Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Dallas 99, Boston 90

[recap] [box score]

Boston just fell apart in this one.

Up 50-41 at the break, the Celtics imploded during a 34-18 third quarter and never recovered. Return of the bullets:
  • As I feared would happen, Boston had no answer for Dirk Nowitzki. Rasheed Wallace did a decent enough job on him, but once 'sheed had to go to the bench with foul trouble, Action Dirk ran wild over Brian Scalabrine and Glen Davis. Final line for the big German: 14-22, 37 points.
  • Defense was the real culprit in the loss -- the Mavs shot better than 57 percent for the game -- but it's hard to say much more than we stopped getting back.
  • Offensively, while I love the fact that Rajon Rondo's jumper is getting better and Kendrick Perkins is becoming a viable post option, I feel we're relying on them a little too heavily. Especially when we need to regain some momentum, I see dumping the ball in to Perk as a fourth or fifth option. And there have been a couple of times in recent weeks where Rondo has taken the first jumper the defense has given him, which I'm generally okay with as long as he picks his moments; the middle of an opponent's run is not necessarily one of those moments.
  • Mostly, I just want to see Ray Allen get more than 15 shots on a night he was making three out of every five he put up.

We're at Detroit on Wednesday. Still no KG, but supposedly he practiced today and will be back on Friday against Portland.

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