Written by Tim MacMahon at ESPN.com
The Boston Celtics’ 16-game winning streak has been built on big comebacks and consistent crunchtime dominance.
The Dallas Mavericks became the most recent victim Monday night, as the Celtics rallied from a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to pull out a 110-102 overtime victory, fueled by All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving’s spectacular efficient, season-high 47-point performance.
It marked the eighth comeback win during Boston’s streak, which is three games shy of tying the franchise record set during the 2008-09 season. The Celtics trailed by double digits in five of those comebacks, including their past three games, when they trailed the Golden State Warriors by 17, the Atlanta Hawks by 16 and the Mavericks by 13 before pulling out wins.
“Teams make their runs and we just stay the course,” Irving said after single-handedly outscoring the Mavs by a 17-12 margin in the final 12:47 of the game. “We’re just unwavering in our approach, and I think that we’ve been that way. In the last few games, we’ve been down quite a few, so for us it’s just about battling back when teams get a comfortable rhythm, whether it’d be in the first half or the second half. As a group, we continue just to stick together throughout anything and everything.”
Irving, playing with a clear plastic mask to protect the minor facial fractures he suffered earlier this month, followed up a 30-point performance in Saturday’s win over the Hawks by becoming the first Boston player since Larry Bird to score 45-plus points while shooting 70 percent or higher from the floor, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
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