The Boston Celtics continued their dry spell on Wednesday, losing to the Dallas Mavericks 112-100 at home, their fourth straight loss.

Dirk Nowitzki had 36 points and 9 rebounds, while Keith Van Horn had 21 points coming off the bench.

Paul Pierce scored 21 points while Antoine Walker had 18.

Boston should get back on the winning track on Friday as they visit Atlanta.

Rasheed Wallace scored seven of his season-high 31 points in the overtime period to help Detroit end a three-game losing streak with a 105-99 victory over the Celtics.

``We really needed this one after the game in Boston,'' he said. ``We couldn't let them get us twice.''

Rip Hamilton played a career-high 49 minutes, while scoring 22 points.

Boston fell to 5 1/2 games behind the Pistons for the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

``It's too late in the season to be losing like this,'' Celtics guard Gary Payton said. ``We can go from third seed to sixth or seventh in a hurry.''

Now that Antoine Walker is back in Boston, the Knicks' pursuit of the forward will likely be unsuccessful.  Isiah Thomas would have been a frontrunner to land the forward had he stayed through the end of the season in Atlanta.

Walker now appears very likely to resign with the Celtics, as they have become one of the hottest teams in the NBA since he has returned.  The Celtics can also pay Walker more than any other team.

Former Knicks president Scott Layden also tried on several occasions to acquire Walker when Walker was first with Boston. In the days after the Knicks drafted Michael Sweetney, Boston turned down the Knicks' offer of Latrell Sprewell and Sweetney for Walker.

The Celtics have won 11 our of the 13 games that Walker has appeared in this season.

Walker is averaging 20 points and 9.3 rebounds per game this season.

Coming into the game winners of 11 of their 12 games, Doc Rivers wasn't suprised to his Celtics slip up versus the Knicks, losing 107-82.

``We were our own worst opponent tonight. We were horrible,'' Rivers said. ``I think it's a good lesson for us, and it's only one loss.''

Antoine Walker shot just 5-for-20, Paul Pierce was 2-for-5 and Ricky Davis shot 2-for-10 as the Celtics shot only 38 percent, had their seven-game winning streak snapped and were held to a season-low point total.

Jamal Crawford led New York with 21 points, two of them coming when he passed the ball to himself off the backboard, caught it and dunked. Trevor Ariza added 14 points, and Thomas and Maurice Taylor had 13 apiece.

``They're just a bunch of frontrunners right now,'' the Knicks' Tim Thomas said. ``Nobody is going to come in here and push us around.''

The Boston Celtics got the same result on Saturday night as they have on their previous 6 outings, a victory, beating the Hornets 113-100.

Ricky Davis scored 27 points coming off the bench and Paul Pierce scored 23.

``We're rolling,'' Celtics forward Antoine Walker said. ``This builds confidence. ... We've got a good balance of guys who've been there before. We're trying to just keep this train rolling -- just keep winning games however they come.''

``Once we get them on their back, we've just got to put them away. And we did,'' Pierce said. ``You've got a lot of veterans out there who understand the game and understand what it takes to win. We've just got to do a good job of showing the young guys, when they come in, what they have to do for us to be a top-notch team. That's taking care of business, keeping leads, holding on to them and not having any lapses.''

The Celtics got a season high 22 points from Mark Blount to get their season-best sixth straight victory, a 103-92 win at Houston.

Boston has won 10 of its last 11. The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for Houston.

Boston had six players in double figures. Antoine Walker had 18, Ricky Davis 15, Paul Pierce 12, Tony Allen 11 and Gary Payton 10.

Tracy McGrady led Houston with 22 points, followed by Yao Ming with 18, Jon Barry with 16 and David Wesley with 12.

Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker each scored 24 points, and the Celtics nearly blew a 16-point fourth-quarter lead before pulling out a 110-109 win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.

The win was the fifth straight for the Celtics and their ninth in 10 games since acquiring Walker from Atlanta on Feb. 24 just before the trade deadline.

``Were not really happy with the way we played in the fourth quarter,'' Pierce said. ``We know we could improve, especially on the defensive end.''

Kwame Brown will be a restricted free-agent this offseason and Doc Rivers is one person within the NBA who hasn't given up on the young player.

"I still think Kwame is going to be an excellent player," said Rivers. "You know what happens because he's been up and down, [the Wizards] are going to have to make a decision. Then, he goes somewhere else and becomes a star off your time. You put in a four-year investment, teaching him and working him. I always look at it like very few of the young guys have failed. It's like an 85 percent success rate. Going by that, I'm keeping him. With the high school kids, the big ones, not the guards, very few have not turned out to be better than good players."

Boston Celtics? Paul Pierce and Houston Rockets? Tracy McGrady today were named the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, March 7 through Sunday, March 13.

Pierce led the Celtics to a 3-0 week, averaging 28.3 points on 48.1% shooting and 50.0%  from the three-point line, 8.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.0 steals  and only 1.0 turnover in 42.3 minutes per game.  Pierce scored 16 fourth quarter points to lead the Celtics past the Hawks 95-91 on March 9 and scored nine of the Celtics 11 points in double overtime to defeat the Pistons on March 11.

McGrady led the Rockets to a 3-0 week on the road against Western Conference opponents Seattle, Phoenix and Sacramento.  He averaged 31.7 points per game on 53.2% shooting, 7.3 rebounds,6.0 assists, and 3.33 steals in 42.3 minutes per game.  McGrady recorded two games scoring 30 points or more, tallying 35 against Seattle and 38 against Phoenix.

Paul Pierce scored 38 points, hit the game-winning jumper with 23 seconds left and deflected Tayshaun Prince's 3-point attempt on the Pistons' last possession as the Boston Celtics defeated Detroit 115-113 in double overtime Friday night.

The victory was the Celtics' first in five attempts versus the defending champion Pistons.

Prince had 27 points, while Ben Wallace grabbed 19 rebounds for Detroit.

Ricky Davis chipped in 23 to pick up for a struggling Antoine Walker who had only 9 points on 4-19 shooting.