J.J. Barea made the most of his 1st league start, shooting 9-for-11 for a career-high twenty-five points and leading the Dallas Mavericks past the Kings 123-102 Saturday night in Dallas. Dallas had 101 points by the end of the 3rd quarter and threatened the record of the franchise for shooting accuracy. They finished 45-for-69 for 65.2%, just shy of their best-ever mark of 67.7 set twenty-four years ago. Martin led Sacramento with 28 points, but Sacramento dropped to 0-3 with Bibby injured and Artest suspended.

Howard, a 13-year NBA forward cast aside by the Timberwolves 2 days earlier, signed with the Mavericks on Thursday. The contract brings Juwan Howard back to a team, where he played for a year from February 2001. In eighty games, 71 of them as a starter for the Mavericks, he averaged 7.3 rebounds and 14.6 points. Juwan Howard has career averages of 7.1 rebounds and 16.1 points in 951 games with Dallas, Washington, Orlando, Denver, and Houston.

Terry scored a game-high twenty-four points off the bench as the Mavericks defeated the Cavaliers 92-74 yesterday night in the regular-season opener for the two teams. Stackhouse scored seventeen points and Nowitzki had fifteen points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists as Dallas won a matchup between teams that lost the past 2 NBA Finals. Ilgauskas had seventeen points and eighteen rebounds for Cleveland, who were swept by San Antonio in June’s National Basketball Association title series.