young guys that got in with (Josh Richardson) being out. So we'll ask those guys to continue to do what they're doing and, depend on our guys -- Jayson and all our veterans anyway -- so we expect all those guys to step up in his absence.”

- Schröder will once again get the start with a starter out. 

“Pace is one thing that stands out to him, the way he pushes the ball,” Udoka said. “The game tempo changes when he comes in. And so we love that out of him but also just a balance of scoring and being a playmaker for others. He can get to spots on the court that a lot of guys can't get to. So he obviously breaks their defense down and usually makes the right read there.”

- The defense has been great. 

Boston came into the road trip with the 26th ranked defense in the NBA. After two wins, the defense is now ranked 12th. 

“Some things that we were asking them to do early were probably not natural for all of them, so we knew it was gonna take some time,” Udoka explained. “But you just gotta keep working. The thing that's really been impressive is the team defense. The rotations behind it have really stepped up, us showing the crowd, shifting, keeping guys from the rim, and then everybody covering each other's back. So when you watch the film you've seen over the last five games, we've been number eight in defense.”

One of the most noticeable things has been the pull back in the amount of switching. 

“We don't need to switch on certain things, and they're getting a better understanding of that,” Udoka said. “And then, when a guy gets put in a bad spot, we have each other's back. And that’s what we've been doing great. They'll try to take advantage of mismatches and we have the counters behind that. So I think we've kind of been on point with recognition of that, looking like second nature out there.”

The defense has been a work in progress, and tonight it faces a tough test in guarding Doncic.

“Certain things you can do on certain teams that won't work against a guy like Doncic where you don't want to show him the same thing over and over,” Udoka said. “We might want to make him score more than find guys, and it depends on switching the matchups we'd like, we'll go with that as well. So, different looks for him, different coverages, he's a guy that you have to throw multiple things at.”

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Winning the Doncic minutes: Doncic is a -10.5 on the season, which is bad news for the Mavericks. They have somehow managed to win games even though they’re losing the Doncic minutes, but they’ve had to battle to squeak some of those out. The Celtics have to keep Doncic in the minus territory. 

2. Keeping Brunson in check: Brunson is the “somehow” in the previous paragraph. He’s been great this season, which means the Celtics bench face another battle in this game. The defense overall has been great on this road trip. It will have to be great for 48 minutes again tonight. 

3. Josh Richardson seeking revenge: The Mavs dumped Richardson after one season, so I’m sure he’ll be itching for some payback. I’m not so much wondering if he’ll get it or not. I’m mostly concerned he’ll be too busy looking for it to play team basketball. I’m watching to see if he plays within the team concept or tosses up quick shots. 

GAME THREAD

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