POSTGAME

** FINAL: Warriors 111, Mavericks 104. INSTA-STAT OF THE NIGHT: Monta Ellis (13 points), Stephen Curry (11 points) and Anthony Morrow (5) combined for 29 of Golden State’s 33 points in the fourth quarter, as the Warriors outscored Dallas by 12 in the final period.

FOURTH QUARTER

** Tommy Abdenour is working over Monta Ellis’ calves at every opportunity. Not clear what kind of shape he’ll be in tomorrow night in San Antonio. Of course, since it’s San Antonio (which means an automatic L for this team), who cares?

** Curry with the floating, one-legged runner high off the glass. That’s just a aesthetically gorgeous shot.

** Kidd/Barea miscommunication gives Monta an open look on the S/R, and he’s gone for a critical layup.

** Curry 3-pointer to put the Warriors up three with 2:20 left.

** Curry drove the length of the court, drew defenders to the middle — leaving Monta Ellis wide open at the 3-point line on the left wing — and got blocked on a layup rather than pass to Ellis. Freezing works both ways, I guess?

** Great look from Curry for the Randolph oop dunk to get the Warriors within two points at 98-96.

** Too many one-on-one Ellis forays where he’s not even looking to pass. And it’s interesting how much of an effect Kris Humphries’ defense is having on him.

** The next adjustment the Warriors will need to make is how to deal with early, trapping doubles on Ellis from teams looking to force the ball out of his hands.

THIRD QUARTER

** After praising Monta’s D, he’s getting run all over the perimeter and losing that battle.

** When Stephen Jackson was here, he took about a third of the initiating duties, splitting them along with Curry and Ellis. With Jackson gone, pretty much all of those possessions are getting invested in slashes to the hoop by Ellis.

** Monta is backing up his defense against Portland with another quality performance tonight. Also, it’s interesting to note that the Warriors are shading every S/R situation by having the on-ball defender slide over toward the pick, looking to initiate contact early and make it easier to cross over the top of screens. It’s an adjustment that’s worked nicely so far.

** Jason Terry starts the second half as the Mavericks try to go small.

SECOND QUARTER

** Jason Kidd abuses Stephen Curry in the low post, draws a third foul and forces him to the bench: He’s now at the top of the list of defensive targets, even above Anthony Morrow.

** We’re nearly into double-digits with the number of Dallas shots rimming out, but a miss is a miss is a miss: Golden State’s defense is holding the Mavericks to 13-for-34 (38.2 percent) shooting.

** Talk about your unforced errors: Without a defender within 40 feet, Radmanovic throws a cross-court pass for Ellis, who is moving the opposite direction and watches the ball bounce out of bounds.

** Anthony Randolph against Kris Humphries just doesn’t seem like a fair match.

** That was a great pass from Anthony Morrow to find Stephen Curry open ahead of the pack on the break.

FIRST QUARTER

** Watching Anthony Randolph guarding J.J. Barea never gets old.

** A big lineup of Mikki Moore, Vladimir Radmanovic and Anthony Randolph? First sign Keith Smart is running the show.

** Nine turnovers, and yet the Warriors lead 17-15. Seriously, the Mavericks should be a little embarrassed.

** So, basically, it’s Monta against the world. Hell, I could coach that.

** Has Stephen Curry been banned from shooting off the S/R? Or has that initial miss scared him from shooting altogether?

** Mavericks 10, Warriors 3 after 2:42 of play: I understand taking the early timeout, but honestly, don’t you want Quinton Ross to be shooting from 18 feet, even if he is wide open?

** When Drew Gooden beats your defense downcourt … well, I just don’t know what the hell to say to that one.

PREGAME

** I was on the road much of the day, so I didn’t have a chance to post about Don Nelson’s illness, so a few quick hits:

1) I definitely can see Nelson falling ill. He’s 69, in a high-stress job with oodles of air travel. It’s like living in an H1N1 Petri dish.

2) On top of that, this team is not that much fun to coach, IMHO. I think if this team were 10-2 instead of 4-8, Nelson might have soldiered through.

3) It’s hard to gauge because of all the injuries, but it will be interesting to see what kind of rotations Keith Smart uses over the next two nights.