NBA Roundup: Blue Monday

Notes from Monday's games in the National Basketball Association ...

• Playing Nice Pays Dividends (Based On Annual Quarterly Returns). Mark Cuban has been behaving with his blog this season (unlike last season, when he was fined the equivalent to the gross national product of Belgium). He's laying off of Boss Stern and the refs (most recent topic: Hi Def TV), and it all seems to be paying dividends, as the Mavericks claimed their 20th consecutive home victory, and 12th straight overall, 110-87 over the Hawks. Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points and eight rebounds and Jason Terry had 21 points as Dallas became the first team in NBA history with three winning streaks of 12 or more in a season, having already had runs of 12 and 13 games. The Milwaukee Bucks (1970-71), Philadelphia 76ers (1980-81) and Los Angeles Lakers (1999-2000) have had three winning streaks of 10 or more in a season. Josh Howard (20 points) sprained his ankle in the fourth quarter, but it's unknown how seriously.

• The Doctor Is In. Celtics win! So Boston coach Doc Rivers gets to say: "We're going to put this one in the vault and show it to them. I didn't even know we'd lost that many. Every time we play a game like this it's important for the young guys so they can learn different ways you can win in this league.'' Oh, Celtics 77, Rockets 72, as Boston ends a 12-game road losing streak. Paul Pierce 28 points. And the Rockets played without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady.

• Well, That Was ... Hey, Where's Riley? The Knicks beat the Heat 99-93, which we believe is one of the signs that the world is ending, as Stephon Marbury scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter. Oh, and Shaquille O'Neal got his 25,000th point.

• It All Depends On Your Point Of View. Watching Kobe Bryant shoot free throws (he made 21!) is better than many things, including the film The Messenger, the HBO series Lucky Louie, and tainted Peter Pan peanut butter. Bryant's 35 points led the Lakers over the Jazz 102-94. Hey, remember the old "three-to-make-two" NBA free throw rule? That was fun.