I'm still being shadowed or whatever at work today so I can't really post.

Quick links for a discussion startup...

- Caplan on JJ Barea

- Sefko compares the Suns and Mavs

- Sefko asked Dirk about Devin Harris

- Sefko's latest mailbag

- Jan Hubbard writes about the Rockets always having a bunch of injuries

About six weeks after being cut by the Mavs, Terry has finally found a home -- Gruppo Triboldi Basket of the Italian second division.  Babelfish humorously translates:

Perhaps the destiny has been put of means, as Reyshawn Terry is without a doubt in possession of much more class. Terry, however, it will not be asked for being quickly l ' man of the Providence, but for being that added value that was Quadre Lollis for this system, than from to half January will be able here to count still more on a rate elevated athleticism.

The hope of the society, now, is that which Terry can already come down in field Sunday against the First Veroli of coach Andrea Trinchieri, bureaucracy allowing. In these hours, the strong player of color finds itself to the consulate of Filadelfia in order to demand the approval for l ' Italy.

Anyway, the Mavs don't hold Terry's rights anymore.  I'm just posting this because I had been wondering where he was.

I've got stuff going on at work today which will most likely prevent me from doing the daily links etc..

Talk amongst yourselves.

• "Haahahahahaha, that was awesome" - me, to myself, after Barea hit the
  three that turned out to be the game winner.
• "Are you kidding me!" - Mark Followill after Jason Kidd got the steal right after Barea's three.  
• "i want this 2 hours of my life back....." - a Clippers fan over at Clips Nation.
• Dirk Nowitzki was messing with that elbow pad/sleeve several times tonight.  He was not wearing it in the last game, and I was waiting for him to get rid of it after he missed his first five shots tonight.  (Elbow tonight - elbow vs SAC)
• In a game that Dallas won by two, and led for less than one minute, JJ Barea was a ridiculous +21.  15 points, 6 assists,  7-11 from the field, and unquestionably my player of the game. 
  
• So far, it appears Shawne Williams has no business shooting from outside about 10 feet.
• Talk about a turnaround.  At the end of the third quarter Dallas was sitting on 68 points, trailed by 13, and had just seen Baron Davis (shocker) make a jumper with 1 second left.  Unsurprisingly the AAC was dead silent. After the fourth quarter, Dallas had won, and the crowd wasn't leaving.  All the players were in the locker room but the camera clearly showed the fans just lingering.  That's the greatest sign of a good game. 
  
• Speaking of after the game, can FSN not do the postgame show from the Old No 7 club with people in the background ever again?  As I'm writing this some guy has been holding up the shocker for what seems like a minute straight.
• This play will surely be lost after that finish, but it wouldn't have been possible if Brandon Bass hadn't forced a turnover with 2 minutes left.  He got his finger on a poor Baron Davis pass at midcourt and hit the ball off of a Clipper.  Jason Terry scored on the next possession to reduce the lead to one.
• Diop airballed another free throw tonight by about 8 inches.  He seems to have gotten worse in the last year.

Jason Terry Postgame Quotes:

With two minutes left in the third quarter we were saying it's a long game and let's just stick together.  Those guys were hitting shots all night long and it feels like you're never going to get a stop.  But we put a little wrinkle in there, the coaches trusted the players, and we went to a zone defense. It took them out of their isolations, we started to get stops, we started to get momentum, and our fans went crazy.  The biggest difference in this game was home court advantage.  Our fans propelled us to this win tonight.

It's a lineup we seldom use [Kidd, Barea, Terry]  because in practice we don't have enough bodies, but one that can be very beneficial to us because now you have three ballhandlers that can create, drive, get to the basket, and kick out for open shots. We did that time and time again in the fourth quarter.  Take your hat off to JJ Barea.  He he hit a big dagger at the end.  It was tremendous.  I told Stackhouse in the locker room, 'I don't care who shot that three it was going in'.  That's just the way the game was going.

It should be [asked if this win will be one they use/look back on...].  We'll see on Thursday night.  We've got a good Phoenix team coming in here.  We need to keep our momentum.  Our confidence is up at home now.  We know any deficit can be overcome.  We can come back from anything.  Now we've got to come out and get a better start to the game, especially at home.  You want to get confidence early and not give them confidence.

The Devean George on the zone defense.

We just wanted to give them a different look.  They were getting comfortable with the man-to-man sets.  We were having trouble staying in front of guys and the zone helped us out because they got cold shooting from out far.  It bailed us out tonight.

Rick Carlisle:

Well, you know, it was unorthodox. And it was really all night just a search for energy, some spark at the defensive end, and you know the group that ended the game did a great job of scrambling.  We were in a zone defense, and just real active.  Making things happen.  For a four minute stretch we caught lightning and a bottle and found some magic.  Barea hit the shot, it was a huge shot, and he was big factor in the entire game, so I'm happy for him.

This has been a place where this team has just gone out on the court and won.  It has been tougher this year.  Our fans weren't into it early, and we were having a hard time getting them into it.  So it just really appears to me that beginnings of games are very important.  Digging a point hole is not a great a place to start  The Clippers are a team much better than their record, obviously.  This trade they made has made them a more dynamic team both athletically and offensively.  They are going to be a nightmare for everyone to play, but it makes it harder when you start 9-0.

