As the Dallas Mavericks prepare to tip-off at home against the Utah Jazz, the often-maligned Mavericks' bench is starting to get some national attention and love.
ESPNDallas.com's Tim McMahon weighed in on the Dallas Mavericks' reserves earlier today, praising the balance and energy that the bench has been bringing lately on a night-in, night-out basis--"With Devin Harris setting the tempo and Brandan Wright jamming, the bench has been rocking for the Mavs recently."
Adding in polarizing sixth man Vince Carter to the mix, McMahon raved that "Dallas has outscored opponents by 27 points in 66 minutes with those three on the floor together, making them the Mavs’ most productive three-man lineup that doesn’t feature Dirk Nowitzki over the last few weeks."
This is high praise for a secondary unit that his been the target of many analysts and fans' ire, especially as the February 20th NBA trade deadline approaches.
However, despite all the chatter that the Mavs are made up of Dirk Nowitski and little else, Dallas Mavericks power forward Brandan Wright, after scoring 17 crucial points in Wednesday's huge victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, said, "coming into every game, I think we’re better than the other team’s bench."
Wright added succinctly, “That’s how we feel.”