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The Boston Celtics managed to get the huge win over the Dallas Mavericks as they enjoyed a close win, 109-103. However, head coach Brad Stevens is far from happy with the performance of his men. In fact, he believes that they should have performed better on defense given the situation of the Mavericks' offense.
Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe was among the press present when they asked him about the results of the game. The former Butler head coach didn't mince his words when it came to criticizing the way the team performed on defense.
Brad Stevens: "I thought we were awful defensively. They missed a lot of open shots. We played it well enough to win but not good enough as we need to to be a really good team." #Celtics
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) December 19, 2019
It's easy to understand why Stevens is exasperated with his team's performance recently. The Mavericks didn't have Luka Doncic on their team. Given the condition of the Mavericks offense, they should have easily taken over the game without much of a worry.
Moreover, they had all of their important players contributing on offense. Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown all scored more than 20 points in this game. There was no reason for them to go behind.
However, they got screwed over on the defensive end. There wasn't much resistance on the way to the basket as Rick Carlisle orchestrated the Mavs to play very efficient basketball. Kristaps Porzingis led the team with his 23 points, but the rest of the team also pulled their weight. The most notable contributors for the Mavs were Seth Curry and Jalen Brunson, who took over the load Luka Doncic was supposed to play in the offense.
Fortunately for the C's, there's still plenty left of the season. He can still make the right adjustments and help the team start the playoffs as the top seed in the East.
