Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from crushing loss to Mavs

Boston Celtics takeaway No.3) Poor late-game execution

Once Marcus Smart hit a triple with just over two minutes left in the game, giving the Boston Celtics their first lead all night at 104-102, everything went downhill.

The guys in green committed multiple rebounding blunders and turnovers, failing to score in the final two minutes of the contest.

The Celtics played largely fabulous defense down the stretch, creating chaos through well-executed double teams on Doncic and other ball-handlers. Boston did a great job of getting back in the game through this, as their effort continued to be excellent off of the Miami win.

Even after failing to get a good look on their offensive possession, the Cs played disruptive defense once again, deflecting back-to-back inbound passes with under 15 seconds left.

Then, after guarding Luka tremendously throughout the second half, Marcus Smart made a brutal error, using the team’s foul to give with under 14 seconds left, in turn giving Dallas the final shot of the game. If he hadn’t done that, Boston would have had a chance to tie Luka’s heroics with a play of their own.

Although this situation is undoubtedly on Smart, the concept of closing out teams has been a problem all year. Already losing two double-overtime games on the young season, along with giving up a historic fourth-quarter collapse to the Chicago Bulls, this team needs to find a way to finish games strong. If they do, we could be looking at a totally different team.

Ultimately, it was a mostly positive performance from the Celtics, with a bit of a bitter ending.

Hopefully, Luka doesn’t hit another game-winner next year in Dallas.