<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> HOUSTON ? Josh Howard invoked some words Thursday night that are no less than hallowed in Houston. The Mavericks had just polished off a 3-0 road sweep with an 80-77 win over the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center, and the pride was beaming throughout the locker room. The Mavericks had rolled into the All-Star break with a nine-game winning streak, with Thursday's victory coming in gutsy, hard-fought fashion. "We had three tough games, games we could have easily lost," Howard said. "But we fought through adversity and finished off each game. That's the heart of a champion for us." The heart of a champion. That was a rallying cry in these parts when then-coach Rudy Tomjanovich guided the Rockets to the 1994 and '95 championships. The Mavericks are showing it on a nightly basis this season, improving to 44-9. The latest success came as Dirk Nowitzki and Tracy McGrady had a riveting battle of MVP candidates. It was Nowitzki who won the battle, the war and the honor of having the most timely help from a sidekick, Jason Terry. Down 77-74 after Houston got McGrady's 3-pointer and a free throw by Shane Battier, the Rockets worked the ball to Terry, who was having a miserable night (2-for-10 from the field). He got fouled and made two free throws. After a couple of wayward possessions by both sides, Terry curled off a screen and hit a 15-foot jumper for a 78-77 lead with 1:09 to play. By then, the Mavericks were trapping McGrady whenever he got the ball, forcing him to get rid of it and taking their chances with the other Rockets. Guard Luther Head missed a couple of shots and Juwan Howard missed another in the final 53 seconds as McGrady could not get a shot off. Terry was fouled with 4.2 seconds to play and hit two free throws for the final margin. The Rockets could not get a shot off before the buzzer. "Extremely proud," Avery Johnson said. "Three road wins, are you kidding me? I don't care if they're against my son's team. It's a good win. I'm very hard on this team. But they tolerate me, and I'm trying to stretch them and pull them and they did some good things. We gutted that one out." </div> Source
Lookin' good boys! I really think we will get it this year, esp after last year's fold in the finals.
*dream walks in thread and puts a curse on the mavs organization so they'll never win a title.........then leaves laughing maliciously..."HAHAHAHAHAHA"*
to be honest (although I dislike the "guy" and think he chokes under pressure) Dirk DOES deserve MVP this year....he'd be my choice if I were voting.....
