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Doc Rivers' decision down the stretch of the Celtics' Game 4 win reminded me of the Mavs' season finale.

Rivers rode the hot hands off the bench in the fourth quarter. He made the tough decision to stick with Nate Robinson and Glen Davis, keeping Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett on the bench for most of the fourth quarter.

It certainly paid off for the Celtics, with the self-proclaimed "Shrek and Donkey" combination carrying Boston to the series-evening win.

Rick Carlisle took the other route when presented a similar option in Game 6 in San Antonio. Roddy Beaubois fueled the Mavs' comeback, giving them a shot to beat the Spurs and bring the series back to Dallas. But Roddy B rode the bench for most of the fourth quarter, with ice-cold Jason Terry getting the nod.

Carlisle's choice was based on history, not who had the hot hand. It's likely a decision he wished he could do over.

Rivers got it right last night.

Mavericks guard/forward Caron Butler shares his thoughts on the NBA Finals and this summer's free agency. Butler thinks power forward is the matchup to keep an eye on during the Celtics-Lakers series.

Click here for the podcast.

NBA Commissioner David Stern joins The Herd with Colin Cowherd and says there will be no free agent summit -- players talk all the time. Stern also touches on Phil Jackson's fines, Mark Cuban, the start times of games and LeBron’s future ... but won't predict the Finals.

Click here for the podcast.

My hunch is that Mark Cuban shook his head and smiled when Ron Artest launched a couple of ill-advised jumpers during the final minute of Game 5 in the Lakers-Suns series.

After all, Cuban predicted in October that Artest's arrival would throw a wrench in the Lakers' parade plans.

"I tell you what, now that they've got Ron Artest, I couldn't think of anything better," Cuban said during an appearance on ESPN 103.3's Galloway and Co. "If you would have said, what one player -- and I'll get killed over this -- what one player would you like to see on the Lakers? Ron Artest.

"Could you imagine? Ron Artest has got the ball, and Kobe's standing there, 'Throw me the ball.' Thank you, Ron Artest."

Of course, Artest more than made up for his awful shot selection with his buzzer-beating putback of a Kobe airball, a game-winner that could be the pivotal play of the series.

You can imagine what the masses at the Staples Center were thinking at the moment: Thank you, Ron Artest.

The Boston Celtics are proving that it’s possible for a veteran team to make a playoff run after an inconsistent regular season.

In other words, they are what they Dallas Mavericks hoped to be.

There are, of course, some major differences between the one-and-done Mavs and Finals-bound Celtics.

Start with the fact that, while the Celtics feature three probable Hall of Famers who are in their thirties, a young buck is making a strong case that he’s their best player. Heck, 24-year-old point guard Rajon Rondo was the best player in a series headlined by the MVP of the last two seasons.

The Mavs didn’t have anybody in their rotation with Rondo’s dynamic athleticism, ability to break down a defense and youthful energy. That’s primarily because Rick Carlisle refused to give Roddy Beaubois a permanent role in the rotation, which will change next season unless Roddy B. is moved in a sign-and-trade deal for a superstar.

That isn’t to say that Beaubois will be another Rondo, although the lanky, lightning-fast Celtics guard was the first guy mentioned by Donnie Nelson when asked on draft night who this guy from Guadeloupe reminded him of. There have similar bodies and athletic ability, but Rondo is a pure point guard while Beaubois is more of a scorer with better shooting range.

Their differences aside, Beaubois represents hope that the Mavs might already have a dynamic, young star-in-the-making on their roster. The question is whether he can emerge as an All-Star-caliber player, especially as quickly as Rondo has.

The other thing the Celtics have going for them that the Mavs did not is that their core has had plenty of time to get comfortable playing together. Boston made only minor tweaks to its roster last summer, with the Rasheed Wallace signing the biggest move. The Mavs added three prominent players over the last 12 months, two of which came just before the trade deadline.

Continuity isn’t Plan A for the Mavs. Armed with sign-and-trade assets, Mark Cuban and Co. will swing for the fences in free agency this summer.

If they strike out, all hope isn’t lost. They’ll still have two veteran Hall of Famers as the core of a 55-win team returns intact, but their championship hopes depend largely on the development of a dynamic kid.

Cleveland's LeBron James won the MVP award but won't win the NBA title this season following Thursday's elimination at the hands of the Boston Celtics.

Six of the 28 players who have won the NBA MVP have never won a championship since the award started for the 1955-56 season. That lists includes the Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki and his former guard Steve Nash, who is still in contention for a ring in 2010.


And so begins the speculation over James' future. The gambling website bodog.com is already on the case, and it doesn't look promising for the Mavericks.

