Mavs 102 Rockets 93 Grades: A Win Doesn’t Have to Be Pretty Caveats out of the way first: The Mavs were still on a high from slamming the Pistons. The Rockets were without TMac. The Rockets were without their starting point guard. Of course the Mavs were without Keith Van Horn (dislocated finger), Jerry Stackhouse (persistent knee swelling), and former starter Doug Christie (working on buyout for his retirement). The Mavs again failed to score at least 20 points in the first period and if it had not have been for Jason’s late surge to end the first half, the Mavs would have missed scoring at least 20 in the second period. Still, the good news is that Jason got hot and scored the last 10 Mavs’ points of the first half. The Mavs used a third quarter spurt to take their first lead of the game, but the Rockets never went away with the final margin of 9 points being the biggest Mavs lead of the game. UPN21 : A+, Excellent coverage in the game, if you know what I mean! +36 Johnson: B, The Mavs were not pumped for this game. Take away the credit from Avery. However, the halftime pep talk must have worked as the Mavs turned this one around. Give credit to Avery. Howard: B; While not the output Josh had in the previous two game, Josh still got a double-double, which should be a minimum for him. Howard got 15 points on 5-14 from the field and 11 rebounds. +17 Nowitzki: B+, Nothing new here. Avery saddled up Dirk and rode him hard. It is good to see Dirk shooting well, going 3-5 from behind the arc and 11-19 overall from the field. +31 Dampier: C, At least Erick didn’t attempt a reverse layup, and I mean like the one he did in the Hawks game where he successfully managed to put the ball up through the hoop. Still, nothing to give Avery any confidence that Dampier is ready to be consistently good. +2 Daniels: B, Another solid night from Marquis, maybe not superb statistically, but good to see progress in his overall game decision processing. Zero turnovers. +12 Terry: A, Jason led all players in floor time with 44 minutes and earned it. Backed up Dirk with 29 points (11-18 FG, 4-8 treys, 3-3 FT) and only had one turnover to a team high 5 assists. +31 Diop: C, DeSagana started out working hard, but was rewarded with 3 quick fouls in the first. Van Gundy tried ‘foul a Diop’, but DeSagana foiled that strategy by going 6-8 from the charity stripe. Zero turnovers. +9 Harris: B, Devin’s shot wasn’t on but the rest of this game was. If nothing else you got to give Devin credit for getting the Mavs their first rebound of the game (after some 9 minutes) and being the first Mavs to get to the line (right after the Mavs first rebound…). Four assists and 5 rebounds against Zero turnovers. +10 Powell: B-; Josh’ minutes keep creeping up there and Powell is taking advantage of the time he’s getting. Josh may never get starter’s minutes, but he just may work out to be a good role player. +3 M’Benga: B; DJ earned only 3 minutes despite being the sparkplug that helped get the Mavs back from the Mavs 12 point deficit late in the first half. Zero Turnovers. +33 Armstrong : C-, Essentially a DNP with only 2 minutes on the floor. Zero Turnovers. -3 Marshall : DNP-CD. Van Horn: DNP-CD, Keith was dressed and available, but Avery decided to give his dislocated middle finger a bit more rest. Podkolzin: DNC-CD, Pavel had surgery to repair his right foot and ankle and is expected to miss three to four months. Stackhouse: DNP-CD, Jerry was inactive, out with a sore knee that continues to swell. Christie: DNP-CD, Doug has left the team and is apparently negotiating a buyout that will lead to his retirement. Typical Chef Ed Type
AH vigg, glad to see you here. Few questions You think MBenga was the ignition? I'd give Terry an A+, he was the true sparkplug with those 3's which gave us some momentum
Terry was definately an A+ , Id give Dirk an A for his shot percentage especially 3-5 from 3pt land. And Diop earned a B.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Maverick:</div><div class="quote_post">AH vigg, glad to see you here. Few questions You think MBenga was the ignition? I'd give Terry an A+, he was the true sparkplug with those 3's which gave us some momentum</div> You think MBenga was the ignition? I'd give Terry an A+, he was the true sparkplug with those 3's which gave us some momentum I was surprised Avery didn't go back to DJ for some more minutes. DJ was a key part to the Mavs big run to finish the first half. Key rebounds, tips and a nice assist to Jason. I'm still amazed at the guys hops. As far as Jason? Well he did have the best grade and he was stellar in his push at the end of the first half. I still would like to see a few more assists out of him though....
