Yet another  'happy to get the win' game last night against a team well below .500.

 It would be farfetched, however, to describe the Mavericks' 99-94 victory over the New York Knicks on Thursday night as a masterpiece. The Mavericks trailed for most of the first three quarters and were behind by one with less than seven minutes remaining in the game.

"You've got to put this one in your hip pocket," Carlisle said, "and get out of town."

Dallas plays a good team tonight, Phoenix, should be interesting.  You would think Dallas wouldn't stand a chance based on recent form, but I have a feeling we will see Dallas 'play to level of the competition' in a good way for once.  Of course, Dallas is ahead of Phoenix in the standings so that shouldn't be a big ask...

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David Moore has an article on Josh Howard wondering why he's fallen from his all-star form of two years ago.

Still, the bigger issue is Howard's place on the team. He seems out of synch with what takes place around him.

Jason Terry is now the second option behind Nowitzki. Howard is at his best on offense early in games, when the team is at its worst. J.J. Barea and Brandon Bass are bigger threats in the fourth quarter.

Howard has played in 22 games this season.

He has made 22 field goals in the fourth quarter.

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Jason Kidd has played at times this season as if he's found the fountain of youth, including the fourth quarter last night.  Then he says something like this to remind you how old he really is...

"You have to erase your floppy disk and become a shooter or scorer," Kidd said. "Guys kept telling me to keep shooting it. I thought it was great on Dirk's part to become a playmaker. That's what great players do."

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Hubbard has an article about Kidd playing for New York some day.

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I really love Chipotle.

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And Mike Fisher has his game observations.

Jason is an awkward finisher; he'll end up being the only Hall-of-Famer ever whose layups were knuckleballs. And while he's has his moments from the arc (not to mention on the arc), he's not going to re-invent himself as a pure shooter. The solution? Kidd on the drive-and-dish needs to occasionally skip the dish. Keep the ball. Put it on the rim. Be a threat and put the ball in play.

Kidd can average 15 assists a game, but if he's only going to average 3.0 ppg along with it,Dallas is going to be too one-dimensional to beat the contenders.

And then hope that somebody like Brandon Bass trails your drive and readies for the putback.