Celtics-Mavericks Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON
Posted Feb 20 2012 5:30PM

Even one of Dirk Nowitzki's best performances and Jason Terry's return to the court couldn't help the Dallas Mavericks extend their longest winning streak of the season.

The Mavericks could have an ideal opportunity to bounce back Monday night when they return home to face the struggling Boston Celtics, who won't have Rajon Rondo and will likely again be without Kevin Garnett.

Dallas (20-12) had won six in a row before a 104-97 loss at New York on Sunday. Nowitzki scored a season-high 34 points and Jason Terry had 13 after sitting out the previous two contests, but it wasn't enough.

Terry did not play Friday in Philadelphia due to "a personal situation," according to coach Rick Carlisle, and also missed Wednesday's victory over Denver due to a strained right quad.

The Mavericks had only one other player score in double figures - Shawn Marion with 14 points - and they gave up 32 in both the first and fourth quarters. Dallas entered the final period with a three-point lead.

"I thought we had the game under control, and then the fourth quarter, that really got the crowd back into it," Nowitzki said.

The Mavericks will next face a Celtics team that's dropped five of six and endured its third loss in a row Sunday. The 96-81 defeat in Detroit was also Boston's second in five days against the Central Division cellar dwellers.

The Celtics (15-15) have averaged 84.2 points over their last six games, 6.6 fewer than in their first 24. The absence of Garnett due to personal reasons didn't help Sunday, nor did Rondo's ejection in the third quarter for throwing the ball at an official.

Boston also turned it over a season high-tying 24 times.

"We just pretty much gave them everything they wanted tonight," forward Paul Pierce said. "They were able to run the ball on the break, get offensive rebounds on top of that, and we turned the ball over far too many times."

The NBA on Monday suspended Rondo for two games - he'll also sit Wednesday's first-half finale at Oklahoma City - and Garnett isn't expected to make the trip to Dallas.

Even if he does, the Celtics will likely have a tough time with Dallas as they've dropped all three matchups since the start of last season.

Pierce had 24 points and Garnett added 18 in last season's visit to the American Airlines Center but Nowitzki hit the go-ahead shot with 18 seconds left in an 89-87 Mavericks victory. He finished with 25 points while helping Dallas end a three-game home losing streak to Boston.

Rondo scored 24 points against Dallas at TD Garden on Jan. 11 but he and Garnett (16) were the only two Celtics in double figures in a 90-85 defeat. Terry finished with 18 points for the Mavericks and Nowitzki had 16, including the tiebreaking three-point play with 5.1 seconds to go.

Nowitzki's 27.5 scoring average against Boston since the beginning of 2002-03 is his best against any opponent.

Pierce has averaged 27.2 points on 51.4 percent shooting in his last six visits to Dallas.

Nowitzki's 26 help lead Mavs over Celtics, 89-73

By STEPHEN HAWKINS
Posted Feb 21 2012 12:04AM

DALLAS (AP) Dirk Nowtizki and the defending champion Dallas Mavericks seem to be hitting their stride at the midway point of their season.

The short-handed Boston Celtics are just struggling.

Nowitzki scored 26 points with season-high 16 rebounds while moving into the top 20 on the NBA career scoring list, and the Mavericks never trailed in an 89-73 victory over Boston on Monday night.

"I always say that it'll be great to look back (at milestones) when my career is over. Right now, I feel better and got to keep it going," Nowitzki said. "Ever since I took the week off, I feel better and I've been moving better. I've got to keep attacking."

A night after scoring a season-high 34 points against the New York Knicks, Nowitzki moved to No. 20 on the NBA scoring list with seven points in the first quarter against Boston. That pushed him one past Hall of Famer Robert Parish (23,334), who played 14 of his 21 NBA seasons for the Celtics.

After finishing with his 26 points in 31 minutes, Nowitzki's career total was at 23,354 points. All of those have come the past 14 seasons, all with Dallas. Nowitzki, who is set to play in his 11th consecutive All-Star game this weekend, also eclipsed 1,000 career blocked shots.

"For those people that didn't think he was a top 20 all-time player, this is good evidence of that. You can't have that accomplishment without a remarkable level of sustained excellence," coach Rick Carlisle said. "The other great thing right now, he continues to do better physically. He's moving every game seemingly better. We've got to keep building on that, too."

Since getting a four-game break last month to strengthen his sore right knee and improve his game conditioning, Nowitzki is averaging 21.7 points the last 13 games. The Mavs are 9-4 in that stretch, including a season-best winning streak of six games before Sunday's loss against the Knicks.

Already without suspended Rajon Rondo, absent Kevin Garnett and injured Brandon Bass, the Celtics lost starters Jermaine O'Neal (sprained left wrist) and Chris Wilcox (right adductor strain) in the third quarter.

"It's real tough when you're put in that situation," said Paul Pierce, who led the Celtics with 20 points. "It's just been bad luck lately."

Boston has lost four in a row, and six of seven.

"We've got to get our guys back. At one point, I had had five guards out there. We were just trying to mess up the game," coach Doc Rivers said. "I'm scared to talk to the medical staff because they don't give me good news. We've got to hold the fort until we get bodies back."

Rivers didn't have an update on O'Neal or Wilcox after the game.

Nowitzki scored all of Dallas' points in a 10-2 run midway through the second quarter that pushed the Mavericks ahead by 14. They led by double digits the rest of the way.

At No. 19 on the scoring list is Garnett (23,719), who missed his second consecutive game for personal reasons.

Jason Terry added 16 points with four 3-pointers for Dallas, and Shawn Marion had 11 points.

Jason Kidd, who began the game tied with Michael Jordan for second on the NBA career list for steals, had three against the Celtics to push his career total to 2,517. Kidd is also second in career assists.

