For KG, Beating The Timberwolves Will Always Be Extra Sweet

A week after his scuffle with Brooklyn's Kris Humphries and a two-game suspension by the NBA, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo was back on the TD Garden parquet where he belonged tonight. As expected, it was like he hadn't missed a beat as he put up 17 points and 11 assists in Boston's (10-8, 6-4 home) 104-94 win vs. Minnesota (8-9, 4-6 away).

The Timberwolves were playing the second night of a back-to-back on the road but they looked good in the first half as they took a 51-47 lead into halftime. Predictably, they fell apart in the second half and the much more rested Celtics took advantage of their tired legs. Oh by the way, the C's have won 11 straight against the Timberwolves (10 in a row since KG got here).

Kevin Garnett had 18 points and 10 rebounds against his former team. Paul Pierce scored 18, Jason Terry added 17 points and five rebounds while Brandon Bass put up 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Jeff Green scored eight off the bench and Jared Sullinger had a statistically pleasing seven points and seven rebounds.

Kevin Love paced the Timberwolves with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Nikola Pekovic added 14 points and nine rebounds, Josh Howard scored 12 and Luke Ridnour had 11 points and five assists. Alexey Shved notched 11 points off the bench and former Northeastern star J.J. Barea tallied 10.

Boston shot better from the field (52.6%-44%), they made four more free throws (18-14), grabbed four more rebounds (45-41), dished out five more assists (24-19) and blocked three more shots (6-3).

Earlier in the day, rookie swingman Kris Joseph was recalled from the Red Claws. He even got in during garbage time against Minnesota and hoisted up a shot that missed.

In a weird scheduling quirk, the Celtics play a home-and-home with the Sixers (10-8, 3rd in Atlantic Division) this weekend. Boston travels to Philadelphia on Friday (7:00 p.m., CSN) then hosts the Sixers on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., CSN). As we all know, Philly is a bad matchup for Boston therefore they usually play them very tough. In their first meeting this season-back on November 9-Philadelphia won 106-100 at the Garden.

This weekend is when Boston could use some extra contributions from its supposedly deep bench. They can't rely on Garnett, Pierce and Terry to give them huge minutes in either contest so it's up to the young guys-Green, Sullinger, Courtney Lee, Leandro Barbosa-to make it happen when they need a rest.

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Mark Cuban must be loving life

The Dallas Mavericks are frauds. Since losing in the NBA finals in 2006, they've continually gotten worse. Good regular seasons have been followed by quick playoff exits. Avery Johnson was fired and Rick Carlisle is now the head coach but things don't appear to be changing in Big D.

Yesterday, the Boston Celtics took the Mavs behind the woodshed-in this case the Garden-for a 124-100 win that wasn't that close.

The Celts' (37-9) eighth straight win gave them the exact same record that they had last season thru 46 games.

Boston was led by its threesome of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen (7 assists) and Eddie House, who all scored 23 points. Rajon Rondo added 13 points, 14 assists, seven rebounds and four steals.

For Dallas (25-19), Jason Terry had 27 points off the bench while Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki each had 18 quiet, useless points.

The early afternoon (1 p.m.) start for ABC was no problem for the C's as they jumped on Dallas early: 38-23 after the first quarter. Not to be outdone, Boston scored a season-high 74 points in the first half, while the Mavs had 47. Game over.

The starters didn't have to play in the fourth as the bench held its own for the Green.

Boston shot 53.8% in the game, to Dallas' 42.1%. Led by House (7) and Allen (4), the Celts made 16 3-pointers. Dallas had a 30-8 free throws made advantage and they still got smoked.

The assist margin was 34-12 for the C's, who also only committed six turnovers. There were silly numbers all over the place in this laugher.

Expect more of the same as the Sacramento Kings come to the Garden tomorrow night. The Kings haven't beaten an Eastern Conference team this whole season. Really.

Suck It Cuban

Regardless of what happens tomorrow night in New Orleans against the Hornets, the Celtics road trip has to be considered wildly successful.

With last night's 94-90 win over the Mavericks (44-25), the Celtics (55-13) completed the extremely rare sweep of the dreaded Texas Triangle. In doing so, they became the first team since the Kings in Nov. 2001 to complete the task.

