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Boston Celtics (31-14) at Dallas Mavericks (24-21)
Saturday, January 25, 2025
5:30 PM EST
Regular Season Game #46 Road Game #23
TV: ABC/ESPN+
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, 97.1 FM, Sirius XM
American Airlines Center
Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Jrue Holiday vs Spencer Dinwiddie
Shooting Guard
vs
Derrick White vs Kyrie Irving
Small Forward 
vs
Jaylen Brown vs Kessler Edwards
Power Forward 
vs
Jayson Tatum vs PJ Washington, Jr.
Center 
vs
Kristaps Porzingis vs Daniel Gafford
Celtics ReservesLuke Kornet
Payton Pritchard
Neemias Queta
Sam Hauser
Baylor Scheierman
Jaden Springer
Xavier Tillman, Sr
Jordan Walsh
Al Horford
2 Way PlayersJD Davison
Drew Peterson
Anton Watson
Injuries/OutDerrick White (knee) questionable
Head CoachJoe Mazzulla
Mavericks ReservesQuentin Grimes
Maxi Kleber
Markieff Morris
Olivier-Maxence Prosper
2 Way Players Kessler Edwards
Jazian Gortman
Brandon Williams
Injuries/Out Luka Doncid (calf) out
Dante Exum (wrist) out
Derek Lively II (ankle) out
Naji Marshall (illness) out
Dwight Powell (hip) out
Jaden Hardy (ankle) questionable
Klay Thompson (ankle) questionable
Game Notes The Celtics come to the end of their second 4 game Western road trip in the month of January. They take on the Dallas Mavericks in a rematch of last year's NBA Finals. This is the first of 2 games between these two teams this season. They will meet for a second time in Boston on February 6. The Celtics won the series 2-0 last season. The Celtics are 47-39 overall all time against the Mavericks and they are 20-23 in games played in Dallas.
The Celtics are pretty much the same team that played in last year's Finals as they kept their core together. The Mavericks have had some changes since they lost in Game 5 of the Finals.
They lost Derrick Jones, Jr, who was a big factor for them in the Finals. They also lost Tim Hardaway, Jr and Josh Green. They added Klay Thompson, Quentin Grimes and Spencer Dinwiddie.
The Celtics remain 2nd in the East, in spite of their recent struggles. They are 5.5 games behind 1st place Cleveland, who have lost their last 2 games. They are 2 games ahead of 3rd place New York and 4.5 games ahead of 4th place Milwaukee. They are 16-6 on the road and 5-5 in their last 10 games. They are 8-5 against Western Conference teams. They are coming off a loss in their last game.
The Mavericks are 7th in the West, 12.5 games behind 1st place Oklahoma City. They are 1.5 games behind both the 5th place Lakers and 6th place Clippers. They are half a game ahead of 8th place Minnesota and 1.5 games ahead of 11th place Golden State. They are 13-9 at home and 4-6 in their last 10 games. They are 6-4 against Eastern Conference teams and are coming off a win in their last game.
The Celtics are playing the final game of a 4 game road trip that started with a 40 point win over the Warriors and a 4 point win over the short handed LA Clippers along with a 21 point loss to the Lakers. Next, they will face Houston and Chicago at home before 3 more on the road through New Orleans, Philadelphia and Cleveland. Then one game at home against Dallas before playing at New York and Miami and home against San Antonio before the All Star Break.
The Mavericks are coming off a win over the Thunder and are playing in the first of 2 home games with Washington coming in on Monday. They will then head out on a 5 game road trip through New Orleans, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Boston. Next up is a 4 game home stand against Houston, Sacramento, Golden State and Miami that will take them to the All Star Break.
For the Celtics, Derrick White is questionable for Saturday's game against the Mavericks due to left knee soreness. I wouldn't be surprised to see others added leading up to game time. Jaylen Brown and others have admitted to being a bit beat up and they just completed 5 games in 7 nights and this will make it 6 games in 9 nights. If Derrick is out, I expect Sam Hauser to start and Jaylen Brown to move to the two.
The Mavericks have an extensive injury list, but that didn't stop them from beating the first place Thunder on Thursday. Luka Doncic (calf), Dante Exum (wrist), Derek Lively II (ankle), Naji Marshall (illness), and Dwight Powell (hip) are all listed as out for this game. Klay Thompson has missed the last 2 games with an ankle sprain and is questionable for this game. Jaden Hardy has missed the last 3 games with an ankle injury and is questionable for this game.
