5 takeaways as Luka Doncic’s late heroics lead Mavericks over Celtics
Luka Doncic showed why he is an All-Star starter.
COMMENTARY
The Boston Celtics fell to the Dallas Mavericks 110-107 on Tuesday thanks to the heroics of Luka Doncic and a brief fourth-quarter swoon that gave Dallas the momentum.
Five takeaways as Boston’s recent struggles continued.
Luka Doncic is incredible.
This is simplistic of course, but how else can you lead takeaways from that game? In the closing seconds, Doncic buried a 3-pointer that erased a one-point Celtics lead and put Dallas up by two, then stuck a 3-pointer in Boston’s chest with 0.1 seconds remaining, leaving the Celtics with no time to get a 3-pointer away to tie. Doncic finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists and completely controlled the flow of Dallas’ offense when he was in the game.
“Kemba (Walker) was right there, Aaron (Nesmith) was right there,” Brad Stevens said. “I’m not gonna be too hard on our guys for those last two shots that Luka Doncic just made.”
The Celtics had plenty of chances to win, and if they hadn’t spotted the Mavericks a 12-point fourth-quarter advantage earlier in the period, they might have been able to fend off Doncic’s last-second heroics. But sometimes a superstar makes superstar plays, and Boston didn’t put itself in a position to weather the storm.
“It’s tough,” Jaylen Brown said. “We’ve got a system. And we stuck to it, and we lost tonight based upon that. When a guy gets it going like that, it’s tough, but we’ve got to get the ball out of his hands for sure.”
Kemba Walker’s fourth quarter performance was solid, but the Celtics’ stars need help.
The Celtics appeared to be dead in the water in the fourth quarter (yet again) after Jalen Brunson helped push Dallas’ lead to 12, but Walker helped pull them back late with a flurry of baskets — 14 of his 21 points came in the fourth quarter after struggling mightily in the first three quarters.
Walker’s struggles contrasted against his late performance highlighted how much the Celtics need some help for their All-Stars. Jaylen Brown (29 points, 12-for-20 from the field) and Jayson Tatum (28 points, 10-for-23 from the field) have done a lot for Boston and will continue to carry the weight of the franchise, but to be a competitive team, they need some help from their teammates. Whether that help comes from a resurgent Walker, an addition at the trade deadline, or young players on the bench improving isn’t particularly important. The key is making life a little easier for their stars.
Jayson Tatum says he trusts his teammates.
“Trust comes with all the work that we put in since we’ve been in the league, since we’ve been a part of this team, knowing what each other is capable of,” he said. “You don’t stop trusting a guy because he just missed his last shot or has been struggling all game. You always encourage him and make the right play, and believe the next one’s going in. I mean, it don’t always happen like that, but that’s just part of being a team.”
Aaron Nesmith contributes even when he doesn’t score.
Nesmith might not be the answer to the above equation, but his performance continues to be an encouraging piece. Even when he doesn’t score, he contributes — Nesmith finished with zero shot attempts and zero points on Tuesday, but he was +5, hustled hard, and played good defense. Boston’s 2020 draft selections, Nesmith and Payton Pritchard, look solid after some early hiccups.
Daniel Theis is way off from 3-point range.
For much of the year, Daniel Theis offered a lot of spacing — he was shooting 38.7 percent from deep entering Tuesday’s game.
Those numbers have dropped off a cliff recently, however: In his last six games, Theis is 1-for-15 from deep after going 0-for-2 on Tuesday. Theis’ struggles follow a flame-throwing month of January, in which he shot 52.4 percent from deep.
The Celtics don’t need Theis to shoot 50 percent from deep, but reliable floor spacing from the center position would help quite a bit. When he plays power forward, it’s essential.
The Celtics are 15-16 and sixth in the East.
Losing to the Mavericks isn’t a disaster — Dallas is 7-3 in its last 10 games, and Doncic is a superstar. But Boston keeps sliding lower and lower in the standings and is just half a game ahead of the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls, who would be in the play-in game if the season ended today.
The season doesn’t end today, of course, and Boston has plenty of time to turn things around. But the last two weeks haven’t offered much encouragement that they will do so.
“We just got to find it, we’ve got to make strides,” Brown said. “I don’t feel very much like an All-Star because we’re below .500. And I’ve got to do a better job of inspiring my teammates and getting guys going and learning and growing. It’s not all about just scoring the ball. I’ve realized that. It’s about getting teammates involved and things like that. I’m learning and growing in that process.”
Get Boston.com's browser alerts:
Enable breaking news notifications straight to your internet browser.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com