PITTSBURGH – Sometimes, payback doesn't come in the form of a gutsy victory.

On Tuesday night, it came in the form of a 30-point loss for the Mavericks.

They successfully turned the back-to-back games against the Cleveland Cavaliers into two lopsided affairs that revealed nothing about either team. It was a clear case of turnabout being fair play.

The Cavaliers started Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James, Anderson Varejao and Mo Williams – all of whom sat Saturday at American Airlines Center – and rolled to a 96-66 victory at the University of Pittsburgh's Petersen Events Center.

Clearly, the Cavaliers were treating this like their regular-season dress rehearsal.

Whether it was premeditated or not, it looked like the Mavericks and Rick Carlisle were giving the Cavaliers a dose of their own medicine. They foiled any plans to make this a tuneup for real games by sitting Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry, all of whom are healthy, in addition to sitting the injured Josh Howard, Shawn Marion and Tim Thomas.

Suiting up only nine players, the Mavericks trailed by as much as 39 points.

The decision to sit the three heavy lifters was made Monday. There's nothing unusual about resting stars in the preseason, although in this case, it seemed obvious that it was a response to Cleveland's strategy in Dallas.

Either way, what it means is that the Mavericks are certain to begin the regular season next Tuesday with virtually no live game action with their regular rotation of players on the floor together.

Not that there weren't some things to draw from the loss. Drew Gooden had 10 points and nine rebounds against his former team. The Mavericks also got 20 points and nine boards from Kris Humphries.

But the best news came in the second half, when the Mavericks found out they dodged a bullet physically. Roddy Beaubois came back into the game in the second half after limping off in the second quarter after taking a knee to the leg from O'Neal. Beaubois barely limped off the court on his own but played well in the fourth quarter.

"But I can still feel it," he said.

Retiring type? There is a petition supported by a University of Arizona booster group that is circulating and calling for Terry's jersey to be retired by the school.

"I'm all for it," Terry said. "There aren't many who they've done that for."

Actually, only four – Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Mike Bibby and Jason Gardner.

LeBron on football: James was asked before the game whether he sees Pittsburgh as a good basketball town.

"Nah, you got the Steelers," he said. "As long as you got the Steelers, you can't be a basketball town."

Asked for his idea of a good basketball town, James said Indianapolis and Lexington, Ky.

Clearly, he hasn't been to a Pacers game lately, but he was speaking more of high school and college basketball.

James, guarded well by Quinton Ross in the first half, finished with 12 points but made only three of 13 shots.

Pittsburgh suits Carroll: Matt Carroll had 17 points. It was the first time he'd played at Pittsburgh since his days at Notre Dame, when he lit up the Pitt Panthers with 31 points.

Carroll grew up in the Pittsburgh area until he was 14, then moved to Philadelphia.