Eddie Sefko previews the second half and is pretty optimistic about it.  Obviously Cuban is as well.

 "In the West, there's nobody running away with it. Every team except the Lakers has had a bad stretch. We're what? Four games out of first in our division? That's after a four- and a five-game losing streak. We haven't lost ground. I'll put it that way.

"Hey, the Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl. That's all you need to know."

Hubbard says the Mavs need more quality wins in the second half.

For the Mavericks, defeating the big boys has not been easy. In the past 20 games, they played teams currently .500 or better seven times and won twice. Against all other teams, they were 10-3.

"We've done a good job of beating the teams we're supposed to beat, but we know we need to beat the really good teams," Jason Terry said. "That's our goal and that's what we're working for."

Sefko's midseason report card.

David Moore has an article on the Mavs saying they're in tough position because they aren't title favorites or mediocre.

If this team was average at best, the decision would be easy. Tear it down. But the Mavericks are on pace to win 48 games after a slow start. It's a significant drop from there to mediocre.

Hubbard has some praise for Dirk's second quarter of the season.

Over at NBA.com, Art Garcia analyzes the Diop/Carroll/Hollins trade.

The MiamiHerald, has an update on the Marion trade rumors, with Dallas, Toronto, Porltand, the Clippers, Sacramento, and Charlotte all mentioned...

A few quotes from Mavs on the Obama inauguration.