As Scott Brooks, Thunder coach stated after the game, they finally found out that Dirk Nowitzki is actually human since they contained him and only let him 8 points on 2-15 shooting from the field and was 0-5 from behind the arc. What has happened to my Dirk? I’m sure that everyone that watches Mavericks basketball is asking that same question. Has he lost his desire for the game? Since he got his ring, does he really care anymore? My answer to these important questions are, no he has not lost his desire for the game and yes he does care about the game and the team.

Dirk himself has admitted that he was not totally in shape or condition when the season started; the Mavericks played into June for the finals and then he played for the German National team for the Olympic qualifier and then wanted to take some time off, and he did; now he has to get his psyche back together and get past the bad stuff. Well, it wouldn’t happen tonight as he only scored 10 points for tonight, but I know that he will do better.

JET led the Mavericks tonight with 25 points on 7 of 10 shooting, but it was not enough to get past the Oklahoma City Thunder led by Russell Westbrook who had 33 points tonight.

Shawn Marion and Brendan Wright added 12 points apiece and Marion had 10 rebounds. Kevin Durant added 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder while James Harden scored 10 points, but the big man of the night for the Thunder was Serge Ibaka who had 11 rebounds, but had 10 blocks. Too bad he was on the other team.

The numbers for tonight for each team was not great,but the Thunder score on 40.7% of their field goals while Dallas only connected on 35.7 of theirs. Each team scored in the 21-25% from the three-point line and finally Dallas did better than someone else on their free throws with Dallas connecting on 88% of their attempts with the Thunder only connecting on 72.7% of theirs. Dallas committed only 15 turnovers while Oklahoma City Thunder had 16, but the Thunder had the upper hand in the rebounding category, 55-44.

Now, this game was not without its excitement either, some good and some, well not so good. Dallas had led throughout the game all the way through to the half, 52-49,but it was evident that the Thunder was not going to let this one go.

I knew that if the Mavericks let the lead go to the Thunder, the way this game was going, that it would be hard for the Mavs to pull of the victory and it came to pass. There were times that Dirk and Delonte West were getting mauled and no calls were being made, but you would breathe wrong on the Thunder, and boom, the whistle blew. It got to bad that you could hear West ask the referee standing next to him, “what do I have to do to get a call?”; Dirk’s frustration was showing also and then with 9:34 left in the fourth quarter, the bottom fell out.

The Thunder had a 75-67 lead and the calls were getting so bad that when the ball was rolling out-of-bounds near the Mavericks bench on a dead ball, Rick Carlisle instead of picking up the ball and sending it to the ref, he kicked the ball instead. I know that he didn’t intend for the ball to go into the crowd under the basket, but it did and needless to say, he was ejected; can’t fault a man if he can’t kick the ball straight to the ref, he’s not a soccer player; but needless to say, you are not supposed to do that. The only thing good that came  out of it, was he did go toward the fans in the direction of where the ball went to make sure that everyone was ok and it seemed to put a spark in his team.

The Thunder looked to be in total control of the game, until the Mavericks were playing some tough defense and JET stripped the ball, took control of it, saw Roddy going for the break and with a little scoop pass, got the ball to Roddy who took it and flushed it with vengeance.

Behind the scoring of JET on the two-man game with him and Dirk, Dallas had made a comeback and brought the crowd back into the game by getting the game to an 85-85 tie, with only about 2 minutes left in the game. From there until about 35 seconds left in the game, it was back and forth and back and forth, then Westbrook was able to get a sort of open 3 point shot and took it and got a 92-85 lead for the Thunder.

That sort of put the nail in the coffin for the Mavericks tonight, who were without some of their big men in Brendan Haywood and Lamar Odom. Needless to say, the Thunder left Dallas headed north on 35 with a 95-86 win.

So now we lick our wounds, pull up our socks and get ready for Friday’s game against the surging Indiana Pacers behind the leadership of Danny Granger and Dirk will face an old familiar nemesis, David West. With that, I bid you a good day and say good luck and let’s go Mavs!

As being a fan of not only the game, but of the Dallas Mavericks, I have put more collateral in the game of Dirk Nowitzki than anyone else on this team, simply due to the fact that he is the only remaining as much of an original Maverick as there is and he has taken a lot and I mean a lot of flack over the last several years and I count on him night in and night out to be somewhere up there at the top or near the top of the team leaders for each game night.

But not tonight. Our hero was Delonte West, a player that during the lockout was doing menial labor work to make money and just wants to play the game, no matter what his salary is. Several years ago,when I first saw West, I thought he looked like some rap gang punk with the lip ring and the tattoos and just how he carried himself, then he got the bad publicity of his attitude and then the weapons arrest and it just went downhill for him from there it seemed, but I guess both Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson saw something in him and decided to give him a chance since we lost JJ Barea during the free agency of the off-season and we were in need of someone else to give Jason Kidd some much-needed rest during this hard shortened season and West has definitely fulfilled that role.

Tonight West was on fire by scoring 25 points which included connecting on 5 of 6 three-point attempts and having 2 steals to go with his stats for the night. I couldn’t tell if I was watching West or Roddy B or flashbacks from JJ from last season by the way he played tonight. In addition to West scoring tonight, Vince Carter helped to add points to the board by adding 21 points of his own and he also connected on 5 of his 7 three-point attempts and also had 2 steals for the night.

Not to be outdone, Shawn Marion had 20 points, JET added 11 and Roddy B had 8 points and 7 assists, while Dirk, who is still getting his legs back under him added 10 points to add to the win.

The Suns were also without their floor general, Steve Nash for the night, but Marcin Gortat led the Sun pack with 17 points and 10 rebounds and also had 4 blocks. Sebastian Telfair added 13 points which he also had 3 of his 4 three pointers to go in and Grant Hill, added 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting for the night, Jared Dudley connected on 3 of his 4 three pointers to add 15 points to the Suns loss.

