Video Quoteboard: Mavericks overcome Ariza and Wizards

Important Notes

• He went two for two from the free throw line on Feb. 5, 1999. 25,195 points later, and Dirk Nowitzki has passed the Logo, Jerry West, for the 16th spot on the all-time scoring list. He will pass Reggie Miller in the next couple weeks, should pass Alex English later in the season and might slide right on by Kevin Garnett at some point, too (and there's more people after that, too). If you don't know just how good Dirk is, take note now.
• With that said, he was wearing a sleeve on his right knee and kind of avoided the question. He referenced playing four games in five nights. Full quote below.
• Monta Ellis' locker has some added wallpaper -- specifically, three articles ripping him for his defensive abilities with specific sentences highlighted. One of the articles used the phrase "defensive incompetence."

Top Three Quotes

• Rick Carlisle, on Dirk's 3-pointer being a "fitting" way to pass Jerry West: "Yeah, I suppose it was, although Jerry West never shot a three. It there had been a three-point line back then, this milestone would have come later -- he would need more points. It's a monumental achievement to pass a player like that. He's going to pass more big names in the weeks and months to come."
• Dirk on the knee sleeve: "I'll be alright, I'll be alright. We just...last six days in nine games, obviously. Four in five before this, so that's what it is." Is it just soreness from all those games? "No."
• On who's responsible for the articles in his locker room: "Uhh...I don't know, somebody is. It's just something I look at before practice and before the game and try to feed off it."

Rick Carlisle

On Monta getting hot towards the end of the game.

Huge, huge. We were struggling during that point in time -- I think they had cut it to four -- and we were in the bonus, so we wanted to get the ball in his hands. He made four or five consecutive shots or drives. It gave us momentum and it helped us get stops on the defensive end.

On the "Sam Dalembert game."

He got off to a good scoring start because he was active, guys were finding him, he was finishing plays.

On Jae Crowder coming in off the bench.

A lot of good things happened when he came in in the first half. His energy and defense, he ran and he had a big three point play opportunity. There's a couple things in his game that are just a little loose. He's a little loose with the ball sometimes, and he's working on it. He does so many good things out there and is so versatile so he's an important guy out there. And with Wayne Ellington laid up with a thigh contusion, Jae's got to be that guy.

Dirk Nowitzki

On passing Jerry West.

At that point, yeah, I was pretty aware of it. The logo says it all and sums it up. It's another great milestone. But for now, I've got to keep working. Like they always say, these milestones are great when my career is over.

On Jerry West, the player.

He was obviously a little before my time, but I love the history of the game. I've watched plenty of games and watched him shoot and he's really the first guy to have a pure jump shot like that. He's the man. He's the logo.

On playing at home.

We've been doing a good job protecting home court, we haven't lost yet. But good teams, playoff teams play good on the road and win games on the road, so we're glad we won that one in Milwaukee and glad we held on. It wasn't pretty there in the second half so at least we got that first momentum. Now we got a test coming up, obviously the champs, and Orlando's a tough, young team on a back-to-back."

Shawn Marion

On Monta Ellis defending Bradley Beal.

When he got the ball, especially in pick and roll, he was trapping him and it was a collective team effort. He did a great job when he was iso'd on him, but when we got another player coming, we were able to make it hard for him. We did a good job with that.

On the impact the team's getting from DeJuan Blair.

Oh my gosh, on DB, it's been deceiving. I didn't realize his hands, man, it's unbelievable. He's been stealing the ball a little bit too, and doing it really aggressively, and talking smack while doing it! I'm loving that. When we got guys, our bigs, protecting the paint and able to rebound, it opens the game up on the offensive end.

On heading out on the roadtrip.

We need to work on a couple other games, but we're not clicking on all cylinders just quite yet. There's things we can work on and get better at.

On passing Jerry West

Congratulations. We're going to keep breaking records on this team because we've got a lot of old guys.

Monta Ellis

On turning it on late in the game.

The shots I got early, they were good shots, they just weren't falling. It'll be like that sometimes. I just stuck with it, my teammates backed me up and coach believed in me, and around that time I just felt like I needed to do something.

On how it makes him feel that Carlisle is calling his number late in games.

It feels good. I love that moment of the game, born for it. He still has that confidence in me to call those plays when I was having a bad shooting night. It let me know how much confidence he has in me.

On defending Bradley Beal.

We knew he came in, he was red-hot and had a lot of confidence. It was a big key of them staying in games. We did a good job staying on him and I think it was just a team effort."

Wizards coach Randy Wittman

On what happened after the good start.

We have to commit to playing defense. We are not playing any defense. We are last in the league in points, last in the league in field goal percentage. We have to get that commitment of doing that, we don't have it.

On Trevor Ariza ballin' out.

He played well offensively. Offensively, again, that's what we are doing well. We're scoring points, even tonight, 95 points.

Bradley Beal

On the Mavericks' seven-point possession.

That was just the flow of the game. I don't really remember what happened during that span of the game. IT all comes down to us getting stops.

On why the Wizards could never get going.

I have no idea. That's the confusing part. We played so aggressively and so hard against OKC. It was like game 7 of the finals of something. Then now, we come out tonight and not have the mentality.