Full-Court Press

Dirk lighting it up

The one thing you don't do to Dirk Nowitzki is make him mad.



The Timberwolves did that when action got a little heated earlier in the third quarter and now Nowitzki is making them pay. He has 13 points in the third quarter and the Mavericks have moved ahead 69-50. They are treating the Wolves like the 1-8 team that they are.

It's getting a little touchy out there

Roddy Beauboit and Jonny Flynn, a couple of feisty rookies, got into a face-off in the third quarter and technical fouls were doled out to Dirk Nowitzki and Ryan Hollins.



The refs aren't calling much in this game. There are a lot of bodies hitting the floor and not a lot of whistles blowing.



And the Mavericks continue to roll along with a 55-46 lead.



And Hollins just picked up technical No. 2, getting him an automatic ejection.



He and Drew Gooden were about to get into it before players and refs intervened.



-Eddie Sefko

Pitiful second quarter for Wolves

The Mavericks' defense was either really great or the Minnesota offense stinks.



The Wolves shot 17.4 percent in the second period (4-for-23) and piled up just 11 points.



By the way, I have to make a correction. In today's paper, I called Minnesota the land of a thousand lakes.



Technically, that's correct, although they go by the land of 10,000 lakes.



Oops.

Mavericks finish strong

The first half ended with a bang for the Mavericks. They scored 12 of the last 13 points in the half and strolled to the locker room with a 44-33 lead.



Shawn Marion got his finger rolls and floaters going and has 10 points. The Mavericks took the lead on the strength of their defense. Minnesota is shooting 32.5 percent.

Roddy B. on fire

Roddy Beaubois got things started with the Mavericks' first seven points, but he also picked up two fouls and quickly took a seat next to Rick Carlisle.



Meanwhile, the Mavericks were having trouble with the players the Mavericks didn't want.



Nathan Jawai and Ryan Hollins both started for the Wolves and had effective moments.



Jawai was traded to Minnesota last month and Hollins left the Mavericks via free agency.

Beaubois gets the nod

Roddy Beaubois will get the start at shooting guard tonight.



He will match up against another sharp-looking rookie, Jonny Flynn.



The Mavericks will be attempting to avoid their first losing streak of the season. After each of their previous losses, they responded with a hearty victory.



"Every team in this league has to be resilient because you're going to have tough losses,'' coach Rick Carlisle said. "And part of your resiliency is you have to bounce back after great wins and have the same kind of energy and hunger. That's the human nature battle that everyone faces in every sport. It's not exclusive to tough losses. Winning can be an adversity at times as you prepare for the next game.



"In our case, we laid an egg in the last game ant tonight's another opportunity to try and get it right.''

So who gets SG gig?

Rick Carlisle won't announce lineups until the league mandates he do so at 16 minutes before tipoff.



But don't be surprised if Roddy Beaubois is back with the starters for tonight's game against Minnesota.



The shooting guard spot is open again as Josh Howard will rest for an indefinite amount of time to get his left ankle 100 percent healthy.



Beaubois would make sense against fellow rookie Jonny Flynn, who is off to a nice start with the Wolves.



Asked what he'll do from night to night with the shooting guard job, Carlisle said it'll be "one of a potpourri of lineup possibilities.''

Howard out indefinitely

Josh Howard is going back on the inactive list indefinitely, coach Rick Carlisle said after the Mavericks' shootaround this morning.



The Mavericks made the decision to give Howard more time to recover from his off-season left ankle surgery after he had difficulty in the second of back-to-back games earlier this week.



Howard did not re-injure the ankle. But he was limping on it during the second half of the San Antonio game Wednesday and was taken out for the rest of the game. After the game, he called it a speed bump.



Howard missed the first five games of the season, returned Saturday against Toronto and played solidly in two games before having trouble at San Antonio.



"We're going to shut Josh down again for a while, just to make sure he gets some more time to rehab and strengthen it,'' Carlisle said. "He hasn't had any setbacks or anything like that. We just feel it's the best thing. There's no definite time period.''

Oh great, another missing piece

The Mavericks responded so poorly in San Antonio with the Spurs missing Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, falling behind by 16, that the Minnesota Timberwolves are going to try that attack as well.



Al Jefferson, who is struggling to come back from February knee surgery, won't be at Friday's game because of a personal matter.



That's another short-handed team the Mavericks have to deal with. And they always seem to have trouble with that old Dick Motta "wounded tiger theory'' that a team without a key player is always dangerous.

It's getting interesting at AT&T

The Mavericks have stopped the Spurs on seven consecutive possessions and have slowly crept within 83-79 and there still is 3:46 to play.



If the Mavericks pull this out, it will be the steal of the season.



They were down by a dozen with under eight minutes to go and have looked lousy all night, even during their comeback.



But the defense helped them get back in it.