Monday Morning Links

Caplan recaps the game with a focus on the production from James Singleton and Josh Howard.

The best news of Sunday's breezy victory was Josh Howard rediscovering his groove...

...He grabbed nine rebounds and dished out a career-high seven assists, notable because in the previous seven games since he returned from an ankle sprain he had a total of seven assists and 11 rebounds.

Jason Kidd on Howard's game.

"This was a big game mentally that he could get under his belt that he doesn't always have to shoot it, that he gets so much attention that there are guys open," Jason Kidd said. "And he made all the right passes."

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Jason Terry has some praise for Rick Carlisle.

"He's doing a great job," Terry said of coach Rick Carlisle. "He doesn't get nearly as much credit as he should. But he will come the end of the season."

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And the Mavs say they were prepared to play without Dirk so it didn't matter that the league office dragged their feet on the suspension.

"I've been through this a lot," Carlisle said. "If you have a back-to-back, it will accelerate their investigation. Otherwise, they go through a process. This didn't surprise me at all.

"We had contingency plans based on whether or not there was a suspension," Carlisle said. "It wasn't like it ruined our preparation. We had a feeling this could happen."