--Count F Josh Howard among those willing to heed LeBron James' call. Howard, a North Caroline native, believes Michael Jordan's No. 23 should be retired by the league. "I don't think anybody should wear it," Howard said. "That's a number that he made famous. He's greatness. LeBron is great too, but he's not MJ." Dallas coach Rick Carlisle, however, appreciates James' stand.
"It's great to see a young player like LeBron, who is still extremely young, has that kind of a sense of history and that kind of respect for those that came before him," Carlisle said. "If he's able to convince all the players in the league to do this, this is something that would be unique to the NBA."
--C Erick Dampier's mysterious illness hasn't been made public, but it's not considered life-threatening. The Mavericks expect to know more in the near future.
"I think we'll know sometime next week where things are at," Rick Carlisle said. "I know there are still some tests being done and so we're going to have to just go through this, and let this battery of things go on and be absolutely sure of the prognosis."
Dampier remains sidelined in the meantime, but he has rejoined his teammates on the bench. Dampier started the first nine games of the season at center and averaged 9.7 rebounds.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Our team is a veteran ballclub, so you can expect down the stretch in the fourth quarter we're going to execute and we're going to get people the ball that need to have it, and the last 2 1/2 weeks you've seen signs of that from this team." -- G Jason Terry after the Mavs held off the Kings on Friday night.
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