Celtics-Mavs takeaways: C’s extend win streak to NBA-best 10 games originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Three Key Storylines
The Jays lead the way offensively
Holiday’s hot 3-point shooting continues
Doncic’s triple-double not enough
Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said before Friday night’s game at TD Garden that the Boston Celtics were the best team in the NBA.
They proved him right.
The Celtics defeated the Mavericks 138-110 to extend their win streak to 10 games — the longest for any team during the 2023-24 season. Boston’s last loss was Feb. 1 to the Los Angeles Lakes. The Mavericks came into this matchup with eight wins in their last 10 games.
The Celtics led pretty much the entire game, but the Mavericks made a run in the third quarter and trimmed the deficit to 81-79 midway through the frame. The Celtics responded with a dominant stretch of their own, and by the middle of the fourth quarter, their lead was 20.
All five Boston starters scored in double-digits, led by Jayson Tatum (32 points), Jaylen Brown (25 points) and Kristaps Porzingis (24 points). The Celtics also were red-hot from 3-point range, hitting 21 of their 43 attempts.
The Celtics have the league’s best record at 47-12, giving them a eight-game lead over the second-place Cleveland Cavaliers.
The C’s will host Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors at the Garden on Sunday. But before we look ahead to that matchup, here are three takeaways from Celtics-Mavs.
Jrue Holiday heating up from 3-point range
One of the best developments for the Celtics over the last month has been Jrue Holiday hitting 3-point shots on a more consistent basis.
Holiday converted 55.2 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc in February (nine games), and his hot shooting has carried into March. The veteran point guard shot 3-of-3 on 3-pointers against the Mavericks, including one where he was falling out of bounds in the first quarter. It drew a great reaction from NBC Sports Boston color analyst Brian Scalabrine.
Holiday is now shooting 44.3 percent from 3-point range on the season, which would be a career high. He has hit 40 percent or more of his 3-pointers in just one of his previous 14 seasons — the 2021-22 campaign with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Holiday’s 3-point resurgence adds another dimension to Boston’s offense. There are no bad 3-point shooters in the Celtics’ starting lineup, and the group as a whole is now shooting an impressive 38.1 percent on these attempts.
The Jays play another efficient game offensively
Jayson Tatum had a slow start Friday with just two points in the first quarter. But he turned it around quickly with nine points in the second quarter and 16 in the third quarter to help the Celtics increase their lead to 102-90 entering the fourth.
Tatum finished with 32 points on 10-of-19 shooting. He made five of his nine 3-point attempts, while also tallying eight rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes.
Jayson Tatum made a nationally televised MVP case tonight: 32 points — 21 in the second half — and took over a game against a good team that was close in the third quarter.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) March 2, 2024
Jaylen Brown has been awesome offensively since the All-Star break. He scored 25 points on 11-of-20 shooting, along with seven rebounds, five assists and one steal in 31 minutes versus the Mavs. His five points early in the fourth quarter helped the C’s push their lead to 18.
Brown is averaging 26.8 points — 4.6 more than his season average — on 60 percent shooting in the four games after the All-Star break. He’s playing his best basketball of the season right now.
Luka Doncic’s dominant performance not enough
There’s a reason why Doncic is among the favorites for league MVP. He impacts the game in so many different ways.
His full offensive talents were on display against the Celtics. Doncic came out firing, hitting six of his first 10 shots and leading all players with 16 points in the opening quarter. He became more of a playmaker in the second quarter with six assists in the frame.
Doncic finished with a triple-double of 37 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in 37 minutes.
It’s the 40th 30-point triple-double of his career, which ranks third all-time and he’s just 25 years old.
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