ESPN

A six-pack of statistical nuggets to help get you reacquainted with the Mavericks as they return to work after All-Star Weekend:

*Steve Nash was back at Dirk Nowitzki’s side during Sunday night’s All-Star Game, but Nash is no longer in the top five in terms of regular-season games played as a Dirk teammate. Jason Terry has played 559 regular-season games alongside Nowitzki for the Mavs, followed by Michael Finley (471), Shawn Bradley (467), Erick Dampier (412) and Josh Howard (411).

*Nowitzki’s run of 11 consecutive All-Star selections is the second-longest active streak in the league. After Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan saw their respective runs of 14 and 13 end over the weekend, Dirk trails only Kobe Bryant’s 14 straight All-Star trips among active players. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James are next in line with eight straight All-Star trips.

*The Mavericks shot 46 percent from the 3-point line in their four-game playoff sweep of the Lakers. In this season’s two meetings? Dallas is shooting just 20.7 percent from long range against L.A.

*The loss to the Lakers in their final game before the All-Star break was the Mavs’ first this season in which they held a fourth-quarter lead at home. That leaves Chicago, Indiana and Oklahoma City as the only teams that haven’t lost at home after leading in the fourth quarter this season.

*Last Wednesday’s game was Kobe Bryant’s 52nd regular-season appearance against Dallas, breaking Bryant’s tie with James Worthy (51) for the most games against Dallas for any Laker.

*The Mavs still narrowly rank as the league’s second-oldest team with an average age of 30.0 … just behind Atlanta’s average age of 30.2.

How it happened: The Dallas defense bounced back from a rare poor performance by shutting down a Boston team that is bad offensively even with Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett.

With Rondo and Garnett unavailable, this was an easy win for the Mavericks over the Celtics, who have lost six of their last seven games.

The Mavs got another dominant performance from Dirk Nowitzki (26 points, 16 rebounds) and a nice night from Jason Terry (16 points, 6-11 FG) and didn’t need much else from an offensive standpoint.

The Mavs, whose 10-game streak of holding opponents to less than 100 points was snapped in Sunday’s loss to the New York Knicks, smothered the Celtics defensively for the first three quarters. Boston had 53 points and 14 turnovers entering the fourth quarter, which was essentially all garbage time.

What it means: The Mavs beat up Boston’s B team. It’s Dallas’ seventh win in eight games, but it’s difficult to give a win over the Celtics any grand meaning when Garnett and Rondo aren’t even in the building.

Play of the game: If there’s such a thing as a dagger early in the third quarter, Dirk’s uncontested 3-pointer from the right wing qualifies. Jason Kidd fired a cross-court out-of-bounds pass to Nowitzki, whom the Celtics somehow neglected to cover. Nowitzki took a dribble, measured the shot and knocked it down to give the Mavs an 18-point lead with a few minutes into the second half.

Stat of the night: Nowitzki and Paul Pierce, the man picked immediately after Dirk in the 1998 draft, were polar opposites in the plus-minus category. Nowitzki was plus-27, Pierce minus-27.

DALLAS -- Jason Kidd stole Ray Allen's pass into the paint midway through the quarter to give Kidd his 2,515th career steal, pushing him past Michael Jordan to become No. 2 on the NBA's all-time steals list.

The theft led to a Dirk Nowitzki jumper that was part of 10 consecutive points scored by the big German. He finished the half with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Sounds like all fun and games, but as poorly as the massively undermanned Celtics are playing, Dallas might think it should be leading by more than 10. Boston, playing without starters Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett, plus reserve forward Brandon Bass, are shooting 40.5 percent. The Mavs aren't doing much better at 40.9 percent, which means no one besides Dirk is doing much on the offensive end.

OK, Jason Terry is 3-of-4 with two 3s for eight points.

But, to the point, Dirk is 8-of-18 from the floor and the rest of the team is 10-of-26 for 23 points.

Paul Pierce leads Boston with 11 points. Allen and Texas-ex Avery Bradley have eight points each.

