Never a Doubt 2

Three thousand miles away, the Lakers were also lucky to stay on serve, with a closer-than-the-score-indicated 111 to 104 win over Utah.

While the Lakers have no doubt about who their crunch-time go-to guy is (one of the major flaws with the Celtic team built by NBA Executive of the Year Danny Ainge), they survived despite no field goals from Kobe during the fourth quarter. Instead, Bryant (who rested for the first few minutes of the fourth), was content to distribute the ball to teammates and they -- led by Jordan Farmar's driving 3-point play to push the lead from +1 to +4, and Pau Gausol -- did the rest. (Bryant did ice the game with 3 of 4 FTs in the last 10 seconds, but as important he did not force any shots during the 4th. His confidence in his teammates is noticeable.)

For Utah, who has not yet won at Staples this year, it was a crushing defeat. They now return home, hoping to get one more chance at the Lakers on Sunday.

Bye-Bye in Big D

For the second year in a row, the Dallas Mavericks were eliminated in the first round. But unlike a year ago, when Golden State shocked the Mavs, this year it was a quiet 4-1 loss to the resurgent New Orleans Hornets.

The immediate casualty was, as predicted here, Coach Avery Johnson; but GM Donn Nelson may also be feeling the heat.

Just before the trading deadline, the main Western Conference contenders all 'armed up' by acquiring missing pieces: Kyle Korver to the Jazz (12/29/2007), Pau Gausol to the Lakers (2/1/2008), and Shaq Fu to PHX (2/7/2008).

Dallas was the last to 'respond', and had a lot of trouble getting the Jason Kidd deal done; in the end, Kidd was not the piece that Nelson (and others) felt that he would be, and the Mavs now have to rethink their future.

53 weeks ago, the Mavs were coming off an NBA Finals appearance (where they might have won), had the best record in the League (67-15), and were a leading contender for the NBA title. The leading question was whether Mark Cuban could keep a straight face as David Stern was handing him the Lawrence O'Brien trophy.

Today, after a mediocre 51-31 season, with another first round exit and the salary cap a distant memory, the Mavs may be out of options.

3-1

Before the NBA Playoffs began, the marquee first-round matchup was undoubtedly the Suns-Spurs. With the history of the series a year ago, the Tim Donaghy scandal, and the all-in trade for Shaq this winter, there was every indication that this would be another classic.

But when the Spurs jumped out to a 2-0 lead at home, followed by a desultory Suns effort in Game 3, the only question was whether the Suns experiment had imploaded spectularly.

Now after the kind of effort that, frankly, have occurred in Game Three, the Suns are showing a pulse. As the Red Sox famously showed, 0-3 is not impossible (although it has not occurred in the NBA), and the defensive changes, together with the (re-)emergence of Boris Diaw (and the subsequent control of Tony Parker), means that if the Spurs don't win Game Five, the pressure starts to mount.

The other team that gambled to 'win now' -- the Dallas Mavericks -- are also looking into the abyss, and it appears that the Avery Johnson era may be coming to end in the Big D.

Celtics Let-Down

When we last left the Celtics, they had gone through the Texas Triangle at 3-0, for a combined 6-0 against the three Texas teams for the year.

But a fourth quarter let-down against New Orleans on Saturday night was understandable; tonight's meltdown in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Iguodala's much less so.

After letting the Sixers stick around for 3 quarters, the Celtics stopped scoring in the fourth quarter (just 10 points in the first 11:40 of the last period), and Iguodala punished them with 10 straight points (3 dunks, 2 FTs and a jumper) and led the 76ers on a personal 10-0 run against the Cs.

There's undoubtedly a let-down after the Celtics have effectively clinched homecourt advantage, and Doc Rivers experimenting with the lineup is also a factor. But despite the good work that the Celtics have done over the past six months, there's an unease in Celtics Nation on the eve of Red Sox Opening Day (albeit 8,000 miles away in Japan).

