NBA Matchups: March 6

This slate just has too many teams on the back end of a B2B, so this will be somewhat short here. So many of these teams might be resting guys, too. Every game on the slate has at least one team that played last night to make it even tougher to talk about the teams who were off yesterday.

DAL @ BOS | MIA @ CHA | POR @ HOU | NYK @ DEN | NOP @ PHX | LAC @ SAS | IND @ LAL

Dallas Mavericks (back end) at Boston Celtics

Team Totals: Mavs 104.5, Celtics 119.5

Injury Report: Jayson Tatum (Q, Achilles), Mavs on the back end of a B2B

Mavs projected starters: Cooper Flagg, Max Christie, Naji Marshall, P.J. Washington, Dwight Powell (Note: Expecting Daniel Gafford to sit B2B)

Celtics projected starters: Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta

Kidd quotes: Said they were better at getting to the line, said they know their newcomers are going to play, said Gafford competes and hasn’t been at his best because of injury.

Mazzulla quotes: Said they were 4-of-18 on layups and it killed them in transition, said he saw it early that they didn’t have it.

Stats and Notes: 

*Jayson Tatum looks like he’s back to add some excitement for this one. The Mavs are one of the worst offenses in the NBA, and even Cooper Flagg possibly playing in this one won’t help much. Dallas just made three 3-pointers against the Hornets earlier this week, and they are at just 27.8% of their shots coming from deep since Jan. 19. It’s insane how bad they are at shooting 3-pointers. They need to score in the paint, and that’s not going to happen against the league’s best paint defense. The Mavs defensively have been somewhat OK this year, but they are getting beaten all over the place. They don’t help off enough to put lead guys in a huge spot.

*Yeah, just no thanks on Dallas. We’ll have their injury report for the show later, which may help value open up. Cooper Flagg gets a game with what is likely a large crowd in attendance, but he will have a strict limit on him here.

*Jayson Tatum will have a very strict minutes limit on him in his return to the lineup, which is a huge win for the Celtics to get him back with almost 1.5 months before the playoffs start. Incredible. He’s certainly not in play today despite it being a great matchup.

*Jaylen Brown gets an excellent matchup against P.J. Washington and/or Naji Marshall. The Mavs are not helping and their rim defense has been subpar. Brown hasn’t been able to hit his jumpers at a high level like he was earlier, and he does have to worry about blowout. He’s still solid here, and Tatum playing shouldn’t affect him too much.

*Derrick White is a fine play here. The Mavs don’t have great guard defense, with Max Christie likely on him. He’s starting to hit his 3-pointers now, and his dimes are also up a bit since the break. He’s just OK here, and the Mavs aren’t giving up much C&S, which doesn’t help.

*It’s a smash for Neemias Queta here with Daniel Gafford likely out and Dallas likely having some awful rim protection.

Great matchups: Jaylen Brown, Neemias Queta

Good matchups: Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard

Bad matchups: The Mavs

Miami Heat (back end) at Charlotte Hornets