Playing the Knicks is so much fun.  You know it's a fun game for Mavs fans when even the media for the other team can't bear to watch.  And with that, the winning streak goes up to two.  Lets hope they can keep it going.

Before I get to the game recap, there’s some news that some of you guys are obviously stoked about. Dwayne Wade has opted for season-ending surgery on his left knee. I guess it’s now fall down 7, get up 6. No immediate word if a wheelchair was needed after the surgery.

Wade will miss the remainder of the season so he can further rehabilitate his surgically repaired left knee, which has bothered him for about a year. He will undergo a powerful shock-wave treatment later this week, and hopes he will be pain free in time for next season. Which makes me wonder- if the Knicks played the Heat, is it possible for both teams to lose? And it REALLY makes me wish that the NBA had relegation like the European soccer leagues do. I’m sure that the NBDL would love to get a new franchise in New York. Also, Dirk gets some national recognition about becoming the Mavs leading scorer. Here's a news flash: Dirk Nowitzki is the greatest player in Dallas Mavericks history. OK, so he's probably had that distinction for a while. But the big German cemented his status Saturday night by moving to No. 1 on the franchise's career scoring list. Lots more Dirk news out there. Jeff Caplan has an article about the trade taking some of the burden off Dirk, and basically putting him in his happy place. "[Dirk is] just happy right now," Johnson said. "He's in a happy place. He's playing really hard. Right now, he knows we, as a team, have a higher level to go to. There's a new dimension for us to go to, and he knows we're not there yet." Dirk also knows what the whole point of this is about. "I think in 10 or 20 years, I'm going to look back on my career and see what I did," Nowitzki said. "Hopefully there is a lot more to come, especially a championship. This will mean more to me when my career is over." In a blow to the dreams of Wes, Jake and I, Mark Cuban has officially banned bloggers from getting media credentials to enter the Mavs locker room. Of course, the _interesting_ part of this is that Tim MacMahon of the Dallas Morning News is the only person so credentialed, and the move came the day after MacMahon wrote an article critical of AJ. Cubes manages to say with a straight face that he’s not singling MacMahon out. "I don't care what Tim writes, then or now," Cuban wrote. "What I do care about is being fair to all bloggers." And now onto the game (if you can call a 29 point blowout a game). There were a couple heartening things from the box score and game action.

1) Josh Howard led all Mavs with only 31 minutes played. Stack and Dirk only played 23. With the stretch run upon us, any time that the starters can grab rest is good. Howard had a MUCH better game than the last few, shooting 50% from the field for 14 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, and 3 steals. It still isn’t where AJ wants it to be. "It hasn't happened the way we want it to happen, but it will happen." 2) Speaking of starters, Stack joined that group again. AJ said after the last game that he was going to do that for a while, and Brad Davis re-iterated it during the broadcast. AJ has been concerned that when he plays the all-Jason backcourt, Kidd has to expend too much energy on the defensive end to do what he needs to offensively. "We ran into some major issues with both Jet and Kidd starting together that we have to take a long look at," Johnson said. 3) Antonie Wright proved some pretty good minutes at the 2 spot himself- 18 mins, 3 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 6 points. Not too shabby. Count me as impressed. Davis also mentioned that AJ is rewarding him for the way he’s played in a couple losses, contesting everything. That is, after all the AJ way- for better or worse. I would expect him to continue to play some minutes if he keeps this up, and if Devean George is limited by back trouble. "[Wright] has defended on the ball pretty well," Johnson said. "That's what we need, good on-the-ball defenders." 4) Damp got in quick foul trouble, then found himself not really getting up off the bench again given the excellent play of Brandon Bass and Malik Allen. Even Jamal Magloire was productive with his time on the court, scoring 7 points and pulling down 2 boards in 6 minutes. He looked pretty good from what I saw, though it’s tough to judge given the level of competition. I’m still waiting to see him rotate through against the Spurs, Suns and Lakers to give any judgment.

Looking ahead: Tyronn Lue is expected to debut Wednesday.

Up Next: The streaking Bobcats, winners of 5 straight. Tipoff is 8:30, Wednesday the 12th, at the AAC.

