The Dallas Mavericks are unsure if Josh Howard or Tim Thomas will play vs. the L.A.

BEN TORRES / Special to DMNDeron Williams had 20 points and nine assists in his return to the lineup, Carlos Boozer added 15 points, and the Utah Jazz beat the Dallas Mavericks 111-93 on Saturday night.Sefko:

The Mavericks will see what they’re made of Friday and Saturday when they play at San Antonio and host Utah, Eddie Sefko writes in this week’s Inside the Dallas Mavericks newsletter.

Wayne Winston is a professor at Indiana University and for nine years was Mark Cuban’s stat guru for the Dallas Mavericks. Winston’s book “Mathletics” explains much of his work — complete with formulas and spreadsheets

VERNON BRYANT / DMNClearly intent on erasing the memory of an early-season loss to the Dallas Mavericks on their home floor, the Los Angeles Lakers plowed rolled to a 131-96 statement-making victory at Staples Center.

Slowly but surely, Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard is regaining his form, to the point where he’s found himself pleasantly surprised with the progress his surgically repaired left ankle has made.

We’re a little jealous of Royce Young. He gets to enjoy the experience of being a fan of his hometown team for the first time. Young is the founder and author of Daily Thunder , the TrueHoop Network’s excellent blog in Oklahoma City. We’re grateful that Royce will be in the big chair on Thursday hosting TrueHoop

We’re a little jealous of Royce Young. He gets to enjoy the experience of being a fan of his hometown team for the first time. Young is the founder and author of Daily Thunder , the TrueHoop Network’s excellent blog in Oklahoma City.

One of the simple ways of experiencing basketball is by talking about it with people who share your love of the game. One of the people I enjoy rapping with is John Krolik of Cavs the Blog and SLAM Online . The best conversations are the ones that produce interesting questions, then aim to answer them. Here are some of those questions about the NBA John and I have been bouncing around in our last couple of conversations: D

How much can you take away from a single regular-season loss? For fans of the Lakers and Magic, that debate had every bit as much resonance over the weekend as the discussion about what, specifically, went wrong in their teams’ respective losses against Cleveland and Boston on Christmas Day.