If, somewhere down the line, Luka Doncic helps lead the Lakers to their 18th banner, the Celtics might wish they hadn’t trounced the Mavericks quite so badly last spring. Thursday’s 127-120 win over Boston marked Dallas’ first trip back to TD Garden since the NBA Finals.

D allas Mavericks fans are still dealing with the trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers and brought Anthony Davis to Dallas. The trade came out of nowhere and was

Klay Thompson scored 25 points, Daniel Gafford gave the Mavericks 15 rebounds in what could be his last start at center for a while and Dallas beat the Boston Celtics 127-120 on Thursday night in their NBA Finals rematch.

As well as Kyrie Irving has played, the hobbled Mavericks have been a bottom-seven offense over the past month without Luka Dončić.

The Celtics are 9-1 against the Mavericks in their past 10 games, the only loss coming in Game 4 of the NBA Finals last season.