Full-Court Press

Carlisle said players shouldn't be walking on eggshells

DALLAS – Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said his players have everything turned upside down if they’re walking around fearful of making mistakes on the basketball court.

“If they’re walking on eggshells because they’re scared of screwing up,’’ Carlisle said, “they should be doing something else besides playing NBA basketball.’’

Carlisle wants his players completely in-tuned to the game, with their minds totally wrapped around what they’re doing on the court. In other words, the Mavs (7-7) have been losing a lot of game because they haven’t been mentally focused on what they were trying to accomplish.

“We’ve got to be more physical, we’ve got to talk better defensively, we’ve got to create more energy with activity and with our voices,’’ Carlisle said after Monday's practice at American Airlines Center. “Really, this is the ultimate test to being a true team right now -- without a superstar and with a lot of guys that are good players.

“We don’t have that game-changing guy out there on the court. It’s got to be a collective effort, it’s got to be a collective endeavor.''

-- Dwain Price

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Mavs still miffed about beat down to the Lakers

DALLAS -– Two days after losing at home by 26 points to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks are still a bit upset with themselves.

“Nobody likes to get beat by 30 points, especially at home,’’ coach Rick Carlisle said. “That’s not how we want to do business here.

“And so when that happens we’ve got to adjust. A lot of it is just in our disposition defensively.’’

The Mavs (7-7) will put that disposition to a test Tuesday at 6 p.m. when they play the 76ers (8-6) in Philadelphia.

“We’ve had two days to work on things and spend time on our disposition as much as anything,’’ Carlisle said. “We’ve done some decent things in practice and we’ve got to keep getting better and
carry it over to the game.

“The things that we do we do hard, and if we don’t do them hard we keep doing them. It’s got to be a situation where demands are met.’’

Carlisle then drove home his point by saying: “You get what you demand and you encourage what you tolerate. That’s a great saying that I recently saw somewhere, and that’s how I’m going to approach this as the leader of the team.’’

And as the leader of the Mavs, Carlisle knows he has to be very demanding in order to get the results he wants.

He said: “Our guys got to understand that anything less than a full capacity is not going to cut it with the way we’re structured right now.’’

-- Dwain Price

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Mayo twists ankle, but it's not serious

DALLAS -- OJ Mayo twisted his left ankle in practice Sunday. But the Dallas Mavericks guard plans to be ready to play in Tuesday's 6 p.m. game in Philadelphia against the 76ers.

"It's just a little twist yesterday in practice,'' Mayo said. "It’s a little sore, but I'll be ready to go tomorrow.''

Like Mayo, coach Rick Carlisle a\is convinced that his leading scorer will be able to play against the Sixers.

"He participated in most of what we were doing today,'' Carlisle said. "He’ll get treatment today and tomorrow and we'll see where he's at tomorrow.

"But we don’t believe it’s serious. He landed on somebody's foot and turned it.''

-- Dwain Price

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Collison wants to learn from the Laker loss

DALLAS – Darren Collison knows during the course of a long 82-game season that what happened to the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday against the Los Angeles Lakers happens to every team in the NBA about seven times a year.

But that still doesn’t make it easy for the Mavs’ point guard to swallow that horrific 115-89 whipping the Lakers put on Dallas.

“Every team has their (bad) nights, but I don’t want to let it go in the past,’’ Collison said after Sunday’s practice at American Airlines Center. “I want to learn from it.’’

Collison wanted to learn so much from that debacle to the Lakers that he watched the entire game twice.

“The first five minutes is always key to a ballgame,’’ Collison said. “Any time you give a team four and five layups – uncontested layups at that – you know you’re in for a long night.

“We want to make a stand and protect the paint, and that’s something we didn’t do the first five minutes.’’

In the game against the Lakers, Collison was only 1-of-10 from the field, scored just two points, distributed four assists and turned the ball over four times in 24 minutes.

-- Dwain Price

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Carlisle sends condolences to Kevin McHale

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle sent his condolences to Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale, whose 22-year old daughter, Alexandra, died Sunday morning from complications related to lupus.

"I'm deeply saddened and I've expressed my deepest condolences to (McHale) and his family,'' Carlisle said after Sunday morning's practice at American Airlines Center. "He's going to be in my thoughts and prayers for a long time because of this.''

As players, Carlisle and McHale were teammates with the Boston Celtics from 1984-'87 and won an NBA title together in 1986.

-- Dwain Price

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Lakers beat up the Mavs, 115-89

DALLAS -- In a game that was over shortly after it started, the Los Angeles Lakers blew out the Dallas Mavericks, 115-89, Saturday night at American Airlines Center.

Both team left this blowout with 7-7 records.

The Mavs did lead in this game, 4-3. After that the Lakers ran out on a 19-6 scoring spree to go up 22-10 with 4:56 left in the first period.

Dallas cut the deficit to 24-15. But the Lakers went up by two shortly thereafter and their lead stayed in double figures the rest of the game.

