How we see it goin' down: Celtics vs Mavericks

Tip: 8pm Court: TD Garden Watch it: CSN, ESPN Hear it: WEEI

Referees: Bill Spooner, Mark Ayotte and Josh Tiven

The Matchup


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?