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Boston Celtics (15-2) at Dallas Mavericks (3-14)
Saturday, November 24, 2018
8:30 PM EST
Regular Season Game #20 – Road Game #12
TV: NBCSB, FSSW-DAL, NBA-LP 763(DTV)/ 758(xfinity)
Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub, 103.3 FM ESPN
American Airlines CenterProbable Starting Matchups
Point Guard vs
Kyrie Irving vs Dennis Smith, Jr.
Shooting Guard vs
Jaylen Brown vs Wesley Matthews
Small Forward vs
Jayson Tatum vs Harrison Barnes
Power Forward vs
Al Horford vs Luka Doncic
Center vs
Aron Baynes vs DeAndre Jordan
Celtics ReservesSemi Ojeleye
Daniel Theis
Guerschon Yabusele
Marcus Smart
Marcus Morris
Brad Wanamaker
Robert Williams
InjuriesJabari Bird
Gordon Hayward
Terry Rozier ( questionable)
Two Way PlayersWalt Lemon, Jr.
P. J. Dozier
Head CoachBrad Stevens
Mavs ReservesJJ Barea
Ryan Broekhoff
Salah Mejiri
Jalen Brunson
Dorian Finney-Smith
Devin Harris
Maximilian Kleber
Ray Spaulding
Injuries Dwight Powell
Dirk Nowitzki
Dennis Smith, Jr. (questionable)
Wesley Matthews (questionable)
Two Way Players Kostas Antetokuonmpo
Daryl Macon
Head CoachRick Carlisle
Game Notes The Celtics continue their 3 game road trip with a visit to the Dallas Mavericks after Boston's best effort in several games in a 114-96 win in Atlanta last night. The Celtics are playing in their fifth back to back set of games in and are 2-2 in the 2nd game of a back to back. Dallas, who has not played since a 119-113 win over the Nets on Wednesday night, should be well rested. The Mavericks have played some great ball lately turning around a slow 2-7 start of the season by winning 6 of the last 8 games, including impressive wins against Golden State, Oklahoma City and a 50 point win versus Utah.
Dallas' recent success has been led by their rookie sensation, Luka Doncic, who leads the team in scoring with 19.2 per game. Doncic is in the top five up and down the list of rookie stats: scoring(1st), rebounds(3rd), assists(2nd), steals(5th), PER(2nd), 3FG%(4th), minutes per game(1st), and double doubles(5th). Also have their regular productive seasons with both averaging a little over 16 a game. Another large part of Dallas' success this year has been the addition of free-agent, defensive anchor, rebounding monster, DeAndre Jordan. Jordan is third in the league in rebounds per game at 13.6 per game and adds his usually efficient 11.2 points per game. And to his credit, Jordan has finally improved his free throw game so that opposing teams can play hack-a-Jordan. He has a FT% of 80.3% while shooting 3.9 free throws per game.
The Mavericks rank in the middle of NBA in most offensive team stats. They are a good defensive team with the 9th best defensive rating in the league add are efficient shooters with an eFG% 8th in the league and TS% that is 5th in the league. Dallas is undone though by their inability to take care of the ball as they give up the 2nd most turnovers in the league. The Mavs, of course with DeAndre Jordan, is one of the best teams in the league in defending the paint, which means, expect a lot of three pointers by Boston tonight. The Mavericks starting backcourt are both listed as questionable and if either or both miss the game, that will be a blowout to Dallas' chances of success.
Boston is going to have to have another good scoring 1st quarter and evade the slow start that has plagued them most of the year. They will need to continue their aggressiveness to take it to the hole, move the ball, create the open shot and actually hit those shots, building on the way they started off the game against Atlanta. With Barnes and Doncic as wings for Dallas, Horford will most likely be guarding the slower and less quick Doncic and will need to limit him offensively, which will be the key to the game. Boston has to not let another player have a huge game against them as this has been their undoing in many of their losses this year. Doncic is quite capable to be that player so Horford and Morris will need to be at their best defensively and make Doncic work on the other side of the ball. A fun matchup will be at PG as Kyrie will take on 2nd year guard, Dennis Smith, Jr. Smith isn't a very good defender and Kyrie should be once again able to continue his amazing month that he has had. Here's hoping the defense can cause a ton of turnovers and create some easy points on the break, which would go a long way to continue a Boston bounce back from early season struggles.