Dominique Wilkins was in town and talking Mavs.
"They're for real," Wilkins said. "And they've been there, so now they know what they have to do to get over the top. They gave it away last year. They handed it to Miami. And they know it."
Uh-oh, don't tell Dwyane Wade...-----------------
Art Garcia has a good article on Jerry Stackhouse thriving as the sixth man.
"It's all coming to fruition, the whole process," Stackhouse said. "As a player you don't want to always succumb to coach telling you he wants to reduce your minutes. You want to play. You want to compete....
"I've found a way to channel those minutes that I'm out there and be as competitive as I can be."
The topic of his future with the club comes up as well.
"I've found a way to channel those minutes that I'm out there and be as competitive as I can be."
"I'll be able to play eight more years if I do this," he said with another chuckle. "Why not? In a role like this there is no real pounding or wear and tear. As long as Avery is here, he's going to always have my best interests in mind. Why would I want to be anywhere else?"
"At the same time, it's always better when you know. There are 29 other teams that are unknown. There's going to be somebody who doesn't understand the dynamics of me. When you have that, it's something that you cherish. I think everybody knows that. Mark knows that. Avery knows that. It's just a matter of time."
John Hollinger has Stackhouse ranked as the number 16 free agent in upcoming offseason."At the same time, it's always better when you know. There are 29 other teams that are unknown. There's going to be somebody who doesn't understand the dynamics of me. When you have that, it's something that you cherish. I think everybody knows that. Mark knows that. Avery knows that. It's just a matter of time."
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John Schuhmann from NBA.com sees the Mavs falling just short of 70 because "Avery will need to take his foot off the gas peddle a little bit" at the end of the season.
NBA.com also compares the Mavs schedule to that of the 95-95 Bulls.
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Around the NBA: San Antonio won their 11th straight. The Spurs are currently 3.5 back of Phoenix for the 2nd seed.
Eduardo Najera plans on exercising his 5 million dollar player option for next season.
And Jeff Van Gundy wants Yao to be cockier.
"He is a little hypersensitive to how well we supposedly did without him," Van Gundy said. "I think he's thought far too much about that instead of being a more arrogant, self-centered player to where you only think about yourself anyway. So the results wouldn't have mattered. You would have still thought (the team) would have done better with you. In this brief instance, that would serve him best."