Full-Court Press

Mavs have a defensive identity

DALLAS _ Jason Terry looked at the evidence and couldn’t help but noticing something magical about the Dallas Mavericks.

Lately, they've been playing defense similar to the defense that led them to win last year's NBA title.

“We’re starting to figure out our identity,’’ Terry said. “When you can come out every night consistently and play your style of basketball, regardless of what’s going on on the offensive end of the floor, you’re going to win a lot of games.

“And I think we’re finding our way.’’

The Mavs are finding their way because they have been able to turn up the intensity on the defensive end of the court, although they’ve struggled some offensively.

After allowing 100-plus points the first three games of the season, the Mavs haven’t allowed anyone to hit the century mark during the last eight games. That including keeping six of the last eight foes under 90 points.

“Defense, defense, defense,’’ Terry said. “I can’t stress it enough.

“Our offense and chemistry is not in good rhythm, it’s not a flow. Obviously Jason Kidd is not here to help there, but defensively it’s energy and effort and that’s what coaches stress.’’

Part of that defensive energy has come from point guard Delonte West, who has filled in solidly while Jason Kidd has been sidelined the last three games with  a lower back injury.

“I just like where we’re at as a team,’’ West said. “It was a lot of emotions going on out there (during Wednesday’s win in Boston) and it was for the best.

“A lot of guys getting in each other’s face for the right reasons and pulling each other along, and in the end that’s just making us more of a team and more of a unit. It’s turning us into a family.’’

The Mavs’ defense haven’t yet made anyone forget the job Tyson Chandler, JJ Barea and DeShawn Stevenson at the defensive end of the floor last year. But the Mavs are excited about the defensive progress this year’s squad has made.

“We’re still learning each other and everybody is taking the challenge of guarding their guys,’’ forward Shawn Marion said. “That’s the biggest thing is we’re playing defense.’’

-- Dwain Price

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Carter said Detroit fans were not on the Mavs' bench

DALLAS _ Vince Carter wants to set the record straight.

Those two Detroit fans who appeared as though they were sitting on the Dallas Mavericks’ bench during Tuesday’s game against the Pistons were actually sitting in some expensive courtside seats. However, when TV cameras caught the pair sitting between Delonte West and Carter, it went viral -- for all the wrong and laughable reasons.

Carter, though, tells another tale about what happened when he came out of the game and couldn’t find a seat on the Mavs’ bench.

“Everybody kept saying (the two fans) were sitting on our bench, but they weren’t sitting on our bench,’’ Carter said. “They were sitting courtside.

“So when I came out of the game there was nowhere to sit -- but those seats right there on the end.’’

The NBA called the Mavs during the game and informed them that Carter was in violation and demanded that they tell him to get back in the secured area of the Mavs’ bench.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank said the two fans “were in their ticketed seats. Vince sat in a ticketed seat instead of the bench and it gave the appearance that they were actually on the bench, but they weren’t on the bench. They were in ticketed seats.

“For a lack of a better term, (Jack) Nicholson’s seat (at Los Angles Laker games) sit there at the end. They’re at the back end of the bench instead of the front end of the bench.’’

Carter knew something was out of the ordinary when he couldn’t find a place to sit next to West. But his hands were tied -- until the Mavs got the call from the NBA.

“I wasn’t going to ask them to move, because they paid their money to sit there,’’ Carter said. “I didn’t feel obligated to do that.

“I see where people blew it all of out of proportion. They were sitting there, they were cool and they were watching the game and minding their business.’’

So Carter just found the first empty seat he could find, and sat in it. But unfortunately, he was not on the Mavs’ bench.

“They were in their courtside seats, so there was no room on the bench,’’ Carter said. “That was the only seat left.

“I guess the other two people didn’t come, so I just sat right there.’’

The NBA, understandably, wants all of its players in the secure area on their bench just in case an altercation occurs.

For the Mavs’ sake, the events of Tuesday night were harmless and fodder for the talking heads on radio talk shows. Frank even admits it looked like the two Piston fans were on the Mavs’ bench having a beer.

“But then I went back and checked with our people, and those folks did nothing wrong,’’ Frank said. “They were in the right seats.’’

-- Dwain Price

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No additional fines for Carlisle

DALLAS _ Rick Carlisle is a little lighter in the wallet today.

Those two technical fouls and ejection the Dallas Mavericks coach collected during the third quarter of Wednesday’s game in Boston, will cost him $6,000. That’s $2,000 for each technical and $2,000 for the ejection.

Carlisle took exception to the bear hugs Celtic forward Kevin Garnett were giving Dirk Nowitzki and raced onto the court to relay his point to referee Bill Spooner.

"This is just my opinion, but I don't think Kevin Garnett should be allowed to bear hug Dirk when he's trying to come off a screen,'' Carlisle said. "I just thought that that was something that shouldn't be allowed, and I'm pretty vigilant about my feeling about that.

"It'll cost me a few thousand dolllars, but, you know what, you've got to make the point. There was a foul that should have been called, and that's the way it is.''

