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How it happened: The Dallas Mavericks never trailed against the Portland Trail Blazers. It still wasn’t pretty in Portland.

The Mavs didn’t exactly throw a knockout punch against a poor team playing without All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who is out for the season after undergoing hip surgery. The Mavs played a sloppy, turnover-plagued fourth quarter that allowed the Blazers to rally, mounting a 12-0 run to make the visitors sweat down the stretch.

But the Mavs survived for their third straight win since ridding their locker room of Lamar Odom.

The Mavs opened the game with a 9-0 run and never relinquished the lead at the Rose Garden. Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavs’ lone All-Star, scored 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first quarter while the Mavs established a 14-point lead. Nowitzki finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting.

Delonte West ran the show with Jason Kidd resting and Rodrigue Beaubois suffering a strained right calf in the second half. West had 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting, seven assists and six rebounds while logging 44 minutes. The blemish on West’s impressive all-around performance was his six turnovers.

Shawn Marion had 17 points and 14 rebounds, one board shy of his season high.

Brandan Wright, who played the majority of the minutes at center, had 13 points and eight rebounds. He also broke up an alley-oop attempt to J.J. Hickson that would have cut the Mavs’ lead to a bucket with a little less than a minute ago.

What it means: The Mavs are in sole possession of sixth place in the West by a relatively comfortable margin. They are up a game and a half on the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets -- both Friday night losers -- and own the tiebreakers over both teams.

Bold play of the game: West drove down the middle and threw down a two-hand dunk in the final minute of the first half, sending an excruciating bolt of pain up his surgically repaired right ring finger. That play was part of an 11-2 run for the Mavs to finish the first half, a fine response to the Trail Blazers slicing the lead to single digits.

Stat of the night: Marion recorded his third double-double in four games and his fourth consecutive double-digit rebounding game. Marion, the shortest player in the league leading his team in rebounding, has averaged 12.8 boards per game in that span.

Jason Kidd will not play tonight against the Trail Blazers, coach Rick Carlisle said during his pregame interview on ESPN Dallas 103.3.

This is a scheduled rest for Kidd, not a setback after a four-game layoff due to a strained right groin that had bothered him all season.

The Mavs started a stretch of seven games in 10 days last night against Golden State, when Kidd had nine points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. The Mavs did not want to risk Kidd playing three games in four nights immediately after his return.

Carlisle said Kidd would play Sunday against the Lakers and a decision would be made afterward after his availability for Monday's game against the Jazz.

And you thought last week was important? This week very well could mean make or break. Postseason or golf season.

Four games in six days. Three on the road.

"Every game now is going to be of even more significant importance," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "We know that. We don’t need to overstate it."

Sorry, coach.

But after a horrific 1-3 week -- with two losses coming at home -- at this juncture of the season, alarm bells are raging. Adding to the distress is that there is still no knowing when Jason Kidd (strained right groin) will return.

The new week starts Tuesday at home against the Sacramento Kings, a team that walloped Dallas a month ago. In fact, each team on the schedule this week -- which ends with a nationally televised Sunday matinee at Staples Center against the Los Angeles Lakers -- has handed the Mavs at least one loss.

Saturday's loss at Memphis probably means the Mavs won't move any higher than the sixth seed. But danger lurks from behind, and any slip-ups could put the title defense on permanent ice.

"Everybody’s sweating it out," Jason Terry said. "All we can do is control us. We’ve got to win the games."

Tuesday: vs. Sacramento Kings (19-37), 7:30 p.m.
TV/Radio: FSSW/ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM; 1270 AM (Spanish)
What to watch: The Kings plastered the Mavs in Sacramento in the middle game of that horrid back-to-back-to-back. If they walk out of Dallas with a victory, put Dallas on full meltdown alert. The Kings, 2-8 in their last 10 games, have won five road games -- three fewer than Portland had when the Blazers came through last week and left with an overtime win. The Mavs have been making a habit of calling recent games critical or must-win. Well, this one really is.

Thursday: at Golden State Warriors (22-33), 9:30 p.m.
TV/Radio: TNT/ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM; 1270 AM (Spanish)
What to watch: Monta Ellis resides in Milwaukee now, but that doesn't make the Warriors any less dangerous on their home floor, regardless of their 12-16 mark. Golden State will be coming off a game at Portland the night before so Dallas should have a bit of an edge physically as it begins a back-to-back.

