Tip: 8pm Court: TD Garden Watch it: CSN, ESPN Hear it: WEEI
Referees: Bill Spooner, Mark Ayotte and Josh Tiven
The Matchup
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| Record: 4-4 (3rd Atlantic, 8th East) | Record: 5-5 (2nd Southwest, 8th West) |
| At home: 3-1 | On road: 1-3 |
| Streak: Lost 1 | Streak: Won 2 |
| Leaders | Leaders |
| Buckets: Allen (20.4 ppg) | Buckets: Dirk Nowitzki (18.9 ppg) |
| Boards: Garnett (7.0 rpg) | Boards: Brandon Haywood (6.0 rpg) |
| Dimes: Rondo (10.5 apg) | Dimes: Jason Kidd (4.5 apg) |
| For the Stat Geeks: | For the Stat Geeks: |
| Offensive Rating: 105.0 (11th NBA) | Offensive Rating: 101.7 (20th NBA) |
| Defensive Rating: 104.5 (21st NBA) | Defensive Rating: 101.8 (10th NBA) |
| Pace: 88.3 (29th NBA) | Pace: 92.8 (12th NBA) |
Last time
The Mavericks swept last year's season series. Dallas has also won 4 of the last 5 meetings.
This time
Get it to: Ray Allen
With Jason Kidd out (back), Dallas has been using Delonte West at the point and Vince Carter at the shooting guard. Yup, that means Mr. Softy will be chasing red-hot Ray around screens for most of the night.
Gotta stop: Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk just kills the Celtics. His numbers: 31.2 ppg, 56% FG in last 5 games vs Boston. Does he simply give KG fits?
The Wild Cards: Four days off & Lamar Odom
The Celtics last played on Friday night vs Indiana. They've had four full days of rest intense practice. With conditioning somewhat of an issue, Doc ran the guys ragged. He also called them out for not being tough enough. How will they respond? Lamar Odom has been brutally bad for Dallas this season. He's averaging 6.7 ppg on 28% shooting. Will he ever snap out of it?
How we see it goin' down
Dallas has won 4 of 5 since their slow start, but they are finishing up a 3 game in 4 night stretch. They played last night in Detroit. The Celtics are so rested, they might be rusty. I like the Celtics in this one. I trust Doc pushed all the right buttons over the past four days. Mickael Pietrus should also give the bench a boost. BOS 105 – DAL 97
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