• "Haahahahahaha, that was awesome" - me, to myself, after Barea hit the
  three that turned out to be the game winner.
• "Are you kidding me!" - Mark Followill after Jason Kidd got the steal right after Barea's three.  
• "i want this 2 hours of my life back....." - a Clippers fan over at Clips Nation.
• Dirk Nowitzki was messing with that elbow pad/sleeve several times tonight.  He was not wearing it in the last game, and I was waiting for him to get rid of it after he missed his first five shots tonight.  (Elbow tonight - elbow vs SAC)
• In a game that Dallas won by two, and led for less than one minute, JJ Barea was a ridiculous +21.  15 points, 6 assists,  7-11 from the field, and unquestionably my player of the game. 
  
• So far, it appears Shawne Williams has no business shooting from outside about 10 feet.
• Talk about a turnaround.  At the end of the third quarter Dallas was sitting on 68 points, trailed by 13, and had just seen Baron Davis (shocker) make a jumper with 1 second left.  Unsurprisingly the AAC was dead silent. After the fourth quarter, Dallas had won, and the crowd wasn't leaving.  All the players were in the locker room but the camera clearly showed the fans just lingering.  That's the greatest sign of a good game. 
  
• Speaking of after the game, can FSN not do the postgame show from the Old No 7 club with people in the background ever again?  As I'm writing this some guy has been holding up the shocker for what seems like a minute straight.
• This play will surely be lost after that finish, but it wouldn't have been possible if Brandon Bass hadn't forced a turnover with 2 minutes left.  He got his finger on a poor Baron Davis pass at midcourt and hit the ball off of a Clipper.  Jason Terry scored on the next possession to reduce the lead to one.
• Diop airballed another free throw tonight by about 8 inches.  He seems to have gotten worse in the last year.

Jason Terry Postgame Quotes:

With two minutes left in the third quarter we were saying it's a long game and let's just stick together.  Those guys were hitting shots all night long and it feels like you're never going to get a stop.  But we put a little wrinkle in there, the coaches trusted the players, and we went to a zone defense. It took them out of their isolations, we started to get stops, we started to get momentum, and our fans went crazy.  The biggest difference in this game was home court advantage.  Our fans propelled us to this win tonight.

It's a lineup we seldom use [Kidd, Barea, Terry]  because in practice we don't have enough bodies, but one that can be very beneficial to us because now you have three ballhandlers that can create, drive, get to the basket, and kick out for open shots. We did that time and time again in the fourth quarter.  Take your hat off to JJ Barea.  He he hit a big dagger at the end.  It was tremendous.  I told Stackhouse in the locker room, 'I don't care who shot that three it was going in'.  That's just the way the game was going.

It should be [asked if this win will be one they use/look back on...].  We'll see on Thursday night.  We've got a good Phoenix team coming in here.  We need to keep our momentum.  Our confidence is up at home now.  We know any deficit can be overcome.  We can come back from anything.  Now we've got to come out and get a better start to the game, especially at home.  You want to get confidence early and not give them confidence.

The Devean George on the zone defense.

We just wanted to give them a different look.  They were getting comfortable with the man-to-man sets.  We were having trouble staying in front of guys and the zone helped us out because they got cold shooting from out far.  It bailed us out tonight.

Rick Carlisle:

Well, you know, it was unorthodox. And it was really all night just a search for energy, some spark at the defensive end, and you know the group that ended the game did a great job of scrambling.  We were in a zone defense, and just real active.  Making things happen.  For a four minute stretch we caught lightning and a bottle and found some magic.  Barea hit the shot, it was a huge shot, and he was big factor in the entire game, so I'm happy for him.

This has been a place where this team has just gone out on the court and won.  It has been tougher this year.  Our fans weren't into it early, and we were having a hard time getting them into it.  So it just really appears to me that beginnings of games are very important.  Digging a point hole is not a great a place to start  The Clippers are a team much better than their record, obviously.  This trade they made has made them a more dynamic team both athletically and offensively.  They are going to be a nightmare for everyone to play, but it makes it harder when you start 9-0.

Are there any signs you can get before the game that the team is going to start off cold the way they did?

That's the most loaded question I've heard in a long time and I'm not going to answer it.  But, you know, I really think the personality of our team is important and during this stretch we've got to redefine our identity as a home team.  In the past they've just come out here and run over people.  But we were up against it the whole game because we were giving up 50% shooting.  When we won the six out of seven, during that stretch we were holding teams to 41%.  When our defense isn't there it's going to be hard. Especially without Josh who is a difference making playmaker on both ends.  I'm not sure where I was going there, but this is an important time and it was a huge win as unlikely as it appeared.

Box Score - AP Recap