MILWAUKEE -- There's been some serious streaking going on in the National Basketball Association this season.
Boston took a 14-game winning streak into its Christmas Day matinee at Orlando. San Antonio's road sweep through Florida last week extended its winning streak to 10 games and gave the Spurs a pair of double-digit winning streaks already this season.
Dallas' recent 12-game winning streak was snapped by the Milwaukee Bucks and the Mavericks halted Miami's 12-game winning streak.
New Orleans, the Los Angeles Lakers, and New York have all won eight in a row this season, while Utah, Denver and Chicago have won seven straight.
The winning streak that Boston took into Orlando was the longest of the season in the league and the longest for the Celtics since they won 19 straight early in the 2008-'09 season.
The Celtics have won in a variety of ways as they defeated eight teams by 10 points or more and won four games by four points or less. Boston managed to rally and defeated Philadelphia last week despite its worst shooting night (38.8 percent) of the streak.
Due to injuries, coach Doc Rivers used four different starting lineups during the winning streak but a key is that the Big Three of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett has remained healthy.
"It's not very enjoyable because every night you're just trying to figure out a lineup on the floor," said Rivers. "Usually when you're on a winning streak, everyone is healthy. Everybody is playing well and you're rolling. But you can make the case that it's been the exact opposite for us.
"Everybody is not healthy, key guys are out and we keep doing it. The key, I guess, is that Kevin, Ray and Paul have been healthy."
The Spurs, who won 12 straight earlier this season, had a 10-game winning streak broken by Orlando last Thursday. It was the first time the Spurs had put together two winning streaks of 10 games or more since 2003-'04 when they went 57-25. San Antonio did not accomplish that feat in either of its last two championship seasons -- 2004-'05, and 2006-'07.
"There's only three players remaining from the '05 team," said San Antonio's Manu Ginobili . "Those teams are part of our past, a great part of our past. But the present and the future we are looking forward to building and being more solid.
"Many of those (games during the more current winning streak) were not great games. We had to grind it out in the last few minutes and make big plays or shots or we could have lost them. So we know we have to improve."
While forward Dirk Nowitzki is scoring over 24 points a game for the Mavericks, they credit team balance as one of the major reasons for their success so far. Six players scored in double figures in last week's victory over Orlando.
Also, the Mavericks' 10-1 road record is the best in the league and they have taken pride in their unselfish play.
"We're in a groove," said Nowitzki. "But what does it say? Really not much in December."
Meanwhile in Miami, the Heat remains a work in progress.
"All year, we are going to continue to get better, to improve and get to the elite level," said Miami's Dwyane Wade. "The elite teams have been playing together for a long time. That's why we play a regular season of 82 games so we can get prepared for when it's money time."
Ho-ho-ho
Lakers coach Phil Jackson, among others, is opposed to playing games on Christmas Day but Rivers doesn't think it's all that bad. Of course, Rivers had extenuating circumstances this year since the Celtics played in Orlando, where his family still lives. Rivers says teams should look at it as a privilege since those playing on Christmas -- at least those in the prime-time TV slots -- are among the most featured teams in the league. Rivers, though, agrees it would be more if the league returned to playing just two games on the holiday instead of five.
Larry is cool
Nowitzki thought it was "pretty cool" when he passed Larry Bird into 25th place on the all-time scoring list in a victory over the Magic and he received a message, while on the team bus heading for the Orlando airport, from Bird congratulating him. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle was a Celtics teammate with Bird in the mid-80s and said there were similarities between the players.
"Both were extremely meticulous with their dedication," said Carlisle. "The statistics are staggering but both guys really are about winning first all the time. If it was best to average 15 points and get eight or nine rebounds, if that was the best way to win, he'd be all for that."
Paying the price
The Spurs playing a zone? You've got to be joking. But coach Gregg Popovich has been doing whatever is necessary to win games and, feeling that the Spurs were playing terrible man-to-man defense against Denver, resorted to a zone for almost the entire fourth quarter and it worked. The Nuggets, thrown off by the zone, made 4 of 24 shots (16.7 percent) and scored 14 points in the fourth quarter.
"I was a little shocked," said Denver point guard Chauncey Billups . "I've never known them to play zone. (Popovich) knew man-to-man wasn't working. We were just kind of having our way."
Roy's taking a break
Concerns continue to grow in Portland over Brandon Roy 's knee injury. The team announced Roy would not accompany the team on this week's trip to Golden State, Denver and Utah, which would give him six straight games missed because of the injury and nine for the season. Roy has not practiced or worked out in any way and says the knee is sore just walking on it. Roy says he is just trying to get healthy for the long term and that there has been no thought given to shutting him down for the rest of the season.
Otis is a positive guy
One of the reasons that Orlando traded for Gilbert Arenas was that Magic general manager Otis Smith had built a positive relationship with Arenas in Golden State when Arenas was just coming into the league and Smith was the Warriors' director of basketball operations.