"Listen, every week we're going to have records broken with the guys we have on this team. It's like a legends team," Carlisle said. "Jason Kidd's career has been amazing. Think about 18 years, almost two decades, of top-notch excellence."

Ray Allen added 15 points for Boston, and Avery Bradley had 12.

Rondo was suspended two games without pay by the NBA after throwing a ball at an official during Sunday's loss at Detroit. He received two technical fouls and ejected from a game for the first time in his professional career.

Bass, a former Mavericks player who is one of Boston's top reserves, was inactive for the fifth consecutive game because of a sore left knee.

Dallas was already up 44-34 at halftime against the Celtics when Wilcox picked up his fourth foul on Boston's first offensive possession of the second half. It wasn't clear when or how he got hurt, but he was out before the end of the third quarter.

Kidd then hit a 3-pointer before Nowitzki's step-back 13-footer made it 49-34.

The Mavs built as much as a 24-point lead, though Boston cut that to 15 before Marion's left-handed tip-in of a Lamar Odom miss at the end of the third quarter.

"Coming off of (Sunday's loss), the guys were really up for this," Carlisle said. "Sometimes you have a letdown when a team is missing a couple of star players. We did a good job of not letting that happen, playing with consistency from start to finish."

NOTES: Dallas swept the season series against the Celtics for the second season in a row. ... Both teams play their final games before the All-Star break on Wednesday. The Mavericks are home against the Lakers. Boston plays at Oklahoma City.

Notebook: Mavericks 89, Celtics 73

Posted Monday February 20, 2012 11:48PM

By Dave Ivey, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: It was "Milestone Monday" for the Mavericks as Dirk Nowitzki moved into 20th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list and Jason Kidd climbed to second place in steals, leading Dallas to an 89-73 victory over the slumping Celtics at the American Airlines Center. Boston (15-16) has dropped four straight and six out of seven to slip below .500, while the defending champion Mavericks (21-12) have won seven of eight.

On a three-point play with 5:55 left in the first quarter, Nowitzki passed Celtics great Robert Parish (23,334 points) for 20th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Nowitzki (23,354) tallied 26 points, a season-high 16 rebounds and two blocks, including the 1,000th rejection of his career. Kidd picked off a Ray Allen pass at 5:59 of the second quarter to move past Michael Jordan (2,514). He now trails only John Stockton in the league history books for both assists and thefts.

The shorthanded Celtics were without stars Kevin Garnett (personal reasons) and Rajon Rondo, who served the first night of a two-game league suspension for throwing the ball at an official during Sunday's loss at Detroit. Paul Pierce paced Boston with 20 points. Ray Allen (15) and Avery Bradley (12) also scored in double figures and Mickael Pietrus pulled down 12 boards.

QUOTABLE: "They were two men down without Rondo and K.G., so a different ball club. They tried to junk up the game and I thought we did an excellent job of being patient and getting what we wanted on the offensive end."
-- Mavericks guard Jason Terry

THE STAT: With his rejection of Bradley at the 9:30 mark of the first quarter, Nowitzki became just the third player in NBA history with 1,000 career blocks and 1,000 3-pointers, joining Clifford Robinson (1,253 treys, 1,390 blocks) and Rasheed Wallace (1,064 treys, 1,445 blocks). Nowitzki has 1,001 blocked shots and 1,221 3-pointers.

TURNING POINT: A personal 10-2 run by Nowitzki (four free throws and three midrange jumpers) in the second quarter stretched the Mavs' lead to 37-23. Dallas led by double digits the rest of the way.

QUOTABLE II: "We're losing, No. 1, because we're not playing well; No. 2, because we are injured. So why shake things up if guys are injured? I think you've got to let them get healthy if they can. I think Danny [Ainge] is always going to look for trades. I think you know who Danny is. But having said that, I don't think Danny is going to do anything crazy."
-- Celtics head coach Doc Rivers

HOT: Nowitzki's career average of 26.9 points per game against the Celtics is his highest against any opponent. He had 21 points and 10 rebounds by halftime.

NOT: The Celtics managed only 15 points in the first quarter and 34 points in the first half against the Mavericks, who are No. 1 in the NBA in field-goal defense (41.5 percent).

BAD MOVE: Already playing without Garnett and forward Brandon Bass (sore left knee), the Celtics lost two more big men in the third quarter as starters Jermaine O'Neal (sprained left wrist) and Chris Wilcox (right adductor strain) exited with injuries. "I'm scared to talk to the medical staff because they don't really give you good news," Rivers said.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Terry contributed 16 points, six assists and five boards off the Dallas bench. He was 4-for-7 from 3-point distance, while the rest of the team was 3-for-18.

ROOKIE WATCH: All three Celtics rookies saw action in the lopsided loss. JaJuan Johnson had eight points and five rebounds, E'Twaun Moore sank two 3-pointers and Greg Stiemsma grabbed five boards.

NOTABLE: Boston has already used 11 different starting lineups through 31 games. ... The Mavericks completed their second straight season sweep against the Celtics. ... It was the fourth wire-to-wire victory of the season for Dallas. ... The Mavericks outscored the Celtics 32-18 in the paint and scored 25 points off 17 Boston turnovers.

UP NEXT: For the Mavericks, Wednesday vs. Los Angeles Lakers, Feb. 28 vs. New Jersey, Feb. 29 @ Memphis. For the Celtics, Wednesday @ Oklahoma City, Feb. 28 @ Cleveland, Feb. 29 vs. Milwaukee.

• Celtics: Bass, Garnett
• Mavericks: West, Williams

• Celtics: --
• Mavericks: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
• Officials: #71 Rodney Mott, #31 Scott Wall, #14 Ed Malloy
• Attendance: 20364
• Duration: 2:14