Friday: at Portland Trail Blazers (27-30), 9:30 p.m.
TV/Radio: ESPN, FSSW/ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM; 1270 AM (Spanish)
What to watch: This game will prove a significant test for Dallas coming off Thursday's game at Golden State. In two meetings in Dallas, the teams have needed three overtimes to settle things. Portland evened the season-series last week when LaMarcus Aldridge drained a buzzer-beater in overtime. In those two games, the Seagoville native has clobbered his hometown team to the tune of 29.0 points on 48 percent shooting and 12.0 rebounds, including 6.0 on the offensive boards. The Blazers might be below .500 overall, but they are tough at home with a 19-10 record.

Sunday: at Los Angeles Lakers (35-22), 2:30 p.m.
TV/Radio: ABC/ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM; 1270 AM (Spanish)
What to watch: First-round playoff preview? Possibly. The Mavs are looking for their first win in four games against the team they swept in the second round last season. The Lakers are 23-6 at Staples but they've been vulnerable recently, losing to Oklahoma City and Houston while pulling out close calls against New Jersey and New Orleans. Kobe Bryant (shin) missed Saturday's game at Phoenix, a 125-105 loss, and the Lakers have not given a timetable for his return. While Kobe had his first big night in the Lakers' 109-93 win at Dallas last month with 30 points when Shawn Marion was out with his own injury, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and newcomer Ramon Sessions, have inflicted wounds.

DALLAS -- Looking for a silver lining after one of the most miserable losses of the Mavericks’ season? Well, the last time Dallas blew a big lead in a loss to the Trail Blazers, it served as a springboard for the Mavs’ first NBA championship.

That’s about the only way a reasonable mind could stretch the truth and say that these Mavs resemble a title contender.

Screw stretching the truth after the Mavs let a 15-point lead slip away in Friday night’s 99-97 overtime loss to the lottery-bound Blazers. Let’s keep it real: The Mavericks are a mediocre team at the moment.

Actually, they’ve been a mediocre team for more than two months. Mark Cuban can talk about the lockout-compressed season producing “dirty data” all he wants, but win-loss records don’t lie.

And Dallas has been the definition of mediocre for more than half the season. Never mind the stumbling start of the season. The Mavs recovered from that, but they boarded the plane to Memphis as a .500 team (17-17) since Feb. 1.

“We’ve got to keep going,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “I don’t know that it’s time for amateur psychologist analysis. It’s time for everybody to get in gear.”

No need to get bogged down in the details of this dreadful loss to a Portland squad that has an 8-19 road record and is realistically playing for nothing but pride. Analyzing how the Trail Blazers outscored the Mavs by a 30-10 margin in the third quarter -- when freakin’ Raymond Felton had 16 of his season-high 30 points -- is kind of trivial. So is discussing how Dallas’ closers failed in crunch time – Dirk Nowitzki had a terrible turnover with 22 seconds remaining and Jason Terry gave a bone-headed foul 40 feet from the hoop with 3.7 seconds left to allow Portland to set up the game-winning play -- after staging its own comeback.

After LaMarcus Aldridge's buzzer-beater beat the Mavs, just put this one near the top of the pile of disappointing losses by the defending champs.

“Ain’t no use in sitting here and harping on it,” Shawn Marion said. “It’s been that way mostly all year.”

If these weren’t the defending NBA champions, what remains from the team that stunned the basketball world last summer, we’d be digging the 2011-12 Mavs’ grave. They have to be given some benefit of the doubt after proving all the one-and-done predictions so wrong last seasons, but the list of reasons to believe they have realistic hopes of repeating is really short.

Let’s see ... They’ve still got Dirk. And this is still a top-six defensive team statistically. And, well, maybe they can catch lightning in a bottle again?

Sorry, but it’s hard to believe that. Especially after watching this 1-2 homestand, when they got lit up by Randy Foye and Raymond Felton. Man, the Mavs better hope they don’t run into a disappointing lottery pick-turned-journeyman in the playoffs.

That’s assuming they make the playoffs, which can’t be considered a sure thing with just a two-game lead (and the tiebreaker) over the ninth-place Utah Jazz and 10 games to go.

Yet hope remains, at least in the Mavs’ locker room, that this team can get healthy and make a run.

