by Lori Shepler - AP

13 days ago: Actor Jack Black and his wife, Tanya Haden watch the Los Angeles Lakers play the New Orleans Hornets in an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009, in Los Angeles. The Lakers won the game 110 to 99. (AP Photo/Lori Shepler)

View full size photo »

Discuss the game here.

GO MAVS

by Chuck Burton - AP

View full size photo »

Discuss the game here.

GO MAVS

by Mark J. Terrill - AP

10 days ago: Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade, right, pats center Jermaine O'Neal on the chest as guard Quentin Richardson stands between them after O'Neal got into a shoving match with Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom during the second half of their NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 4, 2009, in Los Angeles. Both players received technical fouls and Odom was ejected after receiving his second of the game. The Lakers won 108-107. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

View full size photo »

Discuss the game here.

GO MAVS

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

Browse more photos »

Brainy Mavs Commit A Foul, Miss A Free Throw, Dull A Memory, Beat Steve Nash's Suns | DB.com
From Carlisle: "Jet's intentional miss at the free-throw line was a huge play because he grazed the rim in such a way where Stoudemire had to kind of double-hitch and then put it on the floor, and that probably burned a half a second or a quarter of a second, which in that situation when you are flinging up a (long) shot, it makes a difference. So, we had to be precise. ...''

'J-Ho Yo-Yo' Plays 'Round The Suns' In Re-Debut | DB.com
When Howard is fully right, he and Shawn Marion and Jason Kidd provide Dallas with a trio of top-notch perimeter defenders who can also survive in every variation of pick-and-roll defense (a necessity against the P-and-R-mad Suns). The fact that Josh wasn't in the game at the end suggests that he's not fully right ... right? "He just showed a lot of guts tonight," Carlisle said. "Because he was tired and you could tell he was a little sore."

A shade better: Dallas Mavericks escape Suns, 102-101 | DMN
He hit six of 11 shots in the second half and looked much better than he did a month ago, when his first try at a return was aborted after three games. "It's night and day," said Jason Kidd. "He looks a lot more comfortable and relaxed. To be away that long, then to come back and play like this, it's pretty impressive."

Behind the Box Score, where Josh Howard is back| Kelly Dwyer - Ball Don't Lie
Josh Howard(notes) (20 points, six boards in 26 bench minutes) played with a style and bounce that reminded of 2006-07

Howard will continue coming off bench | ESPN Dallas
"When you start, the minutes rack up," Carlisle said, noting there's no TV timeout for the first six minutes of each half. "You're playing balls out for six minutes of each half. That's very fatiguing if you haven't been playing for a while."

Big plans for the dynamic duo | ESPN Dallas
Despite Marion's troubles making shots early on Tuesday night (2 for 8 in the 1st), he impacted the game by competing against Amare Stoudemire defensively. Dallas turned to Marion to check Stoudemire for stretches after they made the determination that Erick Dampier wouldn't be a big help on this night. Big Damp never returned after being subbed for midway through the first.

Jason Kidd's Top 4 BBIQ NBA Players | DB.com
"Soccer gave me vision,’’ Kidd says. "I learned to see the whole field, and the more you can see the whole soccer field, as big as it is, you can pretty easily see a whole basketball court. Also, for me, I started playing basketball against older guys (including future NBA players Gary Payton, Greg Foster and Antonio Davis as well as members of the Golden State Warriors). That was probably … osmosis. I soaked everything in. "And now I just know things,’’ laughs Kidd, 36, "because I’m so old.’’

Dallas Mavericks cover their bases on defense |Eddie Sefko - DMN
"We believe it is a better indicator," coach Rick Carlisle said. "Points per possession is a finite number each time you have the ball. If you win a game, you're going to have a better points per possession on offense than the other team." So what is a good points-per-possession average defensively? "Anything around one or less is good," Carlisle said. "Nobody in the league had an average under one last year for the season. Offensively, anything at 1.1 or 1.05 or higher is generally pretty positive.

Bill Simmons Twitter
Boy, It's hard to believe the Gortat/Bass signings haven't worked out for Orlando. Why didn't they keep Hedo again? http://bit.ly/7L51gj  ----- They spent $52m on 2 guys who played 124 minutes combined in last 10 games.

by Frank Franklin II - AP

View full size photo »

Dallas favored by 4 | Over/Under 216 | Game to pay attention to | Bright Side of the Sun

Discuss the game here.

GO MAVS

More photos » by Mike Fuentes - AP

Browse more photos »

Mavs Monday Donuts | DB.com
The Southwest Division measuring stick in many ways is San Antonio, of course. So the Mavs can take solace in the fact that they are are 14-7 and have a three-game lead on the 9-8 Spurs, who have also lost two in a row ... Meanwhile, Dallas has played 12 road games while the Spurs have played just five roadies!

