- As expected, Antoine Wright got the start and it, ummm, well it didn't go so well. In the first three minutes he airballed a three, turned it over on two consecutive possessions, and then fouled McGrady while he was shooting a three. Final line -- 17 minutes, 2 points (1-6), 3 rebounds, 3 fouls. And yes, he should definitely still be the starter on Saturday and the foreseeable future.
- I might be wrong on this, but I think Dirk only touched the ball on offense once in the first six minutes. He then made a three from behind the top of the key, and in my opinion the season officially began.
- Sometimes when Brandon Bass dunks off of two feet, in traffic, and with three guys around him it kind of boggles the mind. Then you see him win a jump ball against Yao and it makes sense.
- I said earlier this week I'd be surprised if Gerald Green wasn't a part of the rotation tonight. And I was right; I'm surprised -- especially since Wright and Stackhouse (-21!) weren't exactly lighting it up out there...
- Listening to Reggie Miller defend Ron Artest was like having my ears raped. I'm not saying Artest clearly deserved a technical for running in like that, but I am saying I wanted to shoot myself by the time Miller was done talking about it.
- Josh Howard -- fantastic. Sefko said this morning that the Mavs had to "play hungry" this season and Jeff Caplan said they needed to play like "they have something to prove". Josh Howard did both tonight.
- Diop really struggled on Yao tonight, but I can forgive him for that.
- Dirk's 36 points tonight were pretty quiet, but that's probably because 14 came from the line and only one came in the 4th quarter (a technical free throw). Still, a great performance and a nice start to his season...
- ...Not a great start to the Mavs season though. Just 81 more games to get it figured out.
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