The Boston Celtics will likely be without two starters for tonight's game against the Mavericks. The league announced a two-game suspension for starting point guard Rajon Rondo for his actions Sunday night in a loss at Detroit.

Rondo, who will miss tonight's game and Wednesday's at Oklahoma City, was hit with two technical fouls within five seconds and ejected. Rondo threw the ball at an official and struck him in the chest.

Garnett is not likely to play due to personal reasons. Also, backup power forward Brandon Bass has been nursing an injury.

The Celtics (15-15) have lost three games in a row and five of six.

The Mavericks had their six-game winning streak snapped in a Sunday matinee at Madison Square Garden. The Boston Celtics arrived in Dallas with much bigger problems.

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The Celtics have been contenders ever since they pulled off deals to acquire Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, but Boston looks more like a lottery team right now.

Actually, the lack of depth in the Eastern Conference essentially assures the .500 Celtics a playoff berth, but it’ll be a brief postseason in Boston unless things get much better. The Celtics have lost five of their last six games, including two double-digit losses to the 11-22 Detroit Pistons and one to the 9-23 Toronto Raptors.

The Mavs, the NBA’s oldest team, are a surprising 7-3 in the butt end of back-to-back games this season. That record should improve Monday night, despite the familiar, respected name of the foe.

Records: Mavs (20-12); Celtics (15-15)

When: 7 p.m.

Where: American Airlines Center

TV: TNT

Radio: ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM; 1270 AM (Spanish)

What to watch: Will the Dallas defense bounce back after one of its worst performances of the season? Boston, even with Rajon Rondo and three 20,000-plus-point career scorers, have been a poor offensive team this season. They rank 26th in the NBA in scoring at 89.5 points per game. The Celtics are 2-13 in games in which they fail to score at least 90 points. Rondo could present problems for Shawn Marion and the Mavs, whose remarkable run of defending quality point guards came to a halt with Jeremy Lin’s 28-point, 14-assist performance Sunday in Madison Square Garden. However, there’s a chance that the NBA office could lock down Rondo, who might face a suspension after being ejected for tossing a ball at a referee during the Celtics’ Sunday loss to the Pistons.

Key matchup: Dirk Nowitzki vs. Boston power forwards: Nowitzki has traditionally torched the Celtics no matter who Boston uses to defend him. He has a career average of 27.0 points per game against the Celtics, his highest against any team. Boston might have to start third-stringer Chris Wilcox, as Kevin Garnett is dealing with personal issues that caused him to miss Sunday’s loss in Detroit and Brandon Bass has a sore left knee. Nowitzki, who blew by Garnett for a game-winning and-1 layup in the Mavs’ victory in Boston earlier this season, enters the game in a pretty good groove even by his Hall of Fame standards. He has 58 points on 19-of-31 shooting in the last six quarters.

Injuries: Mavs – G Delonte West (fractured right ring finger) is out; G Rodrigue Beaubois (personal reasons) is out. Celtics – PF Brandon Bass (knee) is questionable; PF Kevin Garnett (personal reasons) is questionable.

Up next: Los Angeles Lakers at Mavs, 8:30 p.m., Wednesday

Standing in the quiet Dallas Mavericks locker room Sunday at Madison Square Garden, Shawn Marion, tugging on his designer jeans after a long day chasing Jeremy Lin, was reminded that in about 24 hours he'd be at the American Airlines Center warming up for tonight's game against the Boston Celtics.

"Whew," was about all Marion could muster with a shake of the head and a quick rise of the eyebrows.

After weeks of playing four, five and six games a week, to say the Mavs are looking forward to the All-Star break come Thursday is a vast understatement. Only Dirk Nowitzki will be headed to All-Star Weekend in Orlando as a participant, a reserve for the 11th consecutive time for the West squad. Jason Terry will be there doing work with Reebok.

Otherwise, this squad, the oldest in the league, will take a break on Thursday and won't return until Monday. They won't play again until Tuesday when a point guard named Deron Williams comes to town with Avery Johnson and the woebegone New Jersey Nets.

But, first there's a little business to take care of against the Celtics tonight and Kobe Bryant and those Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.

