Post-game Power Points: Mavs 109, Knicks 102 (OT)

Monta Ellis struggles, then saves Mavs- Monta Ellis had arguably his worst game in a Dallas Maverick uniform.... Until it mattered most. Ellis was 1-9 from the field with just 2 points and 3 turnovers with 4:28 left in regulation. He had picked up his 5th foul with seven minutes left in the 4th quarter, but head coach Rick Carlisle kept him in the game.
And boy did that pay off. Monta Ellis hit a couple of free throws with 4:56 left in the 4th quarter and then hit back-to-back jumpers to give the Mavs a one-point edge. In overtime, Ellis missed a shot but saved the ball from going out of bounds and threw it in to Tyson Chandler, who gave the Mavs a two point lead that they would not relinquish.
Ellis finished with 8 points on 3-13 shooting, six assists, three steals, and a couple of rebounds.

Three point struggles continue- Though it was a tough win, it was very ugly from behind the arc for the Mavs. They finished 4-31 from three-point range, a putrid 12.9%.
When Dirk was asked about it, he could not provide a definite answer, just saying "I don't know."
The Mavs also struggled defending the three-point line, allowing the Knicks to shoot 50%, including former Maverick Jose Calderon going 7-9 from downtown.

Tyson Chandler explodes on his former team, Calderon does the same for the Knicks- Tyson Chandler definitely had this date circled on his calendar. He posted season-highs in both points (17) and rebounds (25) for a very impressive double-double. His impact goes beyond the stat lines though as he probably had two of the top five momentum-shifting plays, one being an alley-oop and the other being a punctuating dunk in overtime to give the Mavs the lead in the waning minute.
Jose Calderon wasn't too shabby for the Knicks either. Ironically on a night the Mavs were short-handed at the point guard position because of injuries to starter Jameer Nelson and former Knick Raymond Felton, Calderon exploded for 7 three-pointers and a team-high 21 points. Unlike Chandler though obviously, he came up on the losing end.

Dirk plays big in the second half- Dirk had four points at halftime, but finished with a game-high 30 points. He was an absolute monster in the second half and overtime, scoring clutch basket after clutch basket. He also put the game away effectively, scoring a basket with 43.9 seconds left in the game to give the Mavs a four-point lead. The Knicks started playing the foul game after that and never caught up.
Dirk finished with 30 points on 11-24 shooting, six rebounds, two assists, and three steals. He also played a season-high 39 minutes.

What's next?- The Mavs kick off their four game road trip on Friday at Toronto to face off against the Raptors at 6:30 p.m.

Post-game Power Points: Miami Heat at Dallas Mavericks

Miami Heat 105, Dallas Mavericks 96

Lackluster first half on both ends- The defensive deficiencies have been somewhat of a problem all season and the first half of this game wasn’t much better. The Mavs allowed the Heat to shoot 60 percent from the field while they shot a measly 36.6 percent. Dirk had 16 points in the first half, but he was the only Maverick to break double digits as he got minimal help from his supporting cast.

At the other end, Chris Bosh and Luol Deng had 15 points each, with Mario Chalmers pitching in 10 points of his own. Deng especially had a very efficient first half as he made seven of his eight shot attempts.

Heat offense dictates- The Miami Heat scored all over the floor, but they especially dominated the closer they got to the rim. It wasn’t even the big men for the Heat that were scoring down low, actually it was their ability to shoot from the perimeter that brought Tyson Chandler and the Mavs big men to the perimeter and opened up easy lay in opportunities for the Heat guards to attack the rim.

Monta Ellis rocks the third quarter-  Monta Ellis sent the AAC in an uproar as he came out of the gate after halftime and scored 10 very quick points for the Mavs. He had two quick shots and then followed it up with back-to-back three pointers. Ellis finished with 14 points in the third and had 23 for the game.

However, the Mavs defensive struggles carried over from the first half as they allowed 28 points in the third period to scoring 23 of their own.

Aside from just giving up points, they were giving up shots that drained any momentum they had built, such as three pointers to Wade and Chalmers at different points in the period as the shot clock expired.

Tale of the two newcomers- The Miami Heat added Luol Deng to their arsenal on a two-year 19.9 million dollars deal. The Mavs added Chandler Parsons on a three-year 46 million dollar deal. The stat lines for each?

Deng went 13-17 for 30 points, including four from downtown. He added five rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Parsons went 1-9 for four points, six rebounds, two blocked shots and a turnover.

Statistically notable-

Luol Deng finished with 30 points on 13-18 shooting, five rebounds and three assists.

After 16 first half points for Dirk, he scored one more point the rest of the way and finished with 17 points on 6-15 shooting, six rebounds and three assists.

Notable quote- Mark Cuban said before the game: "I hated them before LeBron got there. He didn’t impact my feelings for them at all.''

Brady furthers legacy, Tops Manning in 16th battle

We all went into Sunday afternoon's game of Brady vs. Manning Part 16 thinking we would get another classic. Instead, it was the second biggest blowout of any game between the two ever.

This game alone does not prove or say that Tom Brady is better than Peyton Manning. No, that was known before the game. However this game brought up some points to prove further why Brady is a slightly better quarterback than Manning that was missed in the pre-game legacy check.

First of all, going into the game, I had thought that even though Brady was the slightly better quarterback, Manning would win the game 24-20 because he had the better team (the argument many Manning supporters use to say that Brady has had better teams, which as shown in my previous article is not true. Both were fairly equal, Brady having defense, Manning having offense).
Manning had arguably a top three offensive arsenal of all-time, and the second ranked defense in the NFL currently, with Von Miller and Demarcus Ware rushing the quarterback off the edges and Aqib Talib and T.J Ward anchoring the secondary. All Tom Brady had going for him was special teams and home-field. And that proved to be enough.

Brady was superb all day, with the exception of one throw early in the game where he missed Brandon LaFell for a touchdown. His lone interception came off a tipped ball and he had four touchdowns. He carved up the second ranked defense the same way he had carved up the Bengals early in October, who were at the time the top ranked defense in the NFL.

Manning struggled all day. He got tricked into throwing his first of two interception (the second was dropped by Welker and was not Manning's fault), when Rob Ninkovich dropped in a zone and Manning threw an errant pass that swung the momentum while the game was still close. Brady threw a touchdown to Brandon Lafell on the very next play. Manning couldn't even get all of his weapons involved, as Julius Thomas didn't have his first target/catch until the third quarter.

This game really just furthered the point why Brady is total is a better option than Manning. For Manning to truly be successful, he needs perfect conditions around him. He needs great weapons at his disposal and ideal weather conditions. For Brady, it isn't necessary.

As I said before, Manning is superior in stats to Brady because he played in the Indy dome for the first 12 years of his career. In Indy and in Denver, he has always had a better supporting cast than Brady, with the exception of 2007.

With the game time temperature being just under 40 degrees, Manning's loss put him at 8-12 all time when temperatures dip below 40. Brady? Oh, he's 32-4. Winds were gusting in Foxboro, yet Brady didn't miss a beat. But Manning seemed to be a little off, even with an amazing supporting cast.

If you want to be considered the best of all time, you have to be consistent. You can't say he's the greatest BUT temperatures need to be warm. BUT he needs guys around him. BUT it can't be the playoffs. No exceptions.

On game doesn't answer a questions, but it was more ammo to add for Brady's case, while Manning's case against Brady remains a weak one.