Houston at Mavericks preview7 p.m. Tuesday, American Airlines Center, TNT; ESPN-FM (103.3), KFLC-AM (1270, Spanish)09:55 PM CST on Monday, March 20, 2006By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning NewsSeries: Mavericks lead this season, 3-0; Rockets lead all-time, 72-55Key matchupYao Ming vs. Erick Dampier: Last week, Yao destroyed the Mavericks for 27 points in the first half. They did a better job of containing him after halftime, holding him to nine points. The 7-6 center is on one of the best runs of his career, averaging 31 points over the last five games and reaching 20 or more points in 13 consecutive games. His roll coincides with his return from big-toe surgery. Mavs assistant coach Del Harris, who coached Yao in the 2004 Olympics, said: "After every practice and game, when he would take his shoes off, his socks would be red on the end from blood coming from his big toe. The operation fixed it up, and now you see how active he is."Gone for good? Tracy McGrady says he's essentially done for the season, unless the Rockets somehow have a shot at the playoffs in the final week. McGrady's back issues should be solved before next season, but that doesn't make the mess that this season has turned into any easier to swallow.Briefly: Juwan Howard has had five of his eight 20-point games when McGrady has been out of action. ... Stromile Swift (less than nine points, five rebounds per game) rates as one of last summer's lamest free-agent acquisitions in the league.Inside the MavericksNo rest for the weary: Dirk Nowitzki has plans to keep playing at least 30 minutes per game in the final month of the season. "We cut my minutes down [at the end of last season] and that's not really me. In that first series, I was exhausted at halftime. I don't want to make the same mistake again."Briefly: The Mavs haven't lost consecutive games since Nov. 29 and Dec. 1. They've gone 42-10 since then. ... They have 17 games this month, the first time since January 2004 they've had a month that busy. ... Erick Dampier is second in the NBA in rebounds per 48 minutes (16.0).PROBABLE STARTERSRockets Pos. MavericksJuwan Howard F Dirk NowitzkiKeith Bogans F Rawle MarshallYao Ming C DeSagana DiopLuther Head G Marquis DanielsRafer Alston G Jason Terryhttp://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...ew.28e4325.html
No. Howard and Griff are still day to day. Not sure about Harris. Van Horn still has a few more weeks
Seeing as this is an automatic loss for HOU, I say it's senseless to post a topic like this. But i will say that Yao will get a double double.
Dallas is going through some major injury problems as well so I am not sure how they will play tonight. They got a cba player in the starting lineup.
Mavs are still strong with their injuries. Avery/Stack were both on Quite Frankly last night. Steven A was asking Avery about how we can deal with all the injuries. Avery pretty much said we can realy on all the depth we have, and work with players like Rawle, DA, ect
As great as the depth is Josh Howard is clearly better than Rawle Marshall. Putting in a cba player in place of Josh Howard is a drastic change. Though Daniels I think is the reason Dallas has been 4-2. Daniels has been stepping up on offense and getting a lot of layups.
A cba player and the 15th option on Dallas but Dallas is very weak at SF without Josh Howard. Game is tied 20-20 right now. Dallas looks out of sorts again tonight but lucky they are playing Houston. lol
Yeah lucky is right, Houston is taking themselves out of the game with turnovers, bad shot selection and letting Terry and Stackhouse drive to the rim as they please, and Dallas is pushing Houston around on the fast break.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>As great as the depth is Josh Howard is clearly better than Rawle Marshall. Putting in a cba player in place of Josh Howard is a drastic change. Though Daniels I think is the reason Dallas has been 4-2. Daniels has been stepping up on offense and getting a lot of layups.</div>No that's Dirk Nowitzki. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>A cba player and the 15th option on Dallas but Dallas is very weak at SF without Josh Howard. Game is tied 20-20 right now. Dallas looks out of sorts again tonight but lucky they are playing Houston. lol</div>15th option? More like 13th, I'd put him over Powell(because Rawle has more upside) and Pavel(who will get zero minutes this year).<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>As great as the depth is Josh Howard is clearly better than Rawle Marshall.</div> No one will argue with that.This game got boring in the 2nd quarter. Stack once again hitting the last shot to end the quarter, mavsfan I heard you say he was overrated in the clutch. For a guy who gets the last shots to end quarters(barring 4th) most of the time for Mavs, he hits a lot of them. And he's getting very little recognition for that, so I don't see how he's overrated.Another note, weird seeing TNT say Dirk is the MVP so far.
Yeah Stackhouse is having his first great game in awhile. Funny how everytime he gets a good game it is such a surprise. Btw Head is too small of a defender to guard Stackhouse but if you put a real defender on Stackhouse it will be different.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Yeah Stackhouse is having his first great game in awhile. Funny how everytime he gets a good game it is such a surprise. Btw Head is too small of a defender to guard Stackhouse but if you put a real defender on Stackhouse it will be different.</div>It's only a surprize to you. I still don't see how he's overrated clutch wise.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Shooting 36% in the playoffs does not equal clutch.</div>He's not a good shooter to begin with. But it doesn't take away from his ability to hit shots at the end of quarters.
Everyone makes clutch shots once in awhile. It doesn't mean you want them shooting the final shot. Also where was Stack's clutchness against Phoenix last year in game 6. He had the final shot and bricked it.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Everyone makes clutch shots once in awhile. It doesn't mean you want them shooting the final shot. Also where was Stack's clutchness against Phoenix last year in game 6. He had the final shot and bricked it.</div>Seriously in clutch I'd go with Dirk, Terry and Stack. If Dirk and Terry can't get a shot, Stack is the next best option.Also, don't bring up game 6, everyone choked in that game.
Well Stackhouse's defense on Jim Jackson was pretty pathetic in the second half. It drives me up the wall when you let a guy get open 3 after open 3 and that was the big part Phoenix coming back and Stackhouse was responsible for guarding him. To top it off Stackhouse runs the other way to jack up a shot where they should've called a timeout. So the meltdown started with Stackhouse and ended with Dirk and Terry.
