Wednesday night in Dallas the Mavericks beat the Milwaukee Bucks 116-96. Here are Mavs team notes:
TONIGHT’S KEY RUN: Milwaukee led 15-7 with 6:15 to go in the 1st quarter. The Mavericks then went on a 58-26 run through the end of the 1st half to take a 65-41 lead into the locker room. During the run, Dallas shot 67.9% (19-28 FGs) from the field while Milwaukee shot 29.4% (10-34 FGs). Dallas made their last 7 FGAs of the 1st half.
MORE NOTES:
Charlie Villanueva scored 19 of MIL’s 23 1st quarter points. He went 8-12 from the field while the rest of the team went 0-12 from the field in the period.
Villanueva’s 19 points were the most in a quarter by an opposing player this season (Paul Pierce 18 vs. BOS, 2/12). He finished the game with 25 points (10-22 FGs, 1-4 3FGs, 4-4 FTs).
Dallas scored 21 fast break points in the 1st half (to MIL’s 4). Dallas averages 15.5 FB ppg (ranks 5th in the NBA). The Mavs finished the game with 30 FB points.
Brandon Bass recorded his 4th double-double of the season with 18 points (5-8 FGs, 8-8 FTs) and season-high tying 11 rebounds (8DR) in 30 minutes.
Josh Howard scored a game-high 27 points (10-16 FGs, 4-6 3FGs, 3-4 FTs) with 7 rebounds, season-high 5 steals and season-high tying 3 blocks in 35 minutes. Howard now has 5 25-point games for the season (his last was 29 at LAC, 12/28).
Over their last 9 wins, the Mavericks are shooting 53.3% (390-732 FGs) from the field. Tonight, they outshot the Bucks 53.4% (39-73 FGs) to 42.0% (37-88 FGs).
Dallas committed a season-high 25 turnovers resulting in 29 MIL points (previous high was 22 vs. LAL (11/11)).
The Mavericks recorded their 6th 20+ point victory of the season, winning by 20 points tonight. Dallas last 2 wins have come by an average of 20.5 points.
MIL came down with an opponent season-low 25 rebounds (18 DR). The Mavericks are now 12-0 when outrebounding the opposition by at least 10 (51-25 tonight).
Dallas is 15-3 when shooting 50% FG and 11-1 when scoring 110+ points.
Tonight’s attendance was 19,558 fans (19,200 capacity). The Mavs have sold out 304 consecutive regular season games at AAC and 362 games including the pre and postseasons. Dallas currently owns the longest running sellout streak in the NBA. The Sacramento Kings previously held the streak.
The Chicago Tribune reports on Michael Jordan and his girlfriend: Michael Jordan has taken a 30-year mortgage and is playing house in modest suburban Miami with his reported new paramour, Cuban model Yvette Prieto. According to Miami-Dade County records, Prieto, 30, and Jordan, 46, co-own a three-bedroom home that property-appraisal records list as having three bedrooms and 5,500 square feet. None of the neighbors called by the Palm Beach Post realized that the six-time NBA champion is on the deed of the two-story villa. Said the sexy-voiced Prieto: “I can’t talk about the house just yet. Sorry.”
Wednesday night in New York the Orlando Magic are visiting the Knicks and superstar center Dwight Howard is full of energy.
The Oklahoman (Darnell Mayberry ) reports: Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks has implemented a layup drill he calls “Daily Dozen,” an exercise in which Thunder players must make six layups on each side of the basket — an overhand, underhand, reverse left hand, reverse right hand, baby hook shots and a pull-up jumper inside the key. Brooks said the team has performed the drill consistently in the last week, but he wanted to focus on the drill Wednesday after seeing the Thunder miss several layups against Los Angeles on Tuesday night. “We definitely need to improve on shots right around the basket,” Brooks said. “We’re going to try to get it in three or four times a week.”
The Miami Herald (Michael Wallace) reports: With Allen Iverson’s recent decision to cut his hair and do away with braids after 12 years, Heat forward Udonis Haslem might have taken over as the NBA’s king of cornrows. Haslem has sported the look for the past eight years, which dates even before he entered the league in 2004. ”I might be the last man standing with them,” Haslem said Tuesday before the Heat faced Iverson’s Pistons. “If I ever do cut them, it won’t be during the season. It’ll be in the summer. I’d have to wait to see how my head is shaped. So if it’s messed up, I have all summer to grow it back.”
The Orange County Register (Kevin Ding) reports: The reason Lamar Odom writes those names on his sneakers before every game is to remember his dearly departed: his mother when he was 12, his grandmother when he was 20, his infant son when he was 26. He’s making ’em proud now. If the message is that he remembers all that they gave before their time came, Odom is right on it. Odom is seizing his days now and filling them with admirable personal development. Even though this is the year he will turn 30, Odom is showing that you don’t have to be as young as Andrew Bynum to make substantial upgrades in your game. Odom is rebounding like crazy, for sure, and he’s got a dreamy eye on a 30-rebound game before the season’s done.