Full-Court Press

Of Kobe and tornadoes

OKC coach Scott Brooks lauded newcomer Thabo Sefolosha, who was acquired from Chicago before the trade deadline, for his work against Kobe Bryant in the Thunder's last game.

Before you laugh and say Kobe scored 36, he had only 10 at halftime and was 5-of-12 from the field while Sefolosha was guarding him.

So tonight, Brooks said, Sefolosha will start again and will guard Josh Howard in the beginning.

It'll be interesting to see if Howard has one of his trademark hot first quarters.

By the way, Brooks and a handful of other employees moved from Seattle down to Oklahoma City with the Sonics/Thunder. All of them say it's been a wonderful move professionally, although the personal side of things isn't necessarily that great.

"We got tornadoes,'' said Brooks, who had one touch down just a couple miles from his house last week.

--Eddie Sefko

Dirk in rare territory

And it's not necessarily a good neighborhood to be in.

He's at 24.9 points per game for the season. It's the first time since Dec. 2 that his scoring average has dipped below 25.

He had 39 against Phoenix on Dec. 4 to nudge up to 25.1 points and topped out at 26.4 points later in December before hovering between 25 and 26 for more than two months.

Kudos to radio superstar Chuck Cooperstein for pointing that one out.

Last year, by the way, Dirk averaged 23.6 points for the season.

---Eddie Sefko

Good news, maybe, for the Mavericks

You have to consider the source on this, but the analysts at TNT believe the Mavericks are going to be a playoff team this spring.

During Thursday's double-header, here's what they had to say:

Kenny Smith: "The Phoenix Suns will be watching from the fishing boats of Lake Havasu.''

Charles Barkley: I concur. There will be no playoffs for the Phoenix Suns this year.''

Like I said, I think that's good news for the Mavericks. Then again, Barkley and Smith don't always have the best batting average when it comes to making an educated guess, especially Chuck.

There's a reason why casinos always liked to see him coming in the front door, before he gave up that habit.

--Eddie Sefko

Mavericks just say no

When it comes to a stimulus package, the only place the Mavericks are in the market for help is in the Western Conference standings.

Mark Cuban won't be among the dozen or so NBA owners who requested help from the $200 million that the NBA borrowed to help out some of its franchises.

The Mavericks, like everybody else in the league, are feeling the economic pinch. But they won't be asking for a chunk of the change.

NBA commissioner David Stern said that not all of the teams that are partaking of the cash help are in dire financial straits. But you have to figure the ones taht are primed for playoff money probably aren't interested in taking on any extra debt, no matter how cheap the financing for that debt might be.

--Eddie Sefko

A blast from the past

In case you missed it, another former Maverick has landed in San Antonio.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who had a cup of coffee with the Mavericks a couple seasons back was picked up on a 10-day contract and got a cameo appearance last night in the blowout of Portland.

It seems like Pops, who has a terrific work ethic and a lively attitude on the court, will be a perfect fit for the way the Spurs do things.

Isn't it amazing how they pull those things off.

--Eddie Sefko

Dirk's slump will come to an end

So Dirk Nowitzki has scored 14, 14, 12 and 9 in the last four games. That's a slump by his standards.

But if he is going to snap out of it, it should be Friday night against Oklahoma City.

He should be salivating at the sight of the Thunder defense, which he lit up for 46 points in December. The Thunder has given up 380 points in its last three games (126.7 per). Kobe Bryant got 36 against the Thunder on Tuesday and last week Leandro Barbosa of Phoenix nailed them for 41.

Friday is the night for Dirk to ring up another big one.

--Eddie Sefko

What happened at the end of the Bucks' game?

You may have missed it, but Ryan Hollins had to be coaxed away from Milwaukee's Francisco Elson after the buzzer of Wednesday's game.

Afterward, I talked to Hollins about the incident. He said that Elson just kept coming after him when the game was already over.

The two parted ways and nothing came of it, but it was a little unusual given that the game had long before been decided.

Anyway, it's the guess here that Hollins is going to get a few more minutes in the coming games, mostly because Oklahoma City (twice) and Toronto are not particularly big teams. The Mavericks are trying to figure out how their center rotation will look beyond Erick Dampier. When teams go small, some combination of Dirk Nowitzki, Brandon Bass, James Singleton and Hollins figures to be on the court.

The coaches need to find out quickly who works well together.

