Eddie Sefko

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Every preseason, there is usually one throwaway game, and the Mavericks had theirs Saturday night.

Not that they didn't do some good things. They had only three turnovers in the first half, a welcome sight after averaging over 15 in the first four exhibitions.

And Dirk Nowitzki showed he's dialed in on his jump shot and just about everything else with 19 points, hitting eight of his first nine shots in 26 minutes.

Tack on a 93-82 victory and it all sounds good until you hear that Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James, Mo Williams, Delonte West and Andersen Verajao didn't play for Cleveland. That's 100 percent of the Cavaliers' preferred starting lineup.

As you might suspect, the game quality went south much quickly. But the Mavericks were ahead, 43-37, at halftime while shooting 37 percent. That was a testament to their solid defense, no matter who Cleveland played. And it fulfilled one of Carlisle's desires: that the Mavericks find a way to win games (or halves) when shooting poorly.

"Exhibition isn't reality," Carlisle said before the tip. "I mean LeBron James is scoring 15 a game [in the preseason]. It's just not going to go down that way."

Hopefully, there won't be any more games that go down the way Saturday's did, either.