Things went bad right from the get go. The Celtics played literally no defense. Most of Dallas' shots were uncontested leading to Chandler Parsons and Devin Harris raining down long range bombs on them. They had no rim protection so Tyson Chandler and Dirk Nowitzki had free roam under the boards. That's going to be a problem for much of the year as the Celtics are simply too small with the team they have right now. The main problem, once again, was in the first half the Celtics kept firing up 3 pointers that didn't go in. Radio announcers Sean Grande and Cedric Maxwell noticed the Celtics body language wasn't good. They were down 26 at the half, time to go home right?
WRONG! I thought Brad Stevens was the right guy to coach this team but I had to question that when his team went 1 for 25 on three's against Houston. Any good coach realizes that if something's not working, change your strategy. Well Stevens didn't and he got blown out in Houston and was heading toward another one in Dallas. There was one silver lining though, the GOOD Jeff Green showed up. He was the only one making anything happen in the first half and Stevens let him loose in the second half. Green and Rajon Rondo teamed up to lead the comeback trail. Jared Sullinger and Avery Bradley pitched in. The key to the second half comeback was they finally started putting their hands in Dallas' faces. Guess what.....IT WORKED! Suddenly it didn't seem like every Dallas starter was going to score 30 on them. The Celtics ended up hanging 38 points on them in the 3rd quarter and was down 91-78 to begin the 4th. Not great but definitely in range considering they trailed by THIRTY ONE with 4 minutes left in the second quarter. The C's continued to chip away but the Mavs always seemed to make the right play when they had to. Bradley's jumper made it 98-90 with 8 minutes left with momentum on their side, but Jameer Nelson's 3 put the Mavs back up by 11. Green's jumper with 4:47 remaining and Sullinger's layup with 4:15 left cut it 105-101. All they needed was a stop but Nowitzki caught Marcus Smart in a mismatch and got the foul and both free throws on him. Smart answered with a 3 to make it a one possession game but Nowitzky and Parsons hit 3 shots in a row to make it 114-104 with 2 minutes left. Time to go home right?
Once again WRONG! Bradley hit a jumper with 1:47 left, Sullinger blocked an Ellis jumper and Green buried a three. A Bradley steal and subsequent layup made it 114-111 with 1:10 remaining. The Celtics had the Mavs on the ropes but they did just enough to survive. Nowitzki took a wild shot and Bradley gobbled up the rebound. Ellis then fouled Bradley shooting a 3 and had it gone in, Bradley's free throw would have given them the lead. First free throw.....money! 114-112. Next one.....CLANK!
Bradley did hit the third free throw to make it 114-113 but the air was out of the ball so to speak. All the Celtics needed was a stop but Ellis buried a jumper with 27 seconds left and Green missed a 3 with 20 seconds left. Ellis hit 2 big free throws and that was it....118-113. In the words of Mr. America "What a game!" Great game, too bad the wrong team won.
Bawful report:
The first half was as bawful as could get. Even in the second half, the Mavericks still put up 51 points despite Boston's mad dash to catch up with them. A few defensive stops near the end would have changed the complexion dramatically. Rajon Rondo was just 3 of 11 shooting with 5 turnovers by himself. Jeff Green missed 14 shots including 7 3's, the big one with 20 seconds left. Avery Bradley somehow couldn't guard Monta Ellis in the second half to save his life which led to the big buckets at the end. They also had 12 turnovers in the first half (thankfully only 5 in the second). Chandler Parsons also rained down points over Jeff Green and Kelly Olynyk couldn't hang with Chandler (10 points, 12 rebounds). Basically most of the game was played without Olynyk as he was in foul trouble early and often. Brandon Bass was useless as he missed 3 shots, fouled and turned the ball over...narrowly missing the Hamilton by hitting two free throws. Olynyk had 5 fouls and 3 turnovers but narrowly missed the Hamilton by scoring 5 points with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. One of the big reasons the Mavs won was the bench strength. Dallas' bench led by former Northeastern Star JJ Barea had 32 points. Boston's bench had just 20. Jared Sullinger got abused by Nowitzki defensively as Dirk scored 27 on 9 of 14 shooting. Marcus Thornton, the supposed big scorer had ONE point coming on a free throw. Evan Turner had 4 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists but you expect more out of the number 2 overall pick a few years ago. Marcus Smart missed some big shots and his foul on Nowitzki late in the game led to two big free throws. Now for the nightly awards.
Dwight Powell and Vitor Faverini got checkmarks for the Ellison Award while Phil Pressey and James Young gets checkmarks for DNP-CD. Gerald Wallace made his season debut and cashed in with a 2.58 Trillion.
Jackass of the night is extremely hard. No one played good in the first half and everyone contributed to the comeback in the second half. Do we blame Avery Bradley's missed free throw and subsequent Ellis jumper? Do we blame Jeff Green for missing the tying 3? Do we blame Rondo for a big offensive foul and going just 3 for 11 from the field? Do we blame coach Brad Stevens for refusing to part with the 3 ball when it wasn't working again? Do we blame the bench for stinking up the place? Do we blame Olynyk getting in foul trouble or do we blame Jared Sullinger's defense on Nowitzki? Believe it or not...I'm going with EVAN TURNER!
Even though Brandon Bass and Marcus Thornton sucked, they were only on the court for 9 and 12 minutes respectively. Turner was on the court for 17 and missed 4 shots when Green was trying to rally the troops. Bradley, Green and Rondo played big roles in getting the game back in order and Smart pitched in with big plays, Turner did score 4 points and grab 4 boards but they needed more out of him. Shame on you Evan!
Were there any silver linings? How about which Jeff Green showed up tonight?
Dr. Jekyll showed up in a big way with 35 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. He was also the only one that really showed passion (and that's a miracle in itself) when the game appeared to be out of reach. Avery Bradley, despite missing the big free throw, was brilliant. 32 points, 3 steals and an assist. Despite missing 8 shots, Rajon Rondo narrowly missed a triple double with 7 points, 9 rebounds and 15 assists. Jared Sullinger had 14 points and 7 rebounds while banging with Dirk Nowitzki most of the game. Marcus Smart was all over the place with 7 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, a block and a steal. Tyler Zeller played only 8 minutes but scored 6 points.
Final Thoughts:
It was a hell of an effort but a loss is a loss. Not only that, they still have yet to win a road game against the West with Brad Stevens as coach. Their record falls to 1-2 and it doesn't get any easier. This Wednesday night last year's Division champs the Toronto Raptors coming to town. The only bright side is Toronto will be on the second night of a back to back so hopefully the Celtics can run them off the court by the 4th quarter.
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