The No. 2 seed Dallas Mavericks made themselves feel better by referring to the San Antonio Spurs as no ordinary No. 7 seed.

And then the Phoenix Suns quickly reminded everyone that throughout the regular season the Spurs were a mediocre defensive club, had trouble integrating a slew of new players, most notably Richard Jefferson, and often couldn't get out of their own way.

And, really, only a final-week collapse by the young Oklahoma City Thunder prevented San Antonio, which did play better in the final month-and-a-half of the season -- mind you, without the injured Tony Parker -- from finishing as the No. 8 seed in the tightly contested West.

So how do the Mavs reconcile their 4-2 first-round defeat to the Spurs, whose supposedly stalwart defense so short-circuited Dallas' offense, after the run-and-gun Suns took the broom to San Antonio?

It's not rocket-science. The Suns (109.5) averaged nearly 17 points more a game than the Mavs (92.8) by excelling in three areas in which Dallas failed.

One and Two: Sensational offensive production at the point guard and post positions. At 36, Steve Nash might be at his all-around best. He averaged 22.0 points and 7.7 assists against the Spurs. His uncanny ability to slice the defense, get into the lane and score, or force defenders to collapse for kick-outs to open shooters or dump-offs to Amare Stoudemire, torched San Antonio. Stoudemire is the second aspect. He averaged 20.5 points and 9.3 rebounds in the four games. Stoudemire is a powerful force coming off the pick-and-roll and he's become an efficient shooter off the pick-and-pop.

The Mavs did not get Jason Kidd at his best, having averaged 8.0 points and 7.0 assists. Kidd could not get into the lane and create for others and he was way off with his 3-point shot. And, the Mavs got nothing in the post. While Dirk Nowitzki was able to drive and get some scoring in the paint, he's obviously a player who lives by the step-back jumper. That leaves offensively limited centers Erick Dampier and Brendan Haywood to score down low. How'd that go? The pair combined to average 6.0 points in the six-game series. Dampier did not have a single field goal. During the series, Nowitzki acknowledged that the Spurs weren't even guarding the Mavs' centers, allowing for more pressure on the perimeter.

At those two critical positions, the Suns averaged nearly 30 points more a game than the Mavs.

Third: 3-point shooting. The Mavs want to play like the Suns, but lacking a point guard that can get into the lane and with no inside scoring threat to run the offense through, perimeter shooting better be near-perfect. Dallas shot 32.8 percent from beyond the arc against San Antonio. If Jason Terry and Kidd aren't hitting 3s, as they weren't, the Mavs are in trouble. Caron Butler is not a consistent 3-point shooter and Shawn Marion hasn't shot them since he left Phoenix.

The Suns, meanwhile, as they have done all season, shot a blistering 41.2 percent from long range for the series with a bevy of different players -- Nash, Jason Richardson, Goran Dragic, Channing Frye and Jared Dudley all producing on the big stage.

Those are big holes the Mavs will try to address this summer. They can thank the Suns for making it all the more apparent now that they've exposed the Spurs as a true No. 7 seed.

Before Dallas Mavericks fans raise pitch forks and march on Rick Carlisle's office convinced that Goran Dragic's huge Game 3 could have been Roddy Beaubois if only he'd been allowed to play all along, consider a few facts.

Dragic, the 6-foot-3 reserve guard whose stunning 26 points Friday night helped give the Phoenix Suns a 3-0 series lead over Mavs ouster San Antonio, is a second-year player whose rookie season closely resembled that of Beaubois'.

As a rookie, Dragic played in 55 games and averaged 13.2 minutes and 4.5 points. Beaubois played in 56 games and averaged 12.5 minutes and 7.1 points. Dragic, a native of Slovenia, turned 24 on Thursday. Beaubois, from the French territory of Guadeloupe, turned 22 in February. Dragic was a second-round pick, taken 45th overall. Beaubois was the 25th pick last summer.

Had the Suns made the playoffs last season, how many minutes would young Dragic have played? Probably not many.

Dragic grabbed a bigger role this season, playing in 80 games and averaging 18.0 minutes and 7.9 points off the bench. Beaubois is on a similar trajectory in Dallas and it wouldn't be surprising if his second-season stats blow by Dragic's numbers.

Prior to Dragic's huge Game 3 in which he ripped the Spurs defense with an array of drives, spin and pivot moves in the paint and fatal 3-pointers -- everything Dallas was missing until Beaubois surfaced in Game 6 -- he was not having a good postseason, averaging 5.6 points and shooting 34.9 percent from the floor in 14.3 minutes.