--Eddie Sefko

Closing tidbits

It's been a long day, kids, so we're going to try and do this in the shortest and most entertaining form we possibly can. If it's sloppy, my bad... there's no accounting for style points at this time of night:
    Duh statement of the evening: The Mavericks needed that one (badly) after the mess in San Antonio on Tuesday night.
    Line of the evening: From Dirk Nowitzki, when asked why Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva stopped hitting buckets after the first quarter: "They took Nowitzki off him."
    Much-needed outing: The Mavs were a bit sluggish early, but Josh Howard lifted them out of the doldrums. He was doing just about everything right this evening, and his 27 points are the most for him since late December.
    Big-ol telling number: 67.9 percent. That's what the Mavericks shot from the field (19 of 28) in their 58-26 run that began when they were down 15-7 and ended at the half. That will remedy a slow start any time.
    No big man: Erick Dampier played just five minutes of this one. He's fine health-wise, and coach Rick Carlisle said it was more because Milwaukee went small: "They’re a small team to begin with. We got in a hole early, and it was just a coach’s decision."
    Another big-ol number: Actually this is a comparison. The Mavs outscored the Bucks in the paint, 46-28. Yikes (for the Bucks, anyway).

-- Tracey Myers

Big night on the boards

The Mavericks outrebounded Milwaukee 51-25, which sounds impressive enough on its own merit.

Consider also that only one time in franchise history has an opponent grabbed fewer rebounds against the Mavericks.

Vancouver, the ancestor of Memphis, had 24 rebounds in a game against the Mavericks back in 1997. The amazing thing about that is that the Mavericks and Grizzlies weren't very good then. It's amazing there weren't more missed shots and more rebounds.

Anyway, here's what Bucks' coach Scott Skiles said about the rebounding: "Lately, our defense and rebounding have been slipping. We've been able to scre enough, but in general, when you're playing on the road, your margin of error is even smaller. They just dominated so bad that it's hard to weather that.''

--Eddie Sefko

Mavericks whack Bucks, 116-96

At least we know this much about the Mavericks: they will respond to humiliation.

At least, they do when the bar is lowered.

A night after getting overwhelmed in San Antonio by a Spurs' team that was missing two all-stars, they returned to American Airlines Center to blister the Milwaukee Bucks 116-96 Wednesday. They got diverse production from numerous players and made up for the 34-point blowout they absorbed last month in Milwaukee.

But it hardly seemed satisfying, not after what happened the previous night, when the short-handed Spurs held the Mavericks to 76 points and won by 17.

But, a win is a win and at this point, with the playoff picture changing every day, they all count -- even over the 28-32 Bucks..

Josh Howard had 27 points to pace the Mavericks, who placed five other players in double figures. They went without a center virtually the whole night as the Bucks played without Andrew Bogut.

The Mavericks fell behind 15-7 in the first quarter, then outscored the Bucks 58-26 the rest of the half. Their giant cushion was safe throughout the second half. It would shrink to 94-83 early in the fourth quarter, but a flurry of buckets ended that brief glimmer of drama.

Perhaps the best bit of news for the Mavericks was that Dirk Nowitzki seemed to snap out of what had been a three-game slump. He hit 6-of-10 shots and while he only scored 14 points, it was significant that he beat Milwaukee's constant double teams with a couple of nice moves in the fourth quarter.

He also picked up four assists.

Williams taking leave: If you haven't noticed Shawne Williams on the Mavericks' bench lately, there's a reason.

He's not there.

Williams has been in Memphis for the last month or so, ostensibly to let a foot problem heal.

But owner Mark Cuban said Wednesday: "We're helping him work through some issues.''

According to the Mavericks' players' log, the 6-9 forward has not been with the team for "personal reasons" since Jan. 23.

It is believed the Mavericks have resigned themselves to playing the rest of the season without Williams, who played only 15 games before his departure. When he was acquired in a trade in October for Eddie Jones and two second-round draft picks, Williams brought with him substantial off-the-court troubles. At the time, coach Rick Carlisle said: "If any of that stuff ever came up again, his (butt) would be grass and me, Donnie (Nelson) and Mark would be the lawnmowers. It's got to be professional all the way.''

Nelson said that, for now, Williams and Gerald Green are in the same boat: "Our focus is 100 percent on the playoffs and the development of young players right now has to be secondary,'' he said.

The Mavericks are on the hook for Williams' salary next season, about $2.4 million.

Blackman gets honor: Former Mavericks' star Rolando Blackman will be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame Wednesday in Waco.

Blackman is one of seven athletes with Texas ties that will be enshrined. Blackman is second on the Mavericks' all-time scoring list at 16,643 points, trailing only Dirk Nowitzki.

--Eddie Sefko