Full-Court Press

Wright's left hamstring got tight

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks center Brandan Wright's left hamstring tightened up on him and he left Monday's game against New Orleans for good with 9:21 remaining in the fourth period.

Wright said the injury isn't anything he considers serious and that he should be able to play in Wednesday's preseason game in Wichita, Kan., against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

 "It just got tight on me,'' Wright said."I'm not worried about it.''

Wright missed this year's preseason opener against Alba Berlin with a strained left quadriceps.

-- Dwain Price

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Marion said Mavs must do better on the boards

DALLAS -- Shawn Marion was talking about how the Dallas Mavericks held their own on the boards against the New Orleans Hornets on Monday night when he calmly asked what was the rebounding totals.

Told the Mavs were outrebounded 62-40, Marion gasped: "What? Was it really? Oh my God!'''

After being handed a state sheet that saw Hornets rookie Anthony Davis collected 17 rebounds and temmate Robin Lopez snatch 11, Marion said: "They're big, so you're going to have to give up something.

"I guess we chose to give up (rebounding) and we made them turn the ball over. I guess it all balanced out.''

The Hornets humbled the Mavs on the offensive glass by a sizeable 20-4 advantage. But the Mavs were still able to win the game, 87-74.

The Mavs, of course, are short-handed with the losses of 7-footers Dirk Nowitzki (knee) and Chris Kaman (calf). Still, the rest of the Mavs know they have to do a better job on the boards until Kaman and Nowitzki returns. 

"Theer aren't a lot of nights when you can win games when you give up 20 offensive rebounds,'' Marion said. "But we've got to find a way to help each other and get it done.''

-- Dwain Price

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"It was some stretches out there where we were rebounding really well. 

Crowder plays like a wily veteran

DALLAS -- Rookie Jae Crowder continues his no-nonesense playing style that has won over the Dallas Mavericks coaches.

Crowder tallied 12 points and also contributed four rebounds, four assists, a steal and a blocked shot in 30 minutes during Monday's 87-74 victory over the New Orlenas Hornets. But more than the numbers, it's Crowder's all-out hustle seemingly during every minute he's on the court that has the Mavs coaches singing his praises.

"He is going to play the same way no matter what,'' coach Rick Carlisle said. "He will play the same way whether he is starting or playing 30 seconds or one possession.

"That's one of the things we love about him. He's a winning kind of player.''

Crowder started Monday at small forward, but also was used some at power forward. He's also learned a lot from Elton Brand, who normally plays power forward but was shifted to starting at center with the right calf injury to Chris Kaman.

"First of all he helps me out a lot,'' Crowder said of Brand. "He takes everything into detail. . .

"I think that helps me feel more comfortable and it helps me and him play off each other, because we know what to expect. It's a good combination.'' 

-- Dwian Price

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Mavs beat Hornets, 87-74

DALLAS -- OJ Mayo tallied 13 points and the Dallas Mavericks squared their preseason record at 3-3 with Monday's 87-74 win over the New Orleans Hornets before 16,982 at American Airlines Center.

Also for the Mavs, Rodrigue Beaubois and rookie Jae Crowder scored 12 points apiece, and Vince Carter added 11.

The Mavs will play Oklahoma City in Wichita, Kan., on Wednesday before finishing their preseason scheidle Friday at home against the Charlotte Bobcats.

Dallas turned the ball over a preseason-low 10 times, but got outrebounded 62-40.

-- Dwain Price

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Mavs, turnovers, sex and best-seller

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle was asked about his team's overwhelming turnover count, and how are the turnovers are being manufactured, when he turned in this two-sentence joke during his pre-game press conference Monday.

"We're doing it every way you can do it,'' Carlisle said before Monday's game against the New Orleans Hornets. "If we were a sex manual it'd be a best-seller.''

The Mavs are averaging 19.2 turnovers per game with Shawn Marion leading the way with 13. OJ Mayo, Delonte West and Darren Collison have 12 turnovers apiece during the first five games.

-- Dwain Price

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Carlisle evaluating the players that are on the court

DALLAS -- Coaches are creatures of habit.

While they are obviously concerned when their players get injured, their attention mostly has to be on the players who can help them on the court at the moment.

No disrespect to Dirk Nowitzki (knee) and Chris Kaman (calf), who are out with injuries. But right now Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle is more concerned about the healthy players who can help his team progress and get some wins on the board.

That's the cold, hard facts about the coaching profession.

