Recently this article about whether or not homeschoolers should pay to be included in high school sports really irritated several homeschool groups that I am in, and for good reason. Many people are saying that since we don’t use the schools other services, we should refrain from using their sports—as well as their teachers—which is a bunch of baloney.
The Mavericks continued their winning ways on Wednesday in Dallas. The team has been on a roll and is closing in on taking over the division. They improved to 19-11 on Wednesday after a 102-84 crushing of the Denver Nuggets. The victory at home also improved their home record to 12-5 this season. The team has really made some strides and is playing about as good as any team in the league right now. The team was able to get success on both sides of the ball as they scored a lot while giving up very little to the Denver squad.
The Mavs were led by Shawn Marion who scored 16 in the contest. Marion also led the team in rebounds with 10. The team has consistently spread the ball around and utilizes their entire bench to get victories. Much like last year’s championship season, they are showing that they may be the deepest team in the entire NBA while doing so. The team scored over 25 in 2 quarters and scored 24 in one of the other quarters, which shows just how effective they were offensively.
The Nuggets were held to just 84 by the Mavericks defense and fell to 17-13 on the season. The team also dropped to 9-6 in contest away from Denver. Their leading scorer, Rudy Fernandez, had just 14 points to lead the team. Kosta Koufos added 14 rebounds to lead all in the game as well. The team scored under 20 points in 2 quarters and only had real success in the fourth when Dallas eased up.
The Mavericks won at home 97-94 against the Trail Blazers Saturday. The win moves the Mavericks home record to 10-5 this season and puts them at 17-11 overall this season. They still have some games to make up to try and catch up with the first place San Antonio Spurs, but have been showing that they are not done fighting. After the additions of some new players this season, Dallas got of to a shaky start. They are beginning to gel though and are making everyone remember why they are the defending champions.
Dallas was led by Nowitski who scored 20 points in the contest. Shawn Marion led the team in rebounds with 12 as well while Jason Kidd added 8 assists to lead all. Dallas got off to a hot start outscoring Portland 25-14 in the first quarter. They let Portland back in after the first half, however, and were outscored 49-38 in the second half. In the end, they were able to outscore Portland 10-6 in the second OT to get the victory.
Lamarcus Aldridge who scored 33 big points and was vital in getting the team back in the ballgame after the first led Portland. Aldridge also led the team in rebounds with 12. Nicolas Batum had 3 assists, which surprisingly led the team. The loss brings the Blazers record to 15-13 on the season. The team has been particularly horrible away from home where they are just 4-10. With a better away record, the team would be one of the leagues best.
The Mavericks won 104-97 against the Timberwolves on Friday. The win brings the Mavericks record to 16-11 on the year as they battle to get in first in the division. They also improved their away record to 7-6 with the win. The win came off a big game for Dirk Nowitski. Nowitski and Dallas have had a roller coaster ride of a season so far as they have been riddled with inconsistencies.
Nowitski led the team with 33 points in the game as the team gelled well on this day. Shawn Marion led the team with 8 rebounds while Jason Kidd led the team in assists with 10. The Mavericks scored 25 or more in each quarter but the 3rd. They started the game outscoring the Wolves 29-16. This ultimately proved to be the difference in the game. Dallas continues to try and gain ground on the Spurs who they are a couple of games behind for first in the division.
Minnesota was led by Kevin Love who scored 32 in the contest. He also led the team in rebounds with 12 and continues to be a very bright star on a sub-par team. The loss moved the Timberwolves record to 13-14 this season while dropping their home record to 7-9. Ricky Rubio also led the team in assists with 8. After scoring just 16 in the first quarter, the team outscored Dallas 81-75. The first was just too much to come back from. Minnesota is at the bottom of their division and despite some talent has too many holes to do any damage to most teams.
The Mavericks beat the Nuggets 105-95 on Wednesday in Denver. The win was highlighted by Nowitski looking much better coming off a recent injury. The team improved their record to 15-11 on the year and evened their away record to 6-6. The Nuggets loss makes them 15-11 as well while they carry a 7-6 home victory. Both teams are trying to make some headway in their division while they hang on to try and take over first place. Both also have a lot of work to do to make this happen.
The Thunder continue to roll through teams with their latest win coming against the defending champs on Wednesday. The Thunder beat the Mavericks by a final of 95-86. The Thunder are at the top of the league in winning percentage and have been a team to fear with the dual threat of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. The two led the team to a victory once again and are making things look easy this season.
The victory brings the Thunder to a league-leading 17-4 mark. Even more impressive may be the fact that they are 9-3 in games played away from Oklahoma City. Westbrook led all scorers with 33. Durant added 23, of his own, and led the team in rebounds with 13. Most impressive however may have been Ibaka who blocked ten shots on the night, making any Dallas player cringe when they went to shoot. The Thunder are now 3 games up of the Denver Nuggets.
The Mavericks leader was Jason Terry. He led the team with 25 points in the contest and has been stepping up big in replace of Dirk Nowitski. Dirk has been playing, but seems to be still trying to get over a knee injury. He had just 8 points in the contest. Shaun Marion also had 10 rebounds to try and help the Dallas squad. In the end it all was simply not enough and Dallas now is 14-9 on the year. They lost despite having a good, 9-4, record at home.
Dallas is still tied for a lead in the division with the San Antonio Spurs. Meanwhile, Houston is just 1.5 games back of them both as the battle of Texas is in full swing.