Full-Court Press

A fun game to play

Watch how often Jason Kidd dribbles to the top of the key, gives up the ball and never sees it again as the offense devolves into an isolation nightmare. it will really surprise you how often it happens. good things happen when kidd has the ball in his hands. why take it away?

-- garza, mavs lite

Extra! Extra! More Kidd rumors

OK, here's a weekly Jason Kidd rumor that he'll make an encore performance in Big D before the trade deadline hits. Enjoy.

-- Jeff Caplan

Halftime notes

The Mavericks lead the Bucks 47-44 at the half:

• The Mavericks failure to make three pointers continues as they go 0-4 from deep so far. They finished 3-19 last night from three-point range. At least they recognized such and aren't chucking up as many.
• After being out for a good chunk of the second quarter, Josh Howard returned and scored three points. He appears to be fine and isn't favoring the ankle after spraining it late in the first.
• Once again, Brandon Bass is the impact big man with Gana Diop and Erick Dampier looking ineffective and out of sorts. Diop has been OK and has been changing the game on the defensive end when he is in, but Dampier doesn't look good at all. Bass is sinking jumpers, grabbing rebounds and hassling the Bucks on defense and in turn is making a play for more playing time.
• After torching the Mavs early in the game, the Mavs have started cutting off Michael Redd's lanes and keeping a body on him on the perimeter. He finished the half with 11 points after getting six quick points to start the game.
• It won't show up in the box score, but Trenton Hassell looked decent in the first half. In his 14 minutes on the floor, he rotated well and hit the two open shots he took. The Mavericks have been looking for him to become more efficient and he looks to be improving.

-Scooter Hendon

Woes from long range

The Mavericks shot a season-worst 15.8 percent from three-point land tonight. They finished 3 of 19 and just couldn't get anything to fall. Jason Terry attempted 7 on the night, but at least he made 2 of the Mavs' made threes. Dirk was 0-3 and three other players were 0-2. Excluding the defensive woes, their inability to hit from long range was a big reason the Mavericks struggled...a traditional tell-tale sign of fatigue. Playing their third game in four nights, its obvious the Mavericks could stand to rest their legs.

Unfortunately for them, they got to hop on a plane tonight and travel to Milwaukee for another back-to-back. Their next multiple day rest period doesn't come until December 22 when they will have off four days. Until then, let's see how that preseason conditioning pays off.

-Scooter Hendon, Hoops Nerd

Development time for Fazekas

Mavs rookie Nick Fazekas is finally going to get some much-needed playing time -- in the NBDL.

Tuesday morning the Mavs assigned their top draft pick -- 34th overall -- to their new affiliate, the Tulsa 66ers.

Fazekas has seen action in just two games. The Mavs are loaded on the bench with veterans, plus up-and-comer Brandon Bass plays Fazekas' position, so playing time is scarce.

The 66ers begin their season on Friday against Fort Wayne.

-- Jeff Caplan

Devin vs. TJ

Mavs point guard Devin Harris made a solid statement last Thursday against the Spurs' Tony Parker, matching speed for speed.

Tuesday presents another exciting point guard matchup with Toronto's T.J. Ford, the former Texas star and Houston native.

Ford is another lightning-quick point guard. He missed the entire 2004-05 season after a scary spinal cord injury when he played for Milwaukee. He's made a complete recovery and now is playing himself into the upper echelon of Eastern Conference point guards.

He's averaging 15.2 points, second on the team behind former Dallas Lincoln star Chris Bosh. Ford's 8.1 assists a game rank him sixth in the league.

"To see those guys against each other is going to be fun to watch," Avery Johnson said of the Ford-Harris matchup. "He's [Ford] playing with a lot of freedom right now. He's in a pretty good rhythm. We're going to try to have to break his rhythm some kind of way because he's really playing at the top of his game."

-- Jeff Caplan

Is the sun blue?

Dirk Nowitzki is having a tough time shooting the ball so far this season, really from anywhere. I mean 26.1 percent from 3s is just crazy and 44.5 percent overall is something Mavs fans aren't used to from the 7-footer.

But, what's going on at the free throw line? Against Memphis he missed his first four attempts. Now how rare is that?

"That's like the sun turning blue," coach Avery Johnson said. "That's like me all of a sudden becoming a 3-point shooter."

At the free throw line, Dirk is shooting 78.1 percent (50 of 64). He hasn't finished a season below 80 percent since his rookie season in 1998-99, and the last two seasons he's been over 90 percent.

-- Jeff Caplan

Moe Ager to start

Surprise, surprise, the Mavericks' starting two-guard against the Spurs in about an hour will be Moe Ager. That's right, Ager, who was inactive Tuesday against Philadelphia and has played in just two games for a whopping 13 total minutes, will replace the injured Eddie Jones.

"It doesn't get any better than this, playing against one of the best teams in the NBA, on TNT, it's a great opportunity," Ager said. "I just want to go out there and enjoy myself."

Coach Avery Johnson informed the second-year guard out of Michigan State during the morning shootaround.

Jones' replacement figured to be Trenton Hassell or Jerry Stackhouse, although Johnson has been reluctant to use Stackhouse in the starting lineup, just like he's not wanted to disrupt Jason Terry's flow off the bench. Johnson did say that Hassell has not come around as quickly as he'd like.

So Ager gets the big start and a chance to really increase his stock on what is a deep roster of veteran swingmen.

"I understand we're a veteran team," Ager said. "I just keep a good attitude and be professional everyday."

Ager said his attitude and work ethic at practice is what has helped him most this season. "Practice has been my season," he said.

-- Jeff Caplan

Harris snubbed

Now this does seem crazy. Not that Devin Harris is going to have an All-Star type first half of the season -- or perhaps he might -- but to not even be among the 24 guards selected to the 2008 NBA All-Star ballot is nuts.

The NBA released the ballot Wednesday. A group of "media experts" selected the players, according to the league. Some of those experts include Ric Bucher of ESPN, Sam Smith of The Chicago Tribune, Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer and Ernie Johnson of TNT.

Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse are the Mavs' reps at guard. As valuable as Stackhouse has been in his three-plus year now with the Mavs, it's been quite a few seasons since he's put up All-Star type numbers.

Of course, the popular Suns got Steve Nash, Raja Bell and Leandro Barbosa on the ballot. And the Spurs got Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Michael Finley.

Now, does Luke Ridnour, Randy Foye, Jarrett Jack and - huh? - Antoine Walker deserve to be selected ahead of Harris?

Harris, now in his fourth season and averaging 13.0 points, 4.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds, he was rather graceful about the whole thing: "Stuff happens" he said.

-- Jeff Caplan

Eddie Jones is out; who's in?

Now that Eddie Jones is on the shelf for at least two weeks in hopes he can shake this nagging lower leg injury, who's going to start at shooting guard?

Trenton Hassell hasn't exactly earned starting time with his play so far and Avery Johnson seems reluctant to use Jerry Stackhouse in the starting lineup.

On a one-game basis, Johnson has used J.J. Barea either at the point or shooting guard so he didn't have to disrupt his rotation with Jason Terry and Stackhouse coming off the bench.

But, I'm not sure Johnson can start Barea over the course of two weeks or longer. If he thought Devin Harris and Terry were too small too pair together regularly, then Barea certainly doesn't help that situation.

I think Johnson is going to have to start Terry. He's playing so well right now, and an arguement can be made it's because he's loose as a goose coming off the bench, but there seems to be little choice unless Hassell can step up and do the job until Jones gets back.

-- Jeff Caplan