Dallas Mavericks Blog – Page 89 – NBA Blog

Caron Butler`s Valentine`s Day tips

Dallas Mavericks forward Caron Butler presents five ways to impress your girl on Valentine’s Day:

1. Take Her To The Spa: It is a relaxing way to enjoy the day together, and you know she’ll love it.

2. A Romantic Dinner: You probably should have reservations at a restaurant by now. If you don’t, then think about staying in and cooking for her. She’ll be impressed.

3. Roses: Do not mess that up. A must on Valentine’s Day.

4. Jewelry: All women love jewelry. Need I say more?

5. Take her to a play: It will show your sensitive side and is sure to score you some points.

6. Bonus-Romantic getaway: Instead of going home that evening, take her to spend the night at a bed and breakfast or hotel.

Mavs guard Dominique Jones has foot surgery

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that guard Dominique Jones underwent surgery to address a stress fracture to the fifth metatarsal in his right foot. The surgery was performed by Dr. T.O. Souryal of Texas Sports Medicine. No timetable has been set for his return.

Jones (6-5, 215) was originally the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. The Mavericks acquired his rights from Memphis in exchange for cash considerations in a draft day trade. Jones has seen action in 18 games for the Mavericks this season and holds averages of 2.3 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 7.5 minutes per game.

Opinion: Halfway through season, LeBron playing like MVP

At the start of the season, many in the basketball world figured that with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade playing on the same team, neither one would have a real shot at winning the 2010-11 NBA MVP award because their stats would be lowered. Chris Bosh being on the Heat as well factors into it as well, of course.

Yet now, in early February, LeBron is steadily emerging as the league favorite to capture the award again.

Chris Perkins of Fox Sports Florida reports:

Miami (38-14) is winning. That’s the biggest requirement for the MVP. The Heat is only a half-game behind Boston (38-13), which is almost the unanimous pick to win the Eastern Conference.

And James is producing. He’s averaging 26.4 points per game (second in the NBA), 7.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists. For his career he averages 27.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 7.0 assists. So there’s been no big statistical sacrifice by joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to form Miami’s Big Three.

Plus, James has already won the Eastern Conference Player of the Month Award twice (actually, he shared it with Wade in January), and he has the NBA’s highest-scoring game of the season with his 51-point outburst at Orlando. James has made the Heat better and he’s made his teammates better.

The other MVP candidates? Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, the league’s leading scorer at 29 ppg, is probably the favorite. Durant also averages 7.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.

If I had to vote today, I’d go with LeBron for sure, especially the way he’s on fire over his last 10 games.

Hornets sign Sasha Pavlovic to 10-day contract

The New Orleans Hornets announced today that they have signed forward Sasha Pavlovic to a 10-day contract. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In 462 career games (133 starts) over eight NBA seasons, Pavlovic holds career averages of 5.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 16.5 minutes. Pavlovic (6-8, 235) was most recently with the Dallas Mavericks with whom he signed back-to-back 10-day contracts beginning Jan. 10. He appeared in 10 games, marking six starts and scoring 4.1 points per contest.

Pavlovic began his NBA career with the Utah Jazz as the 19th overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. Following a solid rookie season in Salt Lake City, Pavlovic was selected by the Charlotte Bobcats in the 2004 expansion draft and later traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he played for the next five seasons, including an appearance in the 2007 NBA Finals. Last season, the Bar, Montenegro native played for the Minnesota Timberwolves before becoming a free agent this summer.

The Hornets roster now stands at 15.

Tyson Chandler feels he is best center in West

By Jeff Lenchiner

After the Dallas Mavericks whopped the Knicks 113-97 in New York last night (despite the score, it was actually a thrilling game that featured several promising Knicks runs), I caught up with Mavs center Tyson Chandler, who said the following to me and a few other reporters:

Chandler: “When you look at it as a center standpoint, I feel like I’m the best center in the West.”

To which I followed up and, knowing full well that Chandler could handle this sort of question, jokingly asked: “How do you feel your season compares to Yao Ming’s season?”

Chandler: (Laughs) “I love Yao, and he’s injured so I hate to go there. But I feel like the centers that are playing in the West, I’ve had the best year. And I’ve had the most impact.”

In 45 games this season, Chandler is averaging 10.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per outing, shooting a terrific 66.2 percent from the field. He’s been a defensive anchor for the 33-15 Mavs, who boast the sixth best winning percentage in the league and are currently on a six-game winning streak.

Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.

Mavericks release Sasha Pavlovic

Dwaine Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (via blog):

Shortly after Saturday’s 102-91 win over the Atlanta Hawks, the Dallas Mavericks released small forward Sasha Pavlovic.

After the game against the Hawks, Pavlovic’s second 10-day contract with the Mavs expired. Thus, under NBA rules, the Mavs either had to sign him to a contract for the rest of the season, or waive him.

The Mavs chose the latter.

“The decision comes down from the top, and it basically involves (player/money) flexibility going forward,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “I’m sure he’s disappointed.

“But I”m also sure he’ll hook on with someone else.”

Notes from Mavericks Jan. 29 win over Hawks

Notes from Dallas Mavericks 102-91 win over Atlanta Hawks Friday, January 29, 2011

TONIGHT’S KEY RUN: With the score knotted at 79, Dallas used a 14-3 run from the 10:24 mark of the fourth quarter until the 8:07 mark of the period to take an 11-point advantage (93-82) en route to the win.