Although Carlisle ran onto the TD Garden floor, NBA spokesman Tim Frank said Carlisle won’t incur any additional fines “beyond his ejection.’’

-- Dwain Price

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Heinsohn said Mavs seems to have righted the ship

BOSTON _ With so many new players on their roster, Tommy Heinsohn said it wasn’t unexpected for the Dallas Mavericks to get off to a slow start this season.

“They’re in an inevitable position at the start of the season after only a week with new players and everybody’s pointing towards them,’’ Heinsohn said before Wednesday’s Mavs-Boston Celtic game. “When you have new guys, you’re trying to incorporate those players into the mix.

“But they seem to have righted the ship.’’

Heinsohn, who won eight NBA titles as a player with the Celtics and two more as their coach, said defending a title is one of the toughest things in the world to do. He added that preparation -- even against the NBA’s bottom-feeders -- is to key to winning back-to-back titles.

“That’s when you know that you’ve got to really motive yourself,’’ Heinsohn said. “If you’re really going to be a champion you want to play like a champion all the time if possible.

“We used to challenge each other, or I challenged the team, to take the crowd out of the game if we’re on  the road.’’

Heinsohn then turned his attention to the truncated 66-game schedule and noted that it comes with challenges that could derail any defending NBA champion.

“I don’t know how they’re going to do it in this schedule, because these guys aren’t used to playing this type of basketball,’’ Heinsohn said. “This is a schedule more like when I played.

“No time for practice, no shoot around. You just have breakfast and go  to the game.’’

-- Dwain Price

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Mavs played like they were the fresher team

BOSTON _ In a nutshell, Wednesday’s 90-85 victory over the Boston Celtics was the Dallas Mavericks’ most impressive win of the season.

The Mavs came into TD Garden after winning Tuesday night in Detroit. So no one would blame them if they played like they were a bit tired.

Boston, meanwhile, hadn’t played since last Friday. That’s a big-time vacation during this lockout-shorten 66-game season.

But the Mavs used some big-time grit and gutsy play to mow down the Celtics and manufacture their first three-game winning streak of the season. In essence, the Mavs played like they were the fresher team.

“We needed everybody,’’ said coach Rick Carlisle, who was ejected early in the third quarter for running onto the court to protest a lack of calls in his team’s favor. “There were timely plays made the entire second half, and guys like (Rodrigue) Beaubois coming in and getting a steal here and there and making a couple of shot (helped).

“Ian (Mahinmi) gave us good energy. I loved Lamar Odom in the second half. He played with great energy.’’

The Mavs led for most of the game in winning here for the fourth straight season to pad their record to 6-5. That includes holding Celtic future Hall of Famers Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to just 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting.

“A game like this, it comes down to a lot of little things,’’ Carlisle said. “The sum total of our game is a lot of good solid plays being sandwiched together.

“The guys did a good job of that in the second half.’’

Dirk Nowitzki won it for the Mavs when he motored inside with 5.1 seconds left, scored, was fouled by Brandon Bass, and completed the three-point play to give Dallas an 88-85 lead.

“He’s a great player and every team in the league’s game plan is to keep the ball out of his hands,’’ Carlisle said. “Our execution has got to be good, and we’ve got to find ways to get (the ball) to him.’’

-- Dwain Price

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Carlisle's ejection was money well spent

BOSTON -- Rick Carlisle had seen enough. And he didn’t want to see any more.

For a little more than 25 minutes Tuesday night at TD Garden, the Dallas Mavericks’ coach had watched in anger as Boston forward Kevin Garnett took liberties and was grabbing, holding and pushing Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki, and the Mavs’ 10-time All-Star somehow couldn’t get the call.

So, after one more bear hug by Garnett on Nowitzki, Carlisle raced some 30 feet from the Mavs’ bench and onto the court to let referee Bill Spooner know he was mad as heck and wasn’t going to take it any more.

Spooner responded with a pair of quick technical fouls and an automatic ejection for Carlisle, who will hear from the NBA Thursday on how much money that ejection will cost him.

“This is just my opinion, but I don’t think Kevin Garnett should be allowed to bear hug Dirk when he’s trying to come off a screen,’’ Carlisle said after his team’s 90-85 win over Boston. “I just thought that that was something that shouldn’t be allowed and I’m pretty vigilant about my feeling about that.

“It’ll cost me a few dollars, but you know what, you’ve got to make the point. It was a foul that should have been called and that’s the way it is.’’

The Mavs were behind, 47-42, when Carlisle got ejected. But they soon went on a 24-6 scoring spree to assume a 66-53 lead.

Thus, for Carlisle, it was money well spent.

-- Dwain Price

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@dwainprice

Mavs top Celtics, 90-85

BOSTON _ Jason Terry scored 18 points and the Dallas Mavericks won their season-high third game in a row with a 90-85 victory over Boston tonight at TD Garden.

Also for Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki tallied 16 points, Shawn Marion had 15 and Delonte West added 12.

The Mavs are now 6-5 and will next play at home on Friday against the Milwaukee Bucks after sweeping this two-game road trip, which also included a stop in Detroit.