After missing the last three games, Ray Allen came back with a vengeance last night, hitting the biggest shot of the game (a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left that put the C's up two). Allen sat for a good portion of the fourth but he still managed 21 points. Paul Pierce (22 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks) and Kevin Garnett (20 points, 13 rebounds, 3 steals) also did some fine work all game.

The key to the win for Boston was its defense. Josh Howard led the Mavs with 24 points and six rebounds while Dirk Nowitzki had 22 points, 19 boards and six turnovers. Jerry Stackhouse added 17 points while Erick Dampier and Brandon Bass both notched 10. Oh and since the Mavericks picked up Jason Kidd (2 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals), they're 0-7 against teams over .500

For the game, Boston held Dallas to 39.3% from the floor. The C's are now 24-2 when they hold opponents under 40%. Even though Boston couldn't shoot (34.5%), they got to the line more (30-35 vs. 18-24) and took advantage.

Nowitzki was having a great game until the fourth quarter-a common theme to him this season. He was 0-6 in the fourth and only scored on two free throws while the C's continually harassed him into forced, tough shots.

Boston also made the most of its steals advantage (10-2) and only turned the ball over eight times which is amazing on the road.

All of this offset some terrible shooting by almost every Celtic. Rajon Rondo (0-7) and Sam Cassell (1-9) combined to go 1-16, Pierce was 6-14, Allen was 7-17 and KG was 7-22. James Posey was another standout, with 12 points (including a clutch 3-pointer) and four rebounds.

The road trip comes to a close tomorrow night as Boston travels to New Orleans to take on the only team they haven't played yet in the NBA this season. Everyone keeps waiting for the Hornets to fade but they're back in the top spot in the West so they seem pretty legit. It'll be fun to see Chris Paul (currently the best point guard on the planet) up close. I feel like he should be getting much more MVP consideration for the job he's done so far.

Celts beat Mavs without KG

Last night marked the first time that Boston faced one of the top teams in the West (Pheonix, San Antonio, Dallas) as the Mavericks came to the Garden for a TNT nationally-televised contest. Playing once again without Kevin Garnett, the Celts (36-8) got just enough from Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Co. to hold off the Mavs, 96-90 in a game that had the feel of a playoff game in May, especially in the second half.

The All Star reserves were named yesterday and while Pierce deservedly made it, Ray Allen did not (just like I said he shouldn't). Who knows if that was a big motivating factor but Allen came out on fire, scoring 15 in the first quarter and 22 in the first half, on the way to a team-high 26 points. Pierce also had 26 points and six rebounds.

Dirk Nowitzki (game-high 31 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks) made the stacked West all star team but teammate Josh Howard (19 points, 6 rebounds) failed to do so. Dallas (31-14) was starting a tough three game stretch in the East against Boston, Detroit and Orlando, without point guard Devin Harris, who is out for the next few weeks with an ankle injury. The always overrated Jason Terry (13 points, 6 assists) didn't impress.

Boston was up 27-20 after the first quarter but Dallas won the second quarter, 24-17 to send it to halftime tied at 44.

Rajon Rondo (14 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists) had a great all-around game, showing off his crazy athletic ability. James Posey (13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals) and Leon Powe (10 points, 4 rebounds) were big sparks off the bench.

The Celts were up one going into the fourth and it stayed tight the rest of the way. The outcome came down to a couple huge plays by some unlikely Boston heroes. First, when it was tied at 90, Rondo ripped away a offensive rebound under the basket from the 7-foot Dirk and put it off the glass for two. Then Posey had steals on back-to-back Mavericks possessions and hit all four of his free throws to ice it.

The Mavs were terrible from 3 (4 of 22) while the Celts were 5 of 11. Both teams were automatic from the line, Boston was 25 of 29, Dallas was 24 of 28. Dallas had more assists (20-13) but they also had more turnovers (13-8). It was a very well-played game between two solid NBA teams.

It was easily one of the best wins of the season for the C's as they proved that they can beat an elite team without KG. It's something that they surely don't want to make a habit of but at least they know they're pretty good by themselves. They have the next few days off and don't play again until Tuesday night in Cleveland against LeBron and the Cavs.