“It’s been a tough ride, but we knew with so many games in so many days that injuries were going to be a part of the season, especially with an older team,” Nowitzki said. “It’s been tough having some guys in and out. Hopefully we can get everybody healthy here at last, make a push and get some momentum going towards the playoffs.”

They’re counting on gray-haired, 39-year-old point guard Jason Kidd to recover from a strained right groin and perform like he did last postseason. They’re crossing their fingers that Lamar Odom can contribute during the playoffs after rarely showing a pulse since his broken-hearted arrival from Los Angeles.

We could go on and on, but let’s just say the list of things that have to go exactly right for the Mavs to repeat is a heck of a lot longer than the reasons to believe.

“No concern at all,” Terry said. “I know if we’re healthy and intact that we’re as dangerous as any other team in the West.”

Jet and the Mavs backed up his crazy brand of confidence last summer, so you can’t just dismiss Dallas altogether.

Reasonable minds, however, are back in believe-it-when-they-see-it mode with the Mavericks.

DALLAS – Dirk Nowitzki was a heck of a tennis player while growing up in Germany, but the dude never played a down of quarterback.

That was painfully obvious by the terrible full-court pass Nowitzki threw out of bounds with 22 seconds remaining in overtime Friday night.

Shawn Marion was wide-open for what would have been a go-ahead breakaway dunk or layup. However, Nowitzki’s pass was about 15 feet off the mark. It sailed into the seats, setting up the Trail Blazers to take the last shot, which Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge drilled at the buzzer to beat Dallas.

“It was just a brutal play,” Nowitzki said. “What happened was I got the rebound and really wanted to hold it for the last shot. I looked up and he was just wide open. I tried to rush it to him and it just completely got away from me. It was just kind of like an instinct play.

“When you look up and see a guy open, you want to give him the ball. I just over-rushed it and completely overthrew it. I should have just held it and gone for the last shot like I wanted to. But sometimes in the game you make decisions in a split-second, and that was definitely the wrong one.”

DALLAS – Sometimes all you can do is give credit to the other guy.

That was the case for big man Brendan Haywood after Portland’s All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge hit an overtime buzzer-beater to beat the Dallas Mavericks in front of an American Airlines Center sellout crowd that included several of the Seagoville product's friends and family members.

“You make a 6-11 guy take a one-dribble pull-up shot. He hit it,” said Haywood, whose lateral movement is still affected by the sprained right knee that caused him to miss seven games and requires him to wear a bulky brace. “Tip your hat and get ready for the next game tomorrow.”

With 3.7 seconds remaining, Aldridge caught the ball outside the 3-point arc on the left side of the floor, took one hard dribble to his right to get to the elbow and launched a 17-foot stepback that swished through the net, framed by the red light of the backboard.

“It was so fast, they couldn’t scheme me on that,” said Aldridge, who finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds. “I just popped to the ball, got to my spot and shot it real quick.”

It was an All-Star moment for Aldridge. Although point guard Raymond Felton played his best game in a Portland uniform, scoring a season-high 30 points, there was never any question about who the Trail Blazers were going to go to with the game on the line.

“We’re going to LaMarcus,” Trail Blazers coach Kaleb Canales said. “LaMarcus hit a big shot. Big-time player, big-time shot.”

Nothing the Mavs’ big man could do about it.

DALLAS -- It's been a rough day for Delonte West's left ankle.

He has turned the ankle twice today. His status was in question after he stepped on a basketball during shootaround, but he had a productive first half, scoring six points and dishing out two assists in 12 minutes.

Then West turned the ankle again, walking slowly into the locker room after suffering the injury in the final minute of the first half.

West landed awkwardly on his left foot after a nice drive past Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge for a layup. He stayed down on the baseline for several seconds and limped into the tunnel with a trainer behind him after getting up.

UPDATE: West returned for the second half.

Follow along with our experts as they tweet and chat throughout tonight's Mavs-Trail Blazers game in Dallas.

DALLAS -- Delonte West doesn't want to watch any more games from the bench. He's already missed a third of the season due to a gruesomely fractured right ring finger.

Now West is dealing with a fluke ankle injury, but he hopes it won't cost him any time. He's testing the ankle on the Mavs' practice floor, but he plans to play, as evidenced by the padding he put on underneath his jersey.

