By james art 
Former GM Donnie Nelson’s lawsuit against the Dallas Mavericks has been dismissed
Luka Doncic’s first-half explosion leads the Mavericks to a win over the short-handed Magic
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd and his predecessor, Rick Carlisle, texted each other regularly during the last postseason, when Carlisle’s Indiana Pacers raced to the Eastern Conference Finals and Dallas reached the NBA Finals.
Monday night’s Mavericks-Pacers election-eve event at the American Airlines Center brought Kidd and Carlisle together again, comparing the two opponents.
Intelligence but not strength of lineups, as injury-plagued Indiana went to small-ball extremes against Dallas, trying to build on the momentum of offseason signings led by Klay Thompson.
The game was tied at 116 with 4:46 left, but Indiana scored the next eight points against Dallas and its new Big Three.
“How can you just go out and get an heir like that?” Carlisle asked. “They have three guys that I think are going to be in the Hall of Fame, with Luka (Doncic), Kyrie (Irving) and Klay. They have great firepower. Jason is doing a great job with this team.”
Carlisle, 65, showed his resourcefulness Monday night, using Bedford native Myles Turner and a quicker pace to essentially run Mavericks starting center Daniel Gafford off the court, racing to a 15-2 lead.
The Mavericks didn’t take their first lead until late in the second quarter, and the teams spent the rest of the game trading baskets and momentum, with Dallas getting a huge boost off the bench from Naji Marshall, who in one stretch of the second quarter scored 9 straight Mavericks points the way to 14 for the half – already his Mavericks are high to play.
Speaking of last season’s playoffs, maybe Kidd should send Carlisle something extra with this year’s Christmas card.
Two humbling losses to the Pacers in eight days proved exciting for Dallas. A 133-111 win at Indianapolis on Feb. 25 snapped a seven-game Mavericks streak that began shortly before the deadline to acquire PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford.
Indiana’s 137-120 win at the American Airlines Center on March 5 prompted a Mavericks players-only meeting and resulted in Kidd inserting Gafford and Derrick Jones Jr. into the starting lineup. Dallas won its next seven games and 12 of its next 13.
“After they had more reps, they got themselves together and went at it again,” Carlisle said. “So maybe we caught him at the right time.”
On Monday night, the Mavericks faced Indiana without backup center Derek Lively II, a late scratch after feeling discomfort in his right shoulder, which the Mavericks are calling a sprain.
Dallas had played the night before, beating Orlando by 23 points, but that was no excuse for coming up short against an Indiana team playing without Isaiah Jackson (torn Achilles), Aaron Nesmith (sprained ankle) and James Wiseman (torn Achilles).
Carlisle, of course, has plenty of insider knowledge about the Mavericks, having coached Doncic for three seasons and before that Kidd for five seasons in Dallas, winning the 2011 NBA championship.
“Rick is an extremely smart guy, not just basketball, but worldly, and he’s changed with the game,” Kidd said. “And so just understanding that you can play one way, but if your roster is built differently so you can turn around, he did.
“When he was coaching Dallas, I don’t think they ran as much as they did at Indiana. So the pace was a little slower because the line-up.’
Including 38-year-old point guard Jason Kidd?
“Slow and old, yes,” Kidd said with a smile.
During last year’s NBA Finals, after the Celtics eliminated the Pacers in the East Finals, Carlisle said The news that he believes the Mavericks have the weapons to upset Boston.
This season is only eight games in, but Carlisle sees similar potential for this Dallas team.
“I think the addition of Klay Thompson is a great acquisition,” he said. “And look, they have guys like PJ Washington, he’s like a top two player on a lot of other teams. Their bigs are developing and getting better and they just have a lot of depth.
“They have a great top 9 or 10 — and then they have strong reinforcements behind them.”
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