<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Preview: Raptors at Mavericks10:59 PM CST on Tuesday, November 28, 2006By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News Who's hot? T.J. Ford The former Longhorn has a nice string of games going, including an eye-popping 26-point, 18-assist night against Denver on Nov. 18. He's one of the few players in the league who has the speed to outquick Devin Harris. ... Former Lincoln star Chris Bosh had three double-doubles in his last four games going into Tuesday's outing against New Orleans in Oklahoma City. The Raptors were 4-9 heading into that game. ... Erick Dampier has made 15 of his last 18 field goal tries spanning four games. ... Since entering the starting lineup 12 games ago, Devin Harris is shooting 53 percent. Who's not? Jason Terry In the six games Josh Howard has played, Terry has averaged 10.7 field goal attempts and 10.5 points. In the eight games Howard has missed, Terry has taken 14.9 shots and averaged 20.1 points. It's worth noting his assists are up from 2.9 to 5.5 per game with Howard on the court, a big reason the Mavericks are 10-4. ... Dirk Nowitzki's 2-of-8 showing against Minnesota ended a streak of four games in which he shot 50 percent or better. ... Entering Tuesday's game, Toronto's Chris Bosh was 8-of-27 from the field in his last two games but remains a top threat. "We have tough games against Toronto," Avery Johnson said of the Mavericks' two wins over the Raptors by a total of six points last season. "And Chris Bosh is a younger Kevin Garnett in a lot of ways." Injuries Mavericks: D.J. Mbenga (left foot) is doubtful. Raptors: Morris Peterson (left elbow), Kris Humphries (right ankle) and Pape Sow (back) are out.</div> LinkI think that the Mavs will win it as long as the play the way they have the last 10 games. Dirk has like 10 double doubles already. Damp and Diop are averaging a combined 11.9 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks a game. Pretty damn good numbers compared to last year. Last year it was 8pts, 12.4reb, and 3blks. Howard has played well in his return as well. Also, the backcourt play of Harris and Terry is what was expected. I see a win for the Mavs.
Mavs are now 11-4. 11 straight wins is impressive. Looks like Josh Howard had a big game. 26 points on the box score. They did it mostly without Dirk.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Mavs keep focus for 11th straight12:45 AM CST on Thursday, November 30, 2006By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News Dirk Nowitzki had a scary moment Wednesday night when he suffered from blurred vision, leaving the game late in the first quarter. After that, none of the other Mavericks had any trouble focusing. With his teammates taking up all the slack left by their absent superstar, the Mavericks rolled to a 117-98 victory over the Toronto Raptors at American Airlines Center. It was their 11th consecutive victory, third-longest streak in franchise history. Coupled with San Antonio's loss at Utah, it put the Mavericks in first in the Southwest Division for the first time this season. And yet, the biggest concern was Nowitzki, who suffered cloudy peripheral vision in his right eye from a bruise suffered in Monday's game against Minnesota. He left Wednesday's game with 1:46 left in the first quarter. After a trip to the Mavericks' optometrist, Dr. Maurice Syrquin, it was determined that the injury was not serious and that Nowitzki could be back in action Friday against Sacramento. But that didn't mean there weren't some anxious moments. "I never had anything like that," he said. "I was a little nervous, so we got it checked out. And it was just a bruised eye, bruised retina. I'm clear for activity. I can practice if I want to and play. So we'll go from here. "Obviously, it was definitely a scary moment. Somebody on one play was driving baseline and I was looking where everybody else was, and I couldn't see the guy on the baseline driving. That was definitely a freaky moment. I couldn't see out of the right side of my eye." Ironically, Nowitzki hit three of his first four shots, including a layup with 2:28 left in the first quarter when he couldn't see what he was shooting at. "I kind of looked up at the rim and didn't really see the rim," he said. "Once I made the layup, I just tried to sub myself out as quick as I could. I had to get this checked out. Something's not right." A battery of tests revealed the bruise, and Nowitzki returned to the arena. He said he got hit two or three times in the Minnesota game, but that his vision didn't bother him until Wednesday's affair started. Fortunately, the Mavericks pretty much had the Raptors buried before Nowitzki left the game. They ripped out to a 21-4 lead and were up by 15 at the end of the first quarter. Toronto, led by Lincoln product Chris Bosh's 18 points and 11 rebounds, closed within five in the third quarter. But the Mavericks charged back ahead by double figures and never were threatened in the fourth period. The Mavs shot 53.6 percent for the game, and without Nowitzki, the rest of the Mavericks did a wonderful job of filling in the holes. "This was a night when everybody chipped in, and it showed by us scoring 117 points," said Anthony Johnson, who had eight of the Mavs' 24 assists (they had only seven turnovers). "We didn't really know what was going on with Dirk. But when you lose one guy, that gives an opportunity for other guys to step up." Everybody did their part. Erick Dampier had a double-double by the midpoint of the third quarter. Josh Howard – playing power forward much of the night after Nowitzki left – was filling up the basket, eclipsing his season high before the third quarter was done and finishing with a game-best 26. Jerry Stackhouse added 23. "We were fortunate to get this win, especially with Dirk going down," Avery Johnson said. "Look at our bench. We don't win without those guys. We dug in there." E-mail esefko@dallasnews.com</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>won without there superstar Dirk, man is howard impressive or what</div> Well it was against the Raptors plus we had that comfy lead that evaporated.
^Yeah it dissapeared...then reapeared to a comfy 18 points or there abouts...and all of that was without Dirk...So all in all, pretty nice showing, especially considering that the Mavs have been known to get caught off guard by some of the lesser teams...especially at home for some reason.
