# GT: Boston Celtics @ Dallas Mavericks 3/16 7:30PM



## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

*at







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*Boston Celtics [19-45] at Dallas Mavericks [52-11]*
 | Friday, March 16, 2007 | Dallas, TX | American Airline Center | 7:30pm | 
| *TV*: FSNSW | *Radio*: 103.3 ESPN Radio |

*Game Notes*
The Dallas Mavericks, once seemingly unstoppable, have suddenly begun to stumble.

The Mavericks look to shake off their first back-to-back losses in more than four months Friday in their first meeting of the season with the Boston Celtics.

Dallas (52-11) seemed like a lock for the top seed in the Western Conference just a few days ago, when a 17-game winning streak prompted talk of 70 wins for the season.

The win streak ended with a 117-100 loss to Golden State on Monday, followed by a 129-127 double-overtime defeat to Phoenix on Wednesday.

This is the first time the Mavericks have dropped consecutive games since starting the season 0-4, and their lead over the Suns in the West has shrunk to 2 1/2 games.

"If our guys can string together some stops and if I do a better job of getting them in a better position to make sure they can be more successful, then we can get it turned around," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said.

The Mavericks were in position to put Phoenix away on Wednesday. They led by seven points with a minute remaining, but missed three free throws in the final 32 seconds of regulation that could have sealed the victory.

"I'm ready to play again on Friday," said Mavericks forward Josh Howard, who had 19 points and nine rebounds in the loss. "We're just going to have to put this game behind us and move on. We're not a team that's going to dwell on the past. We're just going to keep moving forward. We've been doing that all year - one game isn't going to stop our momentum or change anything."

Dirk Nowitzki finished with 30 points and 16 rebounds against Phoenix, but struggled to find his shooting touch for the second straight game. He made 11 of 28 shots on Wednesday after going just 3-for-11 from the floor in Monday's loss.

Nowitzki has been superb in 12 career games against the Celtics, though, averaging 27.2 points - his most against any opponent.

The Mavericks have won five straight meetings with Boston (19-45) and 11 of 12 in the series. They also have beaten the Celtics six straight times at home. Dallas will look to bounce back after seeing its 23-game winning streak at American Airlines Center end Wednesday.

The Celtics won for the six time in nine games, defeating Atlanta 109-88 on Wednesday for their most lopsided victory since beating Portland by 28 points on Nov. 17.

Al Jefferson lead six Celtics in double figures with 23 points, and is averaging 22.6 on 58.9 percent shooting in his last eight games.

Paul Pierce added 17 points, and was the vocal leader at halftime.

"Paul huddled everybody together before we came out of the locker room and was pretty vocal about what he wanted," coach Doc Rivers said. "He said if we came out strong defensively in the first four minutes, we could put them away."

Pierce scored 60 points in Boston's two losses to Dallas last season. These teams conclude their season series next Friday at TD Banknorth Garden.










Who's hot: *Mavs rebounders
* Erick Dampier ripped down 11 rebounds against Phoenix, each one coming at the offensive end. DeSagana Diop had five offensive rebounds. ... According to Elias Sports Bureau, it's only the third time since they began tracking that statistic in 1973 that a player had at least 11 rebounds, with all of them at the offensive end. Bill Laimbeer had 11 for Detroit in 1993 and Popeye Jones had 12 for the Mavericks in 1994. ... Boston's Al Jefferson would be a solid candidate for most improved player were it not for Sacramento's Kevin Martin. Jefferson is averaging 20.6 points and shooting 58.4 percent in the last five games, in which the Celtics are 2-3.

Who's not: *The Mavs
* How often have we been able to say that this season? They are coming off back-to-back losses for the first time since their 0-4 start. And even if the 129-127 loss to Phoenix on Wednesday is being shown today (3 p.m.) as an ESPN instant classic, it still burns. ... Dirk Nowitzki is shooting only 14-for-39 in the last two games. ... Josh Howard is shooting a shade under 40 percent in the last six games. ... The Mavs' 23-game home winning streak ended Wednesday. It was the longest home streak for any team since Indiana won 25 in a row in 1999-2000.