This game was not without its excitement as well. Dallas ended the first quarter on a buzzer beater from Lamar Odom that gave Dallas a 31-24 lead going into the 2nd quarter, then West had another buzzer beater in the 2nd quarter that by the end of the first half, Dallas had a 61-48 lead. Now I usually am concerned when they have such a big lead at halftime, because it seems that they forget how to play in the second half and I really was not going to count my chickens before they hatched on this game, because as the way the whole night went, Phoenix, even without Nash, still has plenty of weapons both inside the perimeter as well as from outside the arc.

But once the second half commenced, it looked like Dallas kept the pressure on and didn’t forget how to play as they had extended their lead halfway through the third quarter to as much as 24 points. By the end of the third period, Dallas had already scored 91 points, that’s just a little bit below the season average of points Dallas might score in a complete game. What will they do to finish off the game? Again, don’t count the chickens before they hatch.

Well, the fourth period got started, but Dallas had scored 100 points by the time they had reached 8:56 left in the game when Dallas got a 101-78 lead,and with that they were able to rest the starters especially for those that had played over 30 minutes in the San Antonio game the night before. In doing so, it gave the bench plenty of time to add to the score as well as time on the court and touches on the ball.

Now for the stats people the numbers were really good for Dallas tonight with them connecting on 55.2% of their field goals to 43.8% for Phoenix. Dallas also connected on 14 of their 27 attempts which converted into 51.9% of 3 point shooting to Phoenix’s 57.1% by connecting on 12 of their 21 attempts. Phoenix did much better on their free throws by 85% to Dallas’ dismal 66.7%. Dallas out-rebounded Phoenix 44-33 and Dallas scored 52 points in the paint to Phoenix’s 34. Dallas had 11 turnovers to the Suns’ 12.

It was really good to see some of the players get extra time to play, because Dallas has bragged about how deep and productive their bench is and that should go beyond JET and Lamar Odom and it was evident that the bench helped to secure the win tonight; so let’s see what happens from here on out.

With this win, it helps keep Dallas in the hunt for the Wester Conference playoffs as we are one-third of the way through this season and the games just keep coming hard and heavy. Now Dallas will go home to play the Oklahoma City Thunder at home on Wednesday night and see if they can continue going in the right direction.

So I now bid you a good day and say good luck and let’s go Mavs!

Top 5 Point Guards:

1. Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers- Subtracting his injury that left him out a couple of games early he has been everything the Clippers hoped he would be averaging 18.9 points and 9.1 assists per game. At 26, Paul still has a long career ahead of him and will most likely improve on these numbers as the season goes on. He also possesses the uncanny ability to re-build franchises (starting with New Orleans).
2. Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls- This is really 1a and 1b but I gave Paul the slight nod because he is the better shooter. Rose is last year’s MVP and has continued his success into this year. At 23, he could easily be on my up-and-comers list, but he is mature beyond his years on the court. I enjoy watching him play because he is so driven to win, which is something you don’t see all the time. He also never shies away from taking the final shot. (LeBron)
3. Deron Williams, New Jersey Nets- He has been a little disappointing, and has even looked a little disinterested at times this year, but he continues to put up good numbers (20.5 points and 8.5 assists per game). A trade out of Brooklyn looks imminent and that could help rejuvenate his interest. Talent wise he could be number one on this list, but he needs to get it done more consistently.
4. Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder- At 23, there is no question he has a bright future ahead of him, and athletically he would be number one on this list, but he turns the ball over way too much. Over time I would like to see him establish himself as more of a true point guard because I think it would benefit his team more, but for now he can light it up and play with anyone.
5. Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns- He is one of my all-time favorite players and at 37 he can still get it done. His defense has dropped off significantly, but I’m  going to be honest and point out defense it lax as a whole in the NBA. He is a magician in the open court averaging 9.9 assists and 15.2 points this year as well as shooting over 40% from beyond the arc.

Top 5 Up-and Comers:

1. Brandon Jennings, Milwaukee Bucks- I was tempted to put him at three, but  thought better of it. The sky is the limit for Jennings (22) and he is putting together a fine season averaging 20.5 points and 5.6 assists. He is an electrifying talent that can get it done at both ends of the court when motivated.
2. Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers- He is the hands-down rookie of the year averaging 18.1 points and 4.9 assists a game right now. I have to imagine he is capable of averaging more assists once he gets some more talent around him. He is the NBA’s future star and is only 19 years old.
3. Ty Lawson, Denver Nuggets- Denver has been a pleasant surprise this year, and that starts with their third year point guard. He is a bit older at 24 than some of the others on this list, but he is just getting his feet wet in this league and is improving, averaging 15.6 points and 6.4 assists a game.
4. John Wall, Washington Wizards- It scares me how little a threat he is from beyond the arc, but he is averaging 15.5 points and 7.2 assists with almost no talent around him. He still has some games that confuse you, but at 21 he has plenty of time to translate his immense potential into consistent production.
5. Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves- I appreciate the fact that he is a true point guard. Some will say his inability to shoot consistently makes him overrated, but I believe at 21 his superior passing skills makes up for his shooting deficiencies. Over time he will need to improve on his 11.4 points and 8.7 assists a game, and Rubio-Kevin Love tandem could be lethal.

Honorable mention: These are young players that have talent, and could, over time, jump ahead of the players I ranked above.

Lou Williams (24) Philadelphia 76ers     15.3pts.  3.6ast.

Brandon Knight (20) Detroit Pistons       12.3pts.  3.4ast.

Jeff Teague (23) Atlanta Hawks              12.6pts.  5.2ast.

Tyreke Evans (22) Sacramento Kings     17.0pts.  5.0ast.

Kemba Walker (21) Charlotte Bobcats    11.9pts.  3.9 ast.

