Mavs hold off Clippers, Heat destroy Bucks

Let’s check in on last year’s Finals participants, shall we?

There was quite a game in Dallas, where the Mavericks were trying to extend their winning streak and the Clippers were trying to complete a spiffy 5-1 road trip.

The night began and ended with Caron Butler. Butler spent last season with the Mavericks. He began as their starting small forward and helped Dallas to a 24-8 start before suffering a torn patellar tendon that cost him the rest of the season. Butler remained engaged with the team and almost rehabbed the knee in time for the NBA Finals but did not return to the court.

In the offseason, the Mavs decided not to re-sign many of their free agents, including Butler, who signed a three-year deal with the Clippers. This was his first trip back to Dallas, and he received his championship ring from Mavs coach Rick Carlisle, who called him “a Maverick for life.”

Then Butler went out and had arguably his best game of the season. He made five 3-pointers, scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds. And he had a chance to sting his former team.

From Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: “Paul then found Butler on the right wing. Butler pulled up for his three-point attempt not far from the Mavericks’ bench. Butler played for Dallas last season, when the Mavericks won the NBA title, and they gave him his championship ring Monday during a pregame ceremony. Now he was trying to beat them. But Butler missed with 3.9 seconds left, his shot coming up slightly short and hitting the rim before bouncing away, leaving the Clippers down by two points. “It would have been the dagger that we needed,” said Butler, who finished with a season-high 23 points on seven-for-18 shooting from the field, going five for 10 from three-point range. “But it fell a little short.”

None of the superstars played particularly well in Dallas’ 96-92 victory. Dirk Nowitzki scored 22 points but made just 5-of-15 shots. Teammate Jason Kidd had just three points and four assists in 26 minutes, and his lone turnover was a doozy, a very risky long inbounds pass that Chris Paul deflected and the Clippers stole, setting up Butler’s shot.

Paul had 16 points and nine assists but also committed five turnovers. Blake Griffin scored 20 points but missed his first six free throws and finished 2-of-9 from the line. He was so bad that Carlisle had him intentionally fouled late in the game.

From T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times: “The game is over and now Griffin is making the argument he lost it for his teammates, as tough on himself as he is on his opponents. “It’s on me,” says Griffin, who was fighting himself much of the night. “I missed shots, missed free throws, missed an easy layup, missed a dunk, [four] turnovers. All I could do was not let my play affect my teammates and pull them down, but this one is all on me.” Griffin was nine for 17 from the field, a zero from any distance away from the basket and two for nine shooting free throws. “Some people would do that and wouldn’t care,” says Paul after detailing every one of his own five turnovers for the gathered media. “But you see how much he cares.”

There have been a lot of questions about the Mavs this season, but they were the more efficient team down the stretch. They are now 18-11 – good enough for a top-four seed and just one game behind the third-place Clippers in the West. And they are the defending champs, which will mean more as the season progresses.

From Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com: “The Clippers were in a desperation mode because even with the insanely talented Paul directing traffic, execution was flawed at the most pressurized moments of the game – nine turnovers to five field goals in the fourth quarter with Blake Griffin bricking five free throws and going 1-of-2 in a Hack-a-Blake scenario. If the Clippers and Thunder are indeed the greatest threat to dethrone the Mavs in the Western Conference, there is work to be done by both. Yes, the Mavs’ 2-3 record against these two high-flying outfits might suggest otherwise, but remember, OKC needed a 27-foot Kevin Durant buzzer-beater to win up there in the third game of the season and then squeaked one out here more recently against a depleted Mavs roster that strangely felt more like a Dallas win. The Clippers needed a buzzer-beater in L.A. without Paul and lost with him Monday. Paul finished with 16 points and nine assists, but he had one inconsequential 3 late in the game and a late turnover in the paint with 4:23 to go, the Mavs up three and the Clippers entering a third minute of a five-minute scoreless drought. “It’s too early to say who you have an edge over,” center Brendan Haywood said. “But, at the end of the day we know we’re going to execute. We know where we’re going to go and they have to figure it out.”

The Heat have had much less trouble than the Mavs this season, and that was the case again vs. the Bucks, who had been the only real thorn in their side.

Milwaukee had played Miami twice and won twice. From Jan. 17 through Feb. 7, the Heat played 13 games and went 11-2 – with both losses to the Bucks, who got a pair of big games from Brandon Jennings.

Despite an otherwise pedestrian 12-15 record, the Bucks had a chance to sweep the season series from theHeat but were overrun by LeBron James, who had one of the more efficient games of his career in powering a 114-96 road win.

From Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald: “The Heat (22-7) entered the game on the verge of being swept by the Bucks (12-16). It left Milwaukee for the final time this regular season with James dancing to ‘Teach Me How to Dougie’ during a late fourth-quarter timeout. James finished with 35 points in 33 brilliant minutes. He was 16 of 21 from the field and had eight rebounds and three assists. James’ physically imposing dunk through the heart of the Bucks’ defense at the end of the third quarter was the singular highlight of the game.”

In three games against the Bucks this season, James averaged 34.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists. He shot 58.5 percent from the field and drained 23-of-26 free throws. And he did this being guarded primarily by Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, one of the top defenders in the game.

James has had three big games against the Bucks this season. But not quite as big as the tribute statue of him a company has designed.

From Shandel Richardson of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel: “PrimeTime Amusements, an event renter and seller of video-arcade machines, will unveil an 18-foot, foam statue of James Tuesday at its Fort Lauderdale headquarters. It was created to showcase the company’s new statue-theming division, which will sell large figurines. The James statue is unavailable for sale or rental. The image captures most of James’ physical features, including his beard, headband and tattoos.”

James might have seemed that big to Bucks coach Scott Skiles, whose had no answer for the Heat this time.

From Ira Winderman of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel: “Milwaukee Bucks coach Scott Skiles was at a loss for words. And that was before his team fell 114-96 to the Miami Heat on Monday night at the Bradley Center. It’s almost as if he knew what was coming. “If you just look at them statistically,” Skiles said going in, “it’s hard to figure out how they lost seven. I don’t know how we beat them twice.”

Miami has taken the first two games of its back-to-back-to-back by 38 points, avenging home losses with both wins. The Heat get a chance to complete the sweep – a trick turned only by Oklahoma City and Chicago this season – and square matters with another squad Tuesday at Indiana.

Elsewhere …

MVP Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls does not have any structural damage to his back. From K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: “It’s time to exhale after the specialist Rose saw on Monday confirmed the Bulls’ original diagnosis of lower back spasms. That means the injury is muscular, not structural, and Rose will continue to treat it with massages, electrical stimulation and rest. Officially, Rose is day-to-day as the Bulls begin a six-game homestand Tuesday against the Kings. “When we all feel he feels well enough to play, he’ll be back out there,” general manager Gar Forman said.”

Knicks superstar forward Amar’e Stoudemire, who doesn’t figure to have any trouble playing with Jeremy Lin, will be back tonight vs. Toronto. Knicks other superstar forward Carmelo Anthony, who denies that he will have trouble fitting in with Jeremy Lin, will miss at least two more games. And this truly is Linsanity: ESPN SportsNation had a poll asking who was the best point guard – Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo or Jeremy Lin. Seriously. Howard Beck of the New York Times has it all.

Both Dwight Howard and Ricky Rubio had quiet games as the host Magic handled the Timberwolves, 102-89. The foul-plagued Howard had 11 points and seven boards and the turnover-plagued Rubio had 11 and eight assists. From now on, we’re not going to mention Kevin Love’s stats. Instead, we will note whenever Derrick Williams, Wesley Johnson or Wayne Ellington has a halfway decent game. So let’s move on. Since climbing above .500 for the first time since Kevin Garnett left, the Wolves have lost four in a row. If they want to make the playoffs, they need to make this trade.

The 76ers were fortunate not to lose to the awful Bobcats, hanging on for a 98-89 road win. Philadelphia improved to 9-7 without center Spencer Hawes; they are 12-2 with him. Charlotte lost its 15th straight game but played much harder and better than it has lately, fighting back from a 15-point deficit to trail by just two midway through the fourth quarter.

Despite wearing garish Mardi Gras uniforms that were purple in the front and green in the back – a bizarre color combination believed to be last donned by The Riddler, the Hornets ended an eight-game skid with an 86-80 win over the Jazz. New Orleans center Emeka Okafor (sore knee) joined fellow rotation players Eric Gordon, Jarrett Jack, Carl Landry and Jason Smith on the sidelines. Okafor’s injury opened the door for Chris Kaman, who erupted for a season-high 27 points and 13 rebounds. Memo to Hornets GMs Dell Demps and David Stern: Having a guy play is a much better way to trade him.

The Warriors survived another ankle injury to Stephen Curry and held off the Suns, 102-96, for their first three-game winning streak of the season. Curry tweaked his left ankle – not the one he hurt earlier this season – late in the third quarter but returned for the final three minutes. David Lee went for 28 and 12 rebounds to compensate for the unconscionable Monta Ellis, who missed his first nine shots and finished 5-of-20.