Sorry if its posted. DALLAS -- The evening began with David Stern beaming as he sat on an outdoor stage between what he described as "two modest gentlemen." Those gents were Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, with Stern alongside them to confirm that, yes, his NBA is putting its All-Star Game in a football stadium with a capacity of nearly 100,000 in 2010. The evening ended with the two stars of this Redemption Bowl -- Ron Artest and Josh Howard -- stopping for a quick midcourt hug and chat after Artest eventually trumped Howard's gaudy game with his own forceful, composed, game-changing performance. Artest, frankly, got a lot more help than the home team's reclamation projection, but Thursday night was undeniably his night as much as anyone's in town. In the Dallas coaching debut for his old Indiana boss Rick Carlisle, it was Artest who emerged as Houston's fourth-quarter anchor while Tracy McGrady cheered happily from the bench, capping his first triumphant moment as a Rocket with a late 3-pointer that essentially clinched a 112-102 victory. "A backbreaker," Carlisle called it. Artest, meanwhile, spoke of the "battery on his back" that he's playing with now after such a warm welcome from Houstonians and the Rockets' 2-0 start. "It's been a few years since I've been on TNT," Artest said giddily. "I wasn't sure I'd get back to this point." There were several Rockets, actually, who busted the Mavs in this one. Yao Ming was near perfect offensively if you can forget the dunk he flubbed, turning baseline and scoring at will against Erick Dampier and DeSagana Diop to finish with 30 points, 13 rebounds and just four misses in 15 attempts from the field to go with 8-for-8 shooting from the line. Chuck Hayes supplied the physicality that finally slowed Dirk Nowitzki, leaving Nowitzki stuck on 36 points after Dirk scored 35 in the first three quarters. You could also make the case that little Aaron Brooks -- who wasn't even supposed to play thanks to a bone bruise in his ankle expected to keep him out a week or three -- was as big as Artest with some gutsy fourth-quarter quarterbacking which included 11 of his 14 points. Yet to get away with sitting McGrady for the entire fourth quarter, after watching T-Mac labor to that point with little zip, Rockets coach Rick Adelman needed some veteran steel. Artest duly delivered 10 of his 29 points and five of his seven rebounds in the decisive final period, as well as the defensive tone-setting that got the Rockets back in transition and reduced the Mavs to a confused, stagnant half-court team that -- where have we heard this before? -- faded away with a flurry of errant jumpers. It looked for a time that this might wind up being Howard's night, even though Dallas played from behind throughout. Nowitzki was rather toasty himself from outside and Jason Kidd quietly inched near triple-double territory, but it was Howard's aggression that stood out for the hosts, mainly because we saw so little of it in the playoffs in the Mavericks' final, fateful days under Avery Johnson. For all of the off-court messes Howard inflicted upon himself in recent months, Mavericks' officials privately believe that no player regressed further or chafed more from Johnson's firm hand than the 28-year-old. Yet this looked more like the old Howard, as he racked up a quick 15 points in the first quarter -- some of that when checked by Artest -- and came away with 28 points, 11 rebounds and some undeniable love from the sellout crowd at American Airlines Center. The Mavericks, though, didn't know where to go when Houston took their running game away down the stretch. They looked a bit rusty, too, after a seven-day gap between their final exhibition game and the league's latest season opener. All of which set Artest up to hike Houston's lead to 108-94 with that backbreaker triple with 3:02 to go. "I can't tell you how much I enjoyed that," McGrady said, insisting that he was thrilled to be a crunch-time spectator as he tries to play his way back from offseason knee and shoulder surgeries. "I'm in a position where I want to be professionally in my career, especially after 12 years, not having to carrying the burden night in and night out. That takes a toll on your body. Like I said, in the fourth quarter, I was enjoying watching somebody else go out there and carry the team. Ron did a great job. That's why we brought him in here. "I'm not 100 percent right now, so I can't be me. But if I can have a guy like Ron and Yao play the way they played and get you numbers all across the board, we're a great team." Said Carlisle: "They didn't even need McGrady to play his best to win. That tells you how good that team can be." Carlisle went on to insist that Artest is "actually bigger and stronger" than he used to be and that "he's shooting the ball better" as well. If you're looking for a negative, after two games, you'll have to settle for these two: Artest's shot selection can be questioned at times and he might be guilty of trying too hard to fit in with the Rockets, since he spent much of his postgame address talking about three guys who played a combined 32 seconds in the fourth. That would be McGrady, starting point guard Rafer Alston and the injured Shane Battier . . . although Battier was indeed un-missable in a red blazer he self-customized by sewing on a Rockets logo. Asked about Carlisle's glowing scouting report, Artest said: "I was doing the same things in Sacramento. But nobody saw it. Only on local TV." Said Nowitzki: "They have three legit superstars now ... You never know what you're going to get with Artest over 82 games. But if his head stays in it, they're going to be right up there." Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.
There was nothing wrong with what he said... He was being truthful. Paul Pierce, basically said the same thing when the Celtics got Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Kobe Bryant, almost left Lakers because he was tired of caring the burden by himself every night... So I don't see anything wrong with that comment.
Ron is definitely bigger than he used to be. He didn't used to weight 265 lbs. Because of his brute strength, all he needs is 1/4 of a step on a guy when going to the basket and it's over. What opened my eyes was the pre-season game against the Celtics when Paul Pierce looked like a rag doll against him.
Only if you hate him already I see it as the truth. Of course everyone will complain that he is making all that money and only scored 16, but look at Ray Allen...and they won it all
I'm not a T-Mac hater by any means. It's just that those are the type of things that are easily twisted into something for the haters to feed on. I for one was glad to see him on the bench and see the team step the game up in the 4th without him. It feels so much different and better than previous seasons when we basically had 2(sometimes 1) options to go to.
I love McGrady's (and all of the Rockets) attitude right now. No ego trips....whoever is playing well should be in and the others are willing to cheer them on...from the bench if necessary. Who cares who scores the most points each night as long as we win. I would be happy to have T-Mac average 15pts as long as it's part of a team effort and we win. Our depth is amazing and things should only get better.
NO doubt i'll 15, 7, and 5 from mcgrady in a winning effort,es pecially when we know Artest and Yao will both drop 20+
Brooks was the underrated player in this game. Without him, I'm not sure we win. His ability to penetrate and score in the 4th was crucial.
I actually like what Tmac said... he doesn't have some superstar ego.. he's willing to admit he isn't 100% and sit out the entire 4th
people expect T-Mac to be some kind of sports superhero, he's just an honest person nothing wrong with saying his body can't take being double teamed for 40 minutes every night, it's actually true
Yeah I see nothing wrong with his quotes. He's always keeps it real and I'm sick and tired of people just finding any excuse they can create to hate on him. I really hope we beat the Celtics so the haters can all get a nice healthy dose of STFU.
His speed & quickness while dribbling the ball will also be needed when teams apply full court trapping defenses. If he can improve his decision making, he's our starting point of the future.
Yep I was at the game and kept telling my dad that they needed to put Brooks in when Dallas took the lead. He just makes things happen, Rafer's a good game manager but he couldn't give us the offensive spark we needed.
