NBA News 2013: Cuban: Mavs won't trade Nowitzki

English: Washington Wizards v/s Dallas Mavericks October 9, 2009 at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mark Cuban says he plans to keep star Dirk Nowitzki even though the Dallas Mavericks have their worst record since a few months after he bought the team in 2000.

Cuban said before Saturday night's game against Memphis that he wanted to be clear with Nowitzki that he was committed "through thick and thin" to getting the team back in contention.

Dallas recently fell 10 games under .500 for the first time since Nowitzki's second season in 1999-2000. Since then, the Mavericks have made the playoffs 12 straight years and won the title in 2011.

The Mavericks are playing with a revamped roster for the second straight season after Cuban decided not to bring back several key players from the championship team.

http://www.nba.com/2013/news/01/12/cuban-says-mavericks-wont-trade-nowitzki.ap/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpts

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NBA News 2011: Grizzlies pulling off rare feat on … defense?

Image by Getty Images via @daylife
We’re at the point now where it will be a surprise if Memphis does not make its first post-(Pau) Gasol playoff appearance, which shouldn’t be shocking, considering how close this group got last season and the talent level of its young core. Toss in another monster season from Zach Randolph — a guy who is totally unguardable for at least 75 percent of the league — and a win total in the mid/high-40s should have been the expected outcome for the Grizzlies.

What might be a bit surprising is how the Grizzlies have made their push over the last 20 games, in which they are 14-6. Over that span, they have played defense at a level only a half-dozen or so teams have reached this season. Those teams are known defensive royalty. The Grizzlies are not, and it was their borderline top-10 offense that carried their shaky defense to 40 wins last season.

That has flipped this season. The Grizzlies have jumped all the way to eighth in points allowed per possession, and in their last 16 games, they have allowed just 101 points per 100 possessions, according to Hoopdata. That is just about what the Hornets, Bucks and Spurs have done for the course of the season, and it’s a stingier mark than the Lakers and Mavs have put up.

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2011/03/03/grizzlies-pulling-off-rare-feat-on-defense/

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• Grizzlies pulling off rare feat on ... defense? (nba-point-forward.si.com)
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