There are a few restrictions that come with trading Kaman, however, one is the fact that he can not be included in any multi-player deals.  That means the Hornets can’t include any other players on their side, the recieving team can put any combination of players together in a potental deal up until February 14th or 60 days after the Hornets recieved Kaman via trade with the Clippers.

The second is under the new CBA teams that are required to pay the “luxury” tax, or in other words the team can’t acquire no more than 125% plus $100,000 of the salaries they are trading away.  The teams that are under the luxury tax are able to acquire up to less than 150%  plus $100,000 they trade away.  So onto Chris Kaman’s current contract!  Kaman is currently due $13,672,927 this season, including a $1,472,927 trade kicker he recieved after being dealt from Los Angeles.  His pre-trade salary was in the range of $12,200,000 and that is what will be used to match salaries for a potential trade.  So the Hornets can trade Kaman as long as they take back between $8.13 and $18.3 to remain under the luxury tax unless the recieving team is far enough under the tax to take on his entire contract.

We will start with a look at what the Houston Rockets would have to offer, and of the three teams mentioned above the Rockets seem to have the best possible assests to execute a trade.  Houston owns a few draft picks that could be offered such as a first round lottery pick in this years draft as well as 2nd round picks in this and next years draft.  The Rockets also own another pick in this years draft from the New York Knicks which guaranteed as long as it is not a top 5 pick and a pair of 2013 2nd round picks from Minnesota and the Los Angeles Clippers.  Players that would not likely be included in a trade are Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, and Samuel Dalembert.  Kyle Lowry is another player the Rockets will unlikely trade in a Kaman deal.  That would leave Chandler Parsons, Chase Budinger, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris, Hasheem Thabeet, Jonny Flynn, Jordan Hill, Terrence Williams, Goran Dragic, and finally Courtney Lee.  The first four mentioned are probably not going to be dealt or are very highly unlikely to be moved.  So the deal if offered should be centered around Thabeet and his $5+ million contract plus any combination of the last 5 players would be a legal trade.  Either way it is looked at the deal would almost have to be centered around Hasheem, plus another youngster that is rarely used in Jonny Flynn may spark Demps to trigger a deal.  Houston could throw in a 2nd round pick to sweeten the deal, so a Hasheem Thabeet, Jonny Flynn/Courtney Lee/Jordan Hill, 2nd round pick would be almost exactly what the Hornets are looking for, which is cap space, young players, and a draft pick. 

So unless Kaman is traded before tomorrow night I will take discuss what both Indiana and San Antonio could potentially offer in a trade.  But in basketball action the New Orleans Hornets do battle with the Phoenix Suns for the third time this season.  The Hornets are coming off two straight losses to top tier teams from the Eastern Conference in the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat.  One good thing to look forward to this month is the return of Eric Gordon!  His knee should be healed and ready to go sometime here in the middle of February before he returns to action.  So until then we will get to watch a Hornets squad that has no true offensive threat, they fight hard night in and night out but just lack the firepower to string together anything for wins.

A recent update does have the Houston Rockets as the leader in trade talks, though not all the pieces are put together sources have Hasheem Thabeet and Jordan Hill who were both top ten picks back in the 2009-10 draft.  So it seems a deal could be reached in the next couple days.

Well, that lasted through half-time and into the third quarter and then, BAM, again something happened and all I could say is, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”, oh and scream at my television, well grunt loudly since I had DVR’d the game and the rest of the family was in bed and I couldn’t get real loud as I would wake them for the slaughter it appeared they were about to take.

Dallas has been doing well for themselves even in the losses this season and averaging over 20 plus points in the first quarter, and tonight was no different, they scored 24 and held San Antonio to only 18 in the first and then blossomed that 6 point lead into an 11 point lead at half with Dallas scoring 27 points in the second quarter to the Spurs’ 22.

Now we all know what kind of coach Greg Popavich is and I’m sure that he, along with Rick Carlisle, gave his team a chewing and told them that they had better get their heads on straight or they would lose to the Mavericks as the Mavericks had lost to the Spurs earlier in the season by over 20 points and had to truck it back to Dallas with their tails between their legs with embarrassment, and that always makes out for a long flight home, even though it’s just a 4 hour drive between the two cities.

Pop would be motivating his team to get their act together, Carlisle would be grilling his team to not let up and once the third period started, it looked like Carlisle’s advice stuck with his team and Pop’s needed something different; and then it happened.

At one point in the third quarter, Dallas was enjoying the high-flying antics of Roddy B, JET being on the runway, Vince Carter keeping his “vinsanity” going and Dirk still trying to get his legs to work good after his hiatus, oh and enjoying an 18 point lead, when Pop did the something different.

So here we are, ahead of our arch nemesis that smeared us not long ago on their home court and gave us an ugly loss and you have them by, well, you know what I want to say and then Pop pulls his starters, starters as in Tim Duncan and Tony Parker and starts putting in his bench players. Well if you go back to the other game in San Antonio, these are some of the same guys who burned us back then and I know Dallas remembers who they are and I’m sure they have watched film of this team more than once.

When you think of the Spurs, you think of Duncan, Parker, Manu Ginobli (who is out right now with an injury) and now Richard Jefferson. You don’t really think of Gary Neal, Tiago Splitter, Danny Green, James Anderson and Matt Bonner. When these name are mentioned, you say “who are they and who do they play for?”. Well I can guarantee you that the Dallas Mavericks players, coaches and fans know who these guys are, because now twice they have been burned by the guys with these names.

Speaking of Neal, he led the Spurs with 19 points and also with that hit 3 of his 5 three-point attempts, Jefferson had 12 points and hit 2 of his 6 3 pointers, Duncan ended the night with 12 points also and so did Green who also had 2 of his 5 3 pointers to go in. Now you ask why these guys; well they had nothing to lose and everything to gain and with a little over 3 minutes left in the third quarter, these guys went on a rampage and almost cost Dallas the game.

