That was a fun game. Down five with 34 seconds to go, Thomas threw up a 27-foot pull-up rainbow 3-pointer that hit nothing but Deron Williams’ outstretched hands on the baseline.
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You nor I have any idea how long Dirk can keep this up, but hey, watching Dirk make shots like this will never get old. Avery Bradley tracked down the tipped rebound near the Celtics’ bench and, without a timeout, hurriedly handed off to Isaiah Thomas.
“I just want to win and prepare to win”, he said, “and that’s what those guys do”. “He sprinted back and got a deflection”. Narrow that search to one-possession games in the final three minutes and Boston had played a mere three total minutes of crunch-time basketball. Head coach Brad Stevens stated.
Thomas has been on a tear for the Celtics so far this season, clearly showing that he is go-to scorer for the team, but he’s also becoming a great facilitator for Boston, averaging 6.3 assists per game.
Returning home after sweeping a three-game road trip to run their overall winning streak to five, the Dallas Mavericks now hope to continue their recent hot play Friday night as they welcome the Utah Jazz to town. “A lot of guys didn’t expect me and him to be focal points in the trade, but I think I’m a worker, and from what I hear he’s a worker as well, so those guys always find light”.
It may be easy to defend Utah, averaging 95.3 points to rank ahead of only winless Philadelphia. And forward Dwight Powell, who played in just five games as a rookie with the Celtics, entered Wednesday night’s game at TD Garden averaging 10.5 points and 8.1 rebounds coming off the bench for Dallas. He followed with a short jumper after Boston turned the ball over with a back-court violation.
Much like the Celtics, the Mavericks have won four games straight, but are dominating their opponents with stellar defense. Boston’s pint-sized point guard hesitated a half-second before trying to break out in transition and was at full throttle by the time he tried to attack the paint with more than 11 seconds to play.
The Mavericks shot 64.7 percent (11 of 17) in the second after starting the game ice cold.
Mavericks: F Charlie Villanueva left the team for the birth of his second child….
“That’s a really good team”, Parsons said Wednesday night after dropping the Celtics, 106-102. “He just did an incredible job putting that thing together”.
In his career Bradley has started 219 of his 291 career games including his first six games this season but he missed a couple of games with a calf injury and Stevens chose to ease him back in off the bench. And they’ve got an overflow of good players.
Carlisle thought his team was ready for Boston’s scrappy guards and up-tempo offense, but was surprised how tough it was to face. “We’ve done what we needed to do to win games”, Williams said.
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While Chandler picked up 31 double-doubles past year for the Mavs and was the team’s emotional leader on and off the court, Zaza Pachulia brings a different kind of flavor to the table at the center spot. “There are probably only 12-15 of those guys in the league, and a few teams have three of those guys”, said Ainge.
