Mavs rested, ready to take on league-leading Celtics

Monday night’s game between the visiting Boston Celtics and the well-rested Dallas Mavericks will take

place after the latter’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night was postponed due to

the passing of assistant coach Dejan Milojevic of the Warriors. Boston, on the other hand, will be playing

its second game in as many nights after defeating the Houston Rockets 116-107 on Sunday despite a

lackluster second half that saw them trail 70-55 at the half and finish with just 46 points (20 in the third

quarter).

Derrick White added 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Jaylen Brown finished with a triple-double (13

points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists). Boston, which boasts the NBA’s best record (33-10), shot 43.9

percent from the field (43 of 98). “I think that’s the recipe and something that we took from last year is

when we’re not shooting well, can we have a different switch attack?” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said

after the Houston game. “Which is what Kristaps is able to bring us in the post and how do we fight for

extra possessions, which is our offensive rebounding and our crashing.

Horford (rest) didn’t play in Boston’s victory over the Rockets.

Horford typically doesn’t play in both games of back-to-backs. Luka Doncic was

back in the Dallas lineup for the loss to the Lakers after he missed three games with a sprained right

ankle. Doncic scored 33 points, collected 13 rebounds and had 10 assists. Doncic shot 12 of 24 from the

floor but was just 2 of 9 from 3-point territory. He leads the Mavericks in points (33.6), rebounds (8.3)

threes were going in and they didn’t.”

Dallas was down two points at the half, but in the third quarter they were outscored 42–27. When it

came to 3-pointers, the Mavericks were 11 of 40. Dereck Lively II, the center for Dallas, stated, “Some

shots didn’t fall.” We weren’t moving the ball well at certain points when we came down the court.

Rather than attempting to integrate into the attack and distribute the ball around to obtain a better look,

and Kyrie Irving, combined to shoot only 3 of 21 from beyond the arc, were responsible for the most of

the misses.

Dallas coach Jason Kidd stated, “We created a lot of wide-open looks and they didn’t drop for us.” They

deliberately kept a fast pace and capitalized on the errors. Against a club like them, you will pay a price if

you miss easy shots.” The Celtics and Mavericks play their first of two games together this season on

Monday. On March 1, the teams will also play in Boston.

Read more on http://sportsupdates.co.uk