The Pacers had a point to prove, so what better opportunity than on national TV?  Hey, it works for Jerry Springer!

Mark Montieth of the Indianapolis Star writes that the Pacers felt that they wanted to push the point across that they are for real and that they can beat any team.  They proved it last night by handing the Dallas Mavericks their first loss of the season, denying Dallas the opportunity becoming the third team in NBA history to start a season 15-0.  The Pacers now sit in second place in the NBA with a 12-2 record.

"There are only so many statement games throughout the year, and this was one of them," Reggie Miller said.  "Everybody contributed."

It certainly was a team effort for the Pacers, with different players dominating at different points in the game.  'Ron Artest scored the game's first 10 points. Al Harrington had 15 in the second quarter, when he solved the Mavericks' zone by getting into the foul lane. And Jermaine O'Neal scored 13 in the final period, capping off a second consecutive standout game,' writes Montieth.

"I wanted to win the game, not only for my team and the city but for my family," O'Neal said. "You can barely understand what she's saying because she's only 3. I'll try to get her to write more letters."

Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Dallas Mavericks are one win away from tying the NBA record for the best record to start a season. After their 102-82 win against the Pistons last night, they are 14-0. The record is 15-0.

The Mavericks go for that record Thursday night against the Indiana Pacers. A victory at Conseco Fieldhouse will tie them with the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and 1948-49 Washington Capitols for the best start. The Mavericks also improved to 7-0 on the road. The franchise record for consecutive road wins is eight.

Last nights? win was even more impressive because the Mavericks carved up one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference on their own court. The Mavs demolished the Pistons by 39 points in Dallas 18 days ago. After last night?s win in Detroit, the Mavs swept the season series by a combined 59 points.

Right now, the Mavericks can't get any better in one regard. The only way to improve on 14-0 is to reach 15-0.

Pat Riley consistently praises the defensive efforts of Grant and Allen and would like to reward them with touches in the paint. But he recognizes their limitations.

''[Brand, Olowokandi and O'Neal] are entirely different post-up players than ours,'' Riley said. ``The level of post-up, back-to-the-basket play is at a different level, so we don't do that much.

``But we talked about that, and we're going to have to try to generate somewhat of a post presence where the defense is going to have to respect that.''

Branson Wright of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Cavs coach John Lucas has finally found a way to cut back on Ricky Davis? minutes. Davis was benched in the first quarter of last night?s 95-75 loss to Indiana Pacers and never returned.

Lucas said last week that he wanted to limit Davis? time on the floor. Through the first seven games of the season, Davis had averaged over 40 minutes. He was sent to the bench with six minutes remaining against the Pacers and did not see action for the rest of the first half. In fact he never came out of the locker room for the second half.

The blowup reportedly started during an heated on-court discussion between Davis and Cavs guard Bimbo Coles in the first quarter. Lucas then replaced Davis with Milt Palacio during a timeout. Coles would not comment on the exchange between himself and Davis. Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said whatever happened in the locker room would stay in the locker room. Lucas, meanwhile, said he just decided not to play Davis.

"I just wanted to go another way," Lucas said. "When the game got out of hand, it gave us an opportunity to play and look at some of our young guys."

Davis did not return to the court with his teammates after half time. Immediately after the game, Davis slipped past the media and out of the locker room. He was escorted to the team bus by several members of the Conseco Fieldhouse security.

The New York Times reports that Jason Kidd has been fined for his actions in Friday night?s foul-filled game against the Indiana Pacers. After reviewing tape of the game, the NBA fined Kidd $5,000 for shoving Pacers guard Jamaal Tinsley.

The NBA?s executive vice president Stu Jackson said Kidd was not suspended because they feel he didn?t throw a punch. "That's probably fair," said the Nets' president, Rod Thorn. "It looked to me as if the guy fouled him, he had him, and Jason tried to extricate his arm."

There were nine individual technical fouls and four flagrant fouls in the game, and three players were ejected: Kidd; his backup, Anthony Johnson; and Indiana's Erick Strickland. Each of the ejected players are automatically assessed a $1,100 fine. Kidd is the only player to receive an additional fine.

"The league fined me for the shoving match," Kidd said. "The league deserved to fine me. I pay the fine; we have to move on now. It's a game we should probably put behind us but also learn from it. I'll learn from that night."

Steve Aschburner of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the Timberwolves -- and several other teams -- have been trying to institute more of a motion offense to make up for the absence of injured point guard Terrell Brandon and ease the burden on his replacements.

Indiana Pacers coach Isiah Thomas finally has the athletes he craved to install his Quick attack, a variation on the theme. And the New Jersey Nets got to the NBA Finals last spring using concepts known around basketball as the Princeton offense.

What gives? Why now?

"The game is moving back to old-school basketball," Thomas said prior to tipoff Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse. "Some of the marketing of the game lent itself to kids growing up thinking it was a one-on-one, isolation-type game, when they started marketing the star players and not necessarily the team. I think it's going back the other way to five people playing together, five people sharing, five people moving."

Thomas said he exchanged motion ideas with Wolves coach Flip Saunders at the Chicago pre-draft camp in June. The Pacers' version differs somewhat from the Wolves in cuts and positioning, as does the Nets', but the philosophy essentially is the same.

Liz Robbins of the New York Times reports that the Pacers and the Nets re-opened some old wounds last night. In the first rematch since the Nets eliminated the Pacers from last season?s playoffs in a hard-fought 5-game series, the Nets were able to gut out a 102-91 victory.

Here are the important stats:

There was a total of 59 personal fouls, and 9 individual technical fouls (5 for the Pacers).  4 flagrant fouls were whistled and 3 players were ejected (2 for the Nets but not Kenyon Martin). These numbers seem to indicate that the Nets-Pacers rivalry will lead to some bitter games.

"It was a crazy game, it got out of hand early on; the referees let some things get by, and it escalated," Martin said. He said he thought the Pacers' attitude brought it on. "They might have had a chip on their shoulder. I didn't think it would get that bad. It started from the playoffs last year; they thought they were better than we are."

"They're a young team and very physical, and we knew that was the type of game we'd have," Coach Byron Scott said. "When you're getting beat up and knocked around, you got to react some type of way, and our guys are not going to just take it. It got out of hand, and I knew it was going to get out of hand the first quarter."

With the Nets comfortable in the lead in the 4th quarter, Jason Kidd and Jamaal Tinsley scuffled. Tinsley appeared to push Kidd down in one possession without a call from the referrees. Kidd retaliated by flinging an albor toward Tinsley while trying to post up in the next possession. Kidd was ejected for an "open hand foul" and Tinsley was assessed a technical foul.

Kidd said he did not hit Tinsley with an open hand. "I'm not a thug," he said. "I think in the heat of battle, you're trying to get away from all the contact. The referee made a judgment call. It was the wrong call."

Kidds? backup was ejected after just 31 seconds on the floor. After missing two free throws, Anthony Johnson got thrown out of the game for pointing a finger in Tinsley's eye, almost as if he were defending Kidd's honor.