Mavs 88 Rockets 72 Grades: Mavs Play Only One Quarter and Still Win Yup. The Mavs really only played one quarter tonight. That would be the second where they blew out the Rockets 31-14 as Jerry Stackhouse tacked on a trey to go to the locker room. The other three quarters, neither team could barely work up a sweat. The last time the Mavs faced the Rockets, Yao was dominant. Tonight was MIA as he started off 2-10 from the field. Van Gundy has to be praying for this season to end. TNT : B; I was really surprised with TNT?s presentation tonight. True I had minimal expectations so it didn?t take much, but it worked tonight as TNT tried to make the best of a boring game. +21 Johnson: B, Avery couldn?t have been happy with the Mavs in the first period, but tonight his team didn?t want to hear how upset he was at halftime and took care of business in the second quarter. Marshall : B; Rawle wasn?t great tonight, but he does seem to have a natural ability to find the ball. Rawle only had 3 rebounds but was very active in tipping the ball, providing rebounds to his team mates. Rawle also didn?t have any assists, but made key passes that led to assists. The Mavs chemistry may suffer a bit due to his inexperience, but when Dirk comes out praising Rawle, my guess is that the coaches ears are perking up. Zero turnovers. +5 Nowitzki: A-; Dirk cruised to 28 points in a game that Dirk just appeared to be having fun. Dirk is even starting to get superstar type respect as he is now starting to get the benefit of the doubt when he takes the bus. TNT focused in on Dirk on the bench late in the game as Rolando was trying to emphasize a point on the floor. The cool thing was Dirk was actively involved in discussing the point with Ro. +20 Diop: B+; DeSagana left the first quarter early with 2 fouls, but settled down later and was quite productive. Diop ended up with 5 points (2-2 FG, 1-1 FT) to go with 4 blocked shots. Zero turnovers. +11 Daniels: B-; Marquis wasn?t on top of his game tonight, but he did have a few highlights that made up for it. Quis had several nice steals along with a couple of his trademarked slithers to the basket. Daniels did get to 8 points (3-8 FG, 0-1 trey, 2-2 FT) to go with 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a blocked shot. +15 Terry: B-; Jason floated through this game on his way to 12 points (5-12 FG, 2-6 treys, 0-0 FT). Terry primarily played shooting guard, deferring to Rawle, Marquis, and Darrel much of the time. +8 M?Benga: B-; DJ got the early call tonight with Diop in early foul trouble against Yao. DJ didn?t do much better, but did go at Yao hard. +1 Stackhouse: B; Jerry is still in a shooting funk, but at least tonight he attacked the basket which was even reflected in the stats : 11 FG attempts compared to 10 free throw attempts. Stackhouse never seemed to slow down as he continued to drive it in against Yao. Jerry did lead the Mavs in assists with 5 to go with his 16 points. +15 Powell: B+, Josh started out strong before fading as Josh ended up with 5 points (3-6 FG) to go with 5 rebounds. Josh does have Avery?s confidence as shown in the second period when the Johnson was calling Josh?s number on offense. Kind of surprising to see Avery running any plays for a rookie. Zero turnovers. +8 Armstrong : B+; Darrell was able to deliver his energy tonight, something that was in short supply with the rest of his team mates. Zero turnovers. +4 Dampier: A-; Erick had a couple of thunderous put backs on his way to 9 points and 9 rebounds. Dampier also threw in 1 blocked shot and only had 1 turnover. +12 Griffin: DNP-CD, Adrian is out with a strained right hamstring. Van Horn: DNP-CD, Keith is with a strained MCL sustained when Darrell Armstrong was pushed into him in the Bobcat game. Keith has started light running and will accompany the team on their upcoming road trip. Harris: DNP-CD, Inactive. Devin is out with a sore quadriceps. Howard: DNP-CD, Inactive. Josh is out with a strained hamstring. Podkolzin: DNP-CD, Inactive. Pavel has been sent to the Fort Worth Flyers for playing time. Typical Chef Ed Type
A very pedestrian outing for the Mavs. Beating an under-manned Rockets team is pretty much a dubious honor. Dallas needs to keep their eye on the prize and get the best record in the regular season. It will not only be a feather in their proverbial cap, but also be a step towards their evolution as a championship caliber team.
