Lamar Odom made his first start of the season in place of the injured Dirk Nowitzki who missed the game because of a sore knee. After the game, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle praised the play of Odom and said that now that he was starting it would be an opportunity for him to improve his conditioning with extra minutes. Perhaps those extra minutes will help Odom to find some sort of offensive rhythm with the Mavericks.
"I liked the way Lamar played," Carlisle said. "We're a running team and with him starting and getting more minutes, this is an opportunity for him to get in the habit of running and to raise his level of conditioning.
Odom finished the game with 16 points and four rebounds in just under 26 minutes of action. Carlisle also praised his team's play without Nowitzki citing that they got contributions from several different guys in the game.
"We had to get productivity from a lot of different guys," coach Rick Carlisle said. "We had to get a level of competitiveness and hard play from top to bottom. It's a great win. This has been a very, very hard place for us to win."
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