Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Dallas Mavericks (33-21) at Orlando Magic (37-18)
It is two games into the second half of the season, and the new-look Dallas Mavericks believe that they have the blueprint for success.
Rebounding from a disappointing showing Tuesday night in Oklahoma City, the Mavericks responded a night later with a 107-97 home win over a playoff-contending Phoenix Suns squad. With a scrambling defense and six players scoring in double figures, including newcomers Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood, the Mavericks moved to 1-1 on a stretch of four games in five nights.
"I don't think I've ever known a team to hold Phoenix to under a 100," Haywood said praising the defense after the win. "Our defense (Wednesday night) was great. Everybody stuck to the game plan, everybody was in position and it just felt good to give a good defensive effort."
"It's always easier at home," Butler said after the win. "The crowd just kind of carried us and lifted us and gave us that momentum we needed down the stretch to win this game."
Now the Dallas squad leaves the friendly confines of the American Airlines Center and travels to Orlando to contend with the defending Eastern Conference champion Magic. The Mavs will be looking for the same success displayed against Phoenix, in the first matchup of the regular season between the Southwest and Southeast Division leaders.
"Going in there and trying to get a win is going to be a big momentum-booster. It's against a quality team that's playing great basketball as well," Butler said.
But the Mavericks will have to defend All-Star center Dwight Howard without big man Erick Dampier. Dampier, who suffered an open dislocation to his right middle finger in the loss to Oklahoma City, is expected to be out of action for a substantial period of time. "Everything is fine. We'll take this week to week to see how it feels," Dampier said with no timetable set for his return.
But in Dampier's stead, the Mavericks got a big night from Haywoood at both ends of the floor against the Suns. Haywood, a 7-footer having perhaps the best season of his career, finished with 10 points and nine rebounds against Phoenix. Add the big man's five blocked shots, and you have a formidable body to through Howard's way come Friday night's meeting with the Magic.
"Overall, I felt we did a good job staying with their shooters and made them finish in the lane over big Haywood," forward Dirk Nowitzki said.
While Haywood will be called upon to anchor the defense, the Mavericks are relying on point guard Jason Kidd's on-court tutelage to instruct the offense.
With Butler, Haywood and fellow new addition DeShawn Stevenson only equipped with about 1/3 of the Mavericks' offensive playbook, Kidd is utilizing transition offense to sprint out to easy buckets.
"(Using transition offense) is to make the game simple," Kidd said. "Make or miss, get it down the court as fast as you can and hope something presents itself, whether it's a layup or a wide-open jump shot."
(Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)
"We're a running team," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "We have Jason Kidd. We are always better when we don't call plays or don't have to call plays. Sometimes you have to in certain situations. When you do, you better be able to execute it and put the ball in the hole."
The quick-tempo play is allowing for Butler to fit in immediately at the shooting guard spot. The 6-7 swingman said that the future Hall-of-Fame lead guard is making life easier for everyone on the court.
"We're just playing basketball -- it's like pickup game style. We're just getting the ball to the floor general (Kidd) and just getting to spots and he's finding us," Butler said.
Kidd is also coming off of a game in which he found his way to the ball no matter where it bounced on the court. No. 2's 18 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and career-high seven steals even had his coach in awe.
"(Kidd) is just amazing. Just an amazing game, the way he led the team. The steals, to get to seven steals is a phenomenal number in one game. It seems like they were all timely...He was great," Carlisle said.
Now the Mavericks will rally around Kidd as they play yet another back-to-back. The Mavericks-Magic game will air nationally on ESPN and locally on KTXA and KTXA HD at 7 p.m. CT. The two teams have not met this regular season.
Saturday night, the Mavs return home to host the Miami Heat at the American Airlines Center. That game will air nationally on NBA TV and locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS. The Mavs took the first meeting between the two teams, a 106-93 road win on Dec. 11.
For up to the minute news on the Dallas Mavericks, visit Mavs.com. Follow Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.
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