Metta World Peace tallied 16 points in the first period for the Lakers, including his team's first 10 points. LA led 36-23 after the first period and 65-38 at the half.

The 65 points are the most the Mavs have allowed in any half this season.

Vince Carter paced the Mavs with 16 points, Jae Crowder scored 15, OJ Mayo tallied 13 points, and Shawn Marion added 10 points and eight rebounds. 

Antawn Jamison, Kobe Bryant and Metta World Peace led the Lakers with 19 points apiece, Dwight Howard scored 15, Pau Gasol had 13 and Jodie Meeks added 11 points.

The Lakers were one of 13 teams who entered Saturday night's play with a losing record. But the Lakers looked like worldbeaters Saturday as they avenged their opening-day 99-91 home loss to the Mavs.

-- Dwain Price

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Mavs want to run with the Lakers

DALLAS -- This isn't Magic Johnson's Showtime Los Angeles Lakers that anyone dared running with.

And since the Lakers will be playing their fourth game in five nights when they square off against the Dallas Mavericks at 7:30 tonight at American Airlines Center, the Mavs don't mind at all pushing the ball up the floor at a racehorse pace.

"We know this is their fourth game in five nights, so we’ll try to come out and get them early,'' rookie forward Jae Crowder said. "I feel like that’s what we did in the first game of the
season in LA.

"We just played a little faster, got a lot of fast break points.''

The Mavs opened the season with a surprising 99-91 win over the Lakers in LA. Since then, the Lakers fired coach Mike Brown and replaced him with Mike D'Antoni, and have lost all four of their road games.

"They’re hungry for a win, especially a road win,'' Crowder said. "They haven’t got one yet this year, so I'm sure we’ll get their best punch tonight.''

Best punch or not, Crowder believes if the Mavs just stay the course they'll be able to defeat the Lakers before they embark on a two-game road trip which starts Tuesday in Philadelphia.

"We had a great game plan going into that game (against the Lakers on Oct. 30) and I feel
like it’s the same game plan right now,'' Crowder said. "If we stick to it -- because they’re going to
make runs -- if we stick to it while they’re making runs, we’ll be fine.''

-- Dwain Price

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Howard presents a huge challenge for the Mavs

DALLAS – Los Angeles Laker center Dwight  Howard scored seven points in Wednesday’s loss to Sacramento and seven points in Friday’s loss to Memphis.

The Mavs hopes Howard rolls another seven when Dallas (7-6) entertains the Lakers (6-7) tonight at 7:30 at American Airlines Center. However, the Mavs are not banking on another so-so game from who many perceive as the game’s best center.

“Howard’s a huge challenge in there,’’ Carlisle said. “He’s a great player.

“He’s one of those guys who consistently plays above the rim and he has great strength.’’

Chris Kaman and Elton Brand will probably spend a lot of time on Howard. But Brandan Wright and rookie Bernard James may also get a chance at trying to corral him.

“We’ve got to send the posse after him,’’ Carlisle said. “We’ve got to send a lot of different guys and we’re going to have to do it as a team.

“One guy is not going to stop him. He’s just too strong and too good.’’

-- Dwain Price

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Mavs have to deal with Kobe -- again

DALLAS -– How to defend Kobe Bryant is always one of the major challenges facing the Dallas Mavericks whenever they play the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bryant leads the NBA in scoring at 27.5 points per game, and also averages 5.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists. He has a bright green light to do what he wants on the court, which makes it even more difficult to guard him.

“We’ve got to have a lot of guys ready,’’ coach Rick Carlisle said. “I can see three or four different guys guarding him before the night’s over.’’

Shawn Marion, Dahntay Jones, Jae Crowder and Vince Carter will all likely get their turn trying to slow down Bryant.

“The situations that he’s in now are a little different because of the new coach (Mike D’Antoni),’’ Carlisle said. “He seems to be in more pick-and-rolls.

“He’s going to be in a lot of (isolations) and he’s going to be in the post some. So we’re going to have to deal with him in a lot of different situations.’’

-- Dwain Price

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Carlisle knows the Lakers are desperate for a win

DALLAS – After Friday’s loss in Memphis, the Los Angeles Lakers are 6-7 overall, including 0-4 on the road.

Thus, the Mavs (7-6) know what to expect when they host the Lakers tonight at 7:30 at American
Airlines Center.

“They’re desperate for a win, so they’re going to come out and play hard,’’ coach Rick Carlisle said. “I expect them to go with some different lineups.

“They experimented some last night with some smaller lineups and we’re going to have to be ready for everything.’’

Carlisle wasn’t sure if he could take some things from the Mavs’ 99-91 opening-day victory over the Lakers and utilize it tonight. After all, the Lakers were coached sat the time by Mike Brown, who has since been fired and replaced by Mike D’Antoni.

“That’s a long time ago,’’ Carlisle said of that Oct. 30 contest against the Lakers. “There’s some things we did well and we’re going to have to do them again.

“But a lot has changed since then and we’ve got to be solid in all facets. The system is different, but they’ve still got great players.’’

-- Dwain Price

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@dwainprice