Mavs Quoteboard: 'Dirk Had No Choice'

Another House Of Horrors; for the Mavs the well of success runs a bit dry in New Orleans. And that's before factoring in the loss of Vince Carter and the last-second scratch of the UberMan. Somehow, the Mavs scraped up a win, 83-81. Quoteboard!

Another House Of Horrors; for the Dallas Mavericks the well of success runs a bit dry in New Orleans. And that's before factoring in the loss of Vince Carter and the last-second scratch of the UberMan. Somehow, the Mavs scraped up a win, 83-81. The last time this happened -- Dirk Nowitzki going out -- the Mavs went 2-7. The last time the Mavs won in New Orleans was in 2007. Deeper meaning? Who knows? Along with everybody else in this league, we're just rolling with the punches.

Quoteboard:

Finally! the hoodoo is broken ...

"This is a great win for us, this has been a very tough place for us to get a win. We hadn’t won here since I got here and even a time before that. One of the reasons it’s hard to win here is because these guys compete hard. I’m proud of our team after the first two loses on this trip. We really gutted two games out. That's not easy to do." -Coach Rick Carlisle

"Once I heard that they haven't won here in a couple years, I kinda just wanted to gut it through, and do whatever I had to do to get this win tonight. Anytime you can come down here and get one, especially not winning here before; it's a good way to end the trip." -Lamar Odom

About Lamar Odom -- the most working-to-progress player on a work-in-progress team produces 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists ...

"I liked the way Lamar played. 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. The only reason he didn't finish the game is he was dead tired, but he did a lot of good things. He made some timely plays, and this week is a big week for him.

"A lot of what we’re doing is just out of flow, and the ball found him two or three times and he made important plays for us. Our best game is playing out of that dimension and he’s getting a better feel for how to play with our guys, and tonight was a good indication of that. He had 16 points and those points were all important points for us." -Coach Rick Carlisle

"I'm becoming a lot more comfortable offensively. I'm just trying to learn the schemes, offensively and defensively, find out where I'm gonna find my shots, and trying to play off guys. It's the easiest thing for me to come down one-on-one, put the ball between my legs three times and just go. But I wanna learn within the system, because I think that'll help us down the road." -Lamar Odom

"I thought Odom was great. Down the stretch, we went to him and Marion and they responded." -Jason Kidd

Speaking of, about Shawn Marion -- easily the MVP of the year (so far) ...

“Right now Shawn, he’s our best player. He’s been in this position before, he knows what it’s about, he likes the responsibility and he came up big for us in two big areas – scoring and rebounding." -Coach Rick Carlisle

On depth, which matters more now and will continue to matter ...

"We had to get productivity from a lot of different guys. We had to get a level of competitiveness and hard play from top to bottom ... We played 11 guys and all of them were a factor in the game ... After the first two losses on the trip, we really gutted two games out. That's not easy to do." -Coach Rick Carlisle

"We felt like we have a lot of talent here, and we feel like our depth is one of our keys. Everybody has to step up." -Jason Kidd

Regarding the new guys Odom and West ...

"[They] have so much pressure on them, but they've responded. Every time they've been asked to step up in their roles, both of them came up big." -Jason Terry

That's a record -- fourteen straight games of the bad guys failing to hit triple digits ...

"We have so many guys that can fill it up. You have to play both ends of the court against us, and sometimes everyone being aggressive offensively works as good defesne. We do a good job of mixing it up -- zone, trapping, giving different looks. Brendan and Ian are playing really big protecting the rim right now. So we're doing a great job defensively." -Lamar Odom

From adversity comes opportunity -- well that's one way of looking at it ...

"[Dirk's absence] changes the way we play, to an extent. We still got a lot of talented players. It's a great opportunity for Lamar and a great opportunity for some of these other guys. All across the board, everybody's got to pick it up.'' -Brian Cardinal

*That* must've been an interesting conversation ...

"They approached me with it [Friday] at the meeting. I wasn’t thrilled at the beginning." -Dirk Nowitzki

“[Dirk] had no choice. There was no negotiating on that one." -Coach Rich Carlisle