*Injuries*
*Mavericks: *D.J. Mbenga (_right knee_) is out; Devean George (_right knee_) is day-to-day.
*Celtics: *Wally Szczerbiak (_left ankle_), Theo Ratliff (_back_) and Tony Allen (_left knee_) are out; Ryan Gomes (_left foot_) is day-to-day.











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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

Alright... we need the GT mojo from here on out until the end of the season, and we need all the help we can get. Let's try to have a GT for every game up at the beginning of that day. If there is no GT up, put one up.

I am using NT's template, which seems to have the "strongest mojo." :biggrin: Basically, anybody can copy the template by hitting the "reply" button to the post and copying all contents between the "QUOTE" tags. Then switch out the team logo's (NT's Team Logo Gallery), time, date, game notes (yahoo sports), who's hot and who's not (WFAA.com) and injuries (WFAA.com).

Let's get the GT mojo going for the final stretch!


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

*Sleepless in Dallas
*By Adrian Wojnarowski
Friday, Mar 16, 2007 12:47 am EDT

DALLAS -- After a sleepless night of revisiting his late missed free throws and wayward buzzer shots, the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki, the NBA MVP favorite, had come to a sobering conclusion on Thursday afternoon.

"That was as tough of a regular-season loss as I've had in my career," Nowitzki told Yahoo! Sports after the Mavericks' practice at American Airlines Center. "In the regular season, here and there's a loss where you're pissed off, but last night really bothered me. Playoff losses have kept me up, but never one in the regular season."

Nowitzki, a 90-percent free-throw shooter, missed one of two from the line twice in the final minute of Wednesday's 129-127 double-overtime loss to the Suns. He missed a 17-foot jumper at the buzzer of regulation and a game-tying fade-away at the end of the second OT. The Mavericks still hold a 2 1/2-game lead over Phoenix for the best record in the NBA.

"Last night I felt like I let the team down by not making the plays for us to win," Nowitzki said. "I felt my team played well enough to win it, and I could've come through."

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/nb...lt=Altt9DE.Jp65E.nA9wws7XC8vLYF?urn=nba,26722


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

_boy, it's been a hell of a day..._

Obviously, it's back to form tonight - or this team opens itself up to doubters of everykind, even internally.


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

Begining of a new streak.


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## Pain5155 (May 28, 2006)

their down 8 in the third, looks like they'll lose 3 straight. The suns beatdown is still fresh in their minds.


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## Tersk (Apr 9, 2004)

Hahah, you are nothing more than a troll

Since when is getting beat by two points in double overtime a beat down? And besides, Dallas will win this game - there is plenty of time.. Just leave


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## Helvius (Jul 4, 2006)

Ok, now I agree; this may be a bit of baiting . Pardon.


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## t1no (Jul 10, 2005)

Very good performance from JHo and Dirk. What a nice way to gain back your confidence!


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## Jet (Jul 1, 2005)

It looks like Maurice Ager got some non-trash minutes this evening.. sweet, but a nice outing by Dirk and Josh.. The whole team shot about 91% from the FT line, I like to see that


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## Tersk (Apr 9, 2004)

Dirk with 19 points/ 5 rebounds and 2 assists in 4th quarter


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## knicksfan89 (Jan 6, 2005)

and we came back to win folks


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

Bigger test awaits with the bright lights of Sunday.


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

xray said:


> Bigger test awaits with the bright lights of Sunday.


I hope we get to see the real Mavs tomorrow.


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

croco said:


> I hope we get to see the real Mavs tomorrow.


Hope you guys understand what I mean by this, but I wish we could see each team at its full capacity play their best every night.

Great for the league, and the fans. :clap2:


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

xray said:


> Hope you guys understand what I mean by this, but I wish we could see each team at its full capacity play their best every night.
> 
> Great for the league, and the fans. :clap2:


You are too good for this world. :biggrin:


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

btw: The game will be shown in Germany and the Mavs always win in the regular season when that's the case.


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