Beaubois, playing behind veterans Caron Butler and Jason Terry got his first postseason chance in Game 3 at San Antonio. After five tough minutes, he was yanked and that was really that until Carlisle turned to him in a desperation move in Game 6. Beaubois shined with 16 points in 21 minutes -- not too unlike Dragic's Game 3 effort.

However, there is one glaring difference and this is where fans can and have torched Carlisle for not sticking with the red-hot Beaubois in the fourth quarter after starting him in the third quarter. Carlisle, who typically has stayed true to what's working -- think J.J. Barea in Game 3 -- went the other way on this occassion and put his trust in the cold-shooting Terry, who has a track record of clutch fourth-quarter performances, but was scoreless through three quarters.

Carlisle kept Beaubois on the bench for the first nine-plus minutes of the fourth quarter as the game slowly slipped away. When Carlisle finally came back to Beaubois, it was 89-81, and too late.

Gentry, to his credit, didn't dare remove the smoking Dragic throughout the fourth quarter, which the Suns trailed, 72-71, to start it, as Phoenix's starters watched from the bench. Steve Nash didn't get back on the floor until the 3:16 mark of the fourth quarter, simply as insurance as the second-teamers built a 100-89 lead. Gentry honored Dragic's effort by leaving him in. Nash replaced Leandro Barbosa, while Jason Richardson, who was having an outstanding game in his own right with 21 points, did not play the entire fourth quarter.

In hindsight, of course, a case could be made for Beaubois to have played more in the Spurs series. Likewise, Dragic's Game 3 performance could suggest that Gentry should have been playing Dragic more than the 14.3 minutes he was averaging and maybe Dragic's 34.9 field-goal percentage would be higher with more opportunity.

The fact is, Dragic just had one of those dream nights on a night the Suns needed it. Patience Mavs fans, Beaubois' time, like Dragic's, is coming in his second season.

The fine folks on ESPN 103.3's Galloway and Company spent much of their Monday show playing the what-if game regarding Steve Nash.

It's timely, considering Nash's 33-point, 10-assist performance in the Phoenix Suns' Game 1 win over a San Antonio squad that just eliminated the Mavs.

And it's easy to point out that Nash's 33 points were only 15 fewer than Jason Kidd had in the entire six-game series against the Spurs. Or eight more than Kidd managed to score in the four losses.

The official spin from Mark Cuban, the man who let Nash go, is: 1) Blame Nellie for advising him that Nash was wearing down; 2) Dirk didn't develop into a willing face of the franchise until his buddy's departure; 3) Nash had more motivation after departing Dallas.

Oh, and Cuban also makes sure to mention that the Mavs went to the Finals without Nash. I'd argue that the Mavs probably would have had a parade if they had a true point guard that season.

But good luck finding anybody who isn't on Cuban's payroll that believes letting Nash go for nothing was anything short of a bonehead basketball move.

Would the Nasty-Dirty duo have won at least one title? We'll never know for sure. But I'd be willing to bet that, with Nash running the point, the Mavs would at least make it past the first round on a regular basis.

After the Game 6 loss that sent the Dallas Mavericks home in the first round, players started to share insight that Jason Kidd had the flu heading into the first-round series against the San Antonio Spurs. Earlier in the series, suspicions that he was fighting an ear infection floated about.

After the team met for the final time on Friday, coach Rick Carlisle said, as previously reported, that Kidd might have been affected by illness. Kidd skipped the team meeting and exit interviews to fly home to Phoenix, but the team provided no reason for Kidd's absence, other than Carlisle saying Kidd left to attend to attend "personal things." Kidd was the only player not to attend.

"He may well have been affected. He would not want to use anything as an excuse, I know that," Carlisle said. "But, you know, when you get into a series that's played at such a high level, every ounce of energy you can muster is always going to help. Again, he poured his heart into this thing, really, ever since I've walked in the door here and been involved. When he steps on the floor, it's all about finding a way to get a win and that's the only thing. Again, just extremely disappointed for him and Dirk and Mark."

Kidd had his best game of the series in the opener, posting 13 points and 11 assists in the 100-94 victory. He scored 35 points in the remaining five games and shot 30 pecent from the field in the series.

President of basketball operations Donnie Nelson asked which one -- Kidd or Jason Terry -- when asked how physically ill "Jason" might have been during the series. Nelson was then informed, Jason Kidd.

"He's like Dirk, those guys are ultimate, superior competitors and I think they're ill in the fact of the result more than anything," Nelson said. "We're all still reeling. We can't believe the season is over, but if there's anything physically wrong there, he's certainly not going to use that as an excuse."

The only certainty about the upcoming summer for the Mavs is that it'll be interesting.