"That's how we like it, we like it tough," Terry said. "These are the type of games you love -- New York, Boston, L.A. What more can you ask for?"

Tonight: vs. Boston Celtics (15-15), 7 p.m.
TV/Radio: TNT/ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM; 1270 AM (Spanish)
What to watch: The Celtics enter this one in desperation mode as losers of three in a row. They fell to .500 Sunday and 4-7 on the road with a 96-81 wipeout at the hands of the suddenly hot Detroit Pistons. The Celtics could be rather shorthanded as well with former Mavs forward Brandon Bass nursing a sore left knee, Kevin Garnett's status uncertain due to personal reasons and point guard Rajon Rondo awaiting word from the league on a possible suspension after being ejected against the Pistons. The Mavs will be looking to close out their nine-game run with bounce-back game after falling to the Knicks Sunday afternoon. They beat the Celtics in Boston, 90-85.

Wednesday: vs. Los Angeles Lakers (18-13), 8:30 p.m.
TV/Radio: ESPN, FSSW/ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM; 1270 AM (Spanish)
What to watch: The Lakers don't win much on the road, just five times in 16 games, including a 102-90 spanking at Phoenix on Sunday. L.A. will play Portland on Monday before traveling east for a back-to-back at Dallas and Oklahoma City. Last month, Dallas lost a tough, ugly one in L.A. on a Derek Fisher 3-pointer in the final seconds for a 73-70 win. Maybe Dallas can take advantage of a fatigued team. Where the Mavs have concentrated on keeping their stars' minutes, down, Kobe, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum rank near the top of the league in minutes played. Kobe is averaging more than 38 minutes and Gasol is at 37. A victory over the Lakers would send the Mavs into the All-Star break having to feel pretty good about the first half of the season and looking forward to a second half that becomes road-heavy entering March.

Before this season started, Dirk Nowitzki said the part of his game he's most proud of at this stage of his career is his late-game prowess. He said in the early days Steve Nash or Michael Finley, and then even Nick Van Exel, took the big shots with the game on the line.

These days there's arguably no one better in the league producing in the clutch than Nowitzki. He made that perfectly clear in the NBA Finals -- Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem will attest to that, and Mavs coach Rick Carlisle continues to put the ball in his big man's hands when the game is on the line.

Nowitzki continued his game-winning dominance with Wednesday's drive-and-finish despite getting dropped to the floor by Celtics forwards Brandon Bass and Kevin Garnett. The three-point play gave Dallas an 88-85 lead with 5.1 seconds to play. Nowitzki scored nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, another fourth that showed how much the Mavs depend one of the game's most difficult covers to take over in the final frame.

"It’s a fun situation to be in," said Nowitzki, who needs three points to reach 23,000 for his career. "Everybody’s looking at you and your team really depends on you so I like to be in the position where I can make something happen. It doesn’t always have to be a shot, but just to make a play for my teammates and it's been going pretty good."

These numbers from ESPN Stats & Info highlight the Mavs' reliance on Nowitzki's fourth-quarter production:

Nowitzki took over for the Mavericks in the fourth quarter by going to his isolation game. Nowitzki scored nine of the Mavericks’ 22 fourth-quarter points, five of which came on isolation sets. This season, the Mavericks have run isolation plays for Nowitzki more than twice as often in the fourth quarter compared to the first three. Among the 50 players who have at least 20 isolation plays this season, Nowitzki ranks third in field-goal percentage (52.6).

Rick Carlisle has had a knack for timely ejections in leading the Dallas Mavericks and Wednesday's early third-quarter hysterics proved to be a game-changer.

Carlisle had seen enough of Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett climbing all over his superstar Dirk Nowitzki without a whistle, so when it happened again less than two minutes into the third quarter, a furious Carlisle stomped all the way down court until he was practically standing in front of the Celtics' bench.

Waving and pointing and shouting at second-year referee Josh Tiven, Carlisle had to be restrained, almost unsuccessfully, by assistant coach Terry Stotts. Tiven fired back with with consecutive technical fouls to give Carlisle the early exit. At the time, Dallas had let a lead slip away and Boston was up three and then five after the technical free throws were good.

