Thanksgiving Morning Donuts: Mavs 130, Rockets 99

    Coach Rick Carlisle is fond of telling his players that they “can’t turn it on and off like a light switch.’’ The trusting Mavs responded on Tuesday. The Rockets, however, now think coach Rick Carlisle is full of crap.

 
   DONUT 1: Back on Nov. 10 at the AAC, the Rockets worked their way to a fat first-half lead of 17 points before the Mavs flipped a switch and won by 18, 121-103. This time around, the Mavs – after having 24 hours earlier endured the embarrassment of a home loss to Six Little Indians – followed a similar blueprint to victory.

   Dallas opened lethargically, as if the second-night-of-a B-2-B would serve as a built-in excuse. The Mavs were down 15-2 to start the game! But Dallas figured it out soon enough, with a monster first-half run: 26 unanswered points to go from being down 25-13 to being up 39-25.

   “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that before,’’ Carlisle said.

  DONUT 2: To get through this test, you knew the Mavs were going to need help from the bench. That came in the form of Jason Terry (predictably, as you sensed from his 12-shot fourth quarter against the Warriors that his confidence is in place), who scored 27 and even dished out a season-best 10 assists.

    But it also came in the form of newcomer Tim Thomas, who for the moment is a real live rotation player getting minutes at the 4 and the 5 and scoring in that way he does that makes you think he could pour in jumpers in his sleep.

    Of course, that’s what his critics kind of have said about him over the years: That he’s cruising through an NBA career while half-nodding off. Since dressing out this week after knee surgery, though, Thomas looks rejuvenated, and never more so than in Houston, where he added some intensity to his glide and scored a season-high 23 points.

    He’s not just launching 3’s; he’s being bullish around the basket, too. He seems like a pleasant guy in person but we all know he’s got some ‘tude on the floor.

    So … welcome to Dallas, Tim Thomas!

     I’ve argued that Thomas’ job here, when everyone is healthy, is to be a contender for NBA 11^th Man of the Year. Thomas and the Mavs obviously have a different vision.

   DONUT 3: That “different vision,’’ in fact, has the Mavs looking at Tim Thomas and seeing Dirk Nowitzki.

    “If (Thomas) was white, he’d be Dirk,’’ Jason Terry said.  

   WTF?

   “They do similar things,’’ Terry explained. “(Thomas) is able to stretch the floor when I come off the pick-and-rolls. Are they going to double me or get to him. A lot of time it’s a tough cover. But it’s similar to what Dirk and I do.’’  

   DONUT 4: Roddy-Oop! A perfectly fitting way for Jason Kidd to record his 10,335 assist, which moved him last night in second place on the NBA All-Time Leaderboard. John Stockton is No. 1 (an uncatchable) but Kidd moved past Mark Jackson there on that fifth assist, recorded two more after that, and if the Mavs get to score against Houston some more, hey, maybe  Kidd can catch Stockton!

     And why is the Roddy-Oop a fitting way to do it? Because as he is passing the ball to rookie Roddy Beaubois, he is also passing the baton.

     DONUT 5: If you want FISH on the radio, if you want Mavs on the radio. …You get 103.3 ESPN Radio’s “Mavs Magazine’’! We’ll do it every Saturday through the NBA season, from 10-to-11 a.m., on the Mavs flagship station, 103.3 ESPN Radio! … it’s the official Mavs radio show, full of Mavs guests – players, media, coaches, you name it!

    Oh, and thanks, too, for the response to my work on the Mavs pregame and postgame shows with hosts Ben & Skin. That’s going to continue to be a regular deal, so. … some game nights and every Saturday, we serve you Fish on 103.3 ESPN Radio!

  DONUT 6: This is a result of what can happen of Dallas marries some defensive intensity with the innate shooting ability that was going to eventually come around. And boy did it come around: The Mavericks made 65.5 percent of their shots and 52.9 percent of the 3’s.

    In fact, here’s a nice little package: The first two guys off the bench, Terry and Thomas, were a combined 19-of-24 shooting. Throw in the third guy off the bench, Kris Humphries, and the top three subs were a combined 23-of-29.

   DONUT 7: Did I just write “when everyone is healthy’’?

   Feels like a fantasy. A frustrating fantasy.

    But Dallas did get Shawn Marion (ankle) back and he pitched in with 12 points and three rebounds. The news here isn’t all good, though: Quinton Ross (back) didn’t make the trip to Houston. Erick Dampier is still in street clothes (and no “announcement’’ yet) and Josh Howard is still in street clothes (“working hard,’’ everybody says) and The Matrix is suggesting that even though he played on this day, he’s still day-to-day for any ensuing day.

   DONUT 8: I keep writing "Terry'' and "Thomas'' in the same sentence and I can't exactly explain to myself why it feels so oddly familiar ... oh, yeah! The great Terry-Thomas, the silly, foppish British actor with the gap in his teeth and the hyphen in his name.

   OK. Back to our regularly-scheduled Mavs coverage. 

   DONUT 9: It seems strange to reduce Dirk Nowitzki to a sidebar, but, UberMan, take it as a compliment: Your 25 points (on 10-of-16 shooting) with eight rebounds, two blocks, two steals and an assists seem. … complementary.  

   DONUT 10: Funny thing about the hard-working Rockets: Man, do they give up points.

   It’s not just the 130 here; coming into the game, Houston was allowing 100.6 points per game. Houston coach Rick Adelman’s summary on his defense?

      “There wasn’t any defense,” Adelman said. “I can’t really talk about it.”

      This is the most points Houston has given up in a game since 1995, when in a two-OT game it allowed 156 points … to the Mavs.

  DONUT 11: DallasBasketball.com presents the DB.com Store. Happy Thanksgiving!

  DONUT 12: Houston has suffered just two blowout losses this year. Both of them – as you probably guessed by now – are the Mavs’ doing.  

   From the Houston perspective: Dallas set high marks for Rockets opponents this season in the following categories:

    *First-quarter points (36)

    *First-half points (68)

    *Points in a quarter (39, in the fourth)

    *Field-goal percentage for a quarter (70 percent in the second period)

    *Field-goal percentage for a half (69 percent)

    *Field-goal percentage for a game (65.5 percent)

    Which team previously held all those high marks for the reason against the Rockets?

    The Mavericks, of course.