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The Dallas Mavericks engineered a stunning road upset over the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics on Thursday, leading by as many as 27 points en route to a 127-120 victory.
The Mavs endured a brutal start to the post-Luka Dončić era, losing 144-101 to the Cleveland Cavaliers before falling 118-116 to the Philadelphia 76ers as the team remains without new big man Anthony Davis, who is rehabbing an abdominal strain.
On Thursday, though, the Mavs got it done with a balanced scoring attack.
Six players scored 15 or more points, with Klay Thompson’s 25 (23 in the first half) leading the way. Kyrie Irving added 19 points against his ex-team. Spencer Dinwiddie (22 points) and Naji Marshall (20 points) led a tremendous second unit.
Big man Daniel Gafford dominated the glass with 15 rebounds to go along with eight points, five assists and two blocks.
Perhaps most importantly, Max Christie, who came over in the Luka-AD trade, had another great game, finishing with 15 points, 6 rebounds and four assists.
Meanwhile, Boston couldn’t get anything going. The final score did not reflect Dallas’ dominance, as the Celtics trailed 114-90 with 8:57 left. The C’s cleared the bench early in the fourth quarter, and guard Payton Pritchard (21 points, six rebounds, six assists) caught fire down the stretch to make the game closer than it seemed. He scored 16 in the final frame.
Jaylen Brown led the C’s with 25 points. Jayson Tatum had a relatively quiet night with 17 points.
No Mavs fan can be blamed for being downtrodden after seeing the team deal one of the NBA’s elite talents, a five-time All-NBA First Team player who just led Dallas to the NBA Finals at 25 years of age.
However, this was a huge win for the team, and there was some positivity on social media during and after this one.
The Mavericks will begin a five-game homestand on Saturday against the Houston Rockets. Per NBA insider Marc Stein, Davis is expected to make his Mavs debut for that game.
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