With their dynamic point guard (Rajon Rondo) suspended, their best interior player and soul of the team (Kevin Garnett) out to deal with a personal matter and their best bench scorer (Brandon Bass) sitting with a knee injury, the Boston Celtics should have never bothered to show up in Dallas tonight.
There was no way in hell that the Mavericks (21-12) would lose to the shorthanded Celtics (15-16) and they didn't as Dallas rolled to an easy 89-73 win at the American Airlines Center.
Boston has lost six of its last seven games (since the Lakers loss) to fall back under the .500 mark. The All-Star break couldn't come at a better time for them since they look like the NBA's version of Old Yeller.
Conversely, after a slow start to their title defense, the Mavs have picked it up and won seven of eight mostly thanks to Dirk Nowitzki (26 points, 16 rebounds) getting back in shape. This win gave them the season series with the Celts as Dallas went 2-0.
Paul Pierce led the Celts with 20 points while Ray Allen had 15 and Avery Bradley scored 12. Did I mention that Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Wilcox left with injuries so essentially Greg Stiemsma and JaJuan Johnson were Boston's only big guys left? Is it too early to say I wish this NBA season (not just for the Celtics) was over?
Shawn Marion added 11 points for Dallas while Jason Terry notched 16 points off the bench.
The unofficial end of Boston's first half is Wednesday night in Oklahoma City where they'll get pummeled by the Thunder, with or without KG. This is miserable.
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