In NBA Finals rematch, Celtics bounce back with dominant win over Mavericks

Zack Cox, Boston Herald on Jan 25, 2025

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The first Celtics-Mavericks matchup since Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals produced a familiar result:

A comfortable Boston victory.

The Celtics defeated Dallas 122-107 on Saturday at the American Airlines Center. The win — which came against a Mavs team that was missing injured superstar Luka Doncic — capped a 3-1 Western Conference road trip for Boston and eased the sting of Thursday’s season-worst 21-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Every Celtics starter scored at least 17 points — 24 for Jayson Tatum, 23 for Derrick White, 21 for Jaylen Brown, 18 for Kristaps Porzingis and 17 for Jrue Holiday, who hit a team- and season-high five 3-pointers.

The 32-14 Celtics now will return home to host the Houston Rockets on Monday at TD Garden.

The 24-22 Mavs have nosedived since Doncic suffered a calf injury on Christmas Day. The five-time All-NBA guard has yet to return, and his team is 5-11 since losing him, though it did beat Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City twice in the last eight days.

Dereck Lively II, Dallas’ valuable second-year center, also went down with a fractured ankle this week that’s expected to sideline him for two to three months. Naji Marshall, Dwight Powell and Dante Exum were unavailable Saturday for Dallas, as well.

Kyrie Irving needed 23 shots to score his 22 points, and the Mavs’ other star, former Golden State standout Klay Thompson, managed just six points on four field-goal attempts.

The Celtics came out sluggish, falling behind by double digits before the midway point of the first quarter. They made just one of their first seven field goals; the Mavericks started 7 for 10.

That gap narrowed as the opening quarter progressed, and a 7-0 Celtics run capped by a Tatum 3-pointer gave Boston its first lead of the game. The 3 gave Tatum 13,000 career points, making him the seventh player ever to reach that milestone before his 27th birthday. The others: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and Wilt Chamberlain.

Down 29-25 after one, the Celtics proceeded to dominate the second quarter by flooding the Mavericks with 3-pointers. Holiday hit three triples in the frame — he hadn’t made more in any full game since New Year’s Eve — with Tatum, White, Porzingis and Payton Pritchard all adding one apiece.

Porzingis’ make came off a drive-and-kick from Brown. On the next Celtics possession, Porzingis fed a pass inside to a cutting Brown for an open dunk. Brown was the only Boston starter who didn’t make a first-half 3, but he was 5 for 7 from inside the arc as the Celtics built a 59-49 halftime lead.

Defensively, the Celtics held the Mavs scoreless for the first 4:16 of the second quarter and to just four points in the first 8 1/2 minutes. Boston forced eight first-half turnovers and turned them into 15 points — all while playing turnover-free basketball on the offensive end.

It was the first time all season the Celtics went a full half without committing a single turnover. And it wasn’t for a lack of ball movement, as 15 of Boston’s 22 first-half field goals were assisted.

Porzingis, Brown, Tatum and Holiday all scored between 10 and 13 first-half points, and Pritchard was a plus-20 off the bench during that span.

The Celtics’ top scorers all went cold in the third quarter, and the Mavs quickly cut their deficit from 10 points to five. But the Celtic’s were rescued by White, who scored 11 straight Boston points to open the second half.

The veteran guard scored 16 total points in the third, more than he tallied in seven of his previous nine full games. He also drew a charge.

Sam Hauser replaced White with 3:34 remaining in the frame and immediately buried a 3. That ignited another long-range barrage by the Celtics, who hit five 3-pointers in six tries to take a 96-76 lead into the fourth quarter.

Two of those came from Hauser, who, after battling injuries and inconsistency throughout the first half of the season, is 12 for 20 from deep over his last four outings. Tatum also made a pair of 3s during that flurry, including one that followed a frantic sequence featuring five consecutive Celtics offensive rebounds.

Dallas got to within 11 points multiple times in the fourth quarter, thanks largely to off-the-bench scoring surges from Quentin Grimes (20 points) and Jaden Hardy (10 points), but never truly threatened. Tatum’s and-one layup with 1:50 remaining effectively ended Dallas’ final comeback bid.

Though the Celtics have struggled to find night-to-night consistency since the middle of December, they’ve been excellent at responding after losses. They’ve experienced just one losing streak — a two-gamer to Orlando and Philadelphia late last month — and are 13-1 in games after a defeat.

Their average margin of victory in those 13 wins: 22.9 points, with 11 by double digits and seven by 20-plus.

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