Key Matchups vs
Derrick White vs Kyrie Irving
Irving is averaging 24.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He is shooting 48.3% from the field and 43.0% from beyond the arc. He always has extra motivation to play against his former team. If White isn't able to play, we may see Jaylen Brown matched up with Kyrie at the two. The Celtics need to defend him both in the paint and on the perimeter because he is a threat to score from both.
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Jayson Tatum vs PJ Washington, Jr.
Washington was a big addition to the Mavs at the trade deadline last season. He is averaging 13.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. He is shooting 42.3% from the field and 36.5% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to keep Washington off the boards as he is a good rebounder.
Honorable Mention Kristaps Porzingis vs Daniel Gafford
Gafford is averaging 12.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.6 blocks per game. He is shooting 70.7% from the field and 0% from beyond the arc. Porzingis needs draw him away from the basket as he is a rim protector. They also need to keep him out of the paint as he is automatic once he gets to the basket.
Keys to the Game Defense - Defense is always the number one key to winning games. There is no truer statement than "Defense wins Championships." The Mavs are averaging 115.3 points per game (10th) while the Celtics average 117.2 points per game (4th). The Mavs are 11th with a defensive rating of 111.6 while the Celtics are 5th with a defensive rating of 109.6. When the Celtics struggle on offense, as they have in recent games, they have to be able to stop the other team from scoring. The Celtics allowed the Lakers to shoot 42.9% from beyond the arc and they have to do a better job defending the perimeter in this game.
Rebound - Second to defense, rebounding is the key to winning. One of the few times I have agreed with Pat Riley was when he said "No rebounds, no rings." Much of rebounding is effort and the Celtics have to put out extra effort to win the battle of the boards. When they work hard on the boards, it usually follows through to the rest of the game as well. The Celtics are averaging 45 rebounds per game (11th) while the Mavs are averaging 44.5 rebounds per game (11th). The Celtics were out-rebounded 53-42 against the Lakers. They need to put out extra effort on the boards to keep the Mavs from getting extra possessions and second chance points and to give the same to themselves.
3 Point Shooting - The Celtics are 1st with 48.9 threes attempted per game while the Mavs are 24th with 35.2 threes attempted. The Celtics have struggled shooting the 3 recent games. The Celtics shot just 34% on threes against the Lakers while allowing the Lakers to shoot 42.9% on threes. The Mavericks are likely going to make a concerted effort to run the Celtics off the 3 point line in this game. If the 3's aren't falling once again in this game, the Celtics need to go to the hoop and not shoot themselves out of the game. They need to move the ball so that they get open 3's and not a lot of contested shots.
Be Aggressive - The Celtics must be the more aggressive team. They have to be aggressive in going to the basket, in diving for loose balls, and on defense. They have to aggressively crash the boards. They have to be the team that wants to win the game more. In most of their losses, they have allowed their opponents to play harder and be more aggressive. That was once again true of the loss to the Lakers. They absolutely can't let the Mavericks play harder than them if they want to have a chance to win.
X-Factors On the Road - The Celtics are playing in the final game of a tough road trip. They need to keep their focus on playing the right way and not let the distractions of the road take away that focus. The final game of a road trip is always tough because the team is tired and ready to go home. The Mavericks, especially the role players, are likely to play better on their home court and in front of their fans. The Celtics need to dig down deep and match the energy of the Mavs and play Celtics basketball on the road.
So Many Injuries - Teams with half their players out tend to be the Celtics Kryptonite. Despite the fact that 5 players are out for the Mavericks and another 2 are questionable, they still tend to put up a fight. The Celtics need to play as if they are facing the full Mavericks team and give 100% effort. Hopefully the Celtics don't play like they are expecting the Mavs to give up without a fight because the injury riddled Mavericks are coming off a win over the 1st place Thunder and are very capable of beating the Celtics if they don't take the game seriously.
Officiating - The officiating can always be an x-factor. Every crew calls the game a little differently and teams need to adjust to how the game is being called. Will they call the game tight or will they let them play? The Celtics can't let the officiating take away their focus and they have to adjust to the way the refs are calling it. The Celtics need to play hard and build a lead and not allow the refs to take the game away on some bad calls at the end.
Topic: Celtics (31-14) at Mavericks (24-21) Game #46 1/25/25 (Read 7560 times)