"We’re evaluating the guys that are on the court,'' Carlisle said after this morning's shootaround at American Airlines Center. "We can play this game well with the guys we have
on the board.

"They've just got to concertate on certain things and do better.''

-- Dwain Price

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Kaman won't play tonight

DALLAS -- Center Chris Kaman will sit out tonight's game against New Orleans will a strained right calf.

The Dallas Mavericks' veteran also missed this past Saturday's game at Atlanta with the same injury he sustained in practice last week. It's the second injury Kaman has suffered this training camp.

On the first day of training camp on Sept. 29, Kaman was sidelined for less than a week after spraining his lower back.

-- Dwain Price

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Mavs need to get more physical

DALLAS -– With eight days left until the regular season starts, the Dallas Mavericks need to find a way to get physical with their opponents.

They need to push a few folks around, get more aggressive down low and find a way to become the chairmen of the boards.

And if they can’t do that, the Mavs need to find a way to use their quickness to their advantage.

A sizeable advantage in one – or both -- of the aforementioned areas could be the ticket the Mavs use
to roll out another 50-win season.

“We’ve got to bring our own brand of physicality to the game,’’ coach Rick Carlisle said after this morning’s shootaround at American Airlines Center. “We’ve got to use our quickness, we’ve got to be persistent and we’ve got to do things collectively.

“Rebounding is another thing we’ve got to do and focus in on. If we get the ball off the boards then we can run, and we’re going to be fast.’’

So far the Mavs have been beaten on the boards, 46.2 rebounds per game to 42.2. But that’s not the only intangible troubling Carlisle.

“The other thing that’s going on right now that are challenges for us to be corrected is that our concentration and focus and alertness has got to be there,’’ he said. “We’ve made bits and pieces
of progress.

“But every time it seems like we picked up one in one area we seem to lose it in
another.

“This is the time left with three games left – a physical seven days left until we get on the airplane – we’ve got to get better.’’

The Mavs host New Orleans at 7:30 tonight at the AAC, before playing Oklahoma City in Wichita, Kan., on Wednesday and ending preseason play Friday at home against Charlotte.

From there, the Mavs hop on a charter next Monday and fly to Los Angeles where they open the regular season on Oct. 30 against the Lakers.

-- Dwain Price

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Mavs hope to cut down on their turnovers

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle is concerned about the way his team has not protected the basketball thus far in preseason.

    The Mavs have turned the ball over a whopping 96 times in five games, for an average of 19.2 turnovers per game. Carlisle knows those types of mistakes will lead to more losses than victories.

    Dallas had 19 turnovers during last Saturday's 110-94 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. A dozen of those came in the first half and led to 20 points for the Hawks.

    It also led to Carlisle taking his team into the film room this morning to try and analyze the problem.

    "We've got to do better with the ball,'' Carlisle said after this morning's shootaround at American Airlines Center. "We’ve got to eliminate turnovers.''

    From Carlisle's perspective, the good thing is that the majority of the turnovers are self-imposed and are easily fixable.

    "Those things are correctable,'' Carlisle said. "We looked at all of them on film today.

    "It really wasn’t anything that Atlanta was doing. It was just we made some poor decisions and didn’t make good reads, so those are all things that are correctable so we’ve got to correct
them.''

    Shawn Marion leads the Mavs with 13 turnovers, while OJ Mayo, Darren Collison and Delonte West each have 12.

    -- Dwain Price

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Carter wants to out-smart the power forwards

DALLAS – Vince Carter isn’t concerned about going toe-to-toe against some of the league’s burly power forwards.

“I’m not afraid to compete with them,’’ said Carter, a guard/small forward who has been asked to play some at power forward for the Dallas Mavericks. “I just know positioning and I just try to out-smart them.

“I can hold my own against some of them. Sometimes guys are going to dominate me as far as strength is concerned. I just have to rely on my knowledge of the game and positioning sometimes, and it’s worked for me.’’

With Dirk Nowitzki out for six weeks following last Friday’s arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, expect Carter to receive more time at power forward.

As far as the Mavs as a whole, Carter believes they have to keep their positive antennas up and approach games with a chip on their shoulders.

“Offensively, get some rebounds, run the floor and see if we can get some easy baskets, then go into our secondary offense,’’ Carter said. “But defensively, it can’t be any excuses.

“It doesn’t matter whose there and whose not there. So it’s still something we’re going to continue to work with. We just have to have patient.’’

-- Dwain Price

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