"These games are too important right now," said West, the Mavs' primary point guard while Jason Kidd recovers from a strained right groin. "I also don't want to hurt my team trying to be Superman."

The Mavs won't have Ian Mahinmi, who is out Friday night for the delivery of his first child. Coach Rick Carlisle said he hopes Mahinmi will rejoin the Mavs for Saturday's game in Memphis.

West has been getting treatment on his left ankle since the morning shootaround. He turned it when he landed on a ball after shooting a jumper.

"Unfortunate kind of deal," West said. "I was shooting a jumper, and the ball just came out of nowhere. I came down on it and tweaked my ankle."

DALLAS -- Consistency. Can the Dallas Mavericks capture it?

With the right effort they certainly should tonight against a Portland Trail Blazers team that has no concept of the word. A supposed championship contender at the start of the season, Portland instead fired coach Nate McMillan and unloaded players such as Gerald Wallace at the trade deadline.

PODCAST
Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle discusses Friday's game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Rodrigue Beaubois' play of late and whether he's ever had a player try to get him fired. Listen

They haven't won consecutive games since Jan. 23 and 24.

This game has little do with the Blazers and everything to do with the Mavs putting forth the effort of a champion in a game they must have against a lottery-bound team on their home floor on the first night of a back-to-back (at Memphis on Saturday).

"The focus has got to be on game plan and playing at full capacity," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "That's what we're shooting for tonight, tomorrow night and going forward. Look, we've had a lot of good efforts, Monday (against the Clippers) was not a good effort, so tonight we've got to put two in a row together."

That's something Dallas has done just four times going back to mid-February.

Records: Blazers (26-29); Mavs (31-24)

Where: American Airlines Center

TV: FSSW

Radio: ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM/1270 AM (Spanish)

What to watch: Defense. Can the Mavs bring it from the tip in the finale of this three-game homestand? In the first two games they could not. The Clippers and Grizzlies outscored the Mavs 98-80 in the first halves and combined to shoot 53 percent from the floor (44-of-83).

Key matchup: LaMarcus Aldridge vs. Brendan Haywood
The Seagoville native knows he'll see a variety of defenders on him tonight including Brandan Wright, Ian Mahinmi and probably even Shawn Marion, especially if things are tight late. But, Haywood will have first crack at the first-time All-Star, who has put up some fine numbers against his hometown team. Aldridge averaged 27.8 points and 9.0 rebounds in the regular-season series last year against Dallas and in the only meeting earlier this season, he had 33 points on 14-of-26 shooting and 12 rebounds.

Injuries: Blazers -- F Shawne Williams (left foot) is out; G Elliot Williams (left shoulder) is out. Mavs -- G Jason Kidd (strained right groin) is out.

Up next: Mavs at Memphis Grizzlies, 7 p.m. Saturday

DALLAS -- Mavericks sixth man Jason Terry has posted at least 15 points, four rebounds and three assists in three consecutive games.

"That's my average," Terry said following Friday's morning shootaround in preparation for tonight's game against the Portland Trail Blazers. "I'd like to do 20-5-3 for three games in a row, see if I can get that done. I know we've got a great chance to win if I do that. Just got to be consistent."

Terry hasn't put up 20-5-3 this season. In fact, Terry's scoring 20 points or more doesn't necessarily correlate to winning games. The Mavs are just 5-4 in those games.

Perhaps he knows of a formula that is more important to posting W's.

"More importantly for us tonight is coming out and guarding," Terry said. "When we get out and guard and get after it and don't allow teams to get comfortable in our building, we're pretty damn good."

The Mavs guarded in the second half of Wednesday's 95-85 win against Memphis, holding the Grizzlies to 34 points -- 17 in each quarter. Yet in both games of this three-game homestand, Dallas has not defended well in the first half. On Monday versus the Clippers, the Mavs trailed 47-33 at halftime and proceeded to lose the game 94-75.

After playing just three games last week, it's back to the unforgiving grindstone for the Dallas Mavericks, who embark on what could be a monumental week with four intriguing games, three at home and three against two teams the Mavs are sandwiched between.

By the time this slate ends Saturday night at Memphis, Dallas will have nine games remaining. Opportunity is abundant ahead of them in the West standings, but peril also lurks below.

The question is, which way will the Mavs, precariously perched at No. 5, go?

