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The Mavs got a gritty win over the Lakers in L.A. last night 94-80. Let’s discuss…

- Neither team played great, but it was nice to see the Mavs pull out a win, on the road. The defense looked improved, and it was a much better effort than what we saw in the opener against Washington.

- Shawn Marion showed why he is a solid pickup for this team. He had a lot of key baskets in the 4^th and the two alley-oops he threw down were nice! It is so good to see a player on this team that is able to do the things this team has been missing for a while.

- Kobe had an off game. He finished with 20 points on 6-of-19 shooting. I don’t know how much you attribute that to the Mavs defense, or if he just had an off night. I do think the combination off Kidd and Quinton Ross did a really good job of slowing Kobe down.

- Kris Humphries showed why he is just as good as Brandon Bass but not such a liability. Humphries spent a lot of time guarding Bynum in the post. That is something Bass wasn’t good at because he was too undersized. Humphries has size, plus the ability to shoot if he needs to. Humphries finished the game with 8 points and 7 rebounds in 20 minutes. Not bad off the bench. Plus, he was talking noise to Kobe, you have to love that.

- The Mavs debuted their new alternate royal blue jersey last night. From all I have seen, most fans seem to really like them. Mark Cuban likes them because apparently, Cuban has already scheduled the Mavs to wear the alternate 15 times (the max # of time) but it seems he’s going to petition the league to up that number. I like them, but I still think I like the green ones better. I think they should have had a throwback Mavs jersey for the alternate, but that’s just me I guess.

Dallas has the Clippers tonight on the second night of a back-to-back. They have to keep the level of play and intensity up because the Clippers aren’t a bad team. L.A. will be without Blake Griffin, but if the Mavs lose tonight, it makes the win against the Lakers last night worthless. Catch the "Mavs GameNight" pre-game starting at 8:00PM on 103.3 FM ESPN Radio.

The Mavs got a gritty win over the Lakers in L.A. last night 94-80. Let’s discuss…

- Neither team played great, but it was nice to see the Mavs pull out a win, on the road. The defense looked improved, and it was a much better effort than what we saw in the opener against Washington.

- Shawn Marion showed why he is a solid pickup for this team. He had a lot of key baskets in the 4^th and the two alley-oops he threw down were nice! It is so good to see a player on this team that is able to do the things this team has been missing for a while.

- Kobe had an off game. He finished with 20 points on 6-of-19 shooting. I don’t know how much you attribute that to the Mavs defense, or if he just had an off night. I do think the combination off Kidd and Quinton Ross did a really good job of slowing Kobe down.

- Kris Humphries showed why he is just as good as Brandon Bass but not such a liability. Humphries spent a lot of time guarding Bynum in the post. That is something Bass wasn’t good at because he was too undersized. Humphries has size, plus the ability to shoot if he needs to. Humphries finished the game with 8 points and 7 rebounds in 20 minutes. Not bad off the bench. Plus, he was talking noise to Kobe, you have to love that.

- The Mavs debuted their new alternate royal blue jersey last night. From all I have seen, most fans seem to really like them. Mark Cuban likes them because apparently, Cuban has already scheduled the Mavs to wear the alternate 15 times (the max # of time) but it seems he’s going to petition the league to up that number. I like them, but I still think I like the green ones better. I think they should have had a throwback Mavs jersey for the alternate, but that’s just me I guess.

Dallas has the Clippers tonight on the second night of a back-to-back. They have to keep the level of play and intensity up because the Clippers aren’t a bad team. L.A. will be without Blake Griffin, but if the Mavs lose tonight, it makes the win against the Lakers last night worthless. Catch the "Mavs GameNight" pre-game starting at 8:00PM on 103.3 FM ESPN Radio.

The Mavs dropped their home opener 102-91 at the AAC Tuesday night. Let me make a few observations.

- I was disappointed in the defense. Especially since defense is something Coach Carlisle preached and tried to improve during training camp.

- The 2 guard hole still haunts the Mavs. Fans were expecting Josh to be playing there but he isn’t healthy so Dallas went with Quinton Ross. Ross had an ok game defensively but only contributed 2 points on the offensive end. Dallas did get contributions from Jason Terry and J.J. Barea but those guys are a defensive liability.

