By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
      There is no debating LeBron James’ virtually unmatched skill at attention-getting; he could have exposed his right nipple at halftime of Wednesday’s Mavs-at-Cavs meeting, and it wouldn’t rank in the top 20 noteworthy things he did.
      But give credit to the Mavs for inventing some brand new ways to gain attention – and a 114-98 victory.
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      Three examples of such:
      1) Antoine Walker portraying badass enforcer.
      2) The Mavs using creativity to survive at point guard.
      3) Scott Williams playing first-team center.
      “It was nice to be back in the flow of actually getting to play in a game,’ said Williams, 35, who recently worked his way off the end of non-contender Phoenix’ bench and into a suddenly important role with 34-20 Dallas. “It’s nice to go right from the (pregame) playup line right into the game.’
      In Williams’ first start as a Mav, he provided the club 16 points, six rebounds a steal and a block in 21 minutes. He made his first seven shots (and his only miss, on No. 8, was a shot-clock-beating long jumper in the late going), and also contributed defensively, shoving back against Zydrunas Ilgauskas and limiting him to a paultry 11 points and three rebounds.
      The Big Z vs. Big D last year added up to an average of 32 points per for Ilgauskas. So Williams’ start made perfect sense.
      Less predictable was the outcome of Dallas becoming thin at point guard. Before the game, Tony Delk was shuffled to the injured list. During the game, Travis Best aggravated an Achilles tendon. So while Steve Nash played brilliantly (20 points, 10 assists, six rebounds), he did need a blow.
      Enter 6-9 Antoine Walker.
      Walker, of course, frequently plays ‘point forward’ for Nellie. But this wasn’t that. This was Walker as a pure PG, bringing the ball up the floor, relaying in plays from the bench, dictating tempo, the works.
      In the battle of coaching wits, Nellie wins over Cleveland’s Paul Silas, who passed on the opportunity to hound Walker. In part because of that, Dallas went most of the entire second half committing just one turnover as it expanded its lead to as much as 21.
      Walker was pivotal in one more area, too. Inside of five minutes, with Dallas in control of the scoreboard, Nash cleverly drew a controversial charge on the defensive end. When he returned to offense, he was greeted by a viciously pointy Tony Battie shoulder that seemed directed as Nash’s dental work.
      Walker immediately darted into the fray, willing to go chest-to-chest with Battie (his old Celtics teammate) and any other Cav willing to stand up to him.
      None did.
      On a night when the Mavs played tough on LeBron (he was cool, but he only scored 16) and played tough on the boards (outrebounding a stellar Cavs team in that department, 53-40), Walker helped them play tough after the whistle, too. His action comes in stark contrast to what happened the night before in Memphis, when a Grizz elevated for a dunk, hung on the rim, and then squeezed a double-thigh headlock onto the unassuming Dirk Nowitzki.
      Somebody buries my face in a Grizzlie crotch, I’d like 11 teammates to pry me free from the bear trap. The Mavs did not react with the proper amount of chest hair on Tuesday; ‘Toine helped them do it right on Wednesday.
      With lots of help from Scott Williams, who put it perfectly after the game when he said, ‘I’m just here to do the heavy lifting.’