Dallas Mavericks Blog – Page 60 – NBA Blog

Ricky Rubio returns for Timberwolves in OT win over Mavericks

The white sleeve on Ricky Rubio’s left knee served as a reminder of what he went through to get back on the court.

While it served to protect his surgically repaired joint, it clearly does nothing to constrict the creativity and unbridled joy that made him one of the most exciting players in the league before he went down last season.

Nine long months later, it’s as if Rubio never left.

Zipping passes between his legs to his Timberwolves teammates in a dazzling season debut, Rubio had nine assists and eight points in 18 minutes of Minnesota’s 114-106 overtime victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.

Andrei Kirilenko scored five of his 14 points in overtime while Rubio watched from the bench because of a minutes restriction…

Nikola Pekovic scored 21 points for the Timberwolves, who won their fourth straight game despite playing without All-Star Kevin Love because of an illness.

O.J. Mayo had 20 points, six assists and five rebounds and Shawn Marion had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Mavericks, who led by 13 early before Rubio came off the bench for the first time since he tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee in March…

Alexey Shved had 18 points and six assists and the Wolves scored the first 10 points in overtime to send an amped crowd home happy.

Derek Fisher scored 20 points for the Mavericks, who turned the ball over 20 times. They led 98-96 after Fisher’s four-point play with 2:50 to go.

— Reported by Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press

Dirk Nowitzki making progress in recovery

Dirk Nowitzki ran through a long set of shooting and running drills before Friday’s game at Toronto and went through some of the Mavericks’ shootaround earlier in the day.

The next step in his recovery from arthroscopic knee surgery: taking part in a practice.

That could come next week.

For now, Nowitzki spends a lot of his time running to midcourt, turning around, running back to the corner or the wing outside the 3-point line, and shooting a jump shot.

— Reported by Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News (Blog)

Mavericks assign Jared Cunningham to D-League

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have assigned Jared Cunningham to the Texas Legends of the NBA Development League.

Cunningham (6-4, 194) has seen action in seven games for the Mavericks and holds averages of 2.3 points and 3.4 minutes per game.

Cunningham will join the Legends on Saturday night, Dec. 15, when they take on the Rio Grande Valley Vipers at 7:00 pm CT at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco.

Mavs continue to beat Kings in Dallas

Dallas relied on defense to build a massive lead and extend its recent home dominance against Sacramento.

O.J. Mayo scored 19 points and the Mavericks took control with a 31-3 run in the first half to win their 17th straight regular-season home game against Sacramento with a 119-96 victory over the Kings on Monday night.

The Mavericks held the Kings without a field goal during the game-turning run. Sacramento missed 12 straight shots and committed nine turnovers in a span of nearly 11 minutes…

Dallas (11-10) picked up its third win a row to go over .500 for the first time since Nov. 21…

Francisco Garcia, who was 7 of 12 from 3-point range, and DeMarcus Cousins scored 25 points apiece for the Kings, who haven’t won in Dallas during the regular season since Feb. 27, 2003. Jason Thompson added 11 points and 12 rebounds…

Dallas starting forward Shawn Marion missed his second straight game with a strained right groin.

Chris Kaman, playing 21 minutes on a sprained left ankle which Carlisle described as ”a glowing purple” before the game, scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half and reserve Darren Collison added 15 points for the Mavericks.

— Reported by David Jimenez of the Associated Press

OJ Mayo scores 40, Mavs beat Rockets in Kevin McHale`s return

Chris Kaman scored half as many points as O.J. Mayo for the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.

Considering the way Kaman’s left ankle looked, those 20 points were just as impressive to coach Rick Carlisle.

Mayo tied a career high with 40 points, including 10 in the last three minutes, to lift the Mavericks to a 116-109 victory over the Rockets in coach Kevin McHale’s return to the Houston bench.

Kaman left the Mavericks’ last game on Thursday night with a sprained left ankle. He started Saturday night and played more than 18 minutes despite the left side of his ankle being almost completely covered by a deep purple bruise…

Kaman also had seven rebounds for Dallas, and Vince Carter and Darren Collison had 12 points apiece…

Harden had 30 points at halftime, but the Mavericks slowed him down in the second half. He scored just nine points in the second half.

McHale rejoined the team on Saturday after almost a month away from the team, and two weeks after the death of his daughter…

The Rockets battled back from a 19-point deficit with a strong second quarter to lead at halftime and were up by nine points with 7 1/2 to go. But Mayo got hot and the Rockets came up short as Dallas extended its winning streak in the series to eight games…

Chandler Parsons made the second of two free throws for the Rockets before Mayo scored five quick points to extend the Mavericks’ lead to 107-101 with less than three minutes left.

