Full-Court Press

Dirk still in the running

The latest All-Star returns are in and Dirk Nowitzki is still in the running for a starting spot in the West. Nowitzki is in third place behind Tim Duncan and Carmelo Anthony and the margin is healthy. Nowitzki is about 200,000 votes behind. But who knows? Mark Cuban got plenty of internet support when he was on “Dancing With the Stars.” Maybe he can engineer Dirk into the starting lineup. Here are the latest returns.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Forwards: Tim Duncan (SA) 1,049,641; Carmelo Anthony (Den) 1,029,335; Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) 830,970; Carlos Boozer (Utah) 347,899; Shane Battier (Hou) 297,672; Shawn Marion (Pho) 296,917; Josh Howard (Dal) 285,580; Luis Scola (Hou) 279,970; Kevin Durant (Sea) 242,953; Grant Hill (Pho) 209,057.

Guards: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 1,234,111; Tracy McGrady (Hou) 809,395; Allen Iverson (Den) 694,611; Steve Nash (Pho) 684,813; Manu Ginobili (SA) 360,408; Tony Parker (SA) 316,541; Chris Paul (NO) 261,169; Baron Davis (GS) 247,187; Jason Terry (Dal) 218,052; Jerry Stackhouse (Dal) 192,017.

Centers: Yao Ming (Hou) 1,077,244; Amaré Stoudemire (Pho) 583,249; Marcus Camby (Den) 221,527; Erick Dampier (Dal) 184,689; Pau Gasol (Mem) 139,254; Mehmet Okur (Utah) 112,434; Tyson Chandler (NO) 98,424; LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) 93,043; Chris Kaman (LAC) 83,516; Andris Biedrins (GS) 81,611.

  EASTERN CONFERENCE

Forwards: Kevin Garnett (Bos) 1,527,963; LeBron James (Clev) 1,294,019; Chris Bosh (Tor) 411,313; Paul Pierce (Bos) 352,243; Yi Jianlian (Mil) 291,447; Caron Butler (Was) 187,396; Hedo Turkoglu (Orl) 172,720; Tayshaun Prince (Det) 155,502; Josh Smith (Atl) 143,518; Rashard Lewis (Orl) 143,118.

Guards: Dwyane Wade (Mia) 1,019,582; Jason Kidd (NJ) 743,683; Ray Allen (Bos) 617,123; Vince Carter (NJ) 612,543; Gilbert Arenas (Was) 511,763; Chauncey Billups (Det) 331,872; Michael Redd (Mil) 221,777; Richard Hamilton (Det) 163,250; Joe Johnson (Atl) 149,367; Andre Iguodala (Phi) 140, 292.

Centers: Dwight Howard (Orl) 1,260,987; Shaquille O'Neal (Mia) 609,597; Rasheed Wallace (Det) 162,792; Ben Wallace (Chi) 146,332; Andrew Bogut (Mil) 132,469; Jermaine O’Neal (Ind) 120,690; Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Clev) 77,350; Emeka Okafor (Cha) 74,269; Zaza Pachulia (Atl) 58,430; Eddy Curry (NY) 53,084.

-- Jan Hubbard

early in the fourth

dirk has a successful postup fadeaway, turning into the paint for a jumper. swish. 1-for-2 on the night.

-- garza, mavs lite

oh, yeah!

one more thing we are gonna look out for tonight:
how many times dirk tries to back down a defender on the right side of the court, 15-feet from the basket, then settle for a fadeaway jumper. let's see.

-- garza, mavs lite

Almost 20-20

Dirk finished tonight's game with 19 points and 20 rebounds. With one more point, it would have given him his first 20-point, 20-rebound game since May 19, 2006 in the Game 6 semifinal loss to the Spurs. He had 26 points and 21 rebounds in that game. He hasn't had one in the regular season since he had 25 points and 22 rebounds in a loss to the Lakers on April 3, 2003.

Here's the weird part: the Mavs are only 4-3 when Dirk goes 20-20. His first four were within seven weeks of each other in February-April of 2002.

-Scooter Hendon, Hoops Nerd

Dirk third in voting

I find it interesting that for all the bashing Dirk Nowitzki has taken since the Golden State flop and then through a slow start to the season that had pundits declaring he was already off the MVP watch list, fans apparently have a different view of the Big German.

Dirk is third among West forwards in the newest tally of All-Star votes. Carmelo Anthony is first and Tim Duncan is second, but Dirk isn't far behind. It's even conceivable, perhaps not likely, but conceivable, that he could pass Duncan for second place and head to New Orleans in February as a starter.

Should it be surprising that Dirk is doing so well in the fan voting considering the playoffs and his admittedly slow start in November?

-- Jeff Caplan

Dirk rounding into form

Much ado has been made about Dirk Nowitzki's slow start.

"Is it a hangover from last year's playoffs?"
"Is he on the other side of his career?"
"Has he lost his edge?"

Well, in his last four games, he's finally started to show some of the true Dirk Nowitzki that we have been used to seeing over the last several years. He's scored 30 plus in three straight games and is averaging 28 points in his last four games. Even more encouraging is that he's shooting a higher percentage at 53.2 percent over those four games. That likely has something to do with his epiphany about getting more successful by getting closer to the basket (imagine that?). He's finally back to last season's MVP form and the Mavs' current winning streak is obviously a reflection of that.

-Scooter Hendon, Hoops Nerd

This one's done with

Yao's sitting down and T-Mac is getting his knee bandaged up like an accident victim. Aaron Brooks (he of 1.8 minutes per game) just touched the playing floor, which means the white flag has been waved. It's a solid win for the Mavs and lets them know they can still whoop up on teams when they execute correctly. It was a solid all-around effort, and it's a good team win for them. Dirk ended up with a solid second half and Josh Howard continued to hassle T-Mac while still scoring pretty well. The Mavs created a lot of turnovers and played very efficient ball in the second half.

-Scooter Hendon

Oops

Well, maybe it was a little too early for that Dirk report. And maybe it's not such a good idea to rest him a long time. Dirk played less than half of the second quarter and missed his only two shots.

He has six points at halftime and the Mavericks trail, 41-38.

-- Jan Hubbard

Dirk report

Dirk Nowitzki played the entire first period against the Rockets tonight and took six shots and had six points. That's good news for the Mavericks. Dirk took only eight shots against New Orleans and had a season low seven points, although that didn't hurt the Mavericks since they won. But Dirk getting seven is obviously less than ideal.

Dallas leads 37-32 with 5:27 left in the second quarter and Dirk has just re-entered the game.

-- Jan Hubbard

 

A win's a win

A few thoughts from tonight's game:

• Devin Harris did a much better job bottling up Chris Paul tonight than the last time the two met. Paul's final line may have looked decent (22 points on 9-21 shooting), but compared to the way Paul has been playing lately, that's pretty darn good. Perhaps the biggest show of Devin's defense was Chris Paul's lack of assists. He had a season-low 3 on the night and didn't get many opportunities to hit the open man as he usually does. The offense runs through Paul, and when it's forced into someone else's hands to make plays, the Hornets suffer greatly.
• The Hornets were actually fully stocked on players tonight despite the questionable statuses of Peja Stojakovic and Morris Peterson. The Mavs did a good job of adjusting to the presence of the two outside shooters and limited them to a combined 5 of 17 shooting on the night.
• You keep thinking Dirk is going to bust out of this early-season funk, and then he has games like this. He rebounded OK and had a high assist total with 6, but he got pushed around every time he tried to get into the paint and finished with 7 points on 2-8 shooting.

-Scooter Hendon, Hoops Nerd