Sunday Roundup

by Wes Cox on Jan 18, 2009 12:17 PM CST in News

Important win last night to end the slide before the road trip.

"Look, it's a game we had to get," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "Our veteran guys showed major-league guts. Utah was firing on all cylinders offensively and our guys, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry and Dirk just made play after play, offensively and defensively, down the stretch."

There were positive signs besides the result as well.

The Mavericks scored an uncharacteristically high 40 points in the paint.

"Make or miss, we attacked the basket and got some second and third opportunities," Kidd said. "That's something we have to continue to keep doing."

That fact is probably what resulted in two other notable stats from last nights win. Dallas had their best rebounding game of the season -- grabbing 60% of missed shots. Dallas also broke the 60% barrier for the first time in eFG% (a personal favorite stat) - Dallas had over a 60% eFG in seven games last season.

Mike Fisher has his "morning donuts" and points out that, even with Dirk and Terry combining for 61, others had to chip in.

Brandon "The Animal'' Bass had a season-high 17 points off the bench and survived being sucked into playing some perimeter defense. Antoine Wright scored 11 and Jason Kidd - of late mostly taking nine shots and making one of them - upped that to taking 10 shots and making three of them. Seriously, Kidd's 11 points (all three of his makes were on four 3-point tries) were a big help.

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Jason Terry on the Mavs scouting report of Matt Carroll.

"When he's on the floor, you're not going to leave him," Mavericks guard Jason Terry said of his new teammate. "I mean, that was our scouting report.

"You leave him open, you can count it up as three points."

It doesn't sound like Rick Carlisle is sure how he'll use Carroll at this point.

"Matt brings a specific skill to our team, so from that standpoint, it's good. We have other guys that bring other specific skills. I don't think I can really give you a definite answer at this point, but I do know he's a good player and I know he can help us."

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David Moore has an overview of the Mavs competition in the West.

I know it's hard to believe, but Dallas is only 3.5 games out of 2nd place in the West.

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Comments

Yeah but thats because other teams struggle, too

The race for ninth place is currently between utah, houston, phoenix, dallas and portland.
They just happen to suck in different ways. :D

The Charles Barkley Ancestors Count: 10 Grandmothers, 0 Mother

by DOH on Jan 18, 2009 12:47 PM CST reply actions

eFG%...?

by MeanMr.Mustard on Jan 18, 2009 1:20 PM CST reply actions

EFG%
Effective Field Goal Percentage; the formula is (FG + 0.5 * 3P) / FGA. This statistic adjusts for the fact that a 3-point field goal is worth one more point than a 2-point field goal. For example, suppose Player A goes 4 for 10 with 2 threes, while Player B goes 5 for 10 with 0 threes. Each player would have 10 points from field goals, and thus would have the same effective field goal percentage (50%).

The Charles Barkley Ancestors Count: 10 Grandmothers, 0 Mother

by DOH on Jan 18, 2009 1:28 PM CST up reply actions

I loved the points in the paint and getting to the line

Unfortunately, we only seem to resort to that in times of desperation (such as “we don’t want to lose five in a row again”) so I don’t expect us to keep doing that in every game (though it’d be great if we did).

by Marie on Jan 18, 2009 1:29 PM CST reply actions

from rotoworld...

Shawn Marion was a late scratch due to a strained left groin for Sunday’s game against the Thunder.
It’s interesting that both Marion and Jermaine O’Neal sat out on a day where the possibility of them being traded for one another was a big story. With just two games, a groin injury and a possible trade in the next few days, owners should look at benching Marion for now. Jan. 18 – 7:23 pm et

"I may not be a class act, but I'm an American."
-- Ron Artest on wanting to play for the Olympic team

by zkmavz on Jan 18, 2009 10:26 PM CST reply actions

That wouldn't even be a good player assessment on a blog :)

“Matt brings a specific skill to our team, so from that standpoint, it’s good. We have other guys that bring other specific skills. I don’t think I can really give you a definite answer at this point, but I do know he’s a good player and I know he can help us.”

You know, he is good, and he has a skill. I don’t know exactly what that is. I don’t know much else about him. But did I mention I know he is good and stuff? So yeah, I think we need him and he can help us.

by Norsktroll on Jan 19, 2009 5:26 AM CST reply actions