The Texas Triangle

With all the excitement over the unveiling of the NCAA Bracket last night, the Celtics' upcoming trip to Texas has been overlooked; the Cs play three play-off contenders in four nights: the San Antonio Spurs tonight, followed by a trip to Houston to face the red-hot Rockets (Tues), and then on to Dallas (Thurs), to face the revamped Mavs. (The Celtics also stop in New Orleans on Saturday night at the tail-end of the road trip.)

The Western Conference is, as Dan Rather might remark, as tight as a tick, with just 4 losses separating the top team (Houston at 46-20) from the #8 and final play-off team (currently Golden State, at 41-24; Denver is two losses back at 40-26).

The Cs would do well to split the trip (they won Saturday night in Milwaukee, 99-77), especially because guard Ray Allen remains day-to-day (he apparently will not play tonight against the Spurs). After being man-handled at home Friday night against the Utah Jazz (44-24, #4 in West), the Cs need to show that they can compete against the elite Western teams. The Jazz game was an especially long night for Rajon Rondo, who was torched for 32 points by Deron Williams.

While Boston will not get a lot of attention in a week that is dominated by the NCAA Opening Rounds, the fact that the NBA had the Celtics scheduled to make their single trip to Texas this week reminds us all how far the Cs have come since last summer.

C's Return Home

The Celtics staunched the bleeding of an 0-3 start to a Western Conference swing by winning Sunday in Portland, and again last night in Los Angeles (against the Clippers). Of course, both the Blazers and the Clips are on the outside looking-in at the Western playoff picture.

In the East, the Pistons have closed to within 2 games of the Cs for first place in the Conference (and home court until the NBA Finals). More importantly, on Sunday Detroit put a big hurting on the same Suns team that had man-handled the Celtics on Friday night, 116-86.

The Pistons come to Boston next Wednesday (March 5th) for what will be the teams last meeting until (perhaps) the Playoffs.

Arming Up in the West

Although the Celtics remain atop the NBA standings, with a 40-9 record, the Western Conference is still the most likely to produce the eventual league champ.

Three different contenders have made moves in the past 10 days to 'upgrade':

1. Dallas. In a deal that has yet to be finalized, the Mavs were set to ship Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager, and Devean George for Jason Kidd and Malik Allen. George has (as of this writing) vetoed the deal based on a provision in his contract, although the bet here is that the teams will find $ome way to get George comfortable with the potential move to New Jer$ey.

Assuming the deal gets done, the Mavs have made a major move in a very competitive conference. The move would be a return to Dallas for Kidd, who was drafted out of Cal by the Mavs management (pre-Mark Cuban), and was Rookie-of-the-Year (along with Grant Hill) before being shipped to Phoenix. Although getting long in the tooth at age 34, he would provide Dallas with a 'true' point guard who might help the Mavs fill the slot that has been empty since 2004-05 when another point guard was shipped from the Big D to Phoenix.

2. PHX. The Suns, meanwhile, rolled the dice a week ago by trading Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for the Big Diesel. At age 35, Shaq has even more miles on the treads than Kidd (or, for that matter, Indiana Jones), but he offers the Suns something that they have not had in years: a low-post presence.

Since 1999, only one team (the 2004 Pistons) have won an NBA title without either O'Neill or Tim Duncan in the middle. The Suns, who have tried to win with a European-style fast-strike offense that has bogged down in the playoffs in each of the past three years. Despite the brilliance of back-to-back MVP Steve Nash, the Suns weren't going to win with this group.

Suns GM Tim Kerr rolled the dice with Shaq, and like Dallas, the "future is now."

3. LA Lakers. The Lakers, having seemingly settled the differences with Kobe Bryant, made their own move by acquiring Pau Gasol for his brother (Marc) and a collection of marginal NBA talent.

P. Gausol is just 27 years old, and has already been named the MVP of the FIBA World Championships (in 2006). Although the move helps the Lakers now, it also makes them contenders for the next few seasons.

The Suns and Mavs, however, can't think about tomorrow. They have to win now.