An emotionally uplifting win at Los Angeles against the Lakers and an incredible comeback to beat Utah. A head-scratching home loss to Washington and a final-second meltdown at New Orleans. Can you say inconsistent? "Everybody hasn't clicked on all cylinders yet," said Shawn Marion, one of six newcomers in Dallas. "It's like one game it's one person and the next game it's somebody else. It's not all five or all 13 just yet. We're ready for that to start popping. Once that starts popping, it's going to be great."
It may have started popping Saturday night against Toronto, as the Mavericks scored their biggest win (129-101) of the season. Still, no one is about to say the attack is completely fluid six games into the season.
"Offensively, we have to fix some stuff," Dirk Nowitzki said. "Usually when we get stops, we can run and get some easy baskets, but we haven't gotten that."
Veteran center Erick Dampier said the process of incorporating the new faces, namely Marion and injured big man Drew Gooden, will take time.
"It's just a matter of us getting used to one another and knowing where we like to catch the ball, what kind of shots we like," he said. "It's still early. We have a good team. Obviously we want to be a lot better than we were at the beginning of the season and it's going to take time."
MAVERICKS 129, RAPTORS 101: Dirk Nowitzki (29 points) returned to the win column by pasting Toronto at home Saturday night. The Mavericks improved to 4-2 and 2-1 at American Airlines Center.
Dallas took control in the third quarter, turning a seven-point halftime edge into 15 going into the fourth. Jason Terry scored 19 off the bench, and Shawn Marion had 18 points and eight rebounds. Nowitzki also had nine boards.
The Mavs have beaten Toronto 10 straight times at home, which covers the entire career of Chris Bosh. The Dallas native, 0-7 in hometown returns, led the Raptors with 26 points.
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