Celtics dispatch of the Mavs thanks to another 4th quarter Kyrie Irving Show, 97-90


Once again it was another tale of two halves for the Boston Celtics as they took control of this game against Dallas in the 2nd half and came out victorious 97-90.

Boston saw a feisty Mavericks team show up in the first half as the two squads went back-and-forth in the first quarter exchanging blows. Mavs rookie Dennis Smith Jr saw his shot get blocked by Kyrie Irving and then shortly after tried to go at the superstar, both earned technical fouls. Surprisingly the Mavs ended the first quarter with a 26-24 lead. Irving had 8 points in the first to get things going for the Celts.



In the 2nd quarter, Dallas really started to connect from beyond the arc as Yogi Ferrell, JJ Barea and Dennis Smith Jr got things going. Boston had many of their attempts stuffed at the rim by Maxi Kleber, who had 4 blocks at the half, and their shooting percentage was an abysmal 38% at the halftime break. With no Jaylen Brown and Marcus Morris, the Celtics had to go deep into their bench, and they played well. Shane Larkin had 8 points in the first half and Daniel Theis had 8 rebounds but Boston as a team struggled to move the ball.

Dennis Smith Jr had 12 points in the first half to lead the Mavericks. For Boston, Kyrie matched him with 12 points of his own while Jayson Tatum added in 10 points. Boston went into halftime trailing Dallas 57-47.

Down at halftime, the Celtics came out with a renewed effort on the offensive end and immediately busted out on a 8-0 run thanks to a Tatum three, Al Horford three and dunk to get back into the game. After the Mavs timeout, Boston tied the game up with 4 more points. Their run of making second half comebacks once again came into fruition. Subsequently, the Mavs once again got ignited on offense by Harrison Barnes who got gong in the quarter and Dallas managed to stop the bleeding a bit. The Celtics went into the 4th quarter down by three, 73-70.





Holding right to form, the Cs went on a 10-0 at the start of the final period and after two huge threes by Shane Larkin and Terry Rozier, Boston had a 80-73 lead. Dallas managed once again to tie it up at 81-81, but from there, the Kyrie Irving show took over in the 4th quarter once again and the Celtics never looked back. With 2 minutes left at 93-87, a terrific floater from Irving and a Rozier dunk put the game away for the men in green.



For Boston, Kyrie Irving finished with a game high 23 points. Jayson Tatum added in a double double with 17 points and 10 rebounds while Al Horford had another tremendous game with 17 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Daniel Theis had 11 rebounds while Terry Rozier and Shane Larkin contributed 11 and 12 points of the bench respectively.

Next up for the Celtics (21-4) is a Friday night matchup with the Spurs in San Antonio. Tipoff is set for 9:30pm E/T.

Image Credit: Boston Celtics Twitter/Getty Images
Follow Kevin Yazhari on Twitter @KevKevYazhari
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