Jason Kidd shares eye-opening opinion on Celtics after Mavericks rout

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Jason Kidd shares eye-opening opinion on Celtics after Mavericks rout

Brian Robb · MassLive

Sat, Mar 7, 2026 ·

3 min read

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The Celtics overcame a slow start to dismantle the Mavericks on Friday night, outscoring the visitors 62-47 in the second half of a 120-100 victory. Jayson Tatum 's return to the floor for Boston was the biggest story of the night after an impressive showing (15 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists) in his first appearance in nearly 10 months.

Tatum worked his way into Boston's offense quite well, particularly in the second half where he shook off six straight misses to start the game to make six of his next ten field goal attempts. He didn't force the action though as he was active in finding teammates and settled for open looks rather than chasing isolation situations as six different players finished in double figures for the hosts.

The performance by Tatum and the Celtics left a strong impression with Mavericks coach Jason Kidd who coached against Boston two years ago in the NBA Finals.

"I think just understanding that he's a big part of the franchise, and for him to come back at the speed that he did, in the way that he looked, you know, he looked good coming off of a serious injury," Kidd said. "As he knocks off some rust, he makes the Celtics a contender and they're having a heck of a year while he was rehabbing, so to get him back, they're going to be a team that's going to be hard to knock out."

Mavericks rookie phenom Cooper Flagg was another voice who raved about what Tatum's return to the floor during his Boston debut.

"I found out probably the same time as everyone else, when they announced it," Flagg said. "I saw on social media. So just found out he was playing and locked in on the game plan. Obviously, he's an incredible player, so he's something you have to prepare for and be ready for in the game. He's been a mentor for me, through my journey and from Duke to now, he's been somebody that I've been able to talk to and get advice from. So there's him being a mentor, someone to tell me 'keep going.' I told him the same. I told him that it's incredible what he's able to do and how big he came back is really incredible."

The Celtics held onto their lead for the No. 2 seed in the East with Friday's win, currently sitting 1.5 games ahead of the Knicks with 19 regular season games remaining. The schedule now gets much tougher for Boston and Tatum now with a three-game road trip against top contenders from both conferences ( Cleveland , San Antonio , Oklahoma City ). If Friday's performance was any indication, the Celtics look ready to rise to the challenge looming ahead of them.

"We have a challenge in front of us this year," Jaylen Brown said. "I think challenges is what makes you great. Our challenge is trying to lead another deep playoff run. So balancing all that at the same time is welcoming our brother back onto the floor. It's going to be a great challenge for me. It's going to be a great challenge for all of us. It's going to test all of our patience. It's going to test our humility. All of the above. We just gotta be prepared for there to be some ups and downs. I'm prepared for that. How you handle adversity will be kind of a measure. So this is a big week coming up. Obviously, we still got some working some things out to do. But this week, these next three games will be a test."

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