"When I was in Golden State, just being a rookie, he was the one who kept me positive, saying, 'I know there's a dark tunnel now, but there's always light at the end of the tunnel,' " said Arenas. "That's always stuck with me."
He's exhausted
Miami's LeBron James in getting very tired of hearing about the fact that the Heat has won only a handful of games against teams with winning records and he raises a good point where that is concerned: How many winning teams are there in the East?
"How many times do you get to play teams with a winning record?" he said. "If you look at the standings, how many plus-.500 teams are there in the league . . . like 12? And only four are in our conference. You don't get to face those teams that often, maybe once a week."
Perkins is challenged
It was originally thought that Boston center Kendrick Perkins, coming back from reconstructive knee surgery, wouldn't be back until after the all-star game. But team doctors are now saying that a mid- to late-January return might be possible. It's been a challenging time for Perkins, who went through the non-contact part of a practice last week and even dunked a couple times.
"I've been through it," said Rivers. "You feel disconnected. The mental part is when he comes back and actually trusts his leg. If we can get anything out of Perk this year we'll be thrilled, honestly."
Fast breaks
At 7-foot-1, Shaquille O'Neal became the tallest guest conductor of the Boston Pops when he conducted three songs, including the Jackson 5's "Can You Feel It?".
Popovich on if he's comfortable yet playing Brazilian center Tiago Splitter: "I don't even know his last name yet . . . it takes awhile to be comfortable."
Dallas has road victories over Denver, Atlanta, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Utah, Miami and Orlando.
Utah's Al Jefferson on his trade to Utah from Minnesota: "I won as many games in November as I won all last season."
DOWN THE LANE
THIS WEEK IN THE NBA
The Mavericks will have had five days without a game to enjoy the holidays before they play at Oklahoma City on Monday. Coach Rick Carlisle, in his third season in Dallas, is calling this the most complete Mavericks team he has had. "For sure," he said. "I love our depth. All that should go without saying. Our depth is quality at every position." By winning at Miami and Orlando on consecutive nights last week, Dallas joined Utah as the only teams to sweep Florida this season. "It's huge," said guard Jason Kidd. "To win both games (in Florida) in 24 hours, that's a nice way to go into this break." New Charlotte interim coach Paul Silas will get a chance to get his feet on the ground in home games against Detroit, Cleveland and Golden State. Philadelphia's eight-game Western odyssey continues in Denver, Golden State, Portland and Los Angeles (Lakers). The Trail Blazers and Jazz will play Monday in Utah and Thursday in Portland. The Lakers will play at San Antonio on Tuesday and New Orleans on Wednesday while the Knicks are at Miami on Tuesday and Orlando on Thursday.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Even though Spurs have been on a tear, they haven't been able to put much ground between themselves and Dallas for the best record in the West. The teams will meet Thursday in Dallas in a huge Texas tug-of-war.
BUCKS WEEK
Having had three days to catch their breath after last week's three-game Western trip, the Bucks will face three of the top teams in the league. Atlanta will visit the Bradley Center on Monday after playing the night before at New Orleans, and Chicago will open a four-game home stand against Milwaukee on Tuesday. Dallas, which had its recent 12-game winning streak broken by Milwaukee, will get another shot at the Bucks on Saturday at the Bradley Center.
QUOTE
"I don't know if it was a 1-2-2, a 3-2, or a 5-7-2. I just know it worked." -- San Antonio forward Richard Jefferson, on the surprisingly effective zone defense that the Spurs played in the fourth quarter of their victory over Denver.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Carlos Boozer has had a positive impact on the Bulls since his return from a broken right hand. In the four games before Saturday's matchup with New York, Boozer averaged 25 points on 64.2 percent shooting, which boosted his scoring average to 19.1 points per game. Chicago won nine of the first 12 games since his return and coach Tom Thibodeau thinks Boozer isn't even in top condition yet. "It's amazing that he's doing what he's doing," said Thibodeau. "I still think he's working himself into shape. His legs aren't under him yet. He's in great shape but not great basketball shape. There's a difference between the two." Boozer missed virtually all of training camp and the first five weeks of the regular season. "I'm getting better and better every day," he said. "I'm still not where I want to be, but I don't think I'm too far away."
NUMBERS GAME
When Dwight Howard scored 29 points against the Spurs, he fell one point short of becoming the first center to score 30 points against San Antonio this season.
If Nowitzki continues to average about 25 points per game all season, he would pass Gary Payton and Clyde Drexler into move into 23rd place on the all-time list.
Since Jerry Sloan became Utah's coach on Dec. 9, 1988, there have been 243 coaching changes in the league.
Oklahoma City's Nick Collison took a charge in 19 of his first 21 games.
Dallas has ended winning streaks of 12 games each by Miami and San Antonio, eight games by New Orleans, seven games by Utah, and five games each by Oklahoma City and Boston.
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