The Next Lamb: The Dallas Mavericks

Game 8: Boston (6-1) at Dallas (3-2)

Monday, November 8

8:30 p.m. (Eastern)

TV: League Pass

Despite a slow start to the season, or perhaps because of it, the Mavericks are going to prove a tough test for the Celtics.

Over the past three seasons, Boston has struggled against Dirk Nowitzki. Though the Celtics have won five of the six matchups between the two teams during those seasons, Nowitzki has averaged nearly 26 points per game. Kevin Garnett didn't play in two of those games, but Action Dirk did have 37 points with KG playing in a Boston win back in February of 2009. Moreover, the current-era Celtics have had trouble with scoring power forwards; the defensive scheme works best when Garnett can play free safety, but he can't really do that against Nowitzki.

Dallas' point guard, Jason Kidd, may also pose some problems. He's got several inches on Rajon Rondo, and he's perhaps the league's best at his position at operating in the post. He's surrounded by shooters, too, so any help the Celtics give Rondo on Kidd may come at a price. An interesting twist is that the much smaller Jason Terry, historically a sixth man, is now a starter. Doc Rivers could conceivably put Ray Allen on Kidd and Rondo on Terry. Kidd will be a tough cover for Allen, but it might eliminate part of Dallas' attack.

Finally, Dallas has a pretty good bench, even with Terry in the starting lineup. In addition to the versatile Shawn Marion, Dallas' second unit includes Brendan Haywood -- the first legitimate center Boston's second unit has faced this year. I've got no indication that Shaquille O'Neal will be back against the Mavs (though he is accompanying the team on the road trip), and I just read that Jermaine O'Neal is questionable for the game, too. Haywood is too big for Glen Davis to handle, which means that Semih Erden will need to step up. He had a terrific game against Oklahoma City, but Haywood is the most physical opponent he's seen in his brief NBA career. Fortunately for Boston, Haywood isn't totally polished offensively and doesn't always assert himself.

The Mavericks have already lost twice at home this year, and I imagine they'll be looking to make it up to the home crowd on Monday. They've also had a day off, whereas the Celtics are on the second night of a back-to-back. Doc kept Paul Pierce's and Garnett's minutes in check against the Thunder, but Rondo played 36 and Allen played 40.

Also, Rondo apparently has a mild case of plantar fascitis. This came to light after the Milwaukee game, and there was talk that Rondo would miss the Chicago game. But Rondo doesn't like sitting out, and he made it clear that he especially doesn't like sitting out against other elite point guards like the Bulls' Derrick Rose. This also likely means that we can't take much from the fact that he suited up against the Thunder -- Westbrook isn't on the same level as Rose and Rondo yet, but he's stolen some headlines this season and I'm sure Rondo wanted the opportunity to compete against him. Kidd's an elite point guard, even though he's lost a couple steps, so I expect to see Rondo in uniform on Monday.

I don't know what to make of Rondo's injury, actually. I think it was last year when Rondo put a scare into everyone by needing to be carried off the floor after a game because his feet were hurting. But it didn't affect his play then, and he hasn't shown any ill effects this season, either. Hopefully it's nothing. If it is a more serious injury, it will pose some major problems for the Celtics -- and not just against Dallas, where Rondo's far superior speed makes him as tough a matchup for Kidd as Kidd is for Rondo on the other end.

Boston 99, Washington 88

[recap] [box score]

Boston was relatively flat for most of the night, but one look at the box score reveals good news for Boston fans: a 25-10 fourth quarter (on the road) and an 11-point win (going away).

The last period had been something of a bugaboo for the team during its recent three-game losing streak. Boston blew double-digit fourth quarter leads in Orlando on Thursday and against Los Angeles on Sunday, and let Atlanta pull away from them over the final 12 minutes on Friday. So holding a team to two made field goals against 16 misses -- even the lowly Wizards -- in the final period is a nice thing to see.

It's even more encouraging, depending on how you look at it, when you consider that the Celtics played the whole quarter without Paul Pierce, who injured his foot in the first quarter. Pierce returned to play parts of the second and third, but apparently Doc wanted to be careful. Hopefully he'll be back for Wednesday night in Miami.

Time for a mini-rant about officiating:

You're playing against the Boston Celtics, so you're not going to get a lot of calls. KG's going to set illegal screens; they're not going to be called. That's just part of the game. -- Brendan Haywood, via the Daily Dime

My timing might be a little unfair to Haywood, as I thought last night's officiating, if it favored anyone, favored the Celtics. But the moving screen comment addresses something that's been on my mind for a while, but which I didn't want to bring up because I didn't want anyone to think I was blaming refereeing for our struggles.

In this day and age, moving screens are a way of life in the NBA. Everyone sets them. You can probably spot one, and perhaps several, on every offensive set run by any team in any game on any night. What motivates officials to whistle one while letting dozens of others go remains something of a mystery to me. The obviously violent ones tend to get called; other than those, you're kind of rolling the dice.

Without hard statistics to back it up, this may seem a lot like whining (and maybe it is), but I maintain that we get called for more moving screens than any other team in the league. I know we play physically and that all of our barking at officials makes us less popular with them, but I think it's a bit dubious to think that we set meaningfully more illegal picks than our opponents. I'm not complaining about the ones where Glen Davis goes up and hits the guy (rather than stopping and letting the defender run into him), like he did so often last year. I'm talking the garden variety high screens that you see on every play. Those calls should be distributed evenly across both teams.

I'm going to try and keep track the rest of the season to see if I'm right or if it's just selective memory. I will say that I think it's a little ironic that Haywood is complaining, because his teammate, Antawn Jamison, got away with a handful of the most egregious bad screens you'll ever see last night.