It was a wonderful night for the Mavericks' new Three J's.
First, Jason Terry was back in action, barely three weeks after suffering a broken bone in his non-shooting hand that required surgery.
Then, Jason Kidd dished out 15 assists, pushing his career total to 10,002 and making him the fourth player in NBA history to top 10,000.
Those were important events. But maybe the most vital contribution came from the lesser known of the J's, James Singleton, who gave the Mavericks a newfound anchor in the paint and paced them to a xxx-xx victory over the Toronto Raptors Sunday night at American Airlines Center.
Singleton had 12 points and 16 rebounds. Terry was a boost to the spirit and the production of the Mavericks. Kidd simply drove the Mavericks' machine like Matt Kenseth maneuvers around a NASCAR track.
And a fourth J, J.J. Barea, may have been the emotional straw stirring the Mavericks. After getting two teeth crushed when his face got squashed onto the floor, he came back and would hit the 3-pointer with under five minutes left that staved off a would-be Raptors rally.
The Mavericks led virtually throughout the game and took control with a 24-11 run over the last 8:09 of the third quarter to go up 90-75.
The Raptors never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
It was the Mavericks' third win in a row and put them 13 games over .500 for the first time this season. They visit Oklahoma City tonight.
Terry had been out since breaking a bone in his left hand on Feb. 7. The Mavericks were 5-3 in his absence, which was a better winning percentage than the first 50 games with Terry.
But that's not the way to gauge Terry's value, coach Rick Carlisle said before the game.
"You miss everything, the scoring, the spiritual lift he gives you,'' Carlisle said. "He's an all-star player for us. Our guys have done a really terrific job of filling in. They made the best of it. But a player like that is very hard to replace.''
Terry returned to action with 3:31 left in the first quarter. It took awhile for Terry to get into the flow. He missed his first two shots, one of which was a 3-pointer with the shot-clock about to expire. When he canned an 18-footer from the right wing, it was disallowed because of an offensive foul by Nowitzki.
He made his first basket with 9:41 left in the half, a long 2-pointer that got the Mavericks within 33-31. Moments later he hit a 3-pointer to give them the lead, 37-35.
Strange but true: The Mavericks owned a 27-24 lead after one quarter. It had been as much as 10 points, and probably should have been a lot more.
The Raptors shot just 29.6 percent in the quarter. The Mavericks shot 55 percent. Eight offensive rebounds by Toronto were to blame for the Mavericks not being further ahead.
Briefly: Toronto's Shawn Marion was suffering from flu-like symptoms all day and left the game midway through the first quarter. He got an IV treatment, hoping he would feel better, but did not return ... Former Lincoln star Chris Bosh had a Raptors' high 28 points to go with 10 rebounds.
--Eddie Sefko
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