Sports Writing, March 13 (EFE) .- Dallas Mavericks won at home against Boston Celtics (95-92) after overcoming Luka Doncic’s scare in a fall in which he hurt his left leg in the first quarter of a game which was decided after a review of a foul by the Slovenian on Marcus Smart that the referees annulled after seeing it on the monitors, which soured the party prepared for the removal of Kevin Garnett’s shirt at the end of it.
The Slovenian started the game dominating everything that happened in his team’s attack, participating in 14 of the 18 points scored by his Mavs in the first 12 minutes in which he gave the scare.
The former Real Madrid player was injured in a shot to the basket after nine and a half minutes of the game, nothing to support, after the jump, only with his left leg and he immediately reached out to that area and with clear gestures of pain . He touched his hamstrings and also squeezed the muscle to try to measure the ailments.
He tried to continue, but, even scoring two points in a similar action, he ended up going to the bench after requesting the change with 40 seconds left in the first quarter. The alarms went off in the Mavericks, especially seeing that there are four weeks left before the ‘playoffs’ for the title start, but Doncic was able to get back on track.
After placing an electrostimulation system in the sore area, he returned to the parquet with six minutes to play before the break, in which he was still upset, without forcing defensive aids and in which he only added two points and one assist.
However, his Mavs didn’t take much away from a game played down to a few points. The Celtics imposed their game in that hesitant section of Doncic, the one that makes them the best defense in the NBA in 2022 and star in a resurgence after a start full of doubts that places them in the wide list of favorites to the ring that , after his victory, the Texas franchise opposes getting involved.
They threatened to break up the match after two very strong dunks from Jaylen Brown, the second celebrating it with Kevin Garnett, winner of a ring with the Boston franchise and whose shirt was removed with his classic number ‘5’ at the end of the game. meeting. Later, Jayson Tatum accompanied the rush in the environment with five consecutive points.
The greens got to +11, but a forced 3-pointer at the buzzer by Spencer Dinwiddie put the Mavs down by eight points before the break and it was a sign that the Texans had come to Boston to fight the game.
And they showed it in a third quarter in which they scored as many points (38) as they had scored in the previous 24 minutes. 11/15 in field goals, 40% in the triple and bending the ball well against the defensive two against one that they did to Doncic for, without being completely physically well, not leaving him time to think and find the secondary, with special mention for a Dorian Finney-Smith who scored eight points in a row to lead the 15-2 run that put the Mavericks up three points to enter the fourth quarter.
A last period that continued with the tonic equalized between two marked styles, among which the Mavs prevailed. Clarified for a Luka who with the passing of the minutes was forgetting the inconvenience, good movement of the ball and triples from the corner to win a tough game at home of some Celtics in which Tatum and Brown were missing in the key moments and it was Marcus Smart who took the shots, no hits and poor decisions.
After a three-pointer from Doncic and an assist for another good three-pointer from Dinwiddie, the visitors went three up with nine seconds remaining. An advantage that seemed to vanish in a fault of the Slovenian in Smart’s triple, but Kidd requested the review that all coaches have available on one occasion for each match and the referees, despite the fact that the Slovenian touched the American, specified that it was the latter who sought contact and corrected his decision.
After the jump to decide who would have possession, the Celtics failed to generate an advantage and Tatum played a distant and forced triple that did not go in, unleashing the celebration of rage from a Doncic who, without being in top form, was once again decisive for that his team achieved an important victory in the ‘NBA Sundays’.
Oscar Maya Belchi
(c) EFE Agency