Sunday Morning Links

Rick Carlisle went all philosophical after the game last night and started asking important questions.

It's one of the burning questions about our team: How good is our level of concentration? How tough are we? Do we have the killer instinct? Can we finish games? Are we too emotionally scarred from the last two years?

"It's a microcosm of what the questions are about the team. I would tell you that it's an unbelievably important lesson, and listen, I'd rather learn having won than lost.

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The fans can't get enough JJB right now.

For the sake of posterity, it must be noted that the most original, incredible chant in the history of the Dallas Mavericks' franchise began early in the fourth quarter.

"M-V-P, M-V-P, M-V-P."

J.J. Barea was at the free-throw line.

Had Barea managed to dunk in that game, which he can apparently do pretty easily, work would have immediately begun on his bronze statue for outside the AAC.

Barea is looking at his last few games with a little more realism.

"I got a little tired, so I have to work on that," Barea said. "We've got to get Josh [Howard] back healthy so I can come off the bench again."

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Caplan has some injury updates.  Antoine Wright is close, and Rick Carlisle is tired of guessing when Howard's ankle will be game ready.

"He had a lot of swelling," Carlisle said. "And he still has some swelling. We're working through it. Injuries can be unpredictable. You're dealing with Mother Nature, who doesn't always cooperate. We got great medical people and [athletic trainer] Casey Smith has been living with Josh the last couple weeks."

"I don’t like the whole thing about coming in every day and the question: 'Is he going to play?’ We don’t know.