DALLAS — There’s been a lot of talk about resiliency and how much the ability to bounce back has driven the Celtics.
Coach Brad Stevens smiled, a little bit, when he replied to a question about the topic Monday.
“Some of it has been self-forced, because we’re down by 16 all the time,” Stevens said. “But we do believe that if you make the next right play, you can chip away and come back.”
But the Celtics really do seem to need panic in their game.
The Celtics avoided the need to escape a large deficit Monday night until the fourth quarter, when they managed to come back from 13 down and force overtime, where they extended their winning streak to 16 with a 110-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Kyrie Irving had his biggest scoring night for his new team with 47 points on 16-of-22 shooting, including five 3-pointers.
Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart were once again crucial down the stretch. Brown contributed 22 points and Smart provided more floor-scraping hustle plays to help turn the game.
But more than at any other time in the streak, the Celtics needed their offensive leader to simply take over the scoring load and attack. Irving scored seven points in the fourth quarter and 10 in overtime.
“No question,” said Al Horford. “For whatever reason, we weren’t the sharpest we needed to be in the offensive end, and he bailed us out, just came through.”
For Irving, though, he was playing according to the flow of the game.
“Best answer to that is: I was called upon. I needed to score over 20 or 25 in particular games, but if you asked me that question a few years ago, I would tell you that I was trying to get 40,” he said. “Just happens. Happened in the flow of the game, understanding the spacing and when the shots are going to come. Put my foot on the gas pedal and take advantage of things I was seeing out there.”
The Celtics opened overtime with a Jayson Tatum turnover and two Brown misses as Dallas went on a 4-0 run. Irving scored on back-to-back drives for a tie at 100. The Mavs’ Harrison Barnes took the lead back with two free throws before Irving responded again, this time with a foul-line jumper.
Barnes missed for Dallas before Brown hit for the Celtics from 18 feet for a 104-102 lead with 1:39 left in overtime.
Three Dallas misses later, the Celtics gave the ball to Irving, who posted Yogi Ferrell for the score, but missed a bonus free throw.
Tatum rebounded a Barnes miss, drew the foul and coolly hit twice at the line, pushing the Celtics’ lead to 108-102 with 35.3 seconds left.
Barnes and Ferrell each missed from downtown on the next Dallas possession, and Irving put 16 in a row to bed from the line.
The Celtics saved their best run for late, assembling a 16-5 burst for the last five minutes of regulation. Marcus Morris drew a foul tipping in an Irving miss for the three-point play. Next, Tatum scored off the break to cut the Dallas lead to 89-84.
Smart stole the ball and fed Tatum, who made a flying save over the baseline that Irving polished off with a 3-pointer. When J.J. Barea missed for Dallas, Irving drove hard to cut the Mavs’ lead to 92-91.
Dirk Nowitzki hit from the top of the circle, and Barea cushioned it with a drive off the baseline for a 96-91 Dallas lead.
That lead didn’t last. Smart, who went just 3 of 15 from the floor, made a 3-pointer with 1:23 left. Nowitzki tried to post up Irving, who instead poked the ball away, drove and fed Tatum on the break for a 96-96 tie with 1:01 left.
Though Horford stripped Barnes, the Celtics came up empty with a deep Irving miss and errant Horford follow-up.
Dallas took possession with 23.9 seconds left, and Barnes, guarded by Tatum, missed a deep 3-point attempt that Morris managed to rebound for the C’s while crashing to the floor.
And Irving took care of the rest.
“He’s got every move imaginable, but on top of that he’s one of the best shooters in the league,” Stevens said of Irving. “Everybody gets caught up in the moves and dribbling and everything he can do with the ball, but his touch is beautiful with both hands. We didn’t convert like we have on other days, but every bit of the game – he’s got it.”
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