By the end of the third quarter, with the barrage of three pointers going down, the Spurs were now only down by 11 points (69-58) and limited Dallas to only scoring 18 points in the third quarter. Now for the nailbiters of almost all nailbiters, the fourth quarter.

Behind the shooting of JET and his 34 points, Dallas was able to pull of the victory, but not before all the drama and I mean drama. So here we are, beep bopping along, still clinging to a small lead and no one it seems wanted to play defense on the outside shooters, so they kept coming and shooting over and over again with the threes, but at one point, we were able to match some of the points with our shooting as well, but then before you know it, with 8:56 left in the fourth, San Antonio took the lead 72-71 on of all things, a three pointer.

Before you knew it, we were down by as much as 9 points and time was running out and Carlisle had to do something like Pop did and see what would work, so he turned JET and Roddy loose and let them go. Dallas was able to get the score back to within reason at 89-85 when with only 57.5 seconds left, Roddy scored on a little jumper and got us within now only 2 points. Then we got the ball back, got a basket and now we’re tied at 89 apiece when with 37.8 seconds left, San Antonio got a basket with a foul and took a 91-89 lead but was unable to convert the free throw, Dallas got the ball and then we were back and forth again when with only about 8 seconds left, San Antonio takes a shot, misses, Dirk gets the rebound, takes off up the court, dribbling, trying to what appears to call a time out and at the same time looks as if to pass the ball to JET who with .5 seconds left on the clock takes a jumper and boom, makes the basket and now we are tied at 91-91. San Antonio calls a timeout.

Now all we have to do is block out, take the game to overtime and pull off the win, we are on a roll now, scoring again and playing a little bit better defense. The Spurs get the ball at half court, Green gets the inbound ball, turns and shoots, ball goes in the basket, San Antonio wins, or they think they do. Upon review, just a split half-second before the ball is released, the buzzer and light goes off, basket does not count, we are headed into overtime.

Again we are back and forth, back and forth until right at the end again as to see who is actually going to win this game. Dallas is up at this point 101-98 when with 12.6 left, again Neal takes the ball in for a shot, gets fouled by Shawn Marion and at the same time the ball goes in the basket, now they are within one with Dallas ahead 101-100. Neal goes to the line, shoots the free throw, but misses and Ian Mahinmi gets the rebound and gets fouled.

Now we go to the other end of the court since both teams are in bonus at this time. Mahinmi has been ok at the free throw line, but he misses both free throw attempts and now we only have 10.2 seconds left and San Antonio has control of the ball and calls timeout. When play resumes, the Spurs get the ball in and Bonner has the ball at the three-point line and trying to get free from Carter, who is stuck to him like glue and while doing this, causes him to bauble the ball, they have to scramble to get the ball before it goes out-of-bounds. Green is able to get control of the ball, but with such little time left on the clock, throws up a three-point attempt, but the ball is wide left and the game is over.

Dallas is able to maintain the win, but barely.

Along with JET’s 34 points, Carter added 21 points of his own on 8 of 15 shooting and connecting on 2 of his three-point attempts. Roddy blew up the stat sheet for the night with 14 points, 7 assists and 3 blocks. Dirk, coming into his first game since being out 4 games had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds and Marion added 9 points and had 9 rebounds and 3 steals and 2 blocks of his own. Brendan Haywood may not have looked good on the scoring end of things with only 3 points, but he had 8 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Wow what a stat sheet for the night. Dallas ended the night with shooting 44% from the field to the Spurs’ 41.5%, but left a lot to be desired from the 3 by only shooting 20% to San Antonio’s 48%, but Dallas did do better at the free throw line by connecting on 75% of their attempts to 52.6% for the Spurs. The best thing about the game, outside of the win was Dallas only committed 8 turnovers to San Antonio’s 10 and out rebounded the Spurs 55-52 and outscored the Spurs in the paint, 38-34. Not bad for an old team, huh?

So now where does that leave us? Well as of now, they are in sole possession of first place in the Southwest Division just .5 game ahead of the Spurs and 1 game ahead of the Rockets and they are sitting in 4th in the Western Conference, but it’s still an early season and 2/3′s of the season to play. Now we head to Phoenix to face the Suns who we just played in Dallas and won, so hopefully they are not too tired to carry on in the land of the Sun and get another victory.

With that I bid you a good day and say good luck and let’s go Mavs!

Howard came out and said he could see himself playing for the Bulls and that he would love to play with his “brother” Derrick Rose. It still isn’t even certain Orlando will trade Howard, but if they keep playing like they have during their three game losing streak the trade might not be in their control.

The only thing that kept Howard’s trade demands quiet for a while was Orlando’s early success, but now that has worn off and Howard is back to thinking about his future and where he wants to be. I still believe Chicago is the best place for him because they have the strongest nucleus of players built up so he could come in and they wouldn’t have to adjust.

Chicago would feature the league’s best point guard and best center which I feel is the best combination a team can have. I also don’t have as big of a problem with this trade in the sense of them building a ‘super team” because that just doesn’t seem like the case here. You don’t have two stars that play the same position coming together just to be on the same team as another star like Amare and Carmelo. It’s also different than the Heat in regards to how the players came together. Miami’s big three just wanted to play together and win but they didn’t look at each other’s games and realize guys like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade might struggle in becoming cohesive with one another.

In other words those teams were greedy and didn’t need to add the stars they did, whereas a Howard trade to Chicago would improve the team as well as both Rose and Howard’s games.

It really seems unlikely now that Howard will finish the season in Orlando, and it’s beginning to look like he may be traded sooner than later. This also bodes well for the Bulls. If Howard is going to get traded soon it is nice to have your name crop up as a team he wants to play for around that time because it is fresh on his mind and I’m sure Howard will have a bit of say in where he ends up.

