Dallas Mavericks held on after going up by 30 before halftime for the second time in 2 home games, and the Mavericks beat the Boston Celtics 118-113 Monday night. But Dallas got real cold and couldn’t shake Boston at all, the Celtics were fighting and scrapping hard all the way to the end. Second straight game that the Mavericks had a 30 point lead at the half, the other was the home opening win versus the Jazz.
Chandler Parsons dropped 29 points. Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Monta Ellis contributed 14 points and 6 assists. The Mavericks shot 73% in the first quarter and had at least 66 points at halftime for the third consecutive game, all wins since they lost on the road against the San Antonio Spurs to open the season. The Mavericks have been outscored by double digits in 3 of 4 third quarters this season.
Jeff Green led the Celtics with 35 points and 7 rebounds, and Avery Bradley had a career-high 32 with 8 rebounds. Rajon Rondo had a 15 assist game to go with his 7 points. Rookie senstation Marcus Smart, in his return to the Dallas area in which he starred for a high school team that won two Texas state championships, had 7 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Boston went 11 of 31 from 3-point range two nights after going just 1 of 25 from deep in their last loss at Houston.
The Celtics started their rally by hitting 8 of their 9 nine shots in the third quarter. The lava-hot start included a couple of 3’s from Green, who was 14 of 28 from the field, shooting 50%. Bradley was 13 of 22, including 4 of 6 from three.
Bradley had a chance to tie with three free throws when he was fouled on a 3-pointer by Monta Ellis with 39 seconds left after Boston trailed by as many as 31 in the second quarter. But he missed the second one of three. After Ellis put Dallas back up by three at 116-113 with a fantastic lay-up. There was then a scramble and Parsons won a jump ball with Jared Sullinger, tipping it to Ellis, who was fouled oddly hard by Rajon Rondo on a drive and made both free throws to clinch the game.
Full Game Highlights
https://youtu.be/ZJhLgLd25d0
