[G-Man]

Lots of good stuff in this game.

Dirk got to play decoy for a while. Setting him up outside the 3 point line gave Monta all kinds of room to maneuver inside. He made several crisp passes off his drives. For a guy with a reputation as a "chucker", he sure did a fine job of sharing the ball. Dalembert dropped a couple, but Wright had a field day. Then there was Dirk wide open for a 3. Beautiful.

I read that Brandon Wright had put on from 20 to 30 pounds. I took that with a grain of salt, since it seems NBA players routinely lie about what they did in the off season. But with the crappy video feed, I could not even recognize Wright. Its like they put him in a basketball players body. Last year he looked more like a pole vaulter. If he is big enough to body up at least some of the centers in this league, I can see him getting starter minutes.

A shout out to Mekel. Basically the 4th string point guard gets the start in the first NBA game he's ever played. He turned it over a lot, but he made a nifty pass or two, and was decent on defense against one of the more dangerous point guards in the NBA.

Blair looked like the hustle guy I hoped he would be. very active body in limited minutes. I got the impression the coaches did not need to see him play...they already know what they have there, and that's a good thing.

Overall I was impressed with the attitude these Mavs brought the court. Everybody's body language said "fired up, ready to go." The vets stepped back to let the young guns try to prove they belong. To play this well with a 4th string rookie at PG is pretty impressive. The defense had to be good to give up 17 turnovers in the 1st half without getting blown out. This team, after 1 preseason game, could easily beat last years team that had been together for a full season. And that's with Mekel starting at the point.

Its the kind of pre-season game that can get one's hopes up. We'll see soon just how well they can keep it up.