Full-Court Press

Turn out the lights, the party's over

Rick Carlisle hasn't imitated former Celtics legend Red Auerbach and lit a victory cigar. Of course, in today's PC atmosphere, that would get him thrown out of the arena.

But this one's over. Mavericks are up by 24 with 4:51 left. Dallas is now 11 games over .500 and still in a huge battle for a playoff spot. Not bad for a team that some local idiots wrote off as a non contender in November.

And Josh Howard leaves with 27 tonight. Imagine if this guy would play like he did in the first two months of last season.

-- Jan Hubbard

Order is restored

It would appear that way, anyway...

The Mavs are on a 14-0 run at the moment, and their lead is back to a comfortable 22 (108-83). Aah, I'm sure the Mavs are breathing a little easier on the bench now.

-- Tracey Myers

A letdown

The Mavericks have let up a little and to the Bucks' credit, they continued playing hard. Dallas led by as many as 25 in the third quarter, but Milwaukee has closed to within 11.

You know, I'm sure that many people thought a blowout win against the Bucks would allow the Mavericks' main players to get some rest. But after the way they played in San Antonio, I have a feeling Rick Carlisle will leave the big guys in for a long time.

And he should. As Warren Zevon once said, "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

OK. That's a little overstated but you get the point.

-- Jan Hubbard

Dirk fighting for everything

With no weak-side shooting threat, Dirk Nowitzki continues to get even more attention than usual from the defense.

Add on the fact that he's not playing well right now and it's easy to see why he looks frustrated. He's gotten only seven shots and has just nine points in 33 minutes.

Still, there have been a lot of times when 6-2 Luke Ridnour has tried to guard him. Nowitzki has to make plays when that happens and he hasn't been able to do so.

--Eddie Sefko

Charlie V. still here

After 19 points in the first quarter, Charlie Villanueva had none in the second.

He just picked up four quick ones, the second pair coming on a nifty steal from Jason Kidd and a behind-the-back move that set up a power jam.

The Mavericks still are up by 17, but it's not nearly as comfortable as the 25-point bulge they had a few moments ago.

--Eddie Sefko

Going small, for a moment

The Mavericks put James Singleton into the lineup to start the third quarter, then he quickly picked up his fourth foul.

He's going to be replaced by Brandon Bass whenever there's a dead ball.

Too bad, he's the Mavericks' most active player so far in the quarter.

--Eddie Sefko

Happiness is a vist from the Bucks

Well, the Mavericks are playing much better tonight than they did last night, although if they played worse than last night, Mark Cuban would have been in a nastier mood than Oscar the Grouch.

The Mavericks are leading the Bucks, but then again, the Mavericks are supposed to be leading the Bucks. Milwaukee is playing without leading scorer Michael Redd, who is injured and out for the season and starting center Andrew Bogut. Dallas has a lead at 65-41 but the only good news is that there is no more bad news.

It's going to take quite awhile for the Mavericks to get over that nasty loss to a Spurs team without Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan. And the next three games are no-win situations for the Mavericks because they should win a home-and-home with Oke City and a Sunday night home game against Toronto. If they win, it's no big deal because they are supposed to win.

But next Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be fun. The Mavericks have the Spurs in Dallas on Tuesday then have to play at New Orleans on Wednesday. Once again, they have a chance to prove something -- but certainly not to critics who began writing them off in November.

Nope, the way they play against the Spurs and Hornets will tell the Mavericks a lot about themselves, and that's always a good experience to go through.

-- Jan Hubbard

Mavs on the brink

They are up 54-39 with 2:50 left in the second quarter.

They are a good, strong finish to the half away from putting the Bucks into serious panic mode.

If they can push this lead past 20 before the half, they would have a great chance to rest some heavy lifters after halftime.

Of course, most of those players got plenty of rest Tuesday in San Antonio, where the Mavericks barely showed up.

--Eddie Sefko

Owning the boards

The Mavericks are killing Milwaukee in rebounds right now... with about three minutes remaining here in the half, here's the count:
    Mavericks: 25
    Bucks: 11

Mavs are taking hold of this one right now. Are they going to have another second-half cruise like they did against the Sacramento Kings last Saturday?

-- Tracey Myers

A pleasant discovery

While it likely does not rival a proverb from Confucius or Poor Richard's Almanac, the Mavericks did learn an NBA truth in the first quarter:

A match against Messrs. Sessions and Ridnour is quite a picnic when compared to a night of Dancing with Tony.

Milwaukee point guards Ramon Sessions and Luke Ridnour combined for 0-4 from the field in the first quarter, which is a little worse than Tony Parkers' 10-of-11 start from the field last night. So a 33-23 lead is a direct result of not letting the opposing point guard slap you around like the Three Stooges.

-- Jan Hubbard