Dirk on the idea that the SA game resulted in a sluggish start against Charlotte.

"There might have been, there might have been," Nowitzki said of a San Antonio hangover. "But, hey, we are all professionals, and we had a light practice [Wednesday] for the guys who played a lot of minutes so there are really no excuses."

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Sefko recaps the game and calls it Bass's best game of the season.

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Hubbard praises Dirk's effort.

The Mavericks have received a boost from several players in Howard's absence, and more often than not, Dirk has been outstanding.

While it is true that is the way a franchise player is supposed to play, it shouldn't be taken for granted. It took a lot of hard work for the Mavericks to defeat the Bobcats on Thursday and it would be fair to say that Dirk was the hardest working of them all.

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Sefko says Dirk is the best player in the Western Conference right now.

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Carlisle thinks the JJ love should end.

"It's a small guy who's doing some very important things on the court for a team and that's important.

"But, at a certain point, if we keep treating it like it's not supposed to be happening, what message does that send him? My message to him is we expect you to play well and play big and do the things that you're doing."