Brainy Mavs Commit A Foul, Miss A Free Throw, Dull A Memory, Beat Steve Nash's Suns | DB.com
From Carlisle: "Jet's intentional miss at the free-throw line was a huge play because he grazed the rim in such a way where Stoudemire had to kind of double-hitch and then put it on the floor, and that probably burned a half a second or a quarter of a second, which in that situation when you are flinging up a (long) shot, it makes a difference. So, we had to be precise. ...''

'J-Ho Yo-Yo' Plays 'Round The Suns' In Re-Debut | DB.com
When Howard is fully right, he and Shawn Marion and Jason Kidd provide Dallas with a trio of top-notch perimeter defenders who can also survive in every variation of pick-and-roll defense (a necessity against the P-and-R-mad Suns). The fact that Josh wasn't in the game at the end suggests that he's not fully right ... right? "He just showed a lot of guts tonight," Carlisle said. "Because he was tired and you could tell he was a little sore."

A shade better: Dallas Mavericks escape Suns, 102-101 | DMN
He hit six of 11 shots in the second half and looked much better than he did a month ago, when his first try at a return was aborted after three games. "It's night and day," said Jason Kidd. "He looks a lot more comfortable and relaxed. To be away that long, then to come back and play like this, it's pretty impressive."

Behind the Box Score, where Josh Howard is back| Kelly Dwyer - Ball Don't Lie
Josh Howard(notes) (20 points, six boards in 26 bench minutes) played with a style and bounce that reminded of 2006-07

Howard will continue coming off bench | ESPN Dallas
"When you start, the minutes rack up," Carlisle said, noting there's no TV timeout for the first six minutes of each half. "You're playing balls out for six minutes of each half. That's very fatiguing if you haven't been playing for a while."

Big plans for the dynamic duo | ESPN Dallas
Despite Marion's troubles making shots early on Tuesday night (2 for 8 in the 1st), he impacted the game by competing against Amare Stoudemire defensively. Dallas turned to Marion to check Stoudemire for stretches after they made the determination that Erick Dampier wouldn't be a big help on this night. Big Damp never returned after being subbed for midway through the first.

Jason Kidd's Top 4 BBIQ NBA Players | DB.com
"Soccer gave me vision,’’ Kidd says. "I learned to see the whole field, and the more you can see the whole soccer field, as big as it is, you can pretty easily see a whole basketball court. Also, for me, I started playing basketball against older guys (including future NBA players Gary Payton, Greg Foster and Antonio Davis as well as members of the Golden State Warriors). That was probably … osmosis. I soaked everything in. "And now I just know things,’’ laughs Kidd, 36, "because I’m so old.’’

Dallas Mavericks cover their bases on defense |Eddie Sefko - DMN
"We believe it is a better indicator," coach Rick Carlisle said. "Points per possession is a finite number each time you have the ball. If you win a game, you're going to have a better points per possession on offense than the other team." So what is a good points-per-possession average defensively? "Anything around one or less is good," Carlisle said. "Nobody in the league had an average under one last year for the season. Offensively, anything at 1.1 or 1.05 or higher is generally pretty positive.

Bill Simmons Twitter
Boy, It's hard to believe the Gortat/Bass signings haven't worked out for Orlando. Why didn't they keep Hedo again? http://bit.ly/7L51gj  ----- They spent $52m on 2 guys who played 124 minutes combined in last 10 games.