"We got a huge week here,” coach Rick Carlisle said. "We’ve got to pick our game up and we’ve got to be good at home. There’s a lot to be decided. This week is going to go a long way toward a lot of those scenarios. The Clippers have been a quality, high-level team all year. Like everybody, they’ve had their ups and downs. But they’re a tough matchup for us."

With two days off after their stirring, 15-point turnabout at Orlando that officially ushered Delonte West back into the mix, will the Mavs be able to carry momentum into tonight's game against the curious Los Angeles Clippers? Vinny Del Negro remains the head coach. Since the stories of internal grumbling hit, L.A., the No. 4 seed and 1 1/2 games ahead of the Mavs, has won five in a row.

The equally mysterious Memphis Grizzlies, a team that has Zach Randolph back but has won just four of its last 10 and has been awful on the road, are next up Wednesday. The No. 6-seeded Grizz begin the week a spot behind the Mavs in the standings, but actually with one fewer loss.

However, this is a doozy of a week for Memphis and tough timing for this matchup because it's the last of a dreaded back-to-back-to-back that starts at Oklahoma City on Monday then back to Memphis on Tuesday for Golden State and then on to Dallas (and it doesn't get better for the Grizzlies for Saturday's rematch in Memphis, see below).

The Mavs on Friday get the woebegone Trail Blazers, who come into Dallas having fired their coach and shuffled their deck, and with a 7-19 road record heading into the week.

These three home games mark half of what's left on the home schedule, meaning if the Mavs don't take care of business -- and they're just 19-8 at the AAC -- then playoff seeding and perhaps even just making the postseason will have to be secured on the road -- where they're a head-scratching 11-15.

With that, here's a look at this big week ahead:

Today: vs. Los Angeles Clippers (31-21), 7:30 p.m.
TV/Radio: FSSW/103.3 FM ESPN; 1270 AM (Spanish)
What to watch: The Clips have lost 10 in a row in Dallas, including a 96-92 decision on Feb. 13. That was one of just four games the Mavs have won when trailing after three quarters. Caron Butler narrowly missed a go-ahead 3-pointer with five seconds left after Jason Kidd made an uncharacteristic turnover. The Clippers' string of five consecutive wins all came at home. They haven't played on the road since March 22 and haven't won the road since March 9, but it was a big one, 120-109 at San Antonio. The best news for Dallas is that West is back in the rotation and should give Shawn Marion a break from chasing around Chris Paul. L.A., just 11-13 on the road, didn't play Sunday after sweeping a back-to-back Friday and Saturday.

Wednesday: vs. Memphis Grizzlies (28-22), 7:30 p.m.
TV/Radio: FSSW/103.3 FM ESPN; 1270 AM (Spanish)
What to watch: Zach is back but he isn't quite yet all that. The Memphis big man has played nine games since tearing the MCL in his right knee on Jan. 1. He put up 25 points and nine rebounds in his return against Toronto, but since he's averaged 11.1 points and 7.3 rebounds while the team has gone just 4-5. Still, no one is going to want this bunch in the first round. The Grizz won easily in Memphis at the end of February and make their one and only appearance in Dallas this season. They've won three in a row in this series and seven of 11. Their size with Randolph and skilled center Marc Gasol are not only a problem on the defensive end, but Memphis can use both massive bodies to blanket Dirk Nowitzki.

Friday: vs. Portland Trail Blazers (25-28), 7:30 p.m.
TV/Radio: FSSW/103.3 FM ESPN; 1270 AM (Spanish)
What to watch: The last time the Blazers rolled through town, native son LaMarcus Aldridge was a freshly minted All-Star, Nate McMillan still had a job and Portland was still considered by some to be a title contender. Dallas won that Feb. 11 meeting in double overtime with a boost from West coming in cold for the second overtime as coach Carlisle pulled Kidd in the name of minute management. Who knows what to expect from the Blazers, who are just three games out of a playoff spot, this time around? They're 5-5 in their last 10 and took the Clippers to the buzzer before falling Friday night. One thing the Mavs can't do is sleep on this team or else it will be an angry flight to Memphis.

