Ihr seit dran » ight of this distinction,

HOUSTON -- Dirk Nowitzki scoffed at the notion that hes playing as well now as he did when he led the Dallas Mavericks to a title in 2011. He will, however, concede that at age 35 hes having a pretty good season. Nowitzki scored 31 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Mavericks to a 111-104 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday night. He joked that his big night was simply luck before getting serious and discussing the work he puts in off the court. "Hopefully I can light it up a couple of more years and then slowly fade away," he said, breaking into a huge smile. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle isnt surprised at what Nowitzki, who is averaging 21.5 points a game, is doing for his team this season. "Hes the great Dirk Nowitzki," Carlisle said. "Hes one of the great players in the history of the game." Nowitzki missed the first 27 games of last season after knee surgery and the Mavericks missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. He feels like his game is good now and his injury is behind him, but he wants to do more. "The driving the ball is whats missing a little now," he said. "I do a lot of one or two dribble and then up, but I want to get back to driving some more to the basket and get to the foul line. I dont think Im in 11 shape, but compared to the last two years I feel a lot better. The right knee is great and I feel better." Nowitzkis performance on Monday night gave him 25,629 career points, which moved him past Alex English for 13th place in scoring in NBA history. Houston cut the lead to six after a 3-pointer by Aaron Brooks with about 3 1/2 minutes left, but Nowitzki knocked down consecutive baskets to push the Mavericks lead to 107-97. Houston coach Kevin McHale was frustrated that his team was unable to slow Nowitzki down. "We tried a bunch of different stuff," McHale said. "We tried showing and coming back. We tried staying on there. We tried running at him. Nothing seemed to work." Dwight Howard had 29 points and 15 rebounds for the Rockets, who were playing their second straight game without leading scorer James Harden, who was out with a sprained left ankle. Dallas started the final period by using a 9-4 run powered by three 3-pointers, including two from Jae Crowder, to push the lead to 95-82. Jeremy Lin, who has been out since Dec. 13 because of back spasms, scored 20 and Chandler Parsons had 21 for Houston. Dallas outscored Houston 17-10 over the last five minutes of the third quarter to stretch a one-point lead into an 86-78 advantage entering the fourth quarter. Vince Carter scored seven points during that time and Crowder added five. Monta Ellis had 18 points for Dallas, Carter had 16 and Jose Calderon added 15 points with five assists. With the speedy Harden out, the Rockets relied on their inside game and outscored the Mavericks 60-32 in the paint. But the Mavericks had the advantage from 3-point range, where they made 11 to Houstons seven 3-pointers. "They hit a lot of tough shots tonight, especially in the second half," Howard said. "They shot great the whole game. When a team is shooting that good they are tough to beat." A 15-1 spurt by Dallas to open that second half erased a seven-point halftime deficit and gave the Mavericks a 65-58 lead with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Nowitzki led the way in that stretch, making seven points including a 3-pointer. The Rockets came out flat to start the third, missing six shots and turning the ball over twice in the first few minutes of the quarter. The Rockets finally snapped out of their offensive slump after that, using a 10-4 run to get within 69-68 with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. Parsons made four quick points near the end of it before Howard put an exclamation point on the run with a nifty sideways alley-oop dunk. Houston led by one point about six minutes before halftime and used an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to extend its lead to 52-42. Howard got things going in that span by scoring six straight points and capped the run with a free throw. The Rockets led 57-50 at halftime. NOTES: Houston announced during the game that guard Patrick Beverley had surgery on Monday to repair a fracture in his right hand and will be out 4-6 weeks. ... Calderon has scored more than 10 points in 18 of his last 20 games. ... Houston has scored at least 60 points in the paint in three of its last four games. Air Force 1 Shoes Australia . A fully booked flight forced me to leave two hours later. After a nice meal in which I studied the stats of the Argo win, I prepared to leave the restaurant. As I was gathering my things to leave many large individuals began to walk up and wait for tables. Nike Air Force 1 07 Australia .com) - Former New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya is joining the Major League Baseball Players Association staff as a senior advisor to executive director Tony Clark. http://www.airforce1shoesaustralia.com/air-force-1-low-australia/womens.html . The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the league hasnt announced the award. Crawford was the Clippers third-leading scorer and the NBAs top-scoring reserve with 18. Sf Air Force 1 High Australia . Those who impressed in each of the three events were asked to attend the main CFL Combine which begins Friday in Toronto. Air Force 1 Low White Australia . And Richard Bachman, their rookie goalie, is facing a penalty shot a few seconds after the opening face-off. No pressure, right? Bachman stood his ground against Zack Kassian and saw the puck dribble off the Canuck rookies stick, then settled in and backstopped the Stars to a 5-2 win over Vancouver Tuesday that put Dallas in first place in the Pacific Division.Its being reported that embattled Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling (yes hes still the owner) has hired four private investigation firms to dig up "dirt" on the NBA owners, as well as the past Commissioner David Stern and current Commissioner Adam Silver. Sterling has retained investigators as part of his overall litigation strategy. Recently, he filed a lawsuit against the NBA in response to his lifetime ban and his forced sale of the team. Part of that lawsuit alleges breach of contract. He is alleging that the NBA did not follow its own rules when it imposed its very dramatic and unprecedented punishments on him. To support that argument, he wants to be able to point to instances where the league took a much softer approach against other owners who may have committed transgressions of their own. Ultimately, Sterling wants to show that the leagues application of the NBA Constitution and its rules has been wholly inconsistent and that he was unfairly and too harshly treated. The NBA will of course argue that it has not breached its rules and that no other owner has ever said or done anything that has so profoundly and adversely impaacted the league, its reputation and goodwill.dddddddddddd Remember the NBA will focus on the impact of Sterlings statements and not what he said. In light of this distinction, Sterling will have a difficult time finding an owner who has inflicted similar damage on the league. Of course, this investigation reminds us that Sterling is looking to embarrass the league. His lawsuit will give Sterling the opportunity to depose Silver, Stern and a number of owners all with a view to getting the league to air its dirty laundry. In part, he may hope that the pressure of litigation and disclosure under oath may encourage the NBA to lift its lifetime ban and let him keep his team. Will that happen? At the outset, the NBA would have mapped out all possible consequences of forcing Sterling to sell his team, and litigation would have been at the top of that list. The league is prepared to litigate and may sue him right back for interfering with the sale of the team and the business of the league. The NBA is not going anywhere and it will fight. The NBA also knows that Sterling has serious credibility issues. And that is buying the league time with its fans. ' ' '