Owner Mark Cuban, as usual, plans to be "opportunistic." In this case, that means swinging for the fences in what might be the best free agent market in NBA history. Even if the Mavs strike out in their quest for another superstar, there could be significant tweaking of the roster.

Here, as a complement to Jeff Caplan's report card for the Mavs' 2009-10 season, is a look at how likely it is that each player on last season's roster will return:

Dirk Nowitzki – 95 percent

I thought this was a lock until I heard Dirk’s comments after the Mavs’ third first-round exit in four seasons, which he didn’t back off the following day. Can you blame a superstar in his situation for considering his options? However, it’d still be stunning if Dirk decides to leave Dallas this summer. My hunch is he’ll simply decide not to opt out of the final season of his contract, keeping his options open if the Mavs aren’t any closer to a title a year from now.

Jason Kidd – 99.9 percent

The Mavs love him despite disappointing performances in the playoffs the last three seasons. They won’t shop him. Even if they did, there wouldn’t be much, if any, interest in a 37-year-old with two seasons remaining on his contract. The Mavs need Rodrigue Beaubois to develop his point guard skills this summer enough to let them manage Kidd’s minutes.

Shawn Marion – 99.9 percent

Teams aren’t looking to trade for a 32-year-old forward who relies on athleticism and is under contract for four more years, even though Marion doesn’t make a ton of money by NBA standards. It’ll be interesting to see how Marion’s role change if Beaubois and Caron Butler also remain Mavericks. A lot of Roddy B’s minutes might come at Marion’s expense.

Caron Butler – 50 percent

Does Butler fit that well with the Mavs? He’s a natural small forward who starts at shooting guard in Dallas, where he was inconsistent with flashes of brilliance. You can count on Butler’s name coming up in trade talks this summer, especially if the Mavs get in serious discussions about a sign-and-trade deal for a superstar. Butler’s talent and expiring contract ($10.8 million salary) make him an attractive trade chip. The Mavs knew that when they made the deal with Washington to bring Butler to Dallas.

Erick Dampier – 40 percent

There is no way that Dampier will finish his current contract, either in Dallas or elsewhere. He’s not worth paying a $13.1 million salary. Due to some creative language in the contract, that money is totally nonguaranteed and the Mavs can use him as an instantly expiring contract in their trade talks. That’s an extremely attractive asset to cost-conscious teams. But Dampier might not be done in Dallas. Whenever he’s released, whether it’s by the Mavs or another team, the Mavs will likely be interested in bringing him back. Just at a fraction of what they’ve been paying him.

Jason Terry – 80 percent

The emergence of Roddy Beaubois will cut into Terry’s role. Terry’s contract is no longer totally untradeable, as only about half of his 2011-12 salary is guaranteed, pending certain incentives. But the odds are he’ll be back for at least one more season. If that’s the case, the question is whether he’ll still be the first guard off the bench.

J.J. Barea – 60 percent

Barea gets asked about a lot when the Mavs are talking trade. That’s because he’s a proven contributor at a discount price ($1.7 million team option for next season). It wouldn’t be surprising if Barea gets thrown in a blockbuster deal this summer, especially with the Mavs’ plan to prepare Beaubois to be the backup point guard.

Brendan Haywood – 60 percent

The Mavs’ brass made it very clear when they blockbuster deal with Washington went down that they wanted to keep Haywood for the long haul. The Dallas decision-makers might not be as excited about Haywood as their big man of the future after his up-and-down few months as a Mav. But what better options are out there? Haywood is an unrestricted free agent, but it’ll be tough for him to find more money and a better fit than the Mavs can offer.

Rodrigue Beaubois – 95 percent

How could Roddy B’s return not be a lock? Because if the Mavs hit a home run in the sign-and-trade market, Beaubois will probably have to be part of the outgoing package. Think of it as a win-win situation: His departure would mean the Mavs are adding a superstar; his return would means the Mavs have a potential star in the making.

Eduardo Najera – 90 percent

The next two seasons on Najera’s contract aren’t fully guaranteed, but the savings aren’t significant if the Mavs decide to get rid of him. Plus, they need Najera’s nastiness, even if he doesn’t play many minutes. He’s a good teammate who opponents hate. In other words, he’s the kind of guy you want on the fringe of the rotation.


DeShawn Stevenson – 95 percent

He’d be crazy not to pick up his player option for $4.2 million next season. It’s possible that he could then be flipped to another team in a trade, since he is an expiring contract. It’s more likely that he’ll continue in his role as a rarely used defensive stopper and be dangled as an expiring contract around the trade deadline.

