Run!

See: shit-eating grin

Say what you want about Dirk Nowitzki, but the guy's tough. Look at his career. He's pretty durable, but when he does have ankle problems he usually comes back fairly quickly.

To call last night's guest appearance a "boost" is an understantement. It's as if Nowitzki pour gasoline over the bodies of the Golden State Warriors and lit a match. The visitors never had a shot in that game.

Mavs 111, Warriors, 86. Very little else to say.

As for coaching, the possum game leading up to Nowitzki's entry into the starting line-up was brilliant. Right out of Don Nelson's playbook (as admitted by Avery Johnson later) and I think it kept the crowd and the Warriors off kelter all day.

The best coaching move, however, of the night was Johnson's decisions to let the Mavs run. Run. Run. Run. He didn't change his line-up as much as he changed the way they ran the offense. It was Nellie-ball at its finest, the way it was played at the American Airlines Center. The Mavs outran the most runniest team in the league. It was fantastic and the foot never left the gas pedal.

The gameplan worked wonders. It allowed Josh Howard to move around and catch the ball moving and it prevented him from stopping down for a 20 footer. He was round the basket all night. Furthermore, having the Warriors constantly on their heels looking for the quick shot, it opened up everything on the perimeter, thus Jason Terry's big night. And all this makes Jason Kidd look better when he's able to just run and hit someone underneath the basket.

I don't think the Mavs have captured any new or effective way to play, but it's clear that they can function in this capacity should the need arise to light a fire at some point -- in the playoffs or for the need of getting into the playoffs. Nor do I think it was particularly a very good win. It was a big win. An important win. But not a good one. The Warriors, mind you, have hovered around the ninth and eighth seeds all season. This isn't a great team. Compound that with the fact that they've played four times in five nights coming off a back-to-back (the previous night: San Antonio). Let's just qualify that game.

The Mavs now are two games up on the Warriors with the tie-break with about seven games left. Looking really good for one of those playoff spots.