Another day, another W. Here are my post-game reflections…

• We have to stop allowing these massive first quarter runs. 17-0? WTF? It almost seems like we are spotting teams in the opening quarter in order to make things more interesting. Kobe Bryant was being to passive. When he finally got aggressive he was the catalyst for a 11-2 run for the Lakers. I know he wants to get everyone involved, but as we all know sometimes he takes it too far.
• Did Craig T. Nelson call that game on NBA TV? Seriously, that was Mr. Incredible. I know it was.
• Ariza gush of the night: Get used to this, because this kid is special. There was his steal on Kidd that he took in for a flush. Then there was that beautiful charge he took from fellow human trampoline Gerald Green. Then there was him making up for a bad pass by poking the ball out, diving for it on the floor and calling a timeout on the very next possession. Yeah, I’m still going…then there was his late-game offensive loose ball pick-up when he outhustled the entire Mavs team to grab the ball in the corner, and then took it in for an uncontested jam. Finally, he had two huge swats down the stretch, one which prevented Jason Terry from getting a three-point play, the other which caused the Mavs to have to inbounds the ball with one second on the shot clock. 13 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks don’t do him justice, because he was awesome. He once again was the plus-minus leader at +16. Get used to it, folks. Love this kid!
• Pau Gasol had a great first half and really outplayed Dirk Nowitzki on both sides of the ball. Stu Lantz is right — he’s just so smooth! Pau put up 22-11 while Dirk finished with 14-8.
• 35 points in the first quarter and 60 n the first half is just atrocious defense for a team of this caliber. We gave them too many threes and too many easy buckets. Then again, it could just be us working out the kinks in our new zone defense.
• Kobe had an awesome two-handed bullet pass which led to a big Drew throwdown. Probably the best pass of the night from either team, and Jason Kidd had a triple-double.
• Shouldn’t Charles Barkley, who was in Mark Cuban’s suite. just give up golf already? Spend that time on the elliptical or something?
• Erick Dampier murdered us on the glass tonight. 16 boards? How does that happen? I thought we were the best rebounding team in the league. The finesse Mavs should never out board us by six. Never. Ever.
• Pau had an awesome put back jam in the second half, but Kobe’s was just Jordanesque. Sick.
• Jordan Farmar and Lamar Odom keyed a 9-2 run to end the third that probably was the big difference in the game. My favorite part of that run was when Jordan pickpocketed Kidd when he was talking to Rick Carlisle and took it all the way in for a lay-up.
• Around that time the Machine had a HUGE pull-up three in transition. Sasha has looked better the past two games.
• Kobe was really the difference maker early in the fourth. He just willed this team to victory tonight.
• Drew had a double-double, finishing with 11-10. It wasn’t always pretty, but he was active.
• I say this every night, but there’s always a young guy on the other team who catches my eye. Tonight it was Gerald Green. He’s going to be something, and the teams who let him slip through their hands are going to regret it. He was very impressive tonight.
• As for the Mavs, C-Webb was right on in his post-game analysis over on NBA TV. Mark Cuban is going to have to blow up this team. They are seriously going to have to trade Dirk Nowitski and Jason Terry and rebuild around Josh Howard and possibly Gerald Green. Honestly, even Kidd and Stackhouse probably have some trade value. They need to blow this thing up before the deadline, because they have no chance in the West. Trading Devin Harris was a ginormous mistake if you ask me.

Tonight wasn’t always pretty, but it was obvious that the Mavs were desperate and gunning for us. Even though we started slow, I saw our hunger in the second half. When Ariza turned that loose ball into a dunk Sasha and L.O. both jumpbumped him. They were fired up and going crazy. Good to see that this early in the season. It’s clear that the Cs left a bad taste in our mouth, and we took it personally. In the end we just wore them down with our youth, depth, speed, length and tenacity.

Tonight we’ve got CP3 and the Hornets on the road. Should be a great one!