Your Morning Dump... Where the Mavericks got hustled.

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

The streak almost ended, but it reached 16 games instead. Because the Celtics found another way to win, overcoming a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit before downing the Mavericks in overtime, 110-102.

Irving went off for 47 points on 16-for-22 shooting; Jaylen Brown added 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting; and Jayson Tatum — who stopped Barnes on Dallas’ final possession of regulation — finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, owning the defensive glass late. Marcus Smart missed everything early, but drilled a key 3-pointer and tracked down two huge hustle plays in the final minutes, helping the Celtics close out another improbable comeback.

MassLive

This winning streak is officially nuts. The Celtics seem bound and determined to spot every team in the league a 10+ point handicap.

I’m convinced it’s one big hustle.

The Celtics get down by 10, 15, 18, whatever, and you can just hear Marcus Smart clanking another horrible shot and saying to the guy covering him, ‘man, this game’s getting boring, what say we make this interesting?’

Of course, in true hustler fashion, Marcus has been sandbagging the whole dang game–taking shots as though you can get points just for hitting the rim, like in horseshoes.

Then, before anyone knows what’s happened, the Celtics are on top, and they’ve notched another win and somehow or another Marcus Smart was in the middle of all of it.

And there the Mavericks are, just the latest team to get hustled in what has to be one of the most improbable winning streaks in the history of the association.

Of course, there’s also Kyrie-holy-crap-Irving:

Kyrie Irving in final 5 min and score within 5 this season:
– 38 mins
– 65 pts
– 24-39 FG
– 13-16 FT
– 11 drawn fouls
– 32 pts in the paint
– 10 assists
– 0 turnovers
– Plus-minus of +40

Dude is the literal definition of clutch.

— Micah Adams (@MAdamsStatGuy) November 21, 2017

Page 2: Where Kyrie’s having fun

“I’m having fun,” Irving said before a morning shootaround at American Airlines Arena.

The veteran point guard even carried the concept further.

“It’s been a learning experience,” he said. “Where I am presently, enjoying the challenges, it has the excitement of going into different environments and coming out on the other end with wins. Just learning more about the individuals in this locker room. Hard to explain it, it’s just so new. Just so much fun when you have that type of receptive feeling from everybody in this locker room. We’re all learning more about each other each and every day. That’s the exciting part.”

Boston Herald

Kyrie is a nut, but he’s our nut.

I swear, this dude is just about every humanities major I came across in college (and I was also a humanities major, so I came across a lot of them). Half of the stuff he says is sincere, half of it is in jest, and half of it is utter nonsense, and you’re never going to be able to tell which is which.

Finally: Blurry evidence of a Red’s Army Regular

The legend @CurtHays reppin’ the #Celtics in Dallas once again. Nice seat location. pic.twitter.com/HzPBkn7zyZ

— Mike Dynon ☘️🏀 (@MikeDynon) November 21, 2017