Are there any signs you can get before the game that the team is going to start off cold the way they did?

That's the most loaded question I've heard in a long time and I'm not going to answer it.  But, you know, I really think the personality of our team is important and during this stretch we've got to redefine our identity as a home team.  In the past they've just come out here and run over people.  But we were up against it the whole game because we were giving up 50% shooting.  When we won the six out of seven, during that stretch we were holding teams to 41%.  When our defense isn't there it's going to be hard. Especially without Josh who is a difference making playmaker on both ends.  I'm not sure where I was going there, but this is an important time and it was a huge win as unlikely as it appeared.

Box Score - AP Recap

Clips Nation - Sefko Preview - NBA.com Preview - Clippers Last 5: LLLLW - Dallas Favored by 11 - Over/Under 199

So Far This Season:
DAL 92 @ 103 LAC

Discuss the game here.

GO MAVS

I've got nothing right now, so I'm just going to post an Arrested Development clip -- should spark just as much conversation here as anything Mavs related.

Seven game home stand starts tonight against the Kaman-less Clippers, and Josh Howard thinks the Mavs should win all seven.

"Not when you're at home, especially with the crowd we have," he said. "We have to get all seven games. I know we got some good teams in here. But we're at home - and I know we haven't been playing that great at home. But things are going the right direction now."

Howard is hopeful he'll be able to play tonight.

"I'm right there," he said. "Tap it in, or it sits there. I'd love to come back [today]. We'll just see how it reacts.

"It's just like coming off a sprain. It's still going to hurt. I just pray to God that it doesn't swell up [overnight] and we'll see how it goes."

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Carlisle on Kidd and Barea sharing the court.

"With J.J. and Kidd together, J.J. becomes the two [shooting] guard and Kidd becomes the point, and Kidd's big enough to guard the other team's two, so it works out," Carlisle said. "I'm not going to hesitate to go back to that."

Last night's game pretty much went according to plan (box score - highlights).  I'm not sure what it was exactly, but late in the first quarter with Dallas up 21-18 I felt pretty sure that Dallas wasn't going to trail the rest of the game.   The Kings, without Kevin Martin, shouldn't score 80+ against Dallas, and they didn't so job well done.

There was a disappointing element to the game though, and that's how boring it was.  Remember when Dallas/Sacramento meant something?  That was a fun rivalry.  Now Dallas is winning by 20+ without trying, the crowd is quiet, and the arena isn't exactly full.  Oh well, I know Dallas will eventually go through the same phase that the Kings are currently in, but for now I'm glad it's them and not us that has faded away.

Mike Fisher points out how easy it was for Dallas.

How easy was it for the Mavs to handle the Kings? Even Devean George played well.

....What, exactly, did LA-lovin' Devean do to earn such praise? He played even with Kings emergency go-to-guy John Salmons.

Yup. John Salmons is their go-to-guy.

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Rick Carisle's play of the game:

Dirk Nowitzki punched the ball away from guard John Salmons, beat him down the court then hurled himself to the floor to flip the ball back to Devean George for a layup.

"That was a defining play in this game," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "That was an effort play, where you got a max player going down on the floor.

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Hubbard says the Mavs still aren't where they need to be but have improved dramatically.

The two victories over winning teams came in San Antonio and Houston. But each team was missing a major player. The Spurs were without Manu Ginobili and the Rockets played without Yao Ming.

Still, despite no quality wins against teams at full strength, the Mavericks are playing better than the team that lost a game to the Los Angeles Clippers.

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Carlisle with a Josh Howard update.

"I'm hopeful. I'd like to say that I'm optimistic, but really it's up to Mother Nature at this point. I know that he's doing everything he can do in terms of treatment to try and condition the ankle as it progresses. But I don't have a crystal ball right now. Obviously the sooner the better for us."

And Jason Terry is not one of the people who think Dallas playing well without Howard means anything.

"I mean, we're still not all the way put together. J-Ho [Josh Howard] is out. He's a big part of what we do. I mean, how can we even judge where we're at when you don't have your All-Star out there with you?

"I'm not using that as an excuse. It is what it is. We're doing a decent job of banding together. It says a lot about this team. It says we're playing hard."

Sactown Royalty | Sefko Preview | NBA.com Preview | Kings Last 5: LLLLL | Mavs Favored by 5 | Over/Under 207

Discuss the game here.

GO MAVS

Hubbard has some quotes from Carlise about how well Jason Terry has been playing off of the bench.

"He’s been able to give us a real scoring punch off the bench," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "The great thing about him is he’s willing to do whatever to try and win. If I have him coming off the bench we can keep his minutes reasonable and still get a real weapon coming off the bench. And it’s great for the soul of our team to have a guy who’s that unselfish when it comes to that kind of stuff."

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Jerry Stackhouse didn't travel to CA with the team after having surgery on his foot.

"It requires a short period of complete inactivity," Stackhouse said by text-message Friday night. "I hope to be moving again early in the week."

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Anyone know what Reyshawn Terry is up to?  As far as I can tell, he still isn't playing basketball anywhere.