The biggest problem I see is Chicago’s trade material. Joakim Noah would probably have to be part of the trade as well as a couple of first round draft picks. Other teams have better trade bait which could hurt Chicago, but if they remain the place Howard wants to go anything can happen.

The Mavericks had beaten the Jazz in Utah, and now they have beaten them before the home crowd. It really seemed that the team was geared up and was ready and was playing on all cylinders and they were pumped to the hilt. It was evident that Dallas was a little more ready than they have appeared in previous games because at times during the first half, they were shooting over 60% from the field and ended the night shooting 54.9% to Utah’s 46.4%, not bad for a bunch of old guys and left overs.

Since JKidd got hurt right after the game got started, due to a strained right calf, Roddy B took over the show and finished the night with 22 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 blocks, it looked as if Roddy was having his own block party! With him flitting all over the court, it seemed to spark the crowd, the bench and the players on the court as well. Everyone was getting in on the game, and it showed on the stats for the night. There were 6 guys in double digit scoring for Dallas with at least 12 points or better. Vince Carter, making his return, had 12 points, Brendan Haywood, with his first double-double of the season, had 12 points and 12 rebounds, Shawn Marion added 16 points, while JET had 18 of his own. Lamar Odom who has been filling in for the “injured” Dirk had 19 points to add to the mix.

The Jazz were led by Paul Millsap with 20, Al Jefferson had 19, Enes Kanter added 12 and former Mavericks, Devin Harris had 10 points of his own. Also in the lineup to face his former team, was Josh Howard. Almost missed him since he wasn’t wearing Dallas white and blue and wearing his signature headband.

Now for you stat people here’s how the numbers fell; as I stated Dallas finished the night shooting 54.9 from the field and was 57.9% from behind the arc to Utah’ 41.7%, but Utah got the upper hand at the free throw line by converting 81.8% of their free throws into points where Dallas only converted 68.2%; Dallas needs to hit the gym and practice on their free throws because this is ridiculous for them to shoot so low from the charity stripe. Dallas did get the edge in rebounding 44-33, which is pretty good since Utah has a very good number all the time for rebounds.

This time, Odom was more aggressive on offense, converting three 3-pointers and going 7 for 12 from the floor to help the Mavs to a season-high for points and making the transition from Phil Jackson’s Triangle offense with the Lakers to a Dallas attack that takes more of a fastbreak approach has been a tough adjustment for Odom, but his is willing to work at it and with his 19 points, it came off of 7 of 12 shooting and also he added 5 rebounds.

Odom has been trying to make the shift and at times looked lost in the crowd, but the Mavericks are willing to work as much as they can to help him, but they are in big need of his Sixth Man Of The Year ways to help score points and defend the title and fill in where they need him and right now that’s filling Dirks spot.

Dallas started the night scoring well and finished the first quarter with a 30-30 tie with the Jazz  and then pulled a way a little bit in the second and ended the half with a 58-50 lead going to the locker room. The Mavs surged to a 77-63 lead early in the third quarter on Terry’s 3-pointer, but then Millsap scored nine points during his team’s 13-4 run to narrow the lead to 81-76 with under 2 minutes remaining in the third and then closed the third quarter out with a 88-82 lead.

Dallas ended the fourth quarter on a 17-7 run which included consecutive 3 pointers by Odom, which helped him with his confidence for the game.

With this win, it brought Dallas close to the top of the Southwest Conference, which is led by the San Antonio Spurs who come to Dallas on Sunday night for a rematch with the Mavs, and hopefully the Mavericks won’t get blown away with another 20 plus loss against the Spurs.

In hoping also that Dirk is able to return to the game, as well as West, but in knowing that Kidd will be out more than likely, Dallas will have to revamp their line-up again, but that’s ok, that’s why they have the depth of the bench they do.

So I bid you a good day and say good luck and let’s go Mavs!

The Hornets were in control throughout pretty much the entire game jumping to a 23-19 lead after the first quarter of play only to extend that lead to 13 heading into halftime.  New Orleans never let up in the 2nd half continuing to play strong and never letting the Magic get back into the game at all.  Jarrett Jack dropped in 11 points and dished out 9 assists in the winning effort.  Marco Belinelli had a strong effort with 15 points and starting power forward Jason Smith chipped in 14, including a monster put back dunk on a missed three pointer by Grievis Vasquez.  Vasquez had an all around solid game putting in 8 points and handing out 4 assists in 27 minutes.  Al-Farouq Aminu continues to show promise with 9 points and grabbing 5 rebounds coming off the bench. 

Emeka Okafor was the only Hornet to log over 30 minutes of playing time in the game, which allowed for some of the younger players to get more playing time.  Okafor pitched in 9 points and grabbed 6 rebounds during his 31 minutes of playing time.  Trevor Ariza had a quiet night offensively with 5 points, but led the team in rebounds pulling down 9.  DeJuan Summers got a mere 2 minutes of time on the court, but did pitch in 3 points with a rebound and 2 assists.  The only other Hornet to score was Xavier Henry, who chipped in 2 points.  Gustavo Ayon was help scoreless in 9 minutes on the court.  The lone downfall for the Hornets really was the extremely poor free throw shooting hitting on only 6 of 16 attempts.

It also seems we could have a trade happening in the very near future.  Chris Kaman, who has been absent from the sidelines the past couple games is actively and openly being shopped.  Demps has spoken to the 7 footer, that with the team’s struggles they don’t want to risk him getting an injury as they look to move him to go younger.  Kaman was averaging 9.2 ppg and 6.6 rebounds while mainly playing in a bench role for the Hornets.  This announcement was made about the same time New Orleans decided to waive shooting guard Trey Johnson to clear a spot on the roster.  Interested teams include the Rockets, Pacers, Jazz, and the Spurs.  There are likely more teams that could use a reliable big man like Kaman so we can only wait and see what develops in the next few days.  It is sad to see Kaman leave after such a short tenure, but he has been extremely professional over the entire ordeal. 

