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Celtics look to continue stellar home-court defense

Jan 25, 2009 - 7:14 AM Dallas (25-18) at Boston (36-9) 1:00 p.m. EST

BOSTON (Ticker) -- The Boston Celtics have had little trouble defending their NBA Championship at home this season. That's bad news for Dallas Mavericks.

The Celtics go for their eighth straight win on Sunday when they host the Mavericks.

Boston is 21-2 at the TD Banknorth Garden compared to 15-7 on the road and has put up significantly better statistics at home.

The Celtics average 104.2 points per game in their friendly confines, over seven points more than they score away from home. They have hit 16 more 3-pointers at home while pulling down 57 more rebounds.

Boston has won each of its last three games at home since an 89-85 loss to the Houston Rockets on January 7 and is coming off a successful two-game road trip, forging victories against the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic, who are third in the Eastern Conference standings.

All of this could mean trouble for Dallas, which improved to 12-11 on the road Friday with a 112-91 victory over the Detroit Pistons.

The win was their second in three contests on its current four-game swing, which concludes against the Celtics.

Dallas' 95-93 triumph over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday snapped a four-game road losing streak.