Free Throws, Ejections Doom Mavs in Frustrating Loss to C’s

The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Boston Celtics after a tough 4th quarter in which Dallas scored only 18 points. The Mavs fell with a final score of 111-98. Isaiah Thomas led all scorers with 29.

Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Smart, and Al Horford proved to be simply too much for the Mavs to overcome on Monday, dropping their 33rd loss of the season to the Boston Celtics at the American Airlines Center. Yogi Ferrell led the way for the Mavs in scoring with 20 points, but did not apply enough offense in the fourth quarter to keep it close.

The Celtics improved to 36-19 on the season, while the Mavs fell to 22-33. The Mavs are dangerously approaching an officially losing season in 2017, something the organization has not done in over 15 years. Dirk Nowitzki continued his climb towards 30,000 points, notching 18 more and Harrison Barnes nailed several key baskets to keep the Mavs close before the dreadful fourth quarter

The Mavs were dealt a tough hand when Deron Williams picked up two technicals in under fifteen seconds midway through the second quarter. His ejection forced Seth Curry and Devin Harris into significantly more minutes, and again forced the Mavericks to operate without their starting point guard. If the Mavs can sneak into the postseason, they would ideally like to have Deron Williams, Yogi Ferrell, J.J. Barea, and Devin Harris all healthy to play against their first round opponent.

As the trade deadline approaches, the Mavs are still retaining their main assets heading down the stretch run of the season. Andrew Bogut, Deron Williams, and Dwight Powell are all still on the roster and the Mavs front office has given no indication at all that any of them could be dealt away.

While trades for draft picks are still on the table, the Mavs are the kind of team that would rather hang on to their main roster fillers and compete with anyone in the Western Conference, despite the massive talent gap.

The Mavs are 11 games below .500 with 27 games to go. The Mavs not only are on track for their first losing season since the 1999-2000 campaign, but don’t appear to be in the playoff mix at the moment.

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Wesley Matthews, Harrison Barnes, and Devin Harris will all continue to play their hardest every night, but unless they turn everything around quickly, they will be on the outside looking in during the 2016-2017 playoffs.