Dallas Mavericks Blog – Page 54 – NBA Blog

Mark Cuban says Jason Terry deserves love from Mavs fans

Jason Eugene Terry will be back at American Airlines Center Friday night for the first time since he left the Dallas Mavericks last summer to sign a three-year, $15.675 million free agent contract with the Boston Celtics.

And there’s at least four overzealous Mavericks fans who hope the Jet will receive the royal treatment from the sellout crowd that’ll be on hand when Dallas (32-36) faces the Celtics (36-31) at 7:30 p.m.

“I hope they give him a standing ovation,’’ owner Mark Cuban said. “He deserves it.

“He’ll be a Maverick for life. He’s part of the family.’’

Terry played for the Mavericks from 2004 until last summer when he and Cuban couldn’t agree on a contract that would have kept him in Dallas for what he wanted to be the remainder of his career. Still, the two have remained friends as Cuban has already said he plans to retire Terry’s No. 31 jersey and hang it in the AAC rafters once he retires.

— Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Lopez, D-Will lead Nets past Mavericks 113-96

Brook Lopez is just like Deron Williams. He enjoys visiting Dallas, too.

Lopez scored 38 points and Williams had 31 in his first visit since spurning his hometown team in free agency, leading the Brooklyn Nets past the Mavericks 113-96 on Wednesday night.

Williams scored 26 in the second half, repeatedly hitting shots and occasionally assisting on baskets by Lopez to prevent a Dallas rally in the fourth quarter.

Lopez matched the 38 points he scored in one of the five games he played last season, when the Nets snapped a 12-game losing streak in Dallas. Both times, he finished one point shy of his career high from two years ago against Detroit.

”The team played well in both games,” Lopez said with a laugh. ”I think that’s the correlation. It just depends on who’s hot. We have so many options on this team.” …

Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 16 points and had a team-high six rebounds compared to 22 boards for Reggie Evans of the Nets, who outrebounded the Mavericks 45-34.

— Reported by Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press

Former NFL player suing Mavericks great Rolando Blackman

A former NFL player and Dallas Cowboy has filed a lawsuit in a Dallas County court against former Dallas Maverick and All-Star Rolando Blackman, who he says convinced the cornerback to invest in a faulty African gold venture.

The former NFL player, Nathaniel Jones, met Blackman and fellow defendant David Mureeba, chief executive of a tech company, through “friends and contacts,” according to the lawsuit filed this week.

Last spring, the two defendants in the suit presented Jones with an opportunity to invest in exploration and refinement of gold through another of Mureeba’s businesses, East Africa Power & Energy. They told him his investment of $150,000 would be used to airlift precious metals from East Africa to Belgium, where the gold would be sold to a refinery, according to the lawsuit.

Mureeba and Blackman guaranteed Jones a 4 percent return on his investment. Mureeba encouraged the former football player to invest more.

— Reported by Christina Rosales of the Dallas Morning News

How Chris Wright found out he had multiple sclerosis

An innocent slip of the foot turned into a life-changing experience for Chris Wright.

That slip, which occurred last March while Wright was playing basketball in Turkey, ultimately led to the 6-1 point guard discovering that he was suffering from multiple sclerosis, a disease which impacts the brain and spinal cord when the protective sheaths around the nerves are damaged.

“I was in practice running sprints and at the end of practice I went down to touch the line and came up and I slipped,’’ Wright said. “My foot gave out and I thought nothing of it.

“I thought I just slipped, but eventually it got worse and I had numbness in my right foot, and then it started the next month to progress to the whole right side of my body. I lost basically all sensation, and I went to the doctor and that’s when they diagnosed me with MS.’’

— Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Mark Cuban thinks Dirk Nowitzki will stay elite for years

If Dirk Nowitzki put up his post-All-Star break numbers all season long, he probably wouldn’t have been able to take a midseason vacation on a Mexican beach.

Since his 11-year streak of All-Star appearances was snapped, Nowitzki has averaged 18.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, shooting 49.5 percent from the floor and 50 percent from 3-point range.

