Will the Mavericks Come out for the Second Half after that First Half Beating?

Contrary to popular belief within the walls of the OneTake Media offices, I've watched a lot of basketball in my day - and in that time, there are many great performances I've been a part of. Paul Pierce leading a comeback from down 20 in the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals, Lebron James scoring 29 of 30 points in the '07 ECF, Dan O'Connor dropping 20 to take down the undefeated Medway in the 5th Grade 2004 Travel Team Finals - all legendary performances, but this first half from Kristaps Porzingis is right up there:

18 points in 13 minutes off the BENCH in his first game back in over a month at 7/9 from the field - and the most ridiculous part being he did his best work on the defensive side of the ball, influencing shots and even straight rejecting a clean dunk attempt from P.J. Washington is my memory serves me from 15 minutes ago.

Celtics look damn good - getting every loose ball (that one that Holliday saved and tossed off a Mavs player was fun), better ball pressure, disrupting shots and making Irving and Doncic earn their points, playing more freely. Everything coming up Boston in first half, which begs the question - do the Mavericks even come out for the second half or just go back to the hotel and say 'See you Saturday?' Their offense is P.J. Washington shooting 3's, Luka Doncic taking and making some tough shots off the dribble, and the other lefty taking it to the hoop every once in a while. I like the Celtics odds is that's the case!

Celtics came in with a better strategy, Mazzulla outcoaching his opponent once again - and the boys are all contributing. How about our guy Sam Hauser getting in on the action?! Playing solid D and getting a steal on Doncic, as well as hitting two 3's, both with a high level of difficulty. Derrick White hit a few shots, Horford came out and got that nice dunk on the first possession, and Brown/Tatum controlling the action as leaders do.

As I said pregame - the Celtics have the culture and body of work this Dallas team cannot contend with. They have better players, better matchups, better coached - now they just gotta go out and have fun executing on what they do. Will it be as smooth the rest of the way as this first half was? Not likely - they'll go cold here and there, have to weather the storm - but Celtics fans gotta love what they are seeing here. LFG !

Postgame Update/Editor's Note:

The amount of times I heard or saw folks talking about the 'depth' of Dallas being greater than Boston's or the 'matchups' are better was insane in the last week - Udonis Haslem talking about the Celtics needs to just be stricken from the record since he hates them, but it was more than just him. The only dude who made an inkling of a move off the bench was Jaden Hardy, who was going HARD in garbage time tonight - credit to him. Other than that, they have very little - Derrick Jones can take it hard left and get a dunk every now and again, but not much more. PJ Washington is going to be your #3 option? Celtics have a legit 6 guys who can go for 25 on any given night, Mavericks have about 1.5 - Kyrie can do it here and there in the biggest games if the moons are aligned but the shots he takes are of too high a difficulty level to win this series. If Doncic doesn't score 50 a game for the next 3 games, this series is over, Maybe the Mavericks steal one at home somehow, but I think this may be a sweep. Cue our boy Danny: