Recap: Celtics' furious rally not enough in Dallas

During the 1st quarter of tonight’s game, the Dallas Mavericks showed the Celtics exactly why they are the NBA’s top offensive team early on in the 2014-15 season. The Mavericks pummeled Boston with a barrage of treys, pick & rolls with Dirk, dunks and just about everything else during their 40-point explosion. Behind an active Jeff Green, Boston barely, and I mean barely, held on. Green put in 9 points in the 1st quarter, and looked like he came to play. But it was 40-19 Dallas after the home team put together a monster quarter offensively. It was looking like another Texas tasering was about to happen.

The second stanza was more of the same. The Mavericks were just firing on all cylinders, and Boston was, well..just firing. An Avery Bradley trey cut the lead to 57-30 with 5:28 left in the 2nd. Boston continued to rely on the long ball a bit, but weren’t too successful. The C’s were 4 of 15 from three through two quarters, and the Mavs had a commanding 67-41 lead at the half. Dallas shot a ridiculous 63% from the field and 71% from three. Brad Stevens pointed out the obvious, telling CSNNE “We’re not locked in at all defensively..” Boston’s offense simply had no rhythm whatsoever to make matters even worse, Jeff Green’s 18 points the lone bright spot. We could only hope Dallas’ torrid shooting would cool off some in the second half.

Whatever it was that Stevens said to Boston at the half did some good. The Celts came out of the locker room looking much more focused and aggressive. Jeff Green continued to cook, and he & Jared Sullinger led the charge. After Sully’s bucket at the 7:32 mark of the 3rd, the C’s were down 75-61. Then it was Bradley with a trey, and Zeller with a layup. Low & behold, the C’s had the lead down to 8. It was 77-69 Dallas with 4+ mins to go in the 3rd, and whatever Stevens said to his squad at the half worked. However Dallas came back with it’s own flurry, and the lead was back up to 12 (91-79) heading into the 4th. You have to give the C’s credit-they were down by 31 at one point. They could’ve easily called it a night on this one.

The 4th quarter of this game was incredibly exciting. Boston came alive and fought tooth & nail to get back in it. They were a completely different squad than the lackluster team we saw early on. Behind a furious run, led by Avery Bradley, Boston cut Dallas’ lead to just three points (107-104) with 3:37 left. The last 3 minutes and change were exhilarating and agonizing all in one. We saw some absolutely spectacular play from rookie Marcus Smart, and true fight from this entire team. It just wouldn’t be enough however, as Dallas outlasted the C’s 118-113 tonight. You simply can’t dig yourself that deep of a hole in the NBA and expect to win. But I tell you, this team really showed some incredible resilience tonight. This is one to build on and I truly hope the best is yet to come.

Boston now comes back home to face the Raptors on Wednesday night at TD Garden.

The Green:

That second half effort was nothing short of inspiring. And it was sparked by the play of Avery Bradley. He had a career-high 32 points, 23 of them in the second half. He did miss that one big FT down the stretch, but that’s a mere blemish on what was a great performance. Head here to see all of his buckets.
Now if only Jeff Green could do this….ok I won’t go there. Green was the one constant in this game, scoring a balanced 35 points over 4 solid quarters of hooping.
Jared Sullinger & Marcus Smart’s stats may not jump out at you, but their toughness and heady play were catalysts in Boston’s big second half. The C’s have two bonafide studs in this pair.

The Gross:

That entire 1st half was just awful. Dallas dropped 67 points on Boston, and the C’s turned the ball over 11 times to compound things. Just an ~~ugly~~ fugly display.

Celtics allowed 40 points in a quarter just once last season, to the Rockets, and hadn’t done so since Jan. 28, 2005 before that.

— Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) November 4, 2014