Full-Court Press

Mavs taking the train to New York

PHILADELPHIA -- After tonight's game in Philadelphia, the Dallas Mavericks will hop on a train and take the 90-minute ride to New York City, where they will play the Knicks on Sunday.

The Mavs are taking a charter train, which means they'll have the whole place to themselves.

"I've never been on a train going to New York City, so it'll be interesting to kind of see how it all works,'' forward Brian Cardinal said. "I'm excited to spend a little quality time with the team.''

Guard Dominique Jones has never taken a train ride in his life, so he's looking forward to this being a special event.

"It should be fun,'' Jones said. "I've always wanted to take a train ride.

"I was planning on, after this season, taking a train ride somewhere so I can look at the country.''

-- Dwain Price

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West has successful surgery

PHILADELPHIA _ Dallas Mavericks guard Delonte West had successful surgery earlier today to stablize his fractured right ring finger.

West will also have a subsequent surgery at a date to be determined later to remove the pins from his fingers.

Today's surgery took place at Texas Sports Medicine in Dallas.

West injured his finger during Wednesday's home game against the Denver Nuggets. There is no time table for his return.

"The surgery went well and he’ll be out a number of weeks,'' coach Rick Carlisle said. "We’re not exactly sure how long, but in the meantime we're going to have to scramble a little bit.''

-- Dwain Price

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Collins happy Nowitzki got an NBA ring

PHILADELPHIA -- One person who was in the background quitelt cheering fo

Karl impressed with the Mavs' defense

DALLAS _ During the latter stages of last season, Denver Nuggets coach George Karl said he wnated to play the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs.

Brewer loses, but he finally got his ring

DALLAS _ That happy homecoming Denver Nuggets forward Corey Brewer envisioned Wednesday night at American Airlines Center never materialized.

Try as he might, Brewer didn't have enough energy to prevent the Dallas Mavericks from hammering the Nuggets, 102-84.

"It was a tough night for us,'' Brewer siad. "They played great defense tonight and we couldn't penetrate them.''

Brewer finished with nine points, seven rebounds, five steals and four assists, and was 3-of-15 from the field. However, he didn't go home empty-handed.

Before the game, Mavs owner Mark Cuban presented Brewer with his diamond-studded ring for helping the Mavs win last year's NBA championship. A brief video of Brewer highlights with the Mavs were shown on the Jumbotron, coach Rick Carlisle talked about his contributions and then Cuban handed him his ring and gave him a hug.

"I was really happy to come back not only to get my ring, but to come back to the city of Dallas,'' Brewer said. "It's a great city.

"When you win championships it's always good to come back.''

-- Dwain Price

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Cuban saves St. Patrick's Day parade in Dallas

DALLAS – Amid financial difficulties, the annual St. Patrick Day parade on Greenville Ave. in Dallas had been cancelled.

Until Mavs owner Mark Cuban stepped in to save the day.

Parade officials contacted Cuban about helping them out of their financial crunch and foot the bill to make the parade happen. Cuban was more than happy to oblige.

“I just thought it was fair that more people should be able to kill as many brain cells on Greenville Avenue as I have in my life,’’ Cuban said. “I passed out in many of booths there.

“I said if I have lost enough brain cells there everybody will get that opportunity, too.’’

Cuban said parade officials will allow him to promote one of his companies, filesanywhere.com. He also said those same officials told him not to discuss how much money he contributed to save the parade.

-- Dwain Price

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Vinsanity talks about Linsanity

DALLAS -- New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin is sweeping the nation and blowing up Twitter.

And don't think the world champion Dallas Mavericks haven't noticed.

"He's done some great things,'' Mavs guard Vince Carter said. "He's playing extremely well.

"The buzz is something -- you can't beat that. There's nothing like experiencing that.''

The Knicks have over $65 million in salaries tied up between Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, Baron Davis and Tyson Chandller -- in this season alone. But it is Lin, who earns a mere $762,195 this season, who is all the rage in the Big Apple.

The Knicks have won their last six games since Lin became front and center. The last five wins came with Lin as a starter, including his game-winning three-pointer Tuesday to beat the Toronto Raptors, 90-87.

Again, the Mavs are taking notes.

"Every time you open up a paper, particularly in that market, your name is front page,'' Carter said. "When you're on the back page it doesn't get any better than that in New York.

"Trust me, I've been there. Particularly in a good light, of course.''

The Mavs will get their first glimpse of Lin when they play the Knicks in New York at noon Sunday. By then, they should have plenty of film on the kid who is dominating the NBA landscape.

"I think he's accomplished a lot in a short period of time,'' Carter said. "He's very popular right now and it's just wonderful for him and I'm happy for him.''

How happy?

When Carter -- known as Vinsanity -- was asked if he had a problem with Lin -- known as Linsanity -- somewhat stealing his nickname, Carter replied: "No comment. No comment. Good for him.''

