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Friday Links

The big news today is Dirk's is amazing healing ankle.

On Wednesday night, it happened again. And while Nowitzki writhed in pain for a bit, he was walking around without much of a limp after the win over Seattle, and was able to wear his dress shoes because there was virtually no swelling in the ankle.

"I've rolled them so much now," he said, "I don't get much swelling."
Dirk is officially listed as questionable for tonight's game vs the Clippers but it sounds like Dirk thinks he'll be able to play. Pretty remarkable since I and every other Mavs fan thought he was done until the playoffs when we saw the replay.

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Sefko's got a really good article on Avery's expectations for Erick Dampier and the center position as a whole.
Where they were is not good enough," Johnson said. "Where they were, you sometimes get suckered into thinking, we're doing good. But doing good compared to what?

"Let's say hypothetically you're averaging six points and six rebounds. The bar was already low."
Avery wants Dampier's rebound total to be in the double digits every night.
"That's what I'm telling Damp," Johnson said. "When he gets 10 rebounds, OK. I'm going back and looking on the film and trying to see if it could have been 17. When he hits 10 rebounds, it's not like a sign of relief. I'm trying to see if there's more games where he could have 15 to 17 [rebound] games, not eight to 10 games."
Dampier has only averaged more than 10 rebounds a game over a season once -- his final season in Golden State when he averaged 11.9.

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Dwain Price has a little on Dampier as well with some quotes from his teammates about his game vs Seattle.

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Injury Update: Besides Dirk's ankle - Jerry Stackhouse tweaked his ankle a litt bit against Seattle and Anthony Johnson is still not 100% recovered from his ankle sprain.

For the Clippers Zeljko Rebraca is out. And Quinton Ross and Tim Thomas are questionable.

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Around the League: McGrady's back is still messed up.
Rockets guard Tracy McGrady went to Waco on Thursday to visit an exercise specialist who had success working with tennis player Andy Roddick, who also had back problems.

It is uncertain whether McGrady will rejoin the team in San Antonio, making it doubtful he would play in either game in the Rockets' back-to-back, tonight against the Spurs and Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers.