Viewing Alert

Hey gang...I hope to keep posting regularly now. I'm studying for the Nevada bar exam but should be able to watch most games and at least put up a few words every time I do between now and the end of February.

Dallas at Boston, 8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN.

After dropping three straight to start the season, the Celtics won four in a row. That's the good news. The bad news is that the teams they beat -- the Pistons, the Wizards twice, and New Jersey -- are hardly world-beaters; they're a combined 5-25 on the season. And in Boston's last outing, a sluggish home loss last Friday night, they lost to the Pacers.

This means, of course, that Boston still hasn't beaten a playoff-caliber team. Dallas, the defending champs, would qualify, but at 5-5 and winners of two straight, they're just now rounding into form.

Boston's had four days off, while Dallas played Tuesday night. But the Mavs got plenty of rest in easily dispatching Detroit -- ten players played at least 17 minutes, but no one played more than Dirk Nowitzki's 28. Nowitzki, by the way, was 9-of-10 from the floor and was a +42 on the night (meaning that the Mavs outscored the Pistons by 42 points when Action Dirk was on the floor, and were outscored by 28 with him on the bench).

By the way, former Celtic (twice over) Delonte West hooked up with Dallas in the offseason, and has started every game other than the season opener. With Jason Kidd sidelined with a bad back, West has been starting at point guard, with the newly-acquired Vince Carter playing the two. Dallas also added Lamar Odom in the offseason, LO having demanded a trade from the Lakers after he was included in the Chris Paul deal that was squashed by the league.

I haven't really seen Dallas this year, and so I can only speculate as to whether integrating the new pieces has been a source of Dallas' struggles. I do know that Tuesday night notwithstanding, Nowitzki's shooting has been terrible this year, as has Shawn Marion's, and that Odom has been more or less a non-factor thus far. Dallas is deep, but they may still be figuring out how to put the pieces together.