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Dallas is a town in Texas, too

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Portland Trailblazers (22-22) vs Dallas Mavericks (19-25)

7:00 pm PST

Rose Garden Arena

Starting Lineups

Dallas Mavericks

PG – Darren Collison – University of California, Los Angeles – (12.8 / 5.1 / 1.5)

SG – O.J. Mayo – University of Southern California – (17.8 / 3.7 / 2.4)

SF – Shawn Marion – University of Nevada, Las Vegas – (10.6 / 8.1 / 2.6)

PF – Dirk Nowitzki – Wurzburg, Germany – (14.2 / 5.6 / 2.4)

C – Chris Kaman – Central Michigan University – (12.4 / 6.2 / .8)

Portland Trailblazers

PG – Damian Lillard – (18.3 / 3.4 / 6.5)

SG – Wesley Matthews – (15.1 / 2.8 / 2.7)

SF – Nicola Batum – (16.4 / 6.1 / 4.9)

PF – LaMarcus Aldridge – (20.5 / 8.8 / 2.5)

C – J.J. Hickson – (12.6 / 10.8 / 1.1)

Matchup to Watch

O.J. Mayo vs Wes Matthews

Over their careers these guys have played each other to a stalemate…

            G   MP  FG% 3P  3PA  3P%  FT% TRB AST STL TOV PTS
Matthews   10 33.5 .469 2.3 4.9 .469 .840 3.4 1.4 1.3 1.8 16.4
Mayo       10 33.2 .492 2.1 4.5 .467 .708 3.1 2.0 0.9 1.8 16.6

…except last time they played Mayo hung 32 on Wes and the Mavs won easily. And Wes didn’t even play poorly! He had 20 and made over half his shots! I remember, I had locked myself out of my apartment so I watched it at a bar. I drank whiskey. Had the hummus plate. Got some crooked looks.

If I were to guess, I’d bet that Wes is one of those cats that doesn’t like to get lit up like that. I think he’ll remember that whoopin` and make this a good matchup to watch.

Dallas’ Last Three 

Win vs. Phoenix, 110-95

Loss vs. San Antonio, 107-113

Win @ Orlando, 111-105

Notes & Links

  • A lot of people out there really dislike Mavericks owner Mark Cuban – for his personality, his money, his face, whatever. I am not necessarily one of those people. I was a huge fan of those early 2000s teams with Steve Nash, Dirk, and Michael Finley with ol’ Nellie pulling the strings. His player-friendly management style is something that has obviously worked for them and I was more than happy to see them win a ring, especially since the Trail Blazers gave them their toughest challenge in those playoffs. But for the life of me I can’t figure out why the guy wears the team gear he does. Seriously, this? This? THIS? I’m not even sure that last one is official team merchandise, but why wear it anyways? Whatever, stupid note. Moving on.
  • Dallas is just beginning to crawl out of the hole they dug themselves when Dirk was, I want to say, on his honeymoon? It doesn’t look like one of those seasons in the West where a team has to win 50 just to get into the playoffs, so don’t count them out yet. They’ll need a bit of help from us, so in that light tonight’s game isn’t trivial.
  • Peep that subtle shout out to Dallas, OR in the headline. What up, Dallas!
  • Nowitzki now has more points in the NBA than the great Allen Iverson who, strangely enough, is being courted by Dallas’ D-League affiliate. If your bored, check out his numbers from his last NBA season. I may never have to chance to link to ridiculous Iverson videos again, so I’m going to take advantage now. Enjoy.
  • Next up for the big German: Patrick Ewing at number 17.

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