When it comes to the NBA, games played in late December typically don’t carry much weight going forward; especially when one of those teams holds out half their players. Yet when the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks met this past Saturday, there were several interesting developments worth keeping an eye on. Here’s a quick recap of three key issues we could be discussing a lot more in-depth in the future.

1. Rondo’s New Digs

Given Rajon Rondo only had a day or so to acclimate to how things work in Dallas, this isn’t a definitive assessment on his fit. But as I mentioned in my piece evaluating the trade, there was definitely shades of 2011 Jason Kidd in terms of Rondo’s play. While Rondo had the ball in his hands quite a bit -- his teammates almost universally deferred to him -- it wasn’t ever there very long.

In transition, Rondo pinged advance passes (a pass that moves the ball quickly ahead) all over the court to his streaking teammates in an attempt to give them an attacking advantage before the defense was set. In the halfcourt, Rondo passed up his own mediocre looks (for the most part) to find better shots for other Mavs, including a few unselfish and creative “plus 1’s” (a quick extra pass to an open teammate nearby). This is likely what Dallas was hoping Rondo could be for them -- a decision-making fulcrum in the halfcourt that is hellbent on finding the best shot available each possession.

What will be even more interesting to watch develop going forward is how Rondo stations himself when he doesn’t have the basketball. Against the Spurs, he mostly floated around inside the 3-point line finding pockets of space, like a midfielder in soccer that would lead him to quick passing angles to another teammate. But Rondo also took advantage of defenders ignoring him due to his poor outside shooting by cutting hard to the basket (think Dwyane Wade) and crashing the offensive -- something Rondo has traditionally been very good at. How much he chooses to utilize those latter two things will be integral to Dallas staying effective as an offensive unit when Rondo isn’t controlling the basketball.

2. The Spurs' Zone

After a rest mandate for the team’s starters following two straight, triple-overtime games, Gregg Popovich’s decision to use a zone was influenced more by practicality -- he had just eight available players -- than curiosity. That doesn’t mean, however, that it won’t impact both the Mavs and the Spurs going forward.

Dallas’ new starting lineup with Rondo at the controls has substandard perimeter shooting at three spots, making it very tempting for teams to zone up and flood the basket area with bodies in an attempt to neutralize Tyson Chandler (and more specifically, his dunking) while also making Monta Ellis and Rondo beat them with long jumpers. Thanks to Pop’s tactics on Saturday, every Western Conference playoff opponent -- including, obviously, San Antonio, now has nearly a full game of film to study how the Mavericks will attack that type of defense.

In other words, it will allow opposing coaches to see if there are effective ways to counter Rick Carlisle’s counters -- like letting Rondo flash to the middle of the zone -- and how they’ll defend any specials (plays designed specifically for quick scores against zones). Maybe most will decide using zone against Dallas come playoff time is a fool’s errand. But if some teams can tweak their zone defense enough to muck up crucial Dallas possessions during playoff games, it could shift the dynamics of an entire series.

3. Should we worry about Boris?

Judging a player for looking sluggish on the heels of playing 28 minutes in a triple-overtime game the night before isn’t wise. But Boris Diaw’s uninspiring performance against Dallas on Saturday was part of a larger trend that suggests we aren’t currently see the same player who helped tear part the defense of the Miami Heat with his precision passing and outside shooting last June. Not only is Diaw shooting just 29.5 percent from 3 this season, but his Real Plus/Minus (RPM)-- ESPN’s new catch-all stat used to measure overall effectiveness -- has plummeted.

Last year, Diaw ranked 20th among all power forwards with an RPM of 1.95. This year has been quite a different story. Diaw currently sits at 52nd among all power forwards -0.70, a scary number for Spurs fans. It’s a quiet reason why this San Antonio team has been limping along of late (a much bigger factor, though, is Kawhi Leonard’s injuries).

It’s still just December, so there’s not too much cause for concern. This is a veteran team coming off a championship and Diaw isn’t exactly a player with a non-stop motor. But the bottom line is for the Spurs to be, well, the Spurs, they need at least need the player who resembles Finals Diaw if they are going to get back to one.