A mere ten months after tearing his Achilles, Jayson Tatum is expected to make his return to the court for the Boston Celtics (41-21) at TD Garden against the Dallas Mavericks (21-41) tonight.
Jaylen Brown and Boston (41-21) have thrived without the All-NBA forward. The Celtics lead the Atlantic Division by a game and a half over the Knicks. No doubt the addition of the six-time All-Star Tatum is a tremendous add to the lineup, but how long will it take the team to adjust to his return? How many minutes will he assume? How will he fit in Joe Mazzulla’s rotation?
Conversely, the Dallas Mavericks arrive in Boston sitting twelfth in the Western Conference and looking to snap a five-game losing streak. A bad team that has been especially bad on the road, the Mavericks did get a dose of good news yesterday with the return of Cooper Flagg. The standout rookie scored 18 points in 26 minutes last night in the Mavs’ 115-114 loss to the Magic in Orlando. Tonight will be a homecoming of sorts for the native of Newport, Maine.
Flagg was outstanding when these teams met earlier this season on February 3 albeit in a 110-100 loss, scoring 36 points and grabbing nine rebounds in 37 minutes. Jaylen Brown scored 33 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to pace the Celtics. Payton Pritchard added 26 off the bench.
The Celtics were blown out in their last game losing 118-89 at home to the surprising and surging Charlotte Hornets. As mentioned earlier, the Mavs were in action last night in Orlando, losing 115-114.
Ultimately, this game is all about the return of Tatum and how the Celtics handle all the emotions in the building and his minutes.
Lets take a closer look at tonight’s matchup and take into consideration lineups, injuries, and other factors affecting the line and total.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on how to catch tipoff, odds courtesy of DraftKings recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game Details and How to Watch Live: Mavericks at Celtics
- Date: Friday, March 6, 2026
- Time: 7PM EST
- Site: TD Garden
- City: Boston, MA
- Network/Streaming: ESPN
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Game Odds: Mavericks at Celtics
The latest odds as of Friday courtesy of DraftKings:
- Moneyline: Dallas Mavericks (-1000), Boston Celtics (+650)
- Spread: Celtics -14.5
- Total: 224.5 points
This game opened Celtics -15.5 with the Total set at 225.5.
Be sure to check out DraftKings for all the latest game odds & player props for every matchup this week on the NBA schedule!
Expected Starting Lineups: Mavericks at Celtics
Dallas Mavericks
- G Cooper Flagg
- SG Max Christie
- SF Khris Middleton
- PF Daniel Gafford
- C PJ Washington
Boston Celtics
- PG Derrick White
- SG Baylor Scheierman
- SF Jaylen Brown
- PF Jayson Tatum
- C Neemias Queta
Injury Report: Mavericks at Celtics
Dallas Mavericks
- Marvin Bagley III (neck) has been ruled OUT of tonight’s game
- Brandon Williams (quad) has been ruled OUT of tonight’s game
Boston Celtics
- Jayson Tatum (Achilles) is listed as questionable for tonight’s game
Important stats, trends and insights: Mavericks at Celtics
- The Celtics are 20-10 at home this season
- The Mavericks are 7-20 on the road this season
- The Celtics are 3-25-1 ATS this season / 15-15 at home
- The Mavericks are 27-34 ATS this season / 10-17 on the road
- The OVER has cashed in 28 of the Mavericks’ 61 games this season (28-33)
- The OVER has cashed in just 22 of Boston’s 62 games this season (22-40)
- The Celtics are 7-2-1 ATS in their last 10 against the Mavericks
- In 6 games since the All-Star Break, Jaylen Brown is averaging 25.5 points, 10 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game
- Nikola Vucevic has pulled down a total of just 9 rebounds over his last 2 games
Rotoworld Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the NBA calendar based on data points like recent performance, head-to-head player matchups, trends information and projected game totals.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projections next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for tonight’s Mavericks and Celtics’ game:
- Moneyline: Rotoworld Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline
- Spread: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Celtics -14.5 ATS
- Total: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Game Total OVER 224.5
Want even more NBA best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert NBA Predictions page from NBC Sports for money line, spread and over/under picks for every game on today’s calendar!
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our NBA Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
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