Parsons finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Harden had nine assists and six rebounds.

— Reported by Kristie Rieken of the Associated Press

Clippers beat Mavs for 4th straight win

The starters got off to a strong start, then had a front-row seat for the show near the end of the Clippers’ fourth consecutive victory.

Blake Griffin had 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Chris Paul added 14 points and 13 assists in Los Angeles’ 112-90 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.

Jamal Crawford had 20 points, Caron Butler scored 16 and DeAndre Jordan 12 for the Clippers, who shot 50 percent and dominated the entire game, keeping excitable Dallas owner Mark Cuban glued to his seat with his chin cupped in his left hand…

Vince Carter scored 16 points off the bench. Derek Fisher added 15 points, and Shawn Marion and Chris Kaman had 14 points apiece for the Mavericks, who fell to 2-7 on the road…

The Clippers’ former front line of Elton Brand and Chris Kaman, who helped them get within a game of the 2006 Western Conference finals, combined for 28 points for the Mavs.

Los Angeles’ second unit came on in the fourth, with Crawford and Matt Barnes combining to score 21 of their 28 points in the period…

F Dirk Nowitzki is on the Mavs’ trip to LA, Phoenix and Houston, but still not close to playing games.

— Reported by Beth Harris of the Associated Press

Elton Brand thinks he can do more for Mavs

Brand has had his struggles this season, but he doesn’t think the 17 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks he had in Saturday’s win over the Pistons should be considered a surprise. Those all at least match season highs, but Brand expects many more nights like this in a Mavs uniform.

“Nah, that’s not vintage,” said Brand, who was averaging 6.2 points and 6.0 rebounds entering the game. “Not even close. That’s what I can do. That’s where I’m at right now.

“With the opportunity and the looks, I’m still right there. I can do that every night – most nights – with those opportunities.”

By opportunities, Brand means shots and minutes. They were both tough to come by for Brand in the first month of the season.

— Reported by Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas

Mark Cuban understands fine from NBA against Spurs

It’s not very often that Mark Cuban is on the same page with NBA commissioner David Stern.

But the Dallas Mavericks owner said Stern did the right thing Friday in fining the San Antonio Spurs $250,000 for not bringing Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green to Thursday’s nationally televised game in Miami against the Heat.

Cuban said where the Spurs went wrong is not bringing their marquee players to a game that was shown on TNT. If the Spurs had done the same thing in a game not played on national TV, Cuban said they likely would not have been issued a fine.

“Everybody who planned to watch San Antonio vs. Miami on TNT, we’ve got disappointed customers all over the place,” Cuban said before Saturday’s Mavericks home game against Detroit. “When I say our biggest customer, TV is our biggest customer.

“So I’m not saying San Antonio did the wrong thing. I’m just saying I understand exactly why the league did what they did.”

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

Too soon to tell if Darren Collison is a long-term Maverick

Nobody wants Collison to be a keeper more than me. The guy has great quickness, is a good ballhandler and is fearless. Not as good a defender as the Mavericks would like. But he’s working on it. But it’s tough to say right now whether he’s the long-term solution at point guard. Mayo obviously is great on the offensive end. But he too has limitations on defense. That’s what the next 65 games are going to be about — figuring out who stays and who goes. And they’d like to be a playoff team while they’re at it. As for Kaman, he’s been what we all thought he would be. He’s a 15-and-8 guy who occasionally will get you 20 and 10 and occasioally get you 8 and 4. He’s still figuring things out, as he said last week. So let’s get to the quarter mark of the season in a week or so before drawing any hard conclusions.

— Reported by Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News

Turner, Young lead 76ers past Mavericks 100-98

The 76ers won again with Elton Brand having another strong game and earning a hefty paycheck from the organization.

Brand just couldn’t celebrate because his effort was wasted with Dallas.

Evan Turner scored 22 points and Thaddeus Young had 20 to lead Philadelphia to a 100-98 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.

Brand scored a season-high 17 points for the Mavericks in his first game against the Sixers since they used their one-time amnesty provision over the summer in the new labor deal to let him go. The move meant the $18.1 million Brand was owed in the final season of his $80 million, five-year contract did not count against the salary cap for Philadelphia, though it still owed him about $16 million…

Jrue Holiday had 18 points and seven assists for the Sixers, who snapped a six-game losing streak to Dallas. Philadelphia shot 6 of 14 on 3-pointers and won its second straight game.

Chris Kaman scored 20 points and Shawn Marion also had 17 for the Mavericks. Vince Carter added 15 and was clutch in the fourth quarter in trying to bring Dallas back from a 10-point hole.

— Reported by Dan Gelston of the Associated Press