Matt Carroll – 99.9 percent

The Mavs aren’t holding their breath for other teams to show interest in a player who scored 46 points last season and is owed $14.4 million over the next three seasons.

The day after the Dallas Mavericks ended a 55-win regular season in the first round of the playoffs, president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson assured that coach Rick Carlisle will be back for a third season.

But, is Carlisle the right man for the job? Does he still have the ear of the players?

If there's one area that tests his players the most, it is Carlisle's fluctuating rotations. While many coaches prefer to have a set rotation with defined roles, Carlisle prefers to keep players on edge, unsure of when their next playing time will come. And that's just not with reserves, just ask Shawn Marion, whose playing time was sliced in the playoff series, and Caron Butler, who was benched for the entire second half of Game 3.

Overall, however, Dirk Nowitzki, said the team was together and, if not totally on board with, at least understanding of Carlisle's unorthodox approach to playing time.

"I thought the chemistry was actually really good," Nowitzki said. "The crew liked playing with each other. Sometimes we didn't know who was coming in. But, that's Rick. We all know that. He usually says at the beginning of the season that he sometimes rolls with whatever's going. I think everybody knew what they were getting into."

Jason Terry has been one of Carlisle's most ardent supporters the past two seasons. Terry accepted the sixth-man role last season and went on to win the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award. The trust developed between Carlisle and Terry, typically a big-time late-game performer, is likely why Carlisle chose to play a cold-shooting Terry in the fourth quarter of Game 6, rather than stick with the red-hot rookie, Rodrigue Beaubois, who had sparked the team's comeback.

That move actually went against Carlisle's typical strategy of sticking with what works. Terry was scoreless and 0-of-5 from the field after three quarters. In Game 3, Carlisle rolled with the streaking three-guard lineup and stuck with J.J. Barea for the entire second half rather than go back to Butler at any point.

"That's the life of an NBA head coach. That guy did all he could do. He's amazing," Terry said. "I've had six or seven head coaches in my career and I put him right there at the top of the list. This is a very talented team but it's hard to get the pieces to fit and work them in at the right times, but look at what he's done the last two years. This year we won the Southwest Division, 50-plus wins both years. Obviously, it's never good enough until you win it all. I can only imagine the hurt he's feeling. I told him what he told me, let's try to do it again next year."

Even center Brendan Haywood, who lost his starting job in early April before getting it back in Game 5, backed his coach's decisions. Haywood, who was perceived to have sulked after his demotion, becomes a free agent on July 1 and might or might not be back.

"The hardest part of coaching isn't the X's and O's, it's managing your players and managing the minutes, figuring out who's hot, who's not, what lineups match well together, who plays well with who," Haywood said. "It seems easy when you're sitting back playing or you're sitting back critiquing them, but once you get that clipboard in your hand and you're the coach, it's a harder job than it looks. We were the No. 2 seed and won over 50 games this year. I think he did a good job this year."

Join me, Jeff Caplan, at 2 p.m. to put the 2009-10 season into perspective and talk about what's next for 2010-11.

Get your questions in now, it's bound to be a busy afternoon.

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Another Mavericks season has come, gone and disappointed, and it falls on ESPNDallas.com to assess the damage.

Jeff Caplan handed out grades of the 2010 Mavericks roster, who were eliminated in six games by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

DALLAS -- Roddy Beaubois has a busy summer of basketball development planned. He'll play on the Dallas Mavericks' summer-league team with the hope that he'll make progress as a combo guard similar to that of the San Antonio Spurs' George Hill.

"He played about 80 percent of his minutes this year at the 2-position," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "This summer it's going to be important for him to develop his point guard skills, I think understanding the ability to affect the guys he's playing with on the court positively and be able to not only score and do the dynamic things that he does, but also integrate his teammates."

Carlisle praised Beaubois' development during his rookie season as well as his 16-point effort in Thursday's Game 6. Beaubois sparked a rally that helped bring the Mavs back from a 22-point deficit, although Carlisle chose not to play him for the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter.

"What he did last night in the game is something our franchise can get excited about, our fans should get excited about," Carlisle said. "We just got done talking to him about this summer and the things we'd like him to do to continue to develop his game, both as a guy that plays off the ball and a guy that plays with the ball."

The hope, Carlisle and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said, is to have Beaubois ease the burden on Jason Kidd, who averaged 36 minutes a game this season.

"I'm going to work this summer to be back ready and show the coaches I'm ready to play and play more than this season for sure," Beaubois said.

Depending how things shake out over the summer with roster, it would not be a stretch to see Beaubois as the Mavs' starting 2-gaurd in the backcourt with Kidd and also spending time as Kidd's backup.