Dallas Mavericks' deficiencies in limelight after losses | Eddie Sefko - DMN
They stress that their anemic offense will regain its luster. They don't want to fall back on excuses, even if the last two weeks were hectic. "We'll get our legs back," Jason Terry said. "You got to remember, that was eight games in 12 nights. That's a tough stretch. We won a majority that we should have won. And we dropped a couple we shouldn't have. But now you get your legs back under you, and the schedule comes back to us."

NBA player to appear on tonight's WWE Raw | PROWRESTLING.NET
Dallas Mavericks forward Shawn Marion will make a guest appearance on WWE Raw tonight, according to his Twitter page.

Mavs hit new low in Power Rankings - Mavericks Blog | ESPN Dallas
The first losing streak of the season -- modest as it is after losses Friday and Saturday – has dropped the Mavericks to a season-low No. 8 in ESPN.com’s weekly NBA Power Rankings.

Video: Ex-NBA ref Tim Donaghy on '60 Minutes' - Ball Don't Lie
In case you missed Sunday's "60 Minutes" episode, fear not — Andy Rooney still gets a chuckle out of life. That, and ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy talked with correspondent Bob Simon about betting on pro basketball games, his shady Mafia involvement and the subsequent jail time he received for getting busted.

by Gregory Smith - AP

29 days ago: Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson (2) reacts with Hawks forward Josh Smith (5) after a basket against the Portland Trail Blazers during overtime at an NBA basketball game at Philips Arena, Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 in Atlanta. The Hawks won 99-95 in overtime. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith)

View full size photo »

Discuss the game here.

GO MAVS

More photos » by Nikki Boertman - AP

Browse more photos »

Dallas Mavericks misfire on the road with 98-82 loss to Grizzlies | DMN
"We shot no free throws in the second half, which meant that we basically became a jump-shooting team and a passive team offensively," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "You're not going to win on the road in this league playing like that. We have to play with a lot more force." Zero free throws. That's what happens when you fall back to old, bad habits, like 18 3-pointers after halftime and plenty of other low-yield shots that contributed to a season-low 35.2 percent shooting.

Scatterhooping: Memphis 98, Dallas 82 | Jeff Wade - ESPN Dallas
The Grizz only shot 6 free throws in the second half, but it didn’t matter because their shots weren’t that hotly contested. In a game where nobody was really too committed to guarding anyone, the Grizz made their shots and Dallas didn't.

Grizzlies 98, Mavs 82: Dallas Throws In The Towel | Mike Fisher - DB.com
Every time the Mavs called a timeout, it seemed, Dirk Nowitzki stormed to the bench to abuse whatever stood in his way. He angrily threw a towel. He slapped a folding chair and sent it crashing to the floor. Overall, the Mavs were never a threat to the building Grizzlies, losing at Memphis 98-82 on Friday. But the Mavs were undefeated against inanimate objects.

Going long distance gives Dallas Mavericks no shot | Eddie Sefko - DMN
The Mavericks have averaged 18 3-point attempts per game. That's a sensible number. They had 29 on Friday, most of them before garbage time began

by Sam Forencich - NBAE/Getty Images

17 days ago: PORTLAND, OR - NOVEMBER 27: Hasheem Thabeet #34, Marcus Williams #5 and Zach Randolph #50 of the Memphis Grizzlies watch their team win during a game against the Portland Trail Blazers on November 27, 2009 at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images)

View full size photo »

Dallas Favored by 6.5 | Over/Under 205 | Straight Outta Vancouver

Discuss the game here.

 GO MAVS

More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

Browse more photos »

The DMN has a long awaited piece on Dampier's health issues.  After two weeks of mystery, Dampier told Chuck Cooperstein after the Nets game that he was having numbness in his arm, and now he expands on that.

"I was out there doing my normal routine and I kind of felt light-headed," Dampier said. "Light-headed, and my heart rate was a little high."

"They just wanted to take every precaution," he said. "You don't want to be out there running up and down the floor and something happens. It was a good thing [to get checked out]. Everything came back negative."

"It really wasn't anything to be worried about," he said. "I had to meet with a couple different doctors and I got a lot of information from those guys. It wasn't anything that was really scary. I just wanted to make sure to take every precaution to make sure nothing was wrong."

"The reason why it took so long is they had to run a lot of tests to make sure everything was OK. There were no problems. And I don't really foresee there being any more problems."

Sounds like it shouldn't be a problem moving forward which is good news.