Mavs Trade Deadline Day Practice Notes

The Dallas Mavericks hit the practice court the day after defeating the Utah Jazz, 118-99, to collect their fourth straight win. Thursday also marked Roddy Beaubois' 23rd birthday. Beaubois will have a nice dinner with friends and that is all that he has planned on agenda. Rick Carlisle mentioned that there might be a cake for Beaubois. The French guard celebrated his birthday at practice and ran numerous wind-sprints with JJ Barea. "That's messed up," Beaubois joked when mentioning the idea of practicing on his birthday. Beaubois is an X-factor for a team that is contending for an NBA title, he has come a long way in just three years. "Sometimes when I am by myself I never believed it would be like this," Beaubois said after Thursday's practice. "I worked hard to be here, but I still have a lot of things to learn and get better."

The trade deadline looms and Rick Carlisle was quick to mention that the deadline did not hang over the team during practice, "The only ones worried about trades are (the media)," Carlisle said. With the deals that have transpired, the balance of power appears to be shifting towards the East, to the delight of the Mavs. Carlisle mentioned that things are "cyclical" when it comes to these kinds of situations. When he was an assistant coach and a head coach in the Eastern Conference, it was much stronger than the Western Conference.

The Mavs coach has done an impressive job of managing all of his players and maximizing the talent. There were many doubts on how things would work out, but Carlisle has done a tremendous job in handling the situation. "It's been fun, it's always a challenge. Coaching challenges in this league are challenges that you've got to embrace," said Carlisle. "Convincing (the team) to sacrifice for the sake of winning has not been difficult...the message is going to stay the same, we need everybody."

The San Antonio Spurs came up again and Jason Terry made sure to state the fact that the Mavs will eventually catch their "big brothers" in South Texas. Terry mentioned that the rivalry has grown stronger based on the fact that each team has knocked each other out of the playoffs over the past two seasons. "This is it," said Terry. "This is like 'The Thrilla in Manila Part Three', the trilogy...We're watching their score and I know they are watching ours." Terry said that the team needs to maintain their consistency, bench production and proving that they do have a killer instinct like they did against the Jazz. If they are able to do those things, good results will come. The team is looking forward, not behind. They know the Los Angeles Lakers are a serious threat, but they remain focused on finishing either as the one seed or the two seed. "We've got black on our rearview mirrors," Terry joked. "We've just got our sights set straight ahead."

Starting a three-game road trip on Saturday night, the Mavs will head into the nation’s capital looking for a second win over the rookie sensation John Wall and the Washington Wizards. Dirk Nowitzki led all scorers with 24 points as the Dallas Mavericks won their fifth straight game by defeating the Washington Wizards, 102-92, on February 1. The game will tip off at 7 pm CST.

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