Why Kyrie Irving credits Joe Mazzula for Celtics win over Mavs – NESN

Six months away from the NBA Finals, and the Boston Celtics are still dominating the Dallas Mavericks.

The Celtics on Saturday looked like the team that took care of the Mavericks in five games on the league’s biggest stage, instead of the one that went through an up-and-down 20-game stretch. Boston took the lead for good with 11:01 left in the second quarter and never relinquished it en route to a 122-107 victory at the American Airlines Center.

The Celtics still look a long way ahead of the Mavericks, who own a 24-22 record and are without injured Luka Doncic. But don’t tell Kyrie Irving that about why Boston got its way with Dallas.

“Or they’ve lost a couple of games and Joe Mazzula got in their ass a little bit and you get the result you got tonight,” Irving told reporters, according to MassLive’s Brian Robb. “Going against us, playing with enthusiasm, playing with confidence and taking care of the ball.

“They made adjustments and that’s what great teams do, especially when they’re league champions. They handled our pressure, adjusted to our zone coverage, started getting open shots, and from there the game was pretty easy.”

Irving actually had a strong performance against the Celtics, which doesn’t always happen when he faces his former team. The 32-year-old scored a team-high 22 points on 11-for-23 shooting to go along with five assists.

However, the Celtics had Joe Mazzula-ball working almost perfectly to beat the Mavericks. Boston had all five starters score at least 17 points as the team sank 20 of 52 (38.5) 3-pointers. It was the second time the Celtics had made 20 threes in their four-game road trip.

Relying on the 3-pointer during their uneven streak drew a lot of criticism, but Irving fully understands why the Celtics rely on that style of play.

“I like math because there’s no emotion in it,” Irving said. “Outside of JT and JB, when these other guys come through like D-White and Jrue Holiday, that makes them special and great. Everyone kind of criticizes them based on their season this year, but if you look at their first 42 games, it’s pretty similar compared to last year. Maybe two years off. It’s a well-coached basketball team.”