USA TODAY Sports

After enduring two consecutive deflating losses, the Dallas Mavericks could've felt sorry for themselves and mailed it in during Wednesday night's second night of a back-to-back against the Toronto Raptors. However, Dallas showed strong mental fortitude and bounced back with a 136-125 win, pushing its record to 34-25 with a big road test against the league-leading Boston Celtics coming up on Friday.

"Good character," Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said after Wednesday's game. "Intent, the energy pre-game was in the right place. We lost on a 50-footer. We could have easily been still thinking about that game. I thought the guys moved forward."

On the latest episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, we breakdown several key areas of Dallas' bounce-back win, including Luka Doncic's 30-point triple-double on his birthday, Kyrie Irving's dominant fourth quarter takeover, P.J. Washington's all-around breakout game, Dereck Lively II's block party, and much, much more!

“It’s really a team effort," Irving said. "I think the true testament of greatness is being next to other great players and being able to be yourself.”

Now, the Mavs will get to test just how great they are, as they'll take on a Celtics team that has a 46-12 overall record and a 27-3 record at TD Garden. It won't be easy, as it will be the Mavs' third road game in four nights, but it will be a chance for Doncic, Irving and the rest of the crew to officially announce their arrival as a title contender.

You can watch today's show below, and be sure to SUBSCRIBE, as well as leave your takes in the comments on YouTube:

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