NOTES

For the second consecutive game (second time this season) seven Dallas players scored in double figures. The Mavericks are now 9-0 when at least six players record 10-plus points. The last time seven Mavericks scored in double figures in back-to-back games was in the 50-point win (128-78) over New York on 1/24/10.

Mavericks guard Jason Terry posted his first double-double of the season with 18 points (5-11 FGs, 2-4 3FGs, 2-2 FTs) and a game-high 11 assists. Mavericks center Brendan Haywood tallied 10 points (2-2 FGs, 6-9 FTs). It marked the first time he’s scored in double figures since the third game of the season (at L.A. Clippers 10/31/10). Dallas is now 2-0 when Haywood scores 10-plus points in a game.

Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, who entered Saturday’s meeting with Atlanta shooting 38.9 percent since returning from injury at Memphis on 1/15/11 (54.5 percent before suffering a right knee sprain at Oklahoma City 12/27/10), shot 6-of-7 from the field to open the game and finished 6-of-8 from the floor in the first half. Nowitzki and Mavericks guard Jason Terry both recorded 12 first-half points to help give Dallas a 52-49 advantage at the break.

Dallas shot 13-of-14 (.929) from the line in the first half, while the Hawks went just 4-for-5 (.800). The Mavericks finished 22-of-27 (.815) from the stripe compared to the Hawks’ 17-of-22 (.773) clip. Dallas trailed by one (78-77) at the end of three, but opened the fourth quarter on a 14-1 blitz to take a 91-79 lead. The Mavericks outscored the Hawks 25-13 in the fourth en route to the win. Atlanta was 25-2 when leading going into the fourth quarter prior to tonight’s game (fourth-best in the NBA). The Mavericks improved to 8-10 when trailing heading into the final period, which is the fifth-best in the league.

Hawks guard Joe Johnson went 8-of-12 from the floor en route to 16 first-half points. He led all scorers through two quarters of play. Johnson finished with a game-high 27 points (13-24 FGs, 1-1 FTs) on the night.

Dallas led by six (41-35) with just over 5 minutes gone by in the second quarter, but Atlanta used a 10-2 run to take a two-point lead (45-43) with 3:50 to play in the period. The Mavericks then outscored the Hawks 9-4 to close the half and led by three (52-49) at intermission.

With the win, Dallas swept the season series and has now won 19 of the last 25 meetings with Atlanta, including 11-of-13 at home against the Hawks.

The Mavericks are now 21-1 when tallying 100-plus points in a game.

The attendance for tonight’s game was 20,309. The Mavs have sold out 384 consecutive regular season games at AAC. Dallas currently owns the longest running sellout streak in the NBA. Dallas has sold out all 41 games in each of the past seven seasons.

Mavericks sign Peja Stojakovic

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed forward Peja Stojakovic. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Stojakovic (6-10, 229) is a 12-year NBA veteran and joins the Mavericks as a free agent. He holds career averages of 17.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 34.0 minutes while shooting .450 from field goal range, .401 from behind-the-arc and .895 from the foul line. He has played in 779 career games (652 starts) with Sacramento, Indiana, New Orleans and Toronto.

The native of Belgrade, Yugoslavia is a three-time NBA All-Star (2002, 2003, 2004) and was named to the All-NBA Second Team in 2003-04. He ranks fifth all-time on the NBA’s three-point field goal list with 1,718 career made three-pointers, just one behind fourth-place Dale Ellis (1,719) and 14 behind teammate Jason Kidd (1,732) who is in third place. Stojakovic has made six or more three-point field goals in 32 career games which places him second in that category behind only Ray Allen’s 45 games with six or more from behind-the-arc.

Stojakovic has played in 76 career postseason games and reached the Western Conference Finals in 2002 with the Sacramento Kings when they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games. He holds playoff averages of 16.2 points and 5.7 rebounds in 36.3 minutes per game.

Mavericks trade Alexis Ajinca to Raptors

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have traded center Alexis Ajinca, a second round draft pick and cash considerations to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for the draft rights to forward Georgios Printezis.

Ajinca (7-2, 248) played in 10 games with 2 starts for Dallas this season. He averaged 2.9 points, 1.7 rebounds and 7.5 minutes per game as a Maverick. Ajinca was originally acquired via trade from Charlotte on July 13, 2010.

Printezis (6-9, 230) was the 58th pick of the 2007 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs before Toronto acquired his rights from San Antonio for a future second round pick. Printezis is a native of Athens, Greece and plays professionally in Spain.

The Mavericks roster currently stands at 14 players.

Mavericks sign Sasha Pavlovic to second 10-day contract

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have re-signed forward Sasha Pavlovic to a second 10-day contract.

Pavlovic (6-7, 235) is a seven-year NBA veteran and joined the Mavericks as a free agent on January 10. He saw action in five games for the Mavericks with one start and averaged 4.0 points and 1.2 rebounds in 15.6 minutes per game.

The native of Bar, Yugoslavia holds career averages of 5.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 16.5 minutes in 457 career games (128 starts) with Utah, Cleveland, Minnesota and Dallas. He was also a member of the Serbia and Montenegro 2004 Olympic Team that competed in Athens, Greece.