Peja Watch... and the Cavs Chance at History

Two weeks ago the Mavs fandom was pretty depressed.  We had risen to the highest of highs watching a streaking team widely regarded as one of the few real contenders, only to have all our hopes and dreams crushed as the team fell apart with injuries to our top two players.  With them out, the rest of the guys looked very suspect and when our superstar hobbled back resembling a mere mortal all hope was lost.  Oh the wonders of a good win versus the Celtics.  Now, with 8 straight wins, things are starting to heat up again in the D-Fdub.  Peja looks like he could round out our starting 5 nicely and when Roddy B comes back (read more about that HERE) we might have enough pieces to be considered contenders again.  Tonight was all about our introduction to Peja and, in a distant second, rooting for history, as the Cavs fought to avoid setting the NBA record of 25 consecutive losses.


The game started out a little rough for the Mavs and Peja.  He missed an elbow jumper, clanked his first two three point attempts and split his first two free throws.  It didn't help that Dirk and Stevenson missed point blank layups on early trips down the court as well.  Antwan Jamison provided the early offense for Cleveland, however, by the end of the 1st quarter the Mavs had started to take advantadge of Cleveland's complete lack of size and led 29-28 including a Kidd find of Peja cutting to the block.  Dirk quieted the crowd with a scary moment right at the end of the quarter, heading to the locker room with an apparent wrist injury, but he returned to action halfway through the second... and we all breathed again. 

In the second the Mavs stretched the lead to 10 points riding an on-fire Shawn Marion who handed the torch to Jason Kidd for a couple connections from the arch.  Ryan Hollins got the blood boiling near the end of the half with a tackle around the neck of Chandler. Somehow no flagrant was called on the play.  Hollins was suspended two games while playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves last year for a flagrant foul on Dirk.

Peja didn't score at all in the second quarter, but started off the 3rd Quarter with an early 3-pointer and followed that with a nice looking fade-away.  The highlight play of the game came on a sideline out-of-bounds play with just over 5 minutes remaining in the 3rd, with a perfect lob from Kidd and an atheletic mid-air catch and finish by Tyson Chandler.  Christian Eyenga provided some Cavs highlights with his impressive athletecism and a Ramon Sessions layup with 3.8 seconds left cut the lead to 77-73.

In the final quarter the Cavs cut the lead all the way down to 97-94, but Jason Kidd provided the timely defensive play he has become known for, drawing a charge on JJ Hickson, and Jason Terry nailed the elbow jumper on the offensive end.  After a rebound dunk by Hickson the Cavs got another defensive stop against Dirk, who struggled all night to find his groove.  Anthony Parker's 3-pointer for the tie was off the mark and after corraling the offensive rebound Jamario Moon just looked silly as he dribbled out the clock.

JJ Hickson led all scorers with 26 points, but the story of the game was the Mavs bench outscoring Cleveland's 60-11.  Jason Terry was consistant all night, leading the Mavs with 23 points, followed by Shawn Marion's 17 points.  Also impressive on the night, Ian Mahinmi... yes, Ian Mahinmi with 11 points.  Final Score: Mavs 99 Cleveland 96.
                                                                                                      Peja came out a little slow after a long layoff and likely some nerves, but it was good to see 20 minutes from him in his first Mavs outing.  He finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds.  His shot is as pretty as ever and it looks like he can quietly score 10 to 20 points a game for us.

And congratulations to the Cleveland Cavaliers on their all-time NBA league record 25th consecutive loss.