Sunday Donuts: Reviewing Mavs 93, Cavs 82

Mike Fisher -- DB.com

The Mavs win their fourth straight preseason game, 93-82 over the Cleveland Cavs -- well, they were more like the Cleveland Halves … but either way, we’ve got you covered in the form of Sunday Morning Donuts!

DONUT 1: In addition to the Cavs injuries (more on that in a moment), the Mavs, of course, were without Shawn Marion (calf), Josh Howard (ankle) and Tim Thomas (knee). … none of which matters to The UberMan, who feels he needs to get his work in regardless of who else is doing what.

“Preseason is a time to work on your stuff," Dirk Nowitzki said. "It doesn't matter who is out there. It doesn't matter who you play or who is out there. You still have to work on your plays and work on your defense."

Nowitzki did that effectively enough that he made eight of 11 shots for 18 points before retiring at the start of the third quarter.

In the last four Mavs games (all victories), Nowitzki is shooting 62.7 percent (27-of 43) from the field and is averaging 18.5 points.

That’s Dirk at Work.

DONUT 2: For the second straight game, a foundation piece of the Dallas offense has been picks and screens, off-the-ball stuff, pick-and-rolls, the works. Kris Humphries has joined Erick Dampier as someone willing to roam outside to do that dirty work, but it’s also a pretty play – and a pretty effective play – when it’s an off-the-ball screen featuring a big body like Dirk setting the screen, a pinpoint-and-rhythmic passer like Kidd with the ball and a shocking freak like rookie Roddy Beaubois on the business end of the lob.

On Thursday against Detroit, Kidd opened the game with an overthrow lob to Beaubois. This time everything was perfect for the moment midway through the first quarter, Roddy quickly rising above the defense for the two-handed flush.

Roddy was involved in another lob, too, this one on the delivery end, as he tried to save a steal from going out of bounds by flipping it blindly toward his basket. Kris Humphries caught and dunked the ball … but Roddy’s save attempt was ruled to have been out-of-bounds.

It was cool, though.

DONUT 3: Dampier started (vs. Big Z) but his minutes (17) and Drew Gooden’s minutes at center (18) were almost exactly the same, which is probably a reflection of how they will be used in the future. Gooden scored 10 points, his third double-figure scoring output in the team’s five games so far.

All of which begs the question: Why did the Mavs make such a big pre-camp show of announcing that Gooden is the new starting center?

DONUT 4: If you want to make an NFL-style argument that teams play too many meaningless practice games, Exhibit A might just be what the Cavaliers pulled off here. Coach Mike Brown held out starters LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal and Mo Williams as part of a predetermined plan due to the fact that they played Friday in San Antonio. (If teams aren’t going to play their players on the second night of back-to-back preseason games, why bother scheduling the games back-to-back?) Combine that with some issues not fully in Cleveland’s control – JJ Hickson, Andy Varejao and Andre Barnett have the flu, Leon Powe has the knee, Daniel Gibson has a bruise, Delonte West’s guns aren’t fully loaded – and the Cavs rotation was something less than appealing.

Next thing you know, the visitors are left featuring guys named Jamario and Jawad.

“They had a bunch of guys really that are just trying to earn jobs that played extremely well within their system," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said politely. "They fought hard and it was not an easy game at all."

Jamario Moon scored 18 points and Jawad Williams scored 13 points and there was The Cleveland Show.

DONUT 5: The rematch is Tuesday. Mavs and Cavs, and Shaw and LeBron are expected to play. That should excite the ticket-buying public, right? Right. Except the ticket-buying public will be in Pittsburgh, because that’s where the next preseason game is being staged. But you can watch it on HD NET at 6:30 p.m.

DONUT 6: The boxscore. Dig in. And dig JJB.

The Underappreciated Player of the Night? JJB. Both head coaches came away from the game saying good things about the scrappy Cavs who are fighting for jobs. But nobody outworked Barea, who was climbing the trees for rebounds, controlling the pace offensively, poking away loose balls. … JJB finished with nine points, six assists and five rebounds.

Barea has a job. But don’t you love that he gives effort like he’s trying to avoid being forced to get a real job at Home Depot?

DONUT 7: So Dirk is getting ready to cut that hair. You knew it was coming; he'll probably over-do it as usual and go to that military cut.

Personally, I think the floppy rock-star look fits him. But all it takes is one person to tell you, "Hey,dude, you look like Walter Herrmann!'' and you go get a haircut.

DONUT 8: By the way: Are we seeing some of the efforts of volunteer Mavs camp counselor Kevin McHale rubbing off on The UberMan?

"Dirk spending a week with McHale would be like Jason Kidd having a chance to spend a week with Magic Johnson,'' Carlisle said.

Well. ... why don't we get to work on that?

DONUT 9: James Singleton and Erick Dampier were among the revelers (no, they weren’t with the Texas-OU people) who had a Dr Pepper at the Ritz after the game. We asked Singleton about those Cavalier Cooties.

“We don’t want to get sick,’’ Singleton said, laughing. “I hope they didn’t ‘flu’ us.’’

DONUT 10: There has always been an electric element to the Dallas bench because of one guy, Jason Terry. (Who did some non-scoring electric things here with three assists and three steals.) Beyond that? In the past, his benchmates might’ve possessed talent, but their playing style was something less than “electric.’’ (Think Devean George.)

A chance in that department was evident with nine minutes remaining in the game, when Cleveland had pulled to with 75-74. Among the group Dallas had on the floor were Roddy Beaubois, J.J. Barea and Kris Humphries. And those three guys simply out-energized everybody else, Handsome Humphries hitting from 20, then 3’s on consecutive possessions from JJB and Beaubois, and the next thing you know, Dallas was on an 18-8 run to seal the win.

DONUT 11: The starting lineup was Jason Kidd, Roddy Beaubois, Quinton Ross, Nowitzki and Erick Dampier. Notable from the supplemental members of fivesome: Ross, a 2-guard by trade, is showing versatility on the defensive end and chipped in seven points (again, in tandem with what he did at his favorite end). … Roddy also had 10 points, and is not shy about his offense, whether it’s from 40 inches off the ground or 23 feet from the rim.

"I was a little nervous starting the game, but I found my composure on defense," Beaubois said. "I then tried to show what I can do on offense."

Roddy hides “nervous’’ really well.

DONUT 12: This was one of those en en haut nights for French Cuffs. Said Carlisle:

"Beaubois played extremely well tonight. He was night-and-day different from the last game to tonight. He was aggressive defensively without fouling. His decisions were good. He was efficient with the ball. He really had an impact on the game both as a starter and then off the bench in the second half. I loved what he was able to do.’’

DONUT 13: Carlisle never scoots from discussing Dallas’ title hopes. He did so again in talking about the similarities between the Cavs and Mavs franchises, both of which have lost in the NBA Finals in recent years.
"Every year you're trying to get better," Carlisle said. "I'm not sure there's that much thought about what happened three years ago. Both teams are at a stage where the time to go for it is now. … Cleveland's a top team. They're a top franchise. So is Dallas.’’

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939am oct 18 2009

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