[grndmstr_c]

Way to step up, UD.

Maybe not the prettiest win, but any time you can get a win in Boston, you might as well feel good about it, not least because it means you laid a loss on KG.

Tyson and Dirk continue to be a 2-man wrecking crew. Is there a better PF/C tandem in the NBA? Is there another duo outside of Gasol/Bynum that's even in the conversation?

As nice as it is to beat the best team in the East on their home court, I don't think this win deludes anybody in the Mavs' front office into thinking that the team couldn't use some upgrades in the personnel department. You saw it when JJB-as-starter had run its course, and you saw it when Stevenson was having to be a bail-out guy on the offensive end late in the game. No doubt a healthy Peja and Booby help there - after all, they're probably getting those minutes if they're in uniform - but they aren't in uniform, and haven't been for much/all of the season. So things remain as they have been: if the Mavs find themselves in a position where they can make a smart deal on a playoff-caliber rotation player, they should.

And actually, I think this game did a pretty fair job of showing both why the impact of the loss of Caron on the Mavs has been in some ways overstated, yet is in other ways very real.

With regard to the former, look no further than the way the offense functioned for a decent chunk of the night (not to mention over the recent stretch of games). Much - not all - of what Caron contributed on that end of the court has been replaced by other guys, with Stevenson and JJB getting more minutes, and Chandler getting more touches. Beyond that, though, there's now only one guy on the court who really ever holds the ball and goes one-on-one, that being the game's most efficient go-to scorer, and because of that there's more motion and more activity out there on the offensive end. I think it shows.

At the same time, a month and a half ago those bailout shots that Stevenson was struggling to draw iron on would have come from Caron's hand, and that means they would have had a better chance of going in. As I alluded to above, Peja's probably getting some of those critical SF minutes next week and it's hardly a bad thing to have him taking some of those shots, but Dallas also can't depend on Peja to defend as well as Caron or Stevenson. Any way you slice it, you lose something, and after a game like tonight in which the bad guys didn't score over the final 2:43 (even if Dallas did get lucky on that inbounds play), that shouldn't, and I think won't, be overlooked.

That's enough yapping from me. Bring on the 'Cats.