BOSTON � Brad Stevens, coach of the Celtics, owners of the NBA's best record, effusively praised the Mavericks, especially Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, before Monday night's matchup at TD Garden.
Mark Cuban heaped some praise of his own about his team, but he opened with a disclaimer.
"I'm just waiting for us to start playing well. Seriously. We have not played a good game yet."
Nor, it turns out, did the Mavericks, particularly Kristaps Porzingis, play well on this night, yet Dallas hung in the game until a Kemba Walker-led spree propelled the Celtics to a 116-106 victory.
Luka Doncic led the Mavericks with 34 points, nine assists and six rebounds, but Porzingis, one game before his return Madison Square Garden to face the Knicks, mustered just four points and five rebounds in 20 foul-plagued minutes.
"Porzingis had a tough night," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "We're just going to flush it and move on.
"I've got to work on getting him in better situations."
The Mavericks also got a vivid look Monday night of what might have been, as Walker scored 29 points, dealt five assists and pulled down five rebounds.
Walker signed with Boston as a free agent last summer, after Kyrie Irving and Al Horford left the Celtics and signed, respectively, with the Nets and Sixers.
Mavericks officials privately believe that had Horford not surprisingly left and freed the necessary salary cap space for Walker, that Walker likely would be a Maverick. Citing NBA tampering rules, Cuban would not confirm or deny.
"I can't talk about other teams' players," Cuban said. "You have to talk to Kemba about that."
Walker did most of his talking on the court, especially during the fourth quarter, when his back-to-back 3-pointers gave the Celtics a 101-94 lead with 4:11 left.
"Killers," Carlisle called Walker's two daggers.
Walker-to-Dallas certainly would have changed the dynamic of both franchises, but Boston's Stevens is a fan of the roster Cuban and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson have built.
"They've got a good team; they've got a deep team," he said. "They're just loaded with a lot of good, solid players and around those two young, young guys that should be good for years to come."
Monday night happened to be the 50th anniversary of Lew Alcindor's Boston Garden debut. Earlier in the day, legendary Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan tweeted that he recalled the future Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dribbling behind his back that night en route to 28 points.
Ryan came to TD Garden Monday night, specifically, he told The News, to see Doncic in the flesh. He'd watched the Mavs-Lakers overtime game on TV and thought the LeBron James-Doncic show was one of the best of the young season.
Monday night, while watching Doncic carve up the Celtics for 14 third-quarter points, Ryan said, "I'm a believer."