"It's my opinion, but Kevin Garnett shouldn't be allowed to bear hug Dirk coming off the screen," Carlisle said after the 90-85 victory, the Mavs' third in a row to run their record to 6-5 and over .500 for the first time this season. "I wanted to make my point. If it costs me a few dollars so be it."

Once Carlisle made his way to the locker room, energy returned to the wilting Mavs. They went on a 24-6 run and turned a five-point deficit into a 66-53 lead.

Boston would rally and tie it on a late Paul Pierce 3-pointer, but Dirk Nowitzki, who had nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, had the last laugh on Garnett by getting around him and converting a difficult drive and foul for a three-point play the old-fashioned way with about five second to go.

"It's a fun situation to be in," Nowitzki said of the game-winning possession. "Everybody's looking at you and your team really depends on you, so I like to be in the position where I can make something happen."

Credit Carlisle with the assist.

How it happened: After struggling most of the night, Dirk Nowitzki delivered when it mattered most.

The Dallas Mavericks had allowed a 13-point second-half lead to melt away when Nowitzki got the ball with about 10 seconds to go at the 3-point line, just right of the top of the arc. After facing up against Kevin Garnett's physical defense, Nowitzki drove hard to his right and went right to the rack, making an and-1 layup despite being knocked down by Brandon Bass and Garnett.

He made the free throw, giving the Mavs a three-point lead and Nowitzki 16 points on the night.

That, along with some stingy defense in the final seconds, prevented the Boston Celtics from pulling off a comeback.

If coach Rick Carlisle meant to spark the Mavs with his rant at the referees, his plan worked well.

Carlisle marched all the way in front of the Celtics’ bench to protest Garnett’s physical defense on Nowitzki, promptly drawing a pair of technical fouls to earn an early exit. That occurred early in the third quarter, when the Celtics had seized momentum and the lead.

The Mavs responded with a 24-6 run to build a lead that swelled to as large as 13 points. The Celtics battled back to pull even a few times in the fourth quarter, but the Mavs never trailed again, pulling out a pretty ugly win in the final minute.

What it means: The Mavs left Dallas without a road win this season and return home with a couple after back-to-back victories at Detroit and Boston. This could be the beginning of the Mavs, who had the NBA’s best road record the last two seasons, re-establishing themselves as a beast away from the AAC. It also pushed the defending NBA champions above .500 (6-5) for the first time this season.

Play of the game: The Finals MVP had an and-1 game winner. What more do you want?

Stat of the night: The Mavs shot only 14-of-25 on free throws. Centers Brendan Haywood and Ian Mahinmi combined to go 2-of-10 during otherwise solid performances.

You'll be hard-pressed to find a game this season that includes so many of the league's all-time scorers on one floor. In tonight's game between the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics, features five of the top seven active scorers in the NBA – Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Vince Carter.

Here's a look at where they rank among active players and their career points:

1. Kobe Bryant - 28,192

2. Kevin Garnett - 23,426

3. Dirk Nowitzki - 22,981

4. Ray Allen - 22,429

5. Tim Duncan - 21,781

6. Paul Pierce - 21,486

7. Vince Carter - 20,611

The milestones are coming fast and furious for Dirk Nowitzki. Through the first 10 games, he has already reached 8,000 career field goals, 1,200 career 3-pointers and he played in his 1,000th career game.

Tonight against the Boston Celtics, the 7-footer needs 19 points to reach 23,000 in his illustrious career. Nowitzki currently sits 23rd all-time in the NBA with 22,981 points. Another 354 points and Nowitzki will pass Boston Celtics great Robert Parrish and move into the top 20.

Nowitzki's scoring average this season is down at 18.9 points, but his minutes, 31.0 a game, are also being closely monitored because of the nature of the compacted schedule. He busted out of a two-game, 5-of-22 slump by hitting 9-of-10 shots for 18 points Tuesday night in the 100-86 win at Detroit.