Up next the New Orleans Hornets welcome in Joe Johnson and the Atlanta Hawks to the Hive.  New Orleans will attempt to match their season high win streak of two games as the Atlanta Hawks will attempt to improve to 15-6 on the season after coming off an overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons.  With Al Horford out for the season, Atlanta could also be a player in the Chris Kaman sweepstakes as the Hawks do have plenty of young talent New Orleans could be interested in.

Williams is a superstar in the NBA, and proved it on Wednesday by single-handedly taking over the game and winning it for his team. As the former Illinois star drained clutch bucket after bucket I couldn’t help but look over at the Sixers bench and wonder where the response was.

“Deron Williams, to say the least, was absolutely sensational tonight,” said Sixers coach Doug Collins. “That was the best performance we’ve seen from a guard this year. He was not going to let them lose that game, big shot after big shot.”

New Jersey's Deron Williams celebrates after hitting another big shot against Philadelphia.

And then it hit me, the Sixers don’t have a guy like that. They simply don’t have a superstar, a bona-fide scoring option every time down the court.

Jrue Holiday, Andre Iguodala, Jodie Meeks and Evan Turner don’t strike fear in opponents. They’re nice players and play well collectively, but they’re all second options. Elton Brand once was, but he is a veteran past his prime and on the decline now.

When crunch time rolls around, the Sixers’ threat is Lou Williams. Say that to yourself again. It doesn’t sound right because it shouldn’t. Sure he is clutch in some respect, he did drill a few three-pointers to try and put the Nets away, only to be answered by Williams time and time again.

I guess what the point of this is, is well, Deron Williams is really, really good. On top of that it begs the question, does a team need a superstar like a Deron Williams to be an elite team? Not that the Nets are elite, because they clearly are not, but look at other teams like the Clippers who have been transformed in just a superstar trade from a laughing stock to a title contender.

Look across the NBA landscape, the teams that win have that guy, you know the one who drops 30+ on any given night. Chicago has Derrick Rose, and is first in the East. Miami has, well, you know those guys and are second in the East. Out West, Oklahoma City has Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

Those are the types of players who take a team to the next level. The Sixers haven’t had one of those guys since Allen Iverson left the first time. And think about when they had him, a finals appearance and butts in the seats every single game. The Sixers are second to last in home attendance this season by the way.

Philadelphia needs a superstar both on and off the court. Imagine just for a second if you added a say, a Dwyane Wade to the Sixers’ current lineup? Do Jrue Holiday, Wade, Turner/Iguodala, Band and Hawes scare you now?

Sure it costs pieces to get superstars, but do you think the Clippers have buyers remorse so far with their place in front of the Lakers out West? I don’t think so. The Hornets, who gave up the superstar, are 3-15 and will probably last another year before being relocated by the league. Still think a star matters?

It sounds stupid, but in the modern NBA, you need more than just a team. You need a team that has that guy, the guy that teams look over after a game and say “He did what?”

Just like I said as I watched Deron Williams sink the Sixers on Wednesday night.

Once again leading the charge for New Orleans was Jarrett Jack, who continues to play out of his mind to pick up the offensive slack and keep this team in games.  With no real offensive threat on the team with Eric Gordon out with his knee problems, Jack is forced to become a scorer averaging 16.6 ppg this season which is good enough to land him in the top 5 in scoring among point guards.  Gustavo Ayon was a pleasant surprise on offense adding 16 points in only 17 minutes of playing time off the bench.  Carl Landry remains a decent offensive threat in scoring 15 points off the bench in 28 minutes.  The only other player to hit double digits in scoring was yet another bench player, Al-Farouq Aminu hit on 5 of his 6 attempts from the field for 11 points.  Aminu continues to slowly improve offensively, already a solid rebounder he still continues to struggle dribbling and handling the ball.

Xavier Henry finally made his way onto the court for his Hornets debut and scored his first point on a free throw, but struggled from the field going 1-5 for a total of 3 points in 13 minutes of playing time.  It was his first appearance, so it may take some time to adjust and get into the flow of the game to improve as the season goes along.  Trevor Ariza struggled his way to a mere 2 points on 1 of 8 shooting and was clearly frustrated and drew a technical foul in the 4th quarter.  Marco Belinelli had a quiet night with 4 points, and the other starter Jason Smith chipped in 8 points.  Emeka Okafor matched Smith’s 8 points, while pulling down a team high 8 rebounds.  The only other Hornet player that scored was reserve point guard Grievis Vasquez who added 4 points and dished out 3 assists.  DeJuan Summers only saw 1 minute of playing time and did not have any points, assists, or rebounds.  Inactive or did not play was C Chris Kamen, PG Squeaky Johnson, SG Trey Johnson, and of course the injured SG Eric Gordon.

Speaking of Eric Gordon, yestarday was the last day for the Hornets and Eric Gordon to come to an agreement for an extension.  Those talks failed and no extension was signed.  At this point in time there is no need to panic on Gordon’s long term future with the club, Eric has no problem staying with New Orleans long term and the front office was probably leary on handing out the league maximum right away.  So what this means is that Gordon now has three options in the future.  The first one is he could sign an offer sheet with another team during the offseason, the Hornets would be able to match any teams offer if they are looking to keep him which they more than likely would.  A second option would be for Gordon to sign a contract over the offseason.  This would make more sense as it is unlikely the team offered Eric anything above a 4 year 58 million dollar contract during the extension talks.  This gives the team a chance to allow the market to dictate his true price over the summer to find out what he is worth.  The third option would be for Gordon to sign a one year qualifying offer with the team to become an unrestricted free agent in 2012, this option would mean that he would lose out on millions and long term financial security to bolt from New Orleans.  It would seem obvious to me the Hornets want to keep Eric Gordon in New Orleans, and Gordon has stated he is interested in staying with the club so things should end up working out in the long run for both sides.

