Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA

Tip-Off: 8:00 P.M.

Projected Lineups:

Boston: Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O’Neal

Dallas: Delonte West, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, Brendan Haywood

Keys to the Game:

• Doc Rivers made it a point to work on conditioning during the Celtics’ time off the past four days.  The Mavericks are also one of the older teams in the NBA, so the Celtics needs to make sure they look the youngest in this match-up.  Boston should take the tough practices as motivation to continue working and going hard the entire game.
• Many of the Celtics bench players vowed to work on their game and provide bigger roles during games.  Tonight would be a good game to start.  Dallas has many weapons in its starting lineups and on the bench, especially with the additions of West and Lamar Odom.  Boston will need the entire roster to contribute.
• Will Pierce show up?  He has been slow out of the gate after missing the first three games of the season with a heel injury.  If he can put up solid scoring numbers tonight, that would obviously be a boost.
• Mickael Pietrus is expected to make his Celtics debut.

Prediction:

Mavericks 95, Celtics 89.  Despite the tough practices and efforts to by Rivers to get his team in shape, Dallas will prove to be too much for Boston to handle.  The defense will have trouble against the Mavericks’ scorers, and the Celtics still do not have all of its scorers up to par.

After it appeared the Boston Celtics were about to sign David West, the New Orleans Hornets forward signed with the Indiana Pacers.  Now, the Celtics lost free agent guard Delonte West to the Dallas Mavericks.

He signed with Boston last season for his second go-around with the team, but a wrist injury cost him much of the season.

He would have been a great pick-up for the Celtics this year, who need some better back-up options at point guard.

Delonte West returned to the Boston Celtics last season, ready to make a fresh start after some personal issues outside of basketball.

The team had high expectations, but unfortunately he broke his wrist early in the season.  He returned and contributed to the team’s short-lived run through the playoffs.

He provides great support off the bench to give Rondo a break.  He is an aggressive player on offense and defense, and he can shoot the ball well.  The Celtics need aggressive players who want to take shots, and he can offset Rondo’s lack of scoring confidence.

West is a great option for the Celtics, and he should not take up too much money if there are other big moves the front office is looking to make.

Stay.

Day 149: The NBA owners and players reached a tentative agreement to end the lockout.

The two sides met for more than 15 hours Friday, and after coming to terms, all that is left is for the owner and players to cross the i’s and dot the t’s.  If everything goes according to plan, the season begins on Dec. 25.

In the past few years, the NBA turned Christmas day into a spectacle, scheduling the top matchups between famed teams and players.  After long and grueling negotiations that predicted no season at all, what better way to bring holiday spirit than with the season opener of the 2011-2012 season.

The Boston Celtics open in Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks on Christmas, but there is plenty of work to be done in the 31 days prior to the game.

The Celtics have six players under contract: Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O’Neal, and Avery Bradley.  They also have three unsigned rookies: JaJuan Johnson, E’Twaun Moore, and Gilbert Brown (they have no rights).

The biggest challenge for the Celtics in the short off-season is going to be who they decide to re-sign and who they let go to look for better options elsewhere.  Jeff Green is a restricted free agent and has expressed great interest in remaining with the Celtics, and the front office should keep him around and give him another opportunity to showcase what he has to offer.

Then there is Glen Davis, Delonte West, Nenad Krstic, Troy Murphy, Sasha Pavlovic, and Carlos Arroyo, who are all are unrestricted free agents.

The Celtics should look for a better option than Davis, whose play is inconsistent at best.  West should be resigned to come off the bench and provide support to Rondo and the other players in the backcourt.

Krstic signed with a team in Moscow and is not expected to be back in Boston.  Murphy, Pavlovic, and Arroyo probably will not return, and the Celtics can find much better players to fill their sport.

Hold on tight because this training camp period is going to go by very quickly, so stay tuned to see who goes and who stays as we anxiously await Dec. 25.

Delonte West has had a couple of tough years both professionally and personally.  He missed part of the 2010-2011 season with the Celtics after suffering a broken wrist.  Then there was the rumor that he was having a relationship with LeBron James’ mother.  He also revealed that he suffered from bipolar disorder.

But the biggest event in West’s life was his 2009 arrest on gun charges, which then led to a 10-game suspension.  He recently spoke with SLAM magazine to recall the situation.

His mother reportedly asked him to tell his friends to leave because they were playing with guns in the basement.  Although he already took his medication, he decided to transport the guns to another house.

“I’m on the Beltway, cruisin’.  Soon I start realizing I’m dozing in and out.  I open my eyes and I went from this lane to that.  I’m swervin’, and by the time I wake up, I’m about three exits past my exit.”

“There’s this truck flying beside me and I’m scared to death.  So I seen an officer coming up and I try to flag him down.  I pull up next to him.  He slows down and I get up in front of him.  I tell the officer I’m not functioning well and I’m transporting weapons…The rest of the story is what it is.”

West clearly had poor judgement that night.  He put himself and others into danger, driving under the influence and possessing weapons.  He faced a lot of criticism following the arrest, but he said it was not as bad as people made it out to be.

“I’m not proud of it, but it looks way worse than it was.”

West had a clean season with Boston off the court, and if the Celtics decide to resign him once the lockout is over, the organization will continue to expect him to be on his best behavior.

Many NBA players are considering their options to play basketball overseas if there is no 2011-2012 season.  But what happens when that is not a viable option?

Ask Delonte West, who’s legal troubles, including his 2009 arrest on weapons charges, prevent him from leaving the country.  Since both sides from this lockout seem to be making little progress toward the new collective bargaining agreement, West decided to find employment elsewhere.  He recently tweeted his new employment plans:

It’s official.. Pride 2 the side.. just filled out a application at Home Depot.. Lockout aint a game..

It is too bad West cannot find work in basketball, but that is what happens when you break the law.  At least is taking responsibility for himself and finding ways to survive the tough economic state when he is out of a job.