Terry's loss a tough one for Dirk

Dirk Nowitzki said he could see it in Jason Terry's eyes at halftime that the injury to a bone between his left ring finger and his wrist was going to knock the Mavericks' sixth man out for a while.

"We didn't know what really happened and he came in before everybody went on the court (for the second half) and said it was broke,'' Nowitzki said. "He almost had tears in his eyes, that's how much he cares. And we told him we got this one for him and we would hold down the fort.''

That's what the Mavericks did, even if it wasn't easy in the first half-plus-overtime of life without the Jet.

"He's the best sixth man in the league and he means a lot to this team,'' Nowitzki said. "We are going to miss him dearly, but he will be back soon and we know he's a tough guy.''

On the bright side, the All-Star break will represent one of the weeks that Terry is out, meaning he won't miss any games that week.