This is why Cuban was so upset and why I'm...

[Guest]

ironically glad that JT and SAR weren't "high profile enough" to be selected for the World's team

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Mavs' Nowitzki scores 23 in losing effort

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Jermaine O'Neal scored 15 points as the United States beat Germany 91-73 in an exhibition game Sunday night that proved costly when Reggie Miller sprained his right ankle.

Reggie Miller left Sunday's game after landing awkwardly in the third quarter.

Miller, a five-time All-Star who plays for the Indiana Pacers, came down awkwardly on his ankle when he was fouled by Stefano Garris early in the third quarter. Miller did not return.

The exhibition game was a tune-up for the World Championships starting Thursday in Indianapolis.

All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks led Germany with 23 points.

In the 2001 European championships, Nowitzki averaged a tournament-high 28.7 points and 9.1 rebounds as Germany qualified fourth to earn one of Europe's five World Championship berths.

Nowitzki, Germany's lone representative in the NBA, put his team within five points in the third quarter, with a jumper at 4:30 that made it 50-45.

Nowitzki made it close again in the fourth quarter with a dunk that cut it to 79-73 with just 2:19 to go. But the United States went on a 12-0 run, punctuated by Shawn Marion's slam, to end it.

Marion and Michael Finley each added 14 points for the U.S. team.

The United States controlled the tempo from the start, taking a 43-34 lead into the half and holding its German counterparts to just 27 percent shooting from the floor.

Miller put the U.S. team up 41-28 with 1:19 to go before the half, but Nowitzki cut it to 41-32 with a pair of free throws and a layup.

Miller, who turned 37 on Saturday, is the oldest member of the U.S. team and has won gold medals with the U.S. in the 1994 World Championships and the 1996 Olympics.

In the first of their two exhibition games leading to the World Championships, the U.S. team beat China and 7-foot-5 center Yao Ming, the NBA's top draft pick.

With the appeal of Ming's first North American appearance, that first exhibition game sold out the Coliseum Arena in Oakland, Calif.

The game against Germany attracted considerably fewer fans to Portland's Rose Garden Arena, home of the Trail Blazers. An official attendance figures was not announced.

Baron Davis, bothered by back spasms in practices Friday and Saturday, started Sunday night, and Elton Brand, who missed the exhibition against China with a mild right knee strain, had six points.

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PS - Dirk didn't look too much like a sissy-baller; impressive considering he's the only NBA player on his team and I'm sure that much of our defense was focused on him....Marion and O'Neil, impressive (I mean how they couldn't slow him).