Dallas vs. Boston: Dirk Nowitzki's Game Winner Lifts Mavericks over Celtics

Until the final couple minutes, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce were nowhere to be found. Both had played poorly in the game, Pierce especially. But their teams were somehow able to pick up the slack in the defensive game.

Delonte West, Jason Terry and Shawn Marion were able to carry the Mavs while Dirk struggled and Rajon Rondo kept the Celtics in the game while the Big Three all struggled. In fact, the Big Three combined for only 29 points.

The Celtics can't expect to win when they get that little production from their core, but they were still able to come very close to winning.

They were down by three points with 25 seconds left when Pierce got the ball. He had only scored four points so far and was probably as cold as Causeway Street outside the Garden was, but he did not hesitate and pulled the trigger on a 28-foot three-pointer, hitting nothing but net.

The game was hardly in hand, though, with one final possession for Dirk Nowitzki and the defending champion Mavericks. The ball went right to Nowitzki and he was able to drive past Garnett and get to the basket. He drew contact and still made a great shot to get the and-one.

After he made the free throw, the Mavs were up by three and on the Celtics final possession, they turned the ball over and the Mavs scored an easy two to put the game away.

The Mavericks were able to escape Boston with a win despite subpar play from Nowitzki, the ejection of Rick Carlisle in the third quarter and a solid game from Rajon Rondo.

This game could hardly be seen as a great win for either team, though. Although Dirk and Pierce both performed well in the clutch, neither played well throughout the game. They will need to play well all throughout games if they want to win consistently.

Both players have proved that they can provide in crunch time, and they further proved that tonight. But so far this season, they have been unable to prove that they can play consistently throughout a full game and sustain that for a few games; they were unable to disprove this tonight.