Staying on the topic of contracts, New Orleans has picked up the team options on point guard Grievis Vasquez and shooting guard Xavier Henry.  Vasquez has made an appearance in every game for the Hornets averaging 19 minutes, 5.5 ppg, and dishing out 3.1 assists per game.  Since Grievis is still under a rookie contract so he will make 1.19 million for the 2012-13 season, up from the 1.11 million he is making this season.  Henry falls under the same category, only he will make 2.32 million the 2012-13 season which is up from the 2.17 million he will make this season.  As stated since both are still under their rookie contracts the team will once again have the option to keep them for the 2013-14 season.

So now with the team sitting on a 3-15 record and in a battle with Charlotte, Washington, and Detroit for the worst record in the league the chances of a high lottery pick increase with each loss.  That means the time to look at potential players in the upcoming draft that could end up wearing the Creole blue uniform next season such as Andre Drummond, Anthony Davis, Jared Sullinger, and all the others in what appears to be a strong draft.  So coming soon I will take a look at many of these projected lottery picks and how they would fit in with the Hornets as they look forward to the future.  Also with the trade deadline coming up in March, the Hornets have plenty of trade pieces such as Chris Kaman, Carl Landry, Emeka Okafor, Trevor Ariza, Jarrett Jack, and basically no one is untouchable as the team falls out of the playoff race and into the draft lottery race.  Not all the players will be traded and some less likely than others, but there is no doubt in my mind that teams will be calling Demps in the near future.

Now I don’t want to take anything away from the Wolves, they have one of the best rebounders in the league and he just got himself a contract extension, so Kevin Love is feeling the love and Dallas made him feel even  more loved by allowing him to score 31 points and capture 10 rebounds and lead the Wolves to victory. Also can’t take anything away from the rookie sensation Ricky Rubio, of course he’s just an NBA rookie, but he’s played for several years in the European league, he had 17 points and 12 assists to add to the blunder that Dallas found themselves in.

Dallas was all smiles and glitz, glamour and bling at the ring ceremony and granted the rings were amazing and the work and detail that was put into the design of the rings was amazing. It included the original Mavericks logo in honor of the Carter’s who got this team started as well as the current logo, 31 diamonds to represent the 31 years that Dallas had been a team and it took them to get their championship; each players name encrusted on the side. A lone star to represent Texas, the NBA logo and their motto, “the time is now” and the results of each playoff run on the inside of the ring. So it was a marvelous event for the players, including JJ Barea who was visiting with the Wolves and the other current Mavs on the roster, also Peja Stojakovic who retired at the beginning of the season, but it was a glorious event for the fans as well.

The only thing is, this is the second time this type of activity has gone on and we forget to finish the job at hand. When the season opened on Christmas Day and the Mavs raised the banner, it was a glorious event, people had tears in their eyes and then the Miami Heat got their revenge and put the whoop on us; well, it happened again tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves, a short-handed team at that, but they sure didn’t look it.

We looked so out of sync in the second half. As Dirk who was acting as color commentator during the second quarter stated, “shut it down, let’s go home, that’s a wrap” when the Mavs got a steal, JET and Brandon Wright were running the break, JET scooped up the ball as he did, he alley-ooped it to Wright do went in for a thunderous dunk and brought the bench and the crowd to their feet and you heard Dirk scream his infamous saying! It was spectacular.

During the first part of the first half, the Mavericks looked as if they had everything under control, they were going to exact their revenge for the loss against the Wolves on New Years Day and handle the job at hand, but no one told the Wolves that. Even though Dallas had a 27-26 lead at the end of the first quarter, they sat back on their duffs and let Minnesota do the catch up thing and let it rain threes in the AAC. It seemed every time that a Minnesota player touched the ball on the offensive end, it went in on a fluke, or they got a three or a basket and 1, by looking at the numbers.

JET led the Mavs with 17 points and Shawn Marion added 15 points. The bright spot, if you could call it that, was the plays of Roddy B who had 11 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks; now that might not seem like much, but he was everywhere. Brendan Haywood finished the night with 8 points and 10 rebounds.

Again look at the numbers game; for a team that stresses defense and has held almost every team under 100 points and even less than that in most cases, couldn’t find the defense in anything if it was written on their hands. Dallas shot 41.1% from the field to Minnesota’s 44.2, was a dismal 27.3% from behind the arc to Minnesota’s 42.9% and still struggling at the free throw line by shooting 60% to Minnesota’s 84.8%. Dallas did do better at protecting the ball and only committed 13 turnovers to Minnesota’s 16, but got out-rebounded 49-46 for the night.

The most disappointing thing about this game, as there were quite a few, was that Dallas had as much as a 14-15 point lead at one time, but sat back on their hind ends and let this little team fight back and give them life and let them take total control in the second half.

The writing was on the wall when at the end of the second quarter, Dallas had a 54-49 edge and let Love set up and shoot a wide open 3 to bring the Wolves within 2 and Dallas only had a 54-52 lead at halftime and then fell apart in the third and never really could get their feet back under them for the remainder of the game. Now with this loss, not only does that hurt them more in the standings, but they are most certainly in jeopardy of another milestone of the franchise record of not getting their 50 game win this season. Granted this is only a 66 game season, but even so, they have had the opportunity to get some of the wins that they have lost, but just to give it away and that’s the way tonight’s game felt is that they gave that win away.

Yes, they are without Dirk for a third straight game, but everyone has been stepping up to fill the void left by him and Vince Carter to put the points there and step up the defense; I just feel that they were caught up in the moment of the glory of the ring ceremony and our feet might have come off of cloud 9, but they never really touched the floor to get the win.

