Mavericks at Celtics preview: Cooper Flagg and Dallas look to end Boston’s five-game winning streak

Detailed summary

The Celtics are coming off a victory Friday in Toronto and play their first home game following a 4-0 road trip.

Maine native Cooper Flagg, former Celtics guard Kyrie Irving, and the Mavericks will be playing the second half of a back-to-back on Sunday when they take on the Celtics at TD Garden.

Flagg and Irving both played more than 37 minutes in Dallas’s loss Saturday to the Cavaliers in Cleveland. They will be up against a Celtics team that has won five straight games and nine of its last 10.

Dallas was outscored 38-20 in the second quarter and surrendered 71 points in the first half on Saturday.

“Disappointing road performance by us as a group,” Mavericks coach Dusty May said. “We didn’t match their desire and determination to compete. Everyone in our traveling party needs to be better.”

Irving led Dallas with 34 points and Flagg added 18 points and eight rebounds.

Sunday will be Flagg’s second appearance at TD Garden. His first was as a rookie last season, when he scored 16 points in a 120-100 loss in Jayson Tatum’s first game back from a torn Achilles.

The Celtics are coming off a victory Friday in Toronto and play their first home game after a 4-0 road trip to Charlotte, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Toronto.

Stat of the day: Dallas ranks fourth in the league with 17.1 fast-break points per game, led by Kyrie Irving’s 3.6 average.

Notes: Boston is on a five-game winning streak, and is also 5-0 at home this season. ... The Cavaliers defeated the Mavericks Saturday without their regular starters after travel delays following the nationwide ground stop forced the Cavaliers to stay in Florida after Friday night’s loss to host Miami. ... The Mavericks are 2-4 on the road. ... The Celtics are shooting 45.6 percent from the field this season, 1.3 percentage points lower than the 46.9 percent the Mavericks allow to opponents. ... The Mavericks average 12.5 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.1 fewer made shots on average than the 14.6 per game the Celtics give up. ...

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Boston Globe. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.