C's defeat Mavs; Things looking bright for the Green

Now that's what I call a good win. The Celtics defeated one of the NBA's elite teams on their court on the backside of a back to back Texas trip. The final score was 102-93, but it was close throughout, with the C's coming up stronger in the end. I'm not one to get too high on regular season wins or too low on regular season losses, but if you want a game to pump you up, this was it. You don't win banners in this league without superstars and players capable of putting in 30. A funny thing happened to the Celtics in the past two weeks, the return in play (not just name) of Paul "The Truth" Pierce. He looked like 2008 playoff Pierce tonight. He's averaging 28 points per game over the past three games and his demise was obviously greatly exaggerated.

Our starting backcourt tossed in 41 points, with Rondo adding 10 rebounds. Dirk led "Los Mavs" with 28 points. Some other observations:

• With his mask on Jason Terry resembles Bobafett now even more.
• Nate Robinson will give you a lot in some games and be a negative in others. Tonight was one of the others (like Lost).
• Glen Davis was active again tonight and was the only decent contributor off the bench for the C's.
• Shawn Marion still has something left in his tank and was a nice pickup last Summer by the Mavs. He finished with 16, but was very active in the 1st quarter.
• The Mavs defense leaves something to be desired and they'll have to step it up if they want to get past the Lakers and Nuggets.
• KG only had 8 points, but also had 9 boards and 5 steals and even got on the floor for a loose ball.  His knee seems to be troubling him less now. He won't ever be the young MVP KG again or even the KG of two years ago, but he's giving enough right now to make this team interesting.
• Nice to see Tony Allen cheering on his team hard at the end. He's handled his demotion very well.
• In his post game interview Doc still wasn't completely satisfied which is good to see. He needs to have high expectations. Gorman was correct to credit Doc with sticking up for this team, while many were stamping a R.I.P on them just a couple short weeks ago.

If you missed this game because you were out do to the nice weather, it being a Saturday night, or you were suffering from hoops exhaustion after watching so much college basketball, I highly recommend you find someone who DVR'd it and watch it now. You'll feel much more optimistic about the playoffs... and that's the Truth.