"We all had a feeling that he was going to play a great game because the way the schedule is set up these last couple of days," coach Rick Calrisle said, nothing the Mavs had two days off before Tuesday's game after playing six games in eight nights.

Can Nowitzki get the 19 points tonight to become the 23rd player in NBA history to notch 23,000 points? Odds are good considering Boston's TD Garden is like a second home to him. Nowitzki's 27.8 scoring average there is his highest at any NBA venue and is the second-highest for any player there behind Michael Jordan's 29.3 average, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Also, Nowitzki's 27.4 career scoring average against the Celtics is his personal highest against a single team. He has the second-highest career scoring average against Boston among active players.

Here's some additional Dirk scoring tidbits:

* He passed Hal Greer (21,586), Larry Bird (21,791), Gary Payton (21,813) and Clyde Drexler (22,195) on the all-time scoring list in 2010-11.

* He ranks third among active players in career scoring, trailing only Kobe Bryant (28,192) and Kevin Garnett (23,426).

* Only three other players born outside of the U.S. have more career points than the 7-footer from Germany: Hakeem Olajuwon (26,946, born in Nigeria), Dominique Wilkins (26,668, born in France) and Patrick Ewing (24,815, born in Jamaica).

DALLAS -- With his pretty, 10-foot step-back jumper with 7:40 to go in Monday night's second quarter, Dirk Nowitzki reached 8,000 career field goals.

He is one of only four active players to hit the mark, joining Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan. Nowitzki also becomes just the 31st player in NBA history to reach the mark.

"That's a lot of jump shots, probably two layups out of 8,000," Nowitzki joked after he scored 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting in Dallas' 100-87 win over Oklahoma City. Nowitzki now has 8,006 career field goals.

"That is great," he said, "but more important for us is to win some games. I think week-by-week we are going to get better, but we can't dig ourselves too deep of a hole right now, so wins are more important right now."

Nowitzki reached 8,000 in his 999th career game. When Dallas plays host to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, the 7-footer will become the 98th player in league history to play in 1,000 games. It will mark the 975th start of a career that is now in its 14th season.

Dallas Mavericks center Tyson Chandler still doesn't know where he'll play basketball next season, but he does have quite the itinerary for the next two weeks.

Chandler will join a star-studded cast of NBA players on a whirlwind adventure of six planned exhibition games played on four continents starting Sunday in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The World All-Star Classic is then scheduled to barnstorm London, Macau and Melbourne, Australia all in a span of 10 days.

However, ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard reported Wednesday that LeBron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony have backed out of the globe-trotting trip and that could end the tour after the initial stop in San Juan -- and it increasingly appears that San Juan will be the lone stop. Still expected to be on the voyage is Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudemire, Blake Griffin, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo.

Chandler, who has been playing pickup games in L.A. with a variety of NBA players, is hopeful the whole deal goes down.

"I’m looking forward to it," Chandler said Wednesday from his home in Southern California. "I’ve never been to London and I’ve never been to Australia. I’m looking forward to getting to play again with some great talent and the opportunity to see new lands."

If the tour does make it to all four destinations, Chandler will log more than 26,000 air miles and 50 to 60 hours of flying time from liftoff in L.A. on Saturday bound for San Juan to London to Macau to Melbourne and back to L.A.

The players, who are being well-compensated to participate, could find themselves in a bit of a pickle if the world tour manages to go the full distance and somehow the NBA and players association manage to get a labor deal done during talks that renewed Wednesday in New York. A resolution and quick start to training camp could be an issue after such a physically draining trip.

Chandler said he has paid close attention to the negotiations and has spoken several times with union chief Billy Hunter and NBA union president Derek Fisher, and has attended union meetings.

The 7-foot-1 center, who breathed new life into an aging Mavs team that won the franchise's first NBA title, said he believes the lockout is fully in the hands of the owners. He believes the owners are split among common market size and that their internal divide is not allowing the process to move forward.

