Celtics outlast Mavs 117-115 in double overtime

Jason Terry hugs his former coach, Rick Carlisle

The storyline in this one was Jason Terry playing his first game against his former team. Terry didn't play great with just 10 points but far more importantly, the C's were able to beat his former club, although it took a long time.

The first half was the story of Paul Pierce absolutely finding his scoring touch. Over his past six games, The Truth was shooting just 38.3% from the field while averaging 17.3 points per game. In the first half tonight he went for 16 points on 6-9 shooting. Rajon Rondo paced the C's with 7 assists. The Celtics led 48-43 at the break, their strong defensive effort was mostly due to forcing 11 turnovers in the first 24 minutes. Chris Kaman aka the Unfrozen caveman was tough for the Celts to guard, going 5-6 from the field with 10 points.

The 3rd quarter was a tale of two teams really. The Celtics came out of the halftime break on fire, outscoring the Mavs 20-11 over the first seven minutes of the second half, and built a 68-54 lead. But Dallas fired back, behind 9 quick points by Darren Collison to cut the lead to 74-70 before a Rondo buzzer beater put the C's up six heading into the 4th quarter.

The 4th saw the Green holding a slim lead for nearly the entire quarter, never relinquishing until Darren Collison sliced to the hoop for a lay-up with 2:20 remaining. This happened quite a few times on the night, as the Celtics interior defense seemed to take a major step back tonight. The Mavs saw a ton of success going super small, running Collison/Fisher/Mayo/Carter/Marion out there for a big chunk of the 4th.

Dallas took their first lead of the night on a Derek Fisher (for real he still plays) three pointer with 1:47 left, but Pierce quickly answered with a jumper of his own to put the C's back up 1. Joey Crawford screwed up an out of bounds call (and the replay - seriously do you Joey Crawford) that led to a Mayo free throw and we were tied. The Celtics defense, which was awful most of the night came up with a big steal thanks to Rondo's quick hands, but the Green could barely even get a shot up as Rondo was bothered by Fisher, and we went to overtime.

The overtime was choppy, with both teams giving up several close range shots. The Celtics again had a shot to win it at the last second, but this time decided on the patented "Paul Pierce isolation fadeaway 20 footer", and shockingly - it failed. The game remained tied heading into double OT, the C's first double overtime game since 2009 against Charlotte.

The Celtics finally pulled away in the second overtime behind 8 points from Pierce, who finished with a game high 34 points. It was an ugly win, but it was a win. The Celtics move three games over .500 for the first time all season.

C's now head on the road for three starting Friday night in Houston.


Follow Mike on twitter - Mike_Dyer13