“What we’re seeing now with Dirk is what we can expect to see next year and the year after, if he stays healthy,” Mark Cuban said. “And the year after that.”

Three more years of All-Star caliber play from a power forward who turns 35 this summer?

“At least,” Cuban said.

“I’m not sure about all that,” Nowitzki said. “We’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully I can finish this season strong and have a good summer like I basically did last year with a lot of lifting and running and hopefully not have a setback with a surgery. We’ll see how consistent I can be again next season.”

— Reported by Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas

Rodrigue Beaubois out indefinitely with fractured hand

The injury bug bit [Dallas Mavericks guard] Rodrigue Beaubois once again.

Beaubois exited Sunday night’s game against the Thunder after fracturing the second metacarpal in his left hand during the second quarter. He is out indefinitely.

The fourth-year guard had played his way back into Rick Carlisle’s rotation with two strong performances this week. Carlisle called Beaubois 18-point, five-assist outing in Friday’s win “by far” his best game of the season.

— Reported by Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas

MRI reveals Shawn Marion has strained left calf

An MRI performed Friday revealed that Shawn Marion has a strained left calf.

The injury will keep the Dallas Mavericks’ small forward on the sidelines indefinitely. And it’s much more serious than the left calf contusion the Mavericks thought Marion had when he suffered the injury March 6 against the Houston Rockets.

“It’s getting better, but being a strain instead of a contusion, those take longer, so it’s going to be a whole lot longer [recovery period],” coach Rick Carlisle said. “We hope not too long, but we’re going to exercise caution, and we’re going to make sure he’s right before he gets back.”

Marion missed all four games on the Mavs’ recent road trip.

— Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

No Shawn Marion for Mavericks tonight

Being the warrior that he is, Shawn Marion doesn’t particularly like to sit out basketball games.

Especially a game that’s as big as the one the Dallas Mavericks play tonight at 7 at the AT%T Center against the San Antonio Spurs. But Marion will sit out tonight’s game with a left calf contusion, marking the fourth straight game he’s missed since suffering the injury during a Mar. 6 home game against the Houston Rockets.

“It’s real frustrating, but everybody’s been very supportive and I’m just trying to get myself right,’’ Marion said after this morning’s shoot around at the AT%T Center. “I’m here to support the team the best way I can and let’s keep it going.’’

— Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Blog)

Calf still bothering Shawn Marion

Dallas Mavericks forward Shawn Marion has been ruled out of Thursday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs and will be re-evaluated Friday morning by team doctor T.O. Souryal.

Marion has missed the previous three games because of a bruised left calf suffered during the Mavs’ March 6 win over the Houston Rockets. The Mavs had considered Marion to be day to day, but the calf has not been recovering as well as anticipated.

— Reported by Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas

Mavericks sign guard Chris Wright to 10-day contract

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed free agent guard Chris Wright to a 10-day contract.

Wright (6-1, 210) played collegiately at Georgetown and went undrafted in the 2011 NBA Draft. He spent the 2012 training camp with the New Orleans Hornets before joining the Iowa Energy of the NBA Development League for the 2012-13 campaign.

According to ESPN Dallas, “Wright became the first-known NBA player to acknowledge having multiple sclerosis when he signed a 10-day deal with Dallas and joined the Mavs in San Antonio. That’s a fact that Wright is especially proud of after earning a call-up from the D-League. “That’s definitely one of the things I pride myself on, being the face of it and being an inspiration and motivation for people to keep fighting.” said Wright, who averaged 15.5 points, 7.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.6 steals for the Iowa Energy this season to earn a D-League All-Star bid. “I made history with this.”

In 38 games (all starts) for the Energy, Wright averaged 15.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 1.6 steals and 37.0 minutes per game en route to earning NBA Development League All-Star honors.

A native of Bowie, Md., Wright played professionally for Olin Edime of the Turkish Basketball League in 2011-12.

Wright is expected to join the team in San Antonio and be available for the game against the Spurs on March 14. He will wear No. 8 for the Mavericks.

The Mavericks’ roster now stands at 15 players.