Johnny Appleseed Day

About a million noteworthy things happened last night, so forgive me if I leave your favorite one off.  Consider this thread the place to talk about them.  All I have to say is...

Whew.

That was one of those dammed if you do, damned if you don't sort of games.  Lose it, and the freefall might begin.  Win it, and well, you've won a game that you should have.  Either way, Avery said afterwards that he wants no more excuses.  I'm glad to hear that- it ought to start with AJ.  However, Jan Hubbard writes that there's plenty more work to do.

But you know what?  After the last week of games, I'll take it.  Like JET said, you have to start a winning streak with a win.

Speaking of JET, he's gone from super-sub to 9th man.  It's an interesting night when both George and Bass get off the bench before he does.  JET only got 5 points and played only 17 minutes.  George did worse, but Bass certainly proved his worth.  He was largely responsible for the Mavs lead after the first quarter.  Is AJ going to continue to tweak the starting lineup?  AJ said last night that he was going to start Stack with Kidd for the foreseeable future.  I think that's a wise choice.  With Kidd providing some significant size at the PG spot, Stack apparently feeling much better after having tweaked his hammy, and Antonie Wright playing like a legitimate NBA SG the Mavs suddenly have an embarrassment of riches at the 2 spot.  Quite a ways from Mo' Shots getting minutes, isn't it?  I do think this is a situation that bears watching though- how long will JET be happy about this kind of role?  In any event, I prefer him sitting on the bench playing overpaid cheerleader to Kidd.

The trade that made that possible put Devin Harris in a surely strange looking uniform.  Fortunately, MMFL at the AAC remembered all the times he laid his body on the line for the team and gave him the standing ovation that he so deserved.  I was glad to see that.  I still have mixed feelings every time that Michael Finley gets booed.  On one hand- it's Michael Finley.  On the other hand, he's now a freaking Spur and we're still paying him to play for them.  In the end, I would boo my own Momma if she was wearing a Spurs jersey.

David Moore has a good article about Harris coming back for the first time.

Our current shot-happy swingman J-Ho shot 50% last night.  Of course, he did it on a total of 4 shots, but at least he's no longer trying to shoot his way out of his slump like a 12 year old playing Halo.  Is his back still hurting?  Is he still in a personal funk?  I dunno, but I want to see him running the floor, darn it.  And given the way that Brandon Bass and Malik Allen have completely buried Juwan Howard at the end of the bench, I think we can give J-Ho his nickname back without much confusion now.

Damp didn't put up spectacular numbers last night, but the Mavs got pretty good production from the 4/5 spot anyway.  Brandon Bass scored a season high in points with 19, and Jamal Magloire made his first appearance.  Malik Allen put in every shot he heaved towards the rim, scoring 6 points in the process, but managed to pull down 9 boards in 16 minutes.

In some playoff seeding news, the Rockets beat the Hornets for their 18th in a row, and the Jazz blew out the Nuggets.  The Mavs are currently a 7 seed and matched up against the Spurs in round 1.  They're a half game behind the Suns who were inactive, and having post-trade troubles of their own.

Gil Lebreton continues the barrage of "the future is now" articles.

Last, but certainly not least- Congrats to Dirk.  With his fallaway jumper over a double team last night to score his 34th point he passed Rolando Blackman for #1 on the all-time Dallas Mavericks scoring list.  He's gotten a lot of flack for not being the vocal leader the team has needed at times (much of it undeserved), but you can't deny that he's been the face of the franchise through thick and thin since he was a 19 year old kid with a bad haircut.  Here's hoping we get another 16,644 points out of the Diggler.

Next up:  The completely hapless New York Knicks.  Monday, March 10 at the AAC.  Tipoff is 7:30 Central on FSNSW.  GO MAVS!

Apparently the Heat and the Hawks are going to do a little playground rules hoops.  On December 19th, the Hawks official scorer ruled that Shaq had fouled out with 51.9 seconds left.  One problem- he only had five fouls.  Now the teams are going to have to replay the end of the game.

