Dallas Mavericks

Without Nowitzki, Expect Anything

Well, Nowitzki collided with Landry of the Rockets early in the game, sending them both out of the game. Nowitzki made one of his free throws having to do it left handed as he banged up his right elbow, requiring stitches.

Landry wasn’t as lucky, losing several teeth when Nowitzki’s elbow hit him when fouled.

But the Rockets squeezed by barely. Up by 10 or so points late in the game with what looked to become a closeout after knocking our star out of the game, the Mavs pulled it together and tied it at 100, but then lost all such momentum in OT as the Rockets pulled away 116-108.

From the fans standpoint, most were not pleased with the officiating in the end of the game but expect anything when Dirk is out, like Little Jose being our leading scorer.

After the Nowitzki and Landry collision, the Rockets went on an 18-5 run if that tells you anything. That’s how this Rockets team has to beat the Mavericks, take out the star.

Nowitzki is questionable for Sunday nights game against the Cavs, but at least it’s not a serious injury that is taking him out for weeks or the season.

Rockets Tonight

The Mavs play the Rockets tonight at home. Hopefully we’ll see a repeat of their beatdown they had in Houston back around Thanksgiving.

The Mavericks are also on a 5 game winning streak, barely squeezing by the Hornets but I was surprised with their play against the Thunder. I know the Thunder are relatively young but they scare me as a potentially dangerous team, with Durant and company. Luckily for us, we spoiled Durant’s spotlight in this game where he introduced his new shoes, holding him around 12 points.

The next few games are going to be a good test for the Mavericks, going up against the Cavs again, with the Rockets lined up again, Lakers and Nuggets as well. It should be a entertaining holiday round up nonetheless.

The Mavericks are now 19-7 shooting for their 20th win of the season and well on their way to another 50 plus win season from the outlook so far.

Bobcats Remain Winless Against Mavs

The Mavericks are the only team the Bobcats have yet won a game against since entering the league in 2004. They are now 0-11 when playing the Mavericks.

Last night was almost their first win until Dirk took over in the 4th quarter and first OT period.

Dirk scored 18 points of his 36 in the 4th quarter and OT. The Mavericks final 14 points in regulation, Dirk scored 12 of those points. This is after he started with a horrible first half, even missing 9 of his first 10 shots and missing two consecutive free throws, which is a rare thing.

The Mavericks were down late in the 4th quarter but Dirk hit a 17 footer to tie the game at 85 with 10.9 seconds remaining. The Bobcats couldn’t connect to push the game into OT where the lead switched 6 times before ending as Dirk once again ended the game by hitting a 10 foot jumper with 1.8 seconds left to secure the win.

Dampier had another great game, contributing 14 points and 18 rebounds. Perhaps he feels under pressure watching Gooden do such a good job in his place, he doesn’t want to lose his starting role.

Mavs 106, Heat 93

Take that Wade! That’s all I got to say except a congrats to Dampier for having a very good game.

Almost But Not Quite

The Suns almost came out with a win but the Mavericks held on to win 102-101 at home.

The big surprise, Josh Howard to the rescue with his sore ankle. Josh actually didn’t get things going until the second half, which is unusual for him since he’s been kn0wn as the 1st quarter guy and usually disappears after getting his 16 or so points.

Howard ended up with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals all in 26 minutes of playing time. Not too shabby.

This was a big game. The Suns are off to a great start this year with their run and gun type offense but have not done so well since December. They only lost 3 games in their first 17 games but have since dropped 4 of their last 5.

The key to winning against the Suns though is, play some defense because they’re going to let you score since they lack defense. They try to win by just outscoring you and running the court. That makes exciting high score games but doesn’t get you far against teams that can play defense.

When you play good defense and you turn Nash into a scorer instead of dishing the ball around to make plays, this works to your advantage as well.

First Consecutive Losses

The Mavericks suffered their first consecutive loss of the season. The first was against the Grizzlies, which should have been a win but when you shoot as poorly as the Mavericks did, they deserved to lose.

The next was against the Hawks, which I knew was going to be a good matchup but they ended up on the better side, grabbing their win and ending their 5 game skid.

The Mavericks are up against the Suns on Tuesday which will be interesting game and matchup as the Suns are having a great season thus far, let’s just hope they keep this little skid of their own at only two games and bounce back into rhythm.

Not The Type Of Record…

The Nets got handed their 18th straight loss of the season, opening up 0-18, which sets the new NBA record for the worst start in history.

That’s just not the type of record you want to be a part of, unless of course y0u are the team that defeated them to make it.

That’s exactly what the Mavs did and did it nicely. Just to make things short, not one Maverick missed more than one shot in the first half, also getting a 49 point second quarter making 17-19 field goals, almost making it a perfect quarter and close to 90% FG.

Poor Nets, maybe your next game you’ll get some more luck but then again, the Bobcats are a better team. I think the only chance at a first win to gain some confidence is likely against the Knicks after their matchup against the Bobcats, then it looks likely for a few more losses after that with their current schedule.

Turkey Week Wrapup

So with their huge blowout in Houston, the Mavericks of course followed up with an easy win in Indiana and then a loss in Cleveland. I was expecting a loss against the Cavs but didn’t expect Mo Williams to hit all his 3 pointers to basically push them ahead.

Last night the Mavs almost blew a 17 point lead but with Terry hitting a 17 footer with 1.4 seconds remaining to secure their win 104-102 against the Sixers.

This puts the Mavericks at 13-5 and still on top in their division, although the Spurs seem to have gotten their momentum going in the win category this past week.

The Mavs next game is against the winless Nets. I hope they don’t lose to this team, that would just be embarrassing. If the Mavs win against he Nets, they’ll contribute the team in the worst NBA start in history.

On another note about the Sixers matchup, Jason Kidd had one of his best games to date, scoring 22 points, 11 assists and 6 boards.

Revenge

So what do you do when you lose yet again to your old coach and the Warriors? You take it out on one of your other rivalries here in Texas.

The Mavericks pummeled the Rockets 130-99. This was after a horrible start which had me worried. I was fortunate enough to be in Houston during this game so I was able to pick up some last minute tickets to see this game for myself.

It was nice seeing Jason Terry do his magic in Houston and watching a great game from Tim Thomas hitting 3 after 3 to bring us from what looked like a possible blowout in Houston’s favor.

I wasn’t even aware but Kidd also became number 2 on the all time assists leader board during this game, surpassing Mark Jackson and now trails John Stockton, which he’ll likely never catch and it’s a record that will likely stand for some time.

I must confess, it was nice watching all the Rockets fans leave early disgruntled and pissed at their team. It’s also very funny talking to some of the die hard fans who still believe Houston is a better team, even though the Mavs have won 14 of their last 18 meetings. I think with that type of record currently, the Mavericks have the Rockets number.

Kings 102, Mavs 104

A game where the bench and supporting cast did their part to help the Mavs win, although it was by very little, it’s still a win and makes it the Mavs 5th straight win, missing 3 of their usual starters.

Terry and Nowitzki both had 20 points. Kidd and Humphries both had 15 points, Thomas contributed 11 points and 7 rebounds and Gooden came up with another great game with 16 rebounds in Dampiers absence.