Preseason GDT: Mavs at Bulls

[Kante]

Game on NBA TV so there should be links available for this.

The Mavericks head into Chicago looking to down the Bulls for a second time, writes Earl K. Sneed. But Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle is more concerned with getting his team prepared for the regular season with just three exhibition games remaining.

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle knows his team will be in for a dogfight Friday night, even if it is just a pre-season game.

As the Mavericks (2-3) enter the United Center to tangle with the Chicago Bulls (2-2), Carlisle is well aware that the Eastern Conference power will be looking to repay the Mavs for the 88-83 loss they handed the Bulls in Dallas last Thursday night. And so, Carlisle says that Friday night will give his team an opportunity to learn how to play with a target on its back.

"[The Bulls] are a quality team, they're a playoff team," Carlisle said. "And they're a hard-playing, physical team. They do things with a lot of force. And so, that's gonna always present a challenge. And now we're playing them on their court, and that's gonna make it even tougher. So this is the kind of challenge you want at this point in the exhibition season."

But while the coach knows his team will face a formidable force, even with power forward Carlos Boozer sidelined for an expected two months after breaking his right hand, Carlisle is more concerned with how his team looks with just three exhibition games remaining.

The Mavericks are coming off of a 101-96 win over the Detroit Pistons in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Wednesday night, in a game that saw the squad from Big D connect on 52 percent of its shots from the floor. Dallas also received balanced scoring from the role players in the victory as both Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd sat and rested, led by Steve Novak's 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 6-of-10 from behind the arch.

"Our shot-making was good. Made shots are always a good deodorant for other problems. Defensively, we had some lapses. We had some things we needed to correct. We worked on them (in practice). But when the ball goes in the basket, it's great to watch. And Novak's game was huge...But that one's in the rear-view mirror and we have to move on to Chicago," Carlisle said.

"We're just helping each other," forward Shawn Marion said after the win over Detroit, "slowly finding ways to help each other. We were just playing together. That's what it's about."

The Mavs will treat at least one of the final three pre-season contests as a dress rehearsal for the regular-season opener at home against the Charlotte Bobcats on Oct. 27. But according to Carlisle, there still needs to be some fine-tuning of the offense, the defense and the rotation before treating a game that doesn't count in the standings as if it does.

"The games get more meaningful as you get to the last two or three. So we've got things to work on as a team," Carlisle explained. "We're still looking at combinations. We're going to continue to look at different lineups, different starting lineups. So we're a long way from being home.

"We're down to 12 days now until the first game. So every team in the league is feeling more urgency. We're no different."

The Mavericks-Bulls matchup will tip off at 7 p.m. CT on Friday night , in a game that will be televised locally on TXA 21 and nationally on NBA TV.

After returning home for a few days of practice, the Mavericks fly to Orlando to battle the Magic in its new home, the Amway Center, on Wednesday night. That game will tip off at 6 p.m. CT and will also be televised locally on TXA 21 and nationally on NBA TV.

http://www.nba.com/mavericks/news/in...010_10_15.html