Mavericks 106, Grizzlies 101

In a Saturday matinee, neither the Mavs nor Grizz came out with a Christmas hangover. Each team competed from tip to finish, but Dallas used the comfort of home to come away with their 21^st win of the season to beat Memphis.

In recent days, Dirk Nowitzki publicly stated that he felt his team deferred to him too much, making them a weaker team overall. Well, he got some help in a close game from Jason Terry and Josh Howard down the stretch. Dirk didn’t score any points in the fourth quarter; meanwhile, Terry scored 12 and Howard scored 8 in the final period – Howard even hit the game clincher with half a minute left. This is the kind of production that has made the Mavericks a scary team to play on any nigh in the last few years.

The Grizzlies did have three double-doubles from Rudy Gay (22pts, 10rebs), Marc Gasol (13pts, 12rebs), and Zach Randolph (27pts, 14rebs). This team battles, but if they don’t play good enough defense, they won’t win enough games to make the playoffs.

Stat of the Game: Team Assists
Mavericks – 25
Grizzlies – 12

Now that’s Dallas Mavericks basketball.

Hawks 110, Pacers 98

I feel like the Hawks haven’t been home in a while, but it turns out that isn’t such a bad thing. The Hawks won another nice road game in Indianapolis after jumping out to a big, quick lead.

Atlanta took an early 33-20 lead after one quarter and never looked back. Al Horford led the charge for the Hawks with 25 points, 19 rebounds, and five blocks. This is the kind of potential that is expected out of him after last season’s playoff run.

Shooter of the Game: Jamal Crawford. This season’s best sixth man shot 7-14 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers to boot. He finished the game with 19 points to pace the bench production.

Bulls 96, Hornets 85

Sometimes a team that is in disarray is needs some kind of spark to literally turn things around. Now, I’m not saying all is well in Chicago now, but the return of Tyrus Thomas certainly counted for something on Saturday night.

Thomas, who missed the last 23 games, came back and looked like he hadn’t missed any time. He scored 21 points with nine rebounds and two blocks in an energetic 32 minute fight. The Bulls may be able to compete for a playoff spot with production like that while others put up their usual numbers like 14 points from Kirk Hinrich, 12 points/8 rebounds from Loul Deng, 14 points/9 assists from Derrick Rose, and 17 points/18 rebounds from Joakim Noah. Maybe it’s just me, but this really doesn’t feel like the same Bulls team from a week ago.

Rockets 98, Nets 93

Going to Jersey is basically becoming a visit with no consequence. A team makes a pit stop, gets a little 48 minute scrimmage in and then move on to the next real game.

That was mostly the case for the Houston Rockets on Saturday night at the IZOD. Carl Landry scored 26 points with 9 boards off the bench to lead the Rockets to the road win. The game was close into the last minute, but Aaron Brooks scored the game winning layup with 37 seconds left.

The Rockets continue to prove that Tracy McGrady is no longer needed on this team. McGrady was told he would not play the next two games (Sat. at NJ, Sun. at CLE) due to extra rest, so he left for Houston earlier in the day. What a mess this is becoming – and I don’t see Rick Adelman playing him for the heck of it.

Timberwolves 101, Wizards 89

MERRY CHRISTMAS WOLVES FANS!

The T’Wolves won back-to-back games for the first time this season after winning in NJ on Wednesday and beating the Wizards on Saturday night in Minneapolis.

Corey Brewer scored 27 points and seven rebounds to lead the charge for Minnesota. Kevin Love picked up another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Gilbert Arenas dropped 26 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds on the night, but he also had seven turnovers in his 42 minutes. If seven turnovers lead to a loss to the Wolves, then I think he’s going to need to cut that a bit against the rest of the league.

Stat of the Future: The T’Wolves will go for 3 straight wins on Tuesday in San Antonio in order to get his first 3 game win streak since April 2008.

Prediction of the Future: The T’Wolves will not get 3 straight wins.

-Shooter