Ahead by 10 at halftime, the Silver and Black expanded their lead to 22 points heading into the fourth period.
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Dallas made all four of its 3-point attempts and all six of its free throws, as it took a 118-113 victory and snapped the Celtics’ three-game winning streak.
In ATS trends, the Celtics are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 road games and 39-18-1 ATS in their last 58 games following a win, while the Mavs are 6-2 ATS in their last eight home games and 6-1 ATS in their last seven games following a loss of more than 10 points.
“We had to grind this one out”, said Nowitzki, who scored 21 points after the third quarter to match his best offensive output this season. “I was exhausted, and I had to dig deep. think in the fourth quarter there I had a pull-up that finally went in, and I think that’s what I needed”. You deserve it.’ So I did what I can control and it goes from there. I’m trying to enjoy myself the last couple years.
The Celtics missed 14 of their first 15 shots to start the game and didn’t look at ease taking them.
Though early in the game, Dirk certainly wasn’t himself.
The Mavericks led this contest by 17 points only to see that lead turn into a 6-point deficit down the stretch. He nailed all three free throws to force the extra five minutes. Marcus Smart would equalize Matthews’ 11 on his end, ending the quarter with a buzzer-beating three to pull the Celts back within 13.
Williams tallied 10 of his 20 points in the overtime period, and added five rebounds and six assists.
The Celtics would make a push in the third quarter, outscoring the Mavs 33-18 and evaporating the Mavs once 17-point behind the Isaiah Thomas run.
One down note for the Silver and Black was the early exit of point guard Tony Parker, who left the game with 3:48 left in the third quarter because of soreness in his right hip.
Fortunately, the bench provided relief in the form of Smart, who scored 11 points in the final four minutes of the quarter to keep things somewhat reasonable.
It was his first game here as an opponent, his first since being traded away from a Mavericks team that had used him as little more than a bit player for 2½ seasons.
Afterward, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said that Nowitzki had struggled against Celtics forward Amir Johnson in the first half, when he scored just 6 points.
The Mavs have been sensational in the clutch all season long, and Monday night was just another example of that. “It salvages our week to some degree, because it’s such a hard week schedule-wise”. “Things just kind of steamrolled from there”.
The Nuggets came back in the second half to get their seventh straight win at home over the Pacers.
The coming offseason offers up an even juicier opportunity than usual, with a massive increase coming in the salary cap, allowing lots of spending, and plenty of name free agents to consider.
“When we go small which is something that we’re just going to have to figure out, we’re going to have to be awfully aggressive and active and close to the ball”, Stevens told reporters after Monday’s loss. The exclusive analysis from David Lord is here.
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“I thought it was a gutsy win on a back-to-back against a hard-nosed team that kept making runs at us”, Nowitzki said. Often in crunch time you see guys make things harder than they should be because they’re either thinking too much or the defense is buckling down to eliminate the easiest option.
