Dallas — In the big picture, there isn’t much of a difference between the NBA’s title hopefuls and its not-quite-there teams. However, there is a huge gap between them and the next level, where those teams can actually hope to contend for the top honor in the league.
The Boston Celtics, who own the best record in the NBA (34-10) handed the Dallas Mavericks a convincing 119-110 loss on Monday, demonstrating that Dallas (24-19) is clearly below their level. Not yet, not just yet.
Boston had an explanation: it was the team’s eighth game in thirteen days; it was the second night of a back-to-back; and Kristaps Porziņļis was not playing. The team missed its early jump shots, allowing Dallas to take a seven-point lead in the contest. The Mavericks have not played since Wednesday. However, the squad was able to practice twice for the first time since December 21st because to an unplanned pause brought on by unfortunate events.
However, those possible contributing factors vanished in the first several minutes. The numerous differences between the two teams on Monday demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Celtics are the superior basketball team, one that has championship hopes.
Joe Mazzulla, the coach of the Boston Celtics, revealed to reporters prior to Monday’s game that he had recently given his players a slideshow with several storylines they might encounter. “There’s always a story to grab onto, especially during the dog days of January and tonight’s big game that’s the second night of a back-to-back, five in a row,” he remarked. These are the ones that athletes may use to justify uneven play or varying levels of effort.
“You have to choose whether to follow the narrative you could fall into or just play the game,” Mazzulla stated. “Every game, we have to make that decision.”
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