Now Dallas has got to get their stuff together because they have another worthy opponent coming to town on Friday in the Utah Jazz, another young, vibrant team and they have to go be ready, and hopefully Dirk and maybe Carter will be closer to getting back into the game and play soon. Dallas can not afford to lose many more games if they want to have any shot at getting into the playoffs let alone defend their title because as everyone knows, the Wester Conference is a tough one to be in and you can’t win it if you continue to play like this, but the thing of it is, I think they know it.

So guys, let’s get it together and let’s play some good ball; I bid you a good day and say good luck and let’s go Mavs!

When Marion played for the Phoenix Suns, his job was to attach himself at the hip of the best player on the opposing team and in our case, he was always matched up with Dirk. The Matrix had and has an arsenal of weapons he could use against you, from his rugged defense to his own style of offense. I have never seen anyone shoot the ball the way he does, with the tip of his fingers; that’s on regular shots, free throws and three pointers!

Carlisle had made mention that the first year he was here, they had discouraged Marion from shooting the three as they really needed someone to penetrate the paint and score inside since Dirk was more of a perimeter shooter, so he didn’t use his three-point shot much and now they realize that it was the wrong thing to do. Last season, Marion shot some three’s, but not as much as he has done lately and especially tonight. I haven’t seen him shot that many threes since his days when he wore that orange and gray uniform.

With both Dirk and Vince Carter, the Mavericks are looking each and every night for someone to fill those voids in points and rebounds and tonight Marion did a lot of that and more. Marion led the Mavs with 29 points, but it was also his presence on the court that led the rest of the Mavs to victory. Backup center, Ian Mahinmi, had 17 points and 9 rebounds while starting center, Brendan Haywood had 10 points and 6 rebounds of his own.

JET was landing all over the runway with not only scoring 12 points, but his active hands for steals and passes, helped to set up others for scoring. Lamar Odom who got another start tonight and added 11 points of his own. Odom  is looking as if he might be getting more settled as the season progresses and knowing that the Mavericks are going to depend on him more with Dirk out.

Now this wasn’t just a game,  and at times it seemed to be a sloppy game; yes Dallas led after the first quarter 32-27, and they were doing very well, I thought, but then they started that sloppy play in the second and once the bench came together, they settled things down somewhat. In doing so,  helped Dallas to hold their lead going into the half 49-46.

Again, it seemed as if we forgot how to play during the halftime break because when the teams came back from the locker rooms, Dallas allowed the Suns to get the jump-start and let themselves get outscored 19-17 in the third quarter.

Grant Hill scored a season-high 19 points for the Suns, while Marcin Gortat had 19 points and 17 rebounds, which was his eighth consecutive double-double. Shannon Brown added 14 points for the Suns, while rookie Markieff Morris had 7 points and 11 rebounds. The ever popular ex-Maverick, Steve Nash had 8 points and 12 assists. But none of that helped the Suns pull off the victory which resulted in Phoenix losing six of their last eight. Phoenix was hoping to extend their winning streak and break Dallas’.

Now when you look at the numbers, which a lot of people do, things weren’t that much different between the teams; Dallas shot 40.7% from the field to Phoenix’s 37.3%, the three-point shot, Dallas connected on 32% to Phoenix’s 30%. Dallas is still struggling from the free throw line with only converting 65.5% into points to Phoenix’s 86.4%. Dallas did do better in the turnover category by only committing 12 to Phoenix’s 19, which resulted in 21 points for Dallas. However, Phoenix got the edge in rebounds, where Dallas had 42, but Phoenix had 52 and Dallas had 38 points in the paint to the Suns’ 36.

So as you can see, things were fairly evenly matched, it was just a matter of who committed the less errors as to who was going to win. Dallas is striving to prove a lot of people wrong in saying that Dallas is weaker without the likes of Tyson Chandler and Deshawn Stevenson, but I really feel that there are guys here that can help to pick up that slack and it’s evident since this was the 15th opponent that Dallas has held to below 100 points and that has helped to extend their franchise record streak.

Now the game was not without its excitement though, all the slams of the basket for dunks and so on, but then it was the forces of defense who rose its ugly head. Brian Cardinal, “the custodian”, went into the game and has been very infamous for drawing offensive fouls and in this case he did on Sebastian Telfair, or we thought anyway, but as it turned out in this case, Cardinal was called for a flagrant 1 foul on Telfair. Needless to say, Telfair, Alvin Gentry nor a lot of the Phoenix Suns liked the call and later out of frustration, Roddy B was given the ball on a breakaway play, when as he went up to shoot the ball, was clobbered in mid-air by Telfair who in turn was given a flagrant 2 which resulted in his ejection. Well if you would have seen it on replay, Telfair never attempted to go for the ball and swung with gusto as if to take Roddy out.

The point I’m trying to make is, “he who tries to get revenge is usually the one caught with his hand in the cookie jar”, my own little saying, but it was a proven fact. Telfair didn’t like the call earlier, so he took it out on Roddy; well you didn’t think he’d take it out on Cardinal did you? The custodian is bigger and he felt that Roddy fall to the ground and flop like a fish, but to his dismay, Roddy did fall, and fall ugly, but got up, wiped himself off and awaited the outcome of the call; result, 2 free throws and the ball and Telfair exit stage left to take an early shower and get ready for the trip home.

So now, the Mavericks will prepare for Wednesday’s game against the young and vibrant Minnesota Timberwolves, the return of JJ Barea and the championship ring ceremony. They showed a brief of a video of the rings being made, but no one paid particular attention until they saw “Nowitzki” on the side of the ring; they look awesome, but I know it’s going to be a bittersweet moment. I just hope that Dallas is ready for the game and not still on celebration station to play the ‘Wolves as they did after the banner raising game against the Heat.

I realize that they have played some games since then, but they need to get their heads out of the clouds and be ready to play this game, and get their  revenge on Minnesota by winning the game. Tune in early for the ceremony and stay for the game; so I bid you a good day and say good luck and let’s go Mavs!