-- Dwain Price

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Chandler gives Casey his championship ring

DALLAS _ Tyson Chandler no longer plays for the Dallas Mavericks. But he gave them a big-time assist on Tuesday.

Chandler, now the starting center for the New York Knicks, awarded Toronto coach Dwane Casey his NBA championship ring prior to Tuesday's Knicks-Raptors' game in Toronto. Casey was the Mavs' lead assistant coach and defensive coordinator last year when the Mavs won their first NBA title.

Normally, Casey would have received his ring when the Raptors made their annual trip to Dallas. But when the Raptors made their lone trip to Dallas on Dec. 30, those championship rings were still a work in progress.

Thus, Chandler was able to help out the Mavs and provide Casey with this special moment.

Once the players from the Knicks and Raptors were introduced, some video highlights of the Mavs' 2010-'11 season were shown on the Jumbotron. So, too, were congratulatory messages from coach Rick Carlisle, forward Dirk Nowitzki, and guards Jason Kidd and Jason Terry.

Chandler then met Casey at midcourt, gave him his star-studded ring, and the two men shared a hug.

-- Dwain Price

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Butler almost had the perfect homecoming

DALLAS _ Caron Butler almost had a triumphant return to the American Airlines Center.

Right before Monday's game against the Dallas Mavericks, a one-minute video was shown on the Jumbotron revealing Butler's exploits during his stay with the Mavs last season. After that, coach Rick Carlisle praised Butler for his efforts in getting the Mavs off to a fast start last season.

Then, owner Mark Cuban presented Butler with his NBA championship ring amidst a very nice ovation from the sellout crowd of 20,346.

"I was very emotional,'' Butler said. "I didn't think I was going to be as emotional.

"Having Mark Cuban, Rick Carlisle, the whole standing ovation, it was just. . .unbelievable.

"It was a great feleing. I almost cried. I had to put my head down a couple of times to try to gather myself.''

Butler hit three three-pointers in the first period and wound up scoring a season-high 23 points -- on 7-of-18 shooting -- and grabbing eight rebounds. And he almost became the hero.

However, with a chance to put the Clippers up by one point, Butler missed a three-point field goal with 4.5 seconds left. The Mavs went on to win, 96-92.

"It felt good,'' Butler said of his final shot of the night. "I got my feet up under me, followed through, it was a routine shot, just fell a little short.

"It would have been a great ending to the game. They didn't have any timeouts left and it would have been the dagger that we needed, but it fell a little short.''

Butler tore his anterior cruciate ligament on Jan. 1, 2011 and never played another game for the Mavs. Butler said he came "close'' to signing a free agent contract with the Mavs last summer, but he eventually signed a three-year, $24 million deal with the Clippers.

This was the first time Butler played a game at American Airlines Center since he tallied 30 points in a Dec. 30, 2010 game against the San Antonio Spurs. Two days later, Butler's season ended in a game at the Milwaukee Bucks.

Thus, it was special for Butler to play a game in Dallas on Monday.

"I was in a real good place,'' Butler said of Monday's game. "I just really wanted to come back and step on this floor, one way or another, and just show the fans that I was back healthy.

"There was a lot of love out there and I appreciate that because they got me through a trying time last year.''

-- Dwain Price

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Cuban blasts NBA for Paul deal

DALLAS _ Mark Cuban criticized the NBA for allowing the league-owned New Orleans Hornets to trade superstar point guard Chris Paul over the offseason to the Los Angeles Clippers.

NBA commissioner David Stern stepped in and vetoed a three-team trade that had the Los Angeles Lakers shipping Lamar Odom to the Horntes and Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets. In return, New Orleans was trading Paul to the Lakers, and the Hornets would received Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Goran Dragic and a first-round draft pick from the Rockets.

Most criticis thought the deal was a win, win, win for the Lakers, Hornets and Rockets. But Stern thought otherwise, and put the brakes on the proceedings.

"I don't think it was about the Lakers, per se," Cuban said Monday night. "I think it was just the way they did the deal, which was ridiculous.

"I don't think it was about which team. I think it was the fact that, even with the Clippers, we just went through this whole (new collective bargaining agreement) and said the incumbent team still has the advantage and then the team the league owns (fades) out, and look how it's worked out for them.''

The financially-strapped Hornets are being run by the NBA. And on Dec. 14 they eventually traded Paul and two first-round draft picks to the Los Angeles Clippers for Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu .

"Bad management gets you bad results,'' Cuban said. "It's hard to judge any trade until it's done.

"It's about the concepts involved and the integrity of what we went through for the CBA. That's what it's all about. (The NBA office) screwed the pooch either way. The whole idea about having most of these rules is that you'd have an advantage and wouldn't have to trade people."

-- Dwain Price

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