"I really feel it’s up to the owners at this point. We put an incredible deal on the table and they put their deal on the table and said take it or leave it, so we had to leave it," said Chandler, who will become one of the most sought-after free agents and a top priority of the Mavs to re-sign whenever the lockout is lifted. "Honestly, I feel like it’s between them. Different owners want different things. Personally, I believe that within the ranks they have differing opinions, but have to be as one during negotiations.

"At some point they have to do what’s right for the entire game. Right now, what’s going on is not what’s best for either side."

DALLAS -- Tyson Chandler, credited with turning the Dallas Mavericks into a legitimate defensive force this season, finished third in voting for the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year behind Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, who won for a record third-consecutive season, and Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett.

Howard won in a landslide with 114 first-place votes. Garnett received one first-place vote. Chandler, in his first season with the Mavs following two injury-riddled seasons with New Orleans and Charlotte, received 20 second-place votes and finished seven points behind Garnett in the final tally.

It is the highest a Mavs player has ever finished for the defensive award.

Chandler averaged 9.4 rebounds, the fourth-highest total of his 10-year career, and 1.1 blocks to go with 10.1 points. Beyond the stats, Chandler emerged as a team leader in the locker room and on the floor, and no more so than on the defensive end, where the Mavs have languished over the years.

Dallas finished the regular season ranked 10th in the NBA in points allowed (96.0) and eighth in defensive efficiency. Last season, Dallas finished in the middle of the pack.

"I think we’re on our way," Chandler said Monday of the Mavs becoming an elite defensive unit. "The more we believe in it the better we get. We definitely have the potential to do that. We’re not up there with the teams that I’ve watched throughout the year that have really kicked it into high gear, but we’re getting there."

Chandler is credited for making it possible.

BOSTON -- When Dirk Nowitzki hurried a pass to Jason Kidd at the top of the arc with the Mavericks trailing the Celtics by one and the clock ticking down, Kidd had one thought flash through his mind.

"I had one [a 3-point shot] I missed from Jet [Jason Terry] earlier [in the fourth quarter] and that one I thought I just rushed it," Kidd said. "So, if I had another opporuntity, just take your time, you’re not a shooter so they’re going to give you the shot."

Always self-depricating when it comes to his jump-shooting even though he ranks third all-time in 3-pointers made, Kidd wasn't the first or second option on the play drawn up during a timeout with 15.3 seconds left in the game and Dallas trailing 97-96.

The play was designed to go Terry, who would come off a "triple-down screen" and take the shot.

"[Celtics coach] Doc Rivers looked at me. I looked at him and he kind of shook his and said, 'It’s coming to you,' and I said, 'You know it’s coming,' " Terry said. "They swithed out on me, and Dirk was open."

Terry had no room to operate when he got the ball so he sent a pass into Nowitzki, who was posted up against Kevin Garnett in the paint. The pass was low and hard to handle. It squirted in front of Nowitzki, who was able to get a decent enough grip on it.

"I was about to throw something up at the basket," Nowitizki said.

Instead he pushed it out to Kidd, who was all alone at the top of the arc. Celtics guard Ray Allen came charging at Kidd, who gave a pump fake and Allen sailed by him.

"I had thoughts of maybe I’d throw up the ball and maybe jump into Ray," Kidd said, meaning he hoped he could draw a foul. "But he took a wide angle so I couldn’t get to him. So the next thing was to make sure I was behind the 3-point line and let it go."

Kidd shuffled his feet to behind the arc and released. There was no doubt about it.

"I’m glad I kicked it out," Nowitzki said. "He made a heck of a shot. A 3-pointer out of a pump fake is probably one of the toughest shots in basketball, but he made it look easy. He’s been making tough shots his whole career, and that was definitely a big shot."

The bucket gave the Mavs a 99-97 lead with 2.5 seconds to play. The Celtics tried to tie it with an alley-oop inbounding from the sideline, but Rajon Rondo's pass sailed over Garnett's head. Nowitzki added two free throws and the Mavs walked away with the 101-97 victory.

"Dirk was nice enough to trust his teammates down the stretch to make a play," Kidd said. "I got lucky and it went in."