Nowitzki snapped an 85-85 tie with a circus basket with 5.1 seconds left. The 13-year veteran was fouled on the play by Brandon Bass, and his free throw gave the Mavs an 88-85 lead.

The Celtics turned the ball over on the ensuing trip up the court, and Terry closed out the scoring with a layup.

-- Dwain Price

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@dwainprice 

Nowitzki approaching 23,000 points

BOSTON _ Sometimes in the fourth quarter tonight at the TD Garden, Dirk Nowitzki will become the 23rd player in NBA history to score at least 23,000 points in a regular season game.

That list is full of some of the all-time greats, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Wilt Chamberlain, Moses Malone, Jerry West, Elvin Hayes, John Havlicek, Oscar Robertson, Shaquille O'Neal and Elgin Baylor, to name a few.

Nowitzki has 22,981 career points and needs only 19 to join the illustrious 23,000-point club. The odds are that he'll get it tonight at 7 against the Celtics, since his career average against Boston is 27.4 points, and is the highest of any of the opponents Nowitzki has played against.

The only active players on the list ahead of Nowitzki are LA Laker guard Kobe Bryant -- he's sixth with 28,192 -- and Celtics forward Kevin Garnett, who is 19th with 23,426 points. 

Nowitzki broke out of a shooting slump Tuesday when he went 9-of-10 from the field and scored 18 points against the Detroit Pistons. But he said he should have scored more than the 10 points he tallied last Saturday against New Orleans when he had just 10 points on 2-of-11 shooting.

"Actually the last game (against the Hornets) I had great looks,'' Nowitzki said. "(Emeka) Okafor kept leaving me because he's a shot-blocker and I had open 15-17 footers.

"Some night you have it, some nights you don't. I don't care who you are.''

Shots have gone in a lot of times for Nowitzki, who ironically, can join the 23,000-point club in the same town where Larry Bird became really famous. Nowitzki, though, is just hoping he can continue shooting the way he did Tuesday night against the Pistons.

"Some nights they just won't go in,'' he said. "Obviously once you see the first couple go in, then your confidence goes up.''

-- Dwain Price

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NBA All-time leader board 

RK	PLAYER	PTS
1	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	38,387
2	Karl Malone	36,928
3	Michael Jordan	32,292
4	Wilt Chamberlain	31,419
5	Shaquille O'Neal	28,596
6	KOBE BRYANT	28,192
7	Moses Malone	27,409
8	Elvin Hayes	27,313
9	Hakeem Olajuwon	26,946
10	Oscar Robertson	26,710
11	Dominique Wilkins	26,668
12	John Havlicek	26,395
13	Alex English	25,613
14	Reggie Miller	25,279
15	Jerry West	25,192
16	Patrick Ewing	24,815
17	Allen Iverson	24,368
18	Charles Barkley	23,757
19	KEVIN GARNETT	23,426
20	Robert Parish	23,334
21	Adrian Dantley	23,177
22	Elgin Baylor	23,149
23	DIRK NOWITZKI	22,981
24	RAY ALLEN	22,429
25	Clyde Drexler	22,195

Up Next
PLAYER	PTS
TIM DUNCAN	21,781
PAUL PIERCE	21,486

*Active players are in CAPS. 

Yi scoreless in Mavs debut

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Yi Jianlian's debut with the Dallas Mavericks was nothing near his recent dominant performance with the Texas Legends of the D-League.

Yi played the final 5:24 of Tuesday's 100-86 win over the Detroit Pistons, but those were some forgettable minutes. Yi finished with one defensive rebound and one foul, and did not attempt any shots during his scoreless night.

By contrast, in two games with the Legends, Yi averaged 23 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks.

-- Dwain Price

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West apologizes for his actions

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Delonte West apologized for a rant he made on his Twitter account following this past Saturday’s win over the New Orleans Hornets.

He also apologized for what he said was a joke when he told the Star-Telegram: “It’s going to be ashamed the President isn’t going to get a chance to meet me. I’m the president of my house.’’

West also said when he told the Star-Telegram that he was banned from going to the White House because of his past transgressions, he was unaware that the Secret Service had actually approved his admittance to the White House.

“The Mavs were working diligently throughout the night to get my information down to the Secret Service or whatever it needed to get it done,’’ West said Tuesday. “At the time we did the interview I was just talking off the past situations.

“But at that time it was just the uncertainty with the case, not so much the background check. But in the past my case wasn’t figured out, so that’s why I wasn’t able to go in the past.''

“So I was ranting on that. But the comments that I made in regards to the media, those are just parts of, maybe a long day. That’s all it is, man.’’

Although West was cleared to go to the White House, he said he decided not to go because he didn’t want to be a distraction. He said he also plans to show Mavs fans that he is a good guy.

The controversy surrounding West obviously didn't affect his game. The 28-year old Washington, D.C., native had his best game in a Mavs' uniform Tuesday during Dallas'' 100-86 victory over Detroit when he had six points, a season-high 10 assists and a season-high five steals.

-- Dwain Price

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@dwainprice