Stats Rundown: 3 numbers to know as Dallas escapes Boston with a win

The Dallas Mavericks needlessly survived a nailbiter, beating the Boston Celtics 113-108.

Now, we can all breathe.

On the backs of Luka Doncic’s 36 points and Jalen Brunson’s 21 points, the Mavericks effectively coasted through the entire fourth quarter, as the former went supernova and the latter was clutch down the stretch.

Here are some numbers from the win:

24: The Mavericks outscored the Celtics by 24 from the three-point line

Though the Mavericks did everything they could do to hand the game over to the Celtics in the fourth, they set the nets ablaze in the first half, and it gave them enough cushion to avoid a horrendous loss. For the game, Dallas connected on 19-of-39 from behind the arc while the Celtics cashed in on only 11-of-47. The Mavericks’ success rate from deep allowed them to survive 50 paint points from the Celtics. Doncic was sensational from deep, splashing in seven of his 11 attempts, while Kristaps Porzingis, Dorian Finney-Smith and Josh Richardson combined to go 8-of-15 from behind the arc.

20: The Mavericks committed 20 turnovers

Compared to the Celtics nine turnovers, it’s remarkable Dallas won - and was even up by 20 at one point - but 3s > 2s, so see point above. The Mavericks had at least eight turnovers in the fourth quarter alone, which allowed the Celtics to outscore them by 12 and take the game down to the wire. Boston also generated 20 points off the Mavericks turnovers.

2: The number of wins the Mavericks have over the Celtics this season

And that means Dallas swept the season series against the Mavericks for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

The name of the game is to win, and the Mavericks did that, even if it was ugly.

Here’s the postgame podcast, Mavs Moneyball After Dark. If you can’t see the embed below “More from Mavs Moneyball”, click here. And if you haven’t yet, subscribe by searching “Mavs Moneyball podcast” into your favorite podcast app.