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I know that there's a pretty big ex-pat Mavs fan contingent on this site- are any of you in the Washington DC area?  The Wizards play the Mavs on Jan 21 (a Monday) at 1 PM, and there's a presale for individual game tickets going on right now.  I've picked up 2 upper level tickets, meaning I have an extra.  I'd be more than happy to give first dibs to any Mavs fans in the area.  Also, the Mavs play the Wizards on October 13th (a Saturday) for a preseason game at the Patriot Center at GMU.  That's going to be a great chance to see them, as the tickets will be cheaper and the seats closer.  Since it's preseason we may not be seeing Dirk, but who cares!

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Here's a scouting report I put together to post over at GSOM.  Mostly so they know what's about to hit them like a ton of bricks.  I'd be interested to see you guys comment on it too.  I really think that George and Buck are going to be the hidden keys to this series.

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I know most of you guys haven't gotten the chance to watch as much of the Mavs this year as I have (and the prior games haven't been exactly indicative of this team, ya know?), so I wanted to give a quick run down.  I always find having this sort of scouting report helpful because it lets you really see what's going on in the game.  Otherwise, I feel like I'm lost for a few games until I can get into the feel of the series.  Maybe one of you guys can do a similar scouting report for your players, so I know what to look for?

Not trying to start anything, other than a good bball discussion.  I can't wait for the game to tip off tonight.

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Ok, who else is declaring the day wasted for anything other than NBA playoffs?  What's your thoughts about what's going on?

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While a certain amount of good natured trash talking is part of sports in general, it has to be tempered with a bit of respect as well.  Unfortunately, it's all to easy to get carried away on the internet, when there are no consequences to your actions and it's easy to forget basic civility.

Poll

Over/Under

50%

220

7 votes

28%

240

4 votes

0%

260

0 votes

7%

280

1 votes

14%

200

2 votes

14 votes | Poll has closed

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeL61mge3cQ

He does really shitty rap in French.  Which just makes me angry.

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Dunno if you guys saw this, but Jeff McInnis was ejected after eight seconds.

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The NBA has released suspensions for the Knicks-Nuggets fight:

Poll

The suspensions were:

20%

Too Harsh

2 votes

40%

Not Harsh Enough

4 votes

40%

Just Right

4 votes

10 votes | Poll has closed

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Ok, I got tired of waiting for Wes's, so I'm doing my own.  Take that.

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It hasn't been made official yet, but Jalen Rose has announced that he's going to sign with the Phoenix Suns.  Interesting, since I think he would have had a far bigger impact on the Heat.  I'm not all that worried about him being the missing piece (Jalen Rose, missing piece?  Never gonna hear it).  In fact, I think it may even make the identity of the Suns more in flux this year-  Now in addition to putting Amare back in the mix, they're going to mix in Rose?  How are those two going to affect Boris Diaw's minutes?  Can Shawn Marion possibly be happy about it?  I've got a feeling it's going to be subtraction by addition...

Am I going to feel bad for having back to back diaries on the list?  Naaaah.  I posted my last one yesterday.  If I'm only doing one a day I'm a fan, not compulsive, right?

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The WaPo (my local paper since I moved from DFW 4 years ago) has a very good article on the Spurs and Mavericks.  Their premise is that over the years the Mavs have gotten more like the Spurs (hiring AJ, running more conventional sets, keeping a nucleus together) while the Spurs have gotten more like the Mavs (playing more uptempo, going small in spots, slashing to the basket more).  But what really stood out to me was how bitter Tim Duncan came off as sounding.  Maybe it's just because since I'm not a Spurs fan I don't know what his personality's really like, but he sounded like one of those guys in pickup games who can't believe that anyone could beat them.  While rumors of their demise have been greatly exaggerated, it sounds like Duncan's having a hard time believing that the Mavs are now at least as good as the Spurs, and heaven forbid they have actually passed them.  To some extent he's right- until and unless the Mavs win it all, the Spurs have bragging rights.  But I've gotta say, that sort of attitude from Duncan make me all that more passionate about tomorrow's opener...

Poll

Duncan is:

29%

The Big Fundamental

5 votes

23%

The second best play in Texas

4 votes

0%

Confidant

0 votes

47%

Whining

8 votes

17 votes | Poll has closed