Saturday: at Memphis Grizzlies (28-22), 7:30 p.m.
TV/Radio: FSSW/103.3 FM ESPN; 1270 AM (Spanish)
What to watch: The standings could look much different by the time this game is played (see above) with the weeks these two teams have. And if you think the Grizzlies will be more rested for this one than they were in Wednesday's game in Dallas, don't be too sure. After playing Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, Memphis is back at it Friday night -- at Miami.

SAN ANTONIO -- Jason Terry hasn’t hesitated to discuss his lack of job security with his contract expiring at the end of the season.

PODCAST
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle makes his weekly appearance on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's Galloway and Company, where he refuses to talk about his contract situation but does provide insight on Kelenna Azubuike. Listen

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle, on the other hand, refuses to touch the topic of his contract nearing its end.

“I’m not going to talk about my contract situation,” Carlisle said Friday afternoon on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM’s Galloway and Company, staying consistent with his policy on the matter. “We’ve got games to win. We’ve got a locker room full of free agents and a bunch of guys that I have such great respect and gratitude for. Right now, we’re in a foxhole fighting for our lives. The coach talking about his contract situation is not appropriate.”

Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson is on record saying Carlisle won’t be leaving the Mavs anytime soon.

However, there is already media buzz in Portland about trying to pry Carlisle away from the Mavs. Carlisle enjoyed his time as a Trail Blazers assistant early in his coaching career, and he’d have a young franchise player to work with in LaMarcus Aldridge. The Knicks job could be attractive to Carlisle due to the superstar talent in place along with Tyson Chandler’s leadership. And the Clippers job, which isn’t open yet, is certainly intriguing.

Then again, there’s the possibility that Mavs owner Mark Cuban and Carlisle have already agreed on a new contract but decided to delay making it official until the season is over. As Carlisle said, making the coach’s contract an issue on a defending championship team full of pending free agents isn’t appropriate.

DALLAS -- Lamar Odom's performances as a Dallas Maverick have been so underwhelming this season that on those nights when he shows a pulse, plays with a purpose and contributes to a victory, it gets bear-hug treatment from coach Rick Carlisle.

So when Odom played 23 minutes Saturday night with confidence, attacked and knocked down shots, contributing 10 points, five rebounds and no turnovers (and truth be told he was robbed of at least a pair of assists) in the wild 97-94 double overtime victory against Portland, Carlisle ranked the performance among the forward's best.

"I thought Lamar Odom played one of his best games of the year tonight," Carlisle said. "He had great energy, he was attacking, he was into the game. Dirk had some struggles early in the third, we went to Lamar, he made a couple big plays, hit a 3, it was stuff that kept us going during a tough spot."

At the 7:11 mark of third quarter, Nowitzki fouled Gerald Wallace for and-1, didn't like the call, made his feelings about it known and got hit with a technical. He sat down for the next five-plus minutes with Portland scraping and scrambling to try to get back in the game.

Odom immediately drained a 3-pointer and Vince Carter followed with his own to balloon the lead back to 14. Odom hit another 3 with 8:51 to go that increased a shrinking six-point lead to nine. Moments earlier he put a spin move on Nicolas Batum and put it in off the glass.

"I think right now it's important for me to play well and give the big fella a little bit of a break without us falling off too much. And when I say the big fella, I mean Dirk," Odom said. "He deserves a rest and deserves to be able to come out of the game and for the team not too fall off too much."

Odom finished 4-of-5 from the field and 3-of-3 in the second half when the Mavs needed it most.

"My body is getting back to where it needs to be," Odom said. "I feel a lot more comfortable and confident making moves. And not just making a move, but coming up out of the move, making a move or two and getting out of it and being explosive, being able to share the ball and make the right basketball play.

"Now, If I could hit a free throw then I'll be able to finish these games."

Odom, 0-of-2 at the line and shooting a woeful 57.5 percent on the season, might not be closing out games anyway. He won't be bumping Dirk Nowitzki out of the lineup, and Shawn Marion, who grabbed five of his team-high 12 rebounds in the second overtime, certainly won't go quietly.

But it's one step at a time, and on Saturday night Odom took another one.

