5 takeaways as Luka Doncic’s late heroics lead Mavericks over Celtics

The Boston Celtics fell to the Dallas Mavericks 110-107 on Tuesday thanks to the heroics of Luka Doncic and a brief fourth-quarter swoon that gave Dallas the momentum.

Five takeaways as Boston’s recent struggles continued.

Luka Doncic is incredible.

This is simplistic of course, but how else can you lead takeaways from that game? In the closing seconds, Doncic buried a 3-pointer that erased a one-point Celtics lead and put Dallas up by two, then stuck a 3-pointer in Boston’s chest with 0.1 seconds remaining, leaving the Celtics with no time to get a 3-pointer away to tie. Doncic finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists and completely controlled the flow of Dallas’ offense when he was in the game.

The Celtics had plenty of chances to win, and if they hadn’t spotted the Mavericks a 12-point fourth-quarter advantage earlier in the period, they might have been able to fend off Doncic’s last-second heroics. But sometimes a superstar makes superstar plays, and Boston didn’t put itself in a position to weather the storm.

Kemba Walker’s fourth quarter performance was solid, but the Celtics’ stars need help.

The Celtics appeared to be dead in the water in the fourth quarter (yet again) after Jalen Brunson helped push Dallas’ lead to 12, but Walker helped pull them back late with a flurry of baskets — 14 of his 21 points came in the fourth quarter after struggling mightily in the first three quarters.

Walker’s struggles contrasted against his late performance highlighted how much the Celtics need some help for their All-Stars. Jaylen Brown (29 points, 12-for-20 from the field) and Jayson Tatum (28 points, 10-for-23 from the field) have done a lot for Boston and will continue to carry the weight of the franchise, but to be a competitive team, they need some help from their teammates. Whether that help comes from a resurgent Walker, an addition at the trade deadline, or young players on the bench improving isn’t particularly important. The key is making life a little easier for their stars.

Aaron Nesmith contributes even when he doesn’t score.

Nesmith might not be the answer to the above equation, but his performance continues to be an encouraging piece. Even when he doesn’t score, he contributes — Nesmith finished with zero shot attempts and zero points on Tuesday, but he was +5, hustled hard, and played good defense. Boston’s 2020 draft selections, Nesmith and Payton Pritchard, look solid after some early hiccups.

Daniel Theis is way off from 3-point range. 

For much of the year, Daniel Theis offered a lot of spacing — he was shooting 38.7 percent from deep entering Tuesday’s game.

Those numbers have dropped off a cliff recently, however: In his last six games, Theis is 1-for-15 from deep after going 0-for-2 on Tuesday. Theis’ struggles follow a flame-throwing month of January, in which he shot 52.4 percent from deep.

The Celtics don’t need Theis to shoot 50 percent from deep, but reliable floor spacing from the center position would help quite a bit. When he plays power forward, it’s essential.

The Celtics are 15-16 and sixth in the East. 

Losing to the Mavericks isn’t a disaster — Dallas is 7-3 in its last 10 games, and Doncic is a superstar. But Boston keeps sliding lower and lower in the standings and is just half a game ahead of the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls, who would be in the play-in game if the season ended today.

The season doesn’t end today, of course, and Boston has plenty of time to turn things around. But the last two weeks haven’t offered much encouragement that they will do so.

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