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Thursday Morning Links

Jeff Caplan covers everything Kobe, and got some quotes from Jason Terry who doesn't believe he is going anywhere.

"I'm very confident. I'm very optimistic," Terry said. "My confidence comes from within. It comes from [coach] Avery Johnson. Until Avery Johnson tells me anything different, he's the reason why I'm here in Dallas, and he'll be the reason why I stay. I believe in him.

"I'm not concerned about it. I'm focusing on having fun and playing as hard as I possibly can every night out."
Caplan also points out that Kobe's trade kicker ups his salary to 22.4 million.

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The league will announce sometime today if Josh Howard will be suspended for pushing Brad Miller.

Martin McNeal from the Sacramento Bee doesn't see much wrong with what Howard did.
Howard, one of the Mavericks' leaders, wasn't going to allow that to go unpunished and returned the favor. If there was a cheap shot in this situation, it was by Miller, who hit a dude who had done nothing to him.

This is one of the many gray areas in life. That Miller wasn't looking when Howard ran at him was not a factor. Was Howard supposed to tell Miller he was en route?
It wasn't the first time Harris and Miller have tangled, but it was the first time it happened outside of the game.
"About three times by my count," Harris said Wednesday after practice at the Toyota Center, site of Thursday night’s meeting with the Rockets. "He sets those screens in the backcourt and my first year he got me real bad. He knocked me out of a game. We’ve had a couple more since."
I'm pretty sure I remember that, and it didn't even compare to the pick by Mike Dunleavy that almost killed him.

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Eddie Sefko was glad to see Howard show some fight against the Kings, and thinks it could mean there are good things to come.
It probably will cost Howard a suspension – an NBA official said Wednesday a ruling on the league's review of the incident could come today – considering he whacked Miller in the back of the neck with a forearm and was slapped with a flagrant foul, penalty two.

But it's a small price to pay for the bonding that a moment like that generates.

...they need to be tough, something lacking against Golden State in the playoffs last season, and something that has been hit and miss for them through the years.
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Avery was very pleased that his bench stayed calm during the "fight".
"You know what I was excited about? That nobody on our team left the bench," he said Wednesday after practice at the Toyota Center. "That’s what I talked to them about."

Johnson complimented the job done by assistants Paul Westphal, Joe Prunty and Mario Elie in maintaining order on the bench. Though it’s a major point of emphasis in the NBA, keeping guys glued to the bench when body parts start flying isn’t the easiest thing.
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At least one person doesn't think there is any chance Kobe is traded to Dallas.
Let's be clear here: There's a better chance that Bryant would share a room with Shaquille O'Neal on ''The Surreal Life'' than the Lakers doing the Kobe rumba with Mavs owner Mark Cuban -- even if Cuban agreed to toss Dirk Nowitzki into the trade. And scrap all talk that Lakers owner Jerry Buss and GM Mitch Kupchak would send Bryant to a division rival such as the Phoenix Suns. Nope, it's the Eastern Conference only if Bryant is sent packing.
He's probably right too. See Oneal, Shaquille.

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David Moore answers reader questions, including one from a guy who I know some people here agree with.
I am decidedly uninterested in your opinions about how much better a writer you are than D-Moore, R-Lardner or E-Hemingway. Nor am I concerned about pages filled with one-liners, though when one creeps in unexpectedly, it can be a joy. So my question, after having read your contributions for a season, is: do you intend to write for me and others with similar interests?
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This Day in Mavs History
2005 Released Shawn Bradley as he formally submitted his retirement papers.