- I like the toughness and defense that Drew Gooden brings to this team, but he took a few ill advised shots during the game.

- Dirk had a pretty good game, but his shot wasn’t falling like normal as he went 10-for-25. Despite that, Dirk still finished with 34 points and was 12-of-13 from the line. Dating back to the last season, Nowitzki has now scored 20+ points in 26 consecutive regular season games – the longest such streak in the NBA

- Where was the Kris Humphries from pre-season? I thought he would be able to back-up Dirk and be a decent player from what we saw in training camp. He only played 5 minutes and was not very effective.

- Gilbert Arenas looked nice!! I’m glad to see Agent 0 back to his old self. He battled through 2 years worth of injuries, but totally appears to be healthy now. The Wizards can be a really good team once Jamison returns and everyone else stays healthy.

The Mavs dropped their home opener 102-91 at the AAC Tuesday night. Let me make a few observations.

- I was disappointed in the defense. Especially since defense is something Coach Carlisle preached and tried to improve during training camp.

- The 2 guard hole still haunts the Mavs. Fans were expecting Josh to be playing there but he isn’t healthy so Dallas went with Quinton Ross. Ross had an ok game defensively but only contributed 2 points on the offensive end. Dallas did get contributions from Jason Terry and J.J. Barea but those guys are a defensive liability.

- I like the toughness and defense that Drew Gooden brings to this team, but he took a few ill advised shots during the game.

- Dirk had a pretty good game, but his shot wasn’t falling like normal as he went 10-for-25. Despite that, Dirk still finished with 34 points and was 12-of-13 from the line. Dating back to the last season, Nowitzki has now scored 20+ points in 26 consecutive regular season games – the longest such streak in the NBA

- Where was the Kris Humphries from pre-season? I thought he would be able to back-up Dirk and be a decent player from what we saw in training camp. He only played 5 minutes and was not very effective.

- Gilbert Arenas looked nice!! I’m glad to see Agent 0 back to his old self. He battled through 2 years worth of injuries, but totally appears to be healthy now. The Wizards can be a really good team once Jamison returns and everyone else stays healthy.

Angry Trey’s NBA previews and discussions continue today with more talk about the Mavericks. A lot of analysts have been sleeping on this team, but I give you 5…scratch that, I mean 4 reasons why the Mavs are improved and will increase their number of wins from last season. Josh Howard being helthy was one of my five reasons, but he isn’t healthy yet, but should be… hopefully… maybe…

1. Head Coach Rick Carlisle is in his second season with the Mavs. There won’t be as large of a learning curve for the players and himself this season. Last year everything was new to everyone. This year, players know the system and already know most of the plays. On the other side, Coach Carlisle is more familiar with his team and the things he can expect from each player.

2. Josh Howard should be healthy. Everyone could tell that Josh wasn’t healthy at all last season. It was also evident how much he means to this team by he was able to do in the San Antonio series. J-Ho had surgery in the offseason to fix some ankle problems and will be back to the Josh of old this season. He will also benefit from having Shawn Marion on the opposite wing.

3. Mavs no longer have to rely solely on Erick Dampier at center. The addition of Drew Gooden means minutes at the center position will be mainly shared by Gooden and Dampier. All of the good big men reside in the East and there is no center in the West that Damp and Drew shouldn’t be able to tag team. If for some reason those guys get into early foul trouble, Dallas also can use Dirk and Chris Humphries, which brings me to my next point…

4. Kris Humphries is as good as or better than Brandon Bass. The Mavericks lost Bass to Orlando in the offseason, but acquired Humphries through the Shawn Marion trade. Humphries has had a very nice preseason and has shown he can be a good piece off the bench for this team. He will not be as big of a liability size wise as Bass was, and he can also do a few more things offensively.

5. Shawn Marion. Do I need to say any more? Probably not, but I will. The Mavs have been in desperate need of an athletic player who can create his own shots and slash to the rim. The Matrix is that exact player. He can create on his own, throw down the alley-oop, run the floor, and play solid defense. Marion will benefit tons from playing with Jason Kidd.