Mavs 91 Cavs 87 Grades: The Big Five-O! As bad as the Mavs were in the first half was how great they were in the second half. The Mavs were incredibly lethargic behind Dirk going 4-14 from the field and the Cavs took advantage of it as the Mavs set a new season low for first half points at 34. The Mavs came out in the second half playing with a ?sense of urgency? on both offense and defense while the Cavs were goofing around that ended up with the Mavs on a 27-8 run to get back into this game at 61-all. That?s right. The Mavs came back from a 19 point deficit in the third quarter alone and established a new franchise opponent low of 8 points. The Mavs took the lead and kept the fans in this one. This Mavs team has reached 50 wins quicker than any other Dallas squad. UPN 21 : A++; A rare UPN 21 home game! All I can say is more, more, more! +36 Laura Green: A+, I was getting worried about Laura in the first half as she was real quiet after the game started. She got back into the swing of things in the second half as the Mavs brought this one home. +36 Johnson: A, Avery rolled the dice with Rawle Marshall starting. Rawle actually opened some eyes, but the chemistry is just not quite there yet. Avery came out in the second half with Jason, Jerry, Marquis, Dirk and Erick as the bench cooled their heels for the most part. Would have loved to been a fly on the wall in the halftime locker room??. Marshall : B; Rawle got the surprise start, his NBA first with only 7 NBA games under his belt. Rawle went 2-3 for 4 points in the first quarter alternately guarding Snow or James. Rawle didn?t play in the second half, as Avery went for chemistry, but Rawle got his props in the Avery?s post game interview. +2 Nowitzki: A; Dirk goes 1-6 in the first and 3-8 in the second. Then he woke up. Dirk finished with 30 points (12-28 FG, 1-3 treys, 5-5 FT), 13 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 blocked shots against only 1 turnover. Diop: B-; DeSagana struggled as he got schooled by the Big Z in the first half. Diop did get 2 points (1-1 FG) to got with 4 rebounds and 1 blocked shot. Zero turnovers. +7 Daniels: A; Marquis had an impressive game as (for the most part) played to his strength, posting up on the block and running the baseline. Daniels put up 17 points (7-15 FG, 0-1 trey, 3-4 FG) to go with 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Zero turnovers. +16 Terry: B; Jason, like Dirk, struggled in the first half, not necessarily from his field goal percentage (3-6) but from his aggressiveness. The real Jason Terry appeared in the second half and finished with 20 points (7-17 FG, 1-4 treys, 5-7 FT). Jason did have an espn highlight hammer dunk in the first half. +14 Armstrong : B+; Darrell again got 11 minutes tonight with Devin hurt and proved invaluable with 2 clutch free throws with 14.4 seconds left in the game to push the Mavs lead to 88-84. +2 Stackhouse: C+; Jerry is still in a major funk as can be seen by his field goal to free throw ratio: 14 FG attempts to 2 FT attempts. Jerry was frustrated early on when he attacked the basket and got no foul calls and it seemed to really take him out of his game. Jerry did put up 9 points (4-14 FG, 0-1 treys, 1-2 FT) to go with 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Zero turnovers. +5 Dampier: A+; Erick was Avery?s player of the game. I?m not going to argue with that assessment at all. Dampier started the second half and contributed 7 points to go with 13 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Great hustle. +21 Powell: C, Josh earned 7 minutes of floor time tonight, mainly in relief of Dirk. Josh grabbed 2 rebounds. +0 M?Benga: C, DJ got two and a half minutes but did not box. +0 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
