Celtics have tough matchup with red-hot Luka, Mavs on Thursday

BOSTON -- The terrible taste still remains from Tuesday night's embarrassing Celtics loss, when Boston allowed a Thunder team without its star player to score 150 points. Now the Celtics will look to bounce back Thursday night against a 22-16 Mavs team that has its star player firing on all cylinders.

Oklahoma City was without its 30-point-a-night man in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but still made the Boston defense -- usually a pretty decent unit -- look like a bunch of jabronis for 48 minutes. On Thursday, the Celtics defense will have its hands full trying to keep a red-hot Luka Doncic in check.

There is no slowing Luka, who is averaging a ridiculous 34.2 points per game this season. It's nearly impossible to "contain" him, too. He'll eat up man-to-man defense and can split double teams with relative ease. And just when you think you have him cut off at the rim, he'll dish it out to an open teammate at the last possible millisecond for a backbreaking three.

He can knock down those backbreaking threes himself, too, as the Celtics are well aware. Doncic is shooting a career-best 36 percent from downtown on 8.2 attempts per game. The Mavs are 10-1 this season when he hits four or more threes in a game.

Nothing feels safe when the ball is in his hands. Even if a team is up by five points in the closing seconds, it feels like Doncic will find a way to rip their hearts out. Teams really just hope for the best against the Dallas superstar and pray that his bouquet of points and assists isn't too plentiful.

But Luka has been absolutely on fire this season, torching anyone that gets in his way. Doncic is as lethal as they come on offense and has been on a real heater over the last ... well since his season tipped off on Oct. 19.

It's gotten really silly over the last few weeks. Doncic is a week removed from a 60-point triple-double. He has scored 50 points or more three times in the last six games. He's been incredible since coming into the league five years ago, but this season has been his best yet.

This is what the Celtics will be dealing with Thursday night. They'll throw several different looks at him with different combinations of Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum. Maybe it will slow No. 77 down a bit, but probably not. Doncic has averaged 33 points in his last five games against the Celtics, winning four of them. The Celtics beat the Mavs, 125-112, in Boston back in November, but Doncis went off for 42 points.

Thursday night is not an easy bounce-back scenario, but it is a chance for the Celtics to show that they're still the best team in the NBA and Tuesday night was just part of a current mini-slump. These are the games that the Celtics get up for.

And it's a great opportunity for Jayson Tatum to go head-to-head with another MVP candidate and further cement his spot in that conversation. Tatum has been the driving force in wins over other MVP candidates this season, with the Celtics besting the likes of Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Giannis, and Ja Morant. It's a team game, but these head-to-head clashes hold a lot of weight with MVP voters.

Adding another win over Luka and the Mavs on Thursday night could go a long way in Tatum's cause for that individual accolade. But more importantly, it would be another solid win for a Celtics team that could really use a solid win at the moment.

It won't be easy to keep Doncic from going off. It won't be easy to keep Doncic from helping his teammates go off. It won't be easy to win on Thursday night, period.

It will take a full 48 minutes of team-oriented basketball. It's not something the Celtics have displayed much over the last two weeks, but we know they're capable of it. There's no better place to showcase that than on a national stage against one of the best players in the NBA.