Mavericks 112, Heat 100

Yes!!! A sweep of the Miami Heat is nice. Neither game was decided with the teams at even strength, considering the first game was without Shaq and this one was without Dwyane Wade. And the Heat pretty much suck this year. But it's still nice to beat them.

The Dirk for MVP push began last night, and he turned in an appropriate performance, scoring 31 points and nabbing 11 rebound for his fifteen-zillionth double-double. Which is a pretty high figure.

This game gave the Mavs a 10-game winning streak. They've had 12-game and 11-game streaks already this year, and in doing so, they are the fourth team in HISTORY to have three different 10+ game-winning streaks in a single season. They are putting together one for the record books. It's a pretty awesome display. Like I've said before, they have no excuse to not win the NBA Championship. They should have done it last year, after battling valiantly against the Suns & Spurs, the two best teams in the West. Now they are the best and they have to prove it. With Dirk leading the way, it can be done.

Other notables were Jason Terry with 21 points. In the first half. Then he stopped shooting. Stackhouse had 18 and Devin Harris added 17. Shaq was the man for them, scoring 17 and rebounding 8. I'll take that line any day.

In other news, hardly-used point guard Anthony Johnson was traded to the Atlanta Hawks for a second-round draft pick. I think the second round switches with the first round. So, if you pick high in the first, you pick low in the second. I think the Hawks are picking pretty high in the first round, so this draft pick being late in the secound round probably won't amount to anything. (UPDATE: Sefko at the Dallas Morning News says, "Given Atlanta's record, which is in the bottom third of the Eastern Conference, that pick should be among the top 40 in what is expected to be one of the deepest drafts in recent history.") But you never know. Sorta sad to see him go as he was a true team player and had a great Mavs spirit about him, but he just didn't get on the court. Not his fault.