Here's three more things to consider after the Mavs won their third in a row to move back to a season-high six games over .500:

1. Big Brendan Haywood: LaMarcus Aldridge showed why he's an All-Star with his 33-point, 12-rebound effort Saturday night. He made 14-of-26 shots and split his rebounds evenly at both ends. But, give the Mavs' 7-foot center credit, too. Dallas uses its centers to guard Aldridge, a power forward, because the Blazers don't have an offensive threat at the 5. That's a big job for Haywood, who must cover a lot of ground against the far more agile Aldridge, whose bread-and -butter is a beautiful mid-range fall-away. Haywood made his younger opponent work for his points and Aldridge had to double-pump in mid-air just to get his first overtime game-tying attempt up, and it bounced around the rim before dropping. Hawyood logged 38 minutes, nine more than his previous season high, leaving Ian Mahinmi and new fan favorite Brandan Wright mostly to watch from the sideline. Haywood finished with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting and 10 rebounds, his sixth double-figure rebound game of the season.

2. Turnovers are weird: The Mavs were fortunate to escape Minnesota having committed 18 turnovers (mostly because the Timberwolves coughed it up a remarkable 28 times). So Dallas was even more fortunate to get away with 23 turnovers Saturday night against Portland. The return of Jason Kidd was supposed to help cut down turnovers, so 41 in the last two games is certainly a cause for concern. The Mavs were turnover-free after one quarter and then committed eight in each the second and third quarters. The Blazers converted the 23 turnovers into only 23 points. Carlisle noted his concern by saying, "We're doing some things that are just uncharacteristically weird out there with the ball, and it's not like us.''

3. Free Roddy B?: Well, the return of Jason Kidd has sent Rodrigue Beaubois back to the end of the bench -- the deep, deep end. In Kidd's two games back, Beaubois has not played a second, has not needed to remove his sweats. He had the nice bounce-back game at Denver, scoring 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting one game after it appeared his confidence was totally shot (again) at Cleveland. It's so hard to figure what Beaubois' future holds. With Delonte West playing well, the minutes are going to be limited and maybe reserved for garbage time or strategically placed during extremely busy portions of the schedule. As of now the latest Free Roddy B revival was a short-lived one.

DALLAS -- There was so much running through Delonte West’s mind as the second overtime started Saturday night.

He thought about the strategic advice Mavs starting point guard Jason Kidd, who had hit his minutes ceiling for the night, had given him about attacking the Portland defense. He thought about getting loose again after sitting so long, having played only 15 seconds in the previous 11 minutes of game time.

Then he thought about a special 15-year-old kid in the American Airlines Center crowd as a guest of West’s.

“I thought about my man Lyndon Baty,” West said after the Mavs’ 97-94 win, referring to a Knox City, Texas, native with a rare, life-threatening kidney disorder whom West befriended after seeing Baty’s inspirational story on ESPN. “He was at the game and I was thinking about his strength and his character and what would he do right now. He propelled me and I sparked my team right there in that second OT.”

West put the tired Mavs on his back, scoring Dallas’ first six points of the second overtime period.

He took Kidd’s advice and attacked the Trail Blazers off the pick-and-roll, making them pay for hugging up on Dirk Nowitzki. He knocked down an 11-foot floater on the Mavs’ first possession of the period, a 19-foot pull-up a couple of trips later and finished the scoring flurry with a sweet 16-foot stepback, creating space to get his shot over Portland’s Wesley Matthews with a between-the-legs dribble.

“Phenomenal,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “The guy stays ready, and he’s a money player. He’s had that reputation since he’s been in the league, really. We’d been battling pretty good, but we needed a lift.”

West wasn’t done. He didn’t score again, finishing the game with 10 points, but his sweet feed to Shawn Marion made Brendan Haywood’s go-ahead tip-in possible in the final minute.

And West sealed the win in his primary role for the Mavs, serving as a defensive stopper. Trail Blazers guard Jamal Crawford had to jack up a wild shot at the buzzer, a prayer that didn’t get close to the rim, because of West’s in-his-grill defense.

“He’s always ready when his number is called,” Jason Terry said. “He’s either going to do the little things or the big things.”

As far as West is concerned, that’s just doing his job.

West’s pride after the gritty win over Portland wasn’t because he hit some big shots, something he had done plenty of times during his days in Cleveland and Boston. It was because he gave his little buddy Lyndon Baty, a big-time Mavericks fan, a night to remember.

“He’s fighting for life and he was doing it with a smile on his face,” West said. “You know, he reminded me of Maximus Aurelius in the movie Gladiator. He gets a big thumbs up from us.”

No doubt Baty would give West a similar review, especially after that second OT.