Mavs lose at Celtics: 31-14

[ddh33]

Boston 96, Dallas 90. Well, that was a disappointing loss to the Celtics without Kevin Garnett. The Mavs were also short-handed, but they lost a game they should have won. Unfortunately, the Mavs didn't execute down the stretch, and they did a horrible job on the defensive boards. That was the difference.

I can't stand the guy at all, but does everyone see why I wanted James Posey this summer? He played a great game.

Dirk Nowitzki looked like the MVP for the entire second half of tonight's game. He was brilliant by scoring and even defending the lane. I wish he would have any kind of help at all. Instead, Dirk was all alone out there. He almost won this one by himself though with 31 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocks. Great effort from him.

Hey, could someone tell me why Dirk is the only offensive option for the entire second half but when the Mavs need a score to tie with under 30 seconds, they go away from him? That speaks awfully poorly of somebody...

With all of the Jason Kidd rumors flying around, let me point out a couple of things. First of all, with every passing possession Devin Harris became more and more valuable. The offense was atrocious without him. Secondly, any hope of dealing away Jason Terry should probably be shelved. I was very disappointed with him. He had 6 assists, but don't fool yourself. Those assists usually came about because Bass or Dirk hit a jumper after he passed it to them. It wasn't because Jet was doing much of anything. In fact, Jet was having a tough time even dribbling.

By the way, Rajon Rondo scored 14 points, had 12 rebounds, 6 offensive rebounds, and had 4 assists. Yeah, Jet was bad.

JJ had 4 assists and a steal in 9 minutes. I found myself wishing he was getting more minutes tonight, believe it or not.

Josh Howard got off to a hot start offensively, like always, by scoring 13 in the first quarter. He finished with 19. Yuck. And he couldn't keep Pierce or Allen from scoring either. Not his best night.

Eddie Jones played. That's about all I can say about that.

Damp played too. He pulled down 7 rebounds in his limited minutes. The game ended up going very small, and Damp was left on the bench. I didn't much like it, and with every offensive rebound the Celtics grabbed in the fourth quarter, I liked it less.

Really pleased with Brandon Bass tonight. I think you could make a good case that he was the second best Maverick in the second half tonight. He scored 10 points and actually helped take the Mavs to a lead. He grabbed 4 rebounds and blocked a couple of shots on switches too.

I was very happy with Trenton Hassell and Devean George too. Hassell continues to show that he deserves minutes on this team. After Ray Allen was smoking hot in the first quarter, Trenton Hassell came on to make him awfully quiet. And when Pierce was getting it going in the second half, Hassell quieted him down too. Devean George brought some energy and defense to the team as well. He worked hard as made an impact with his effort. On a night when the team was without Stack and Devin, and Eddie Jones wasn't getting it done, those guys were pretty responsible for helping the Mavs stay right in the game.