DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks finally have championship rings for their first NBA title. "Wow! Looks good," NBA finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki said after accepting his ring, kissing it and then holding it high over his head for all to see. Exactly a month after raising the championship banner before the season opener Christmas Day, 11 players from the title-winning team got their rings in a pre-game ceremony Wednesday night before playing the Minnesota Timberwolves. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and coach Rick Carlisle, who was the first to receive a ring, presented the diamond-encrusted jewels to Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and seven other current players who were on last years team. Also getting their rings during the ceremony were retired player Peja Stojakovic and J.J. Barea, who now plays for the Timberwolves and part of the reason the ceremony was held when it was. The ceremony began with a video of the Mavericks being presented the NBA championship trophy at the end of the finals and other playoff highlights. It was the same montage shown on Christmas Day, with a couple of additions -- video of the banner raising and the teams trip to the White House earlier this month. The rings werent ready for the season opener because Cuban waited until after the NBA lockout so he could confer with players about the design. Carlisle introduced each player, the last being Nowitzki, who was dressed in a suit during the third of at least four games hes sitting out to improve game conditioning and his sore right knee. The coach introduced the 10-time all-star and former NBA MVP as a player "who one day soon will have a statute in front of the AAC (the teams arena) without question. The greatest player in Mavericks history." Nowitzki thanked everybody for taking part in a "special, special" night, then pointed out that there was one more ring left. "Without this man, nothing was possible," Nowitzki said. "Hes the greatest owner in sports. Heres Mark Cuban. Thank you very much." Cuban held up his ring and turned in a full circle to acknowledge the cheering crowd. Barea, who missed his fourth consecutive game for Minnesota because of a sprained left ankle, received a huge ovation when he was the first player introduced by Carlisle. The rest of his Timberwolves teammates had retreated to the locker room before the ring ceremony. The four players from last seasons team not present to get rings were Corey Brewer, Caron Butler, Tyson Chandler and DeShawn Stephenson. Carlisle said he looked forward to presenting rings to those players later this season. Carlisle is part of an exclusive group of people who have won championship rings as a player and coach. He was a player on the 1985-86 NBA champion Boston Celtics, though he said he is not much of a ring wearer and expects his new Mavericks ring to join that one securely stored away. "Weve got to be able to get the rings and enjoy that moment and then move on to the game and do better than we did opening night," Carlisle said before the game. "I think at this point, we have a good handle on it. This is the third one of this sort of thing that weve had, the banner and the White House and then this." The Mavericks lost the season opener 105-94 to the Miami Heat in a rematch of the NBA finals that wasnt really that close. Dallas was already down by 15 points after the first quarter and 21 at halftime. Jordan Mills . -- Jermaine Marshall scored eight of his 29 points in the second overtime and Jordan Bachynski blocked T. Brian Urlacher .C. -- Cam Newton wasnt flawless on Sunday. http://www.thebearsproshop.com/kids-d-j-williams-orange-jersey/ . The GWAA takes into account more than just a players performance on the PGA Tour. Scott won four times around the world, none bigger than his playoff victory at Augusta National to become the first Australian in a green jacket. Alshon Jeffery Jersey . Marian Gaborik had two goals and an assist and Martin Jones made just 17 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season as the Kings snapped a three-game losing skid with a 3-0 victory over the lowly Oilers on Thursday. Mike Ditka . As the lowest-ranked of nine unseeded European qualifiers, France was expected to go in the Africa-dominated draw pot — meaning it could not be placed in the same group as a top-seeded European team.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Over their 13 seasons, the Columbus Blue Jackets have wilted at the finish a lot of times. They did again on Tuesday night, giving up a tying goal in the waning seconds of regulation. But they more than made up for it later. Ryan Johansen took a stretch pass from James Wisniewski and scored on a wrist shot at 3:33 of overtime to lead the Blue Jackets to a 4-3 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night, tying a franchise record for wins. "It could have been one of those oh-no moments," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said of the Coyotes Oliver Ekman-Larssons tying goal with just 14.6 seconds left in regulation. "But credit to the guys. We went out and found a way to win." When Johansen, a 21-year-old, notched his 32nd goal, a roaring crowd of 16,289 was so loud it was deafening. "I was sitting on the bench just admiring it," Johansen said with a grin. "It was loud. It was pretty cool to watch. Its great we could finish it out for them and make them even happier." Not only did Johansens goal provide the Blue Jackets 41st victory to match their most, but it also pushed them even closer to a spot in the playoffs. They retain the second wild-card spot in the East and moved just two points back of third-place Philadelphia in the Metropolitan Division. "It was huge for us," said Blake Comeau, who had given the Blue Jackets a 3-2 lead with just over 6 minutes left. "Everyone knew how important these points are this time of year. We could let off the gas and gotten down on ourselves after that late goal. But the guys did a great job of rallying." The Blue Jackets improved to 41-31-7, matching the victory total set in 2008-09 -- the only time the club has made the playoffs. Sergei Bobrovsky had 29 saves, Boone Jenner and Mark Letestu also had goals and Artem Anisimov added two assists for Columbus, which heads out on the road to close the regular season. "We go on this three-game road trip now feeling a little better about our game and ourselves," Johansen said. The Blue Jackets had taken a 3-2 lead with 6:18 left when Comeau pulled up on a rush and snapped off a shot from the top of the left circle that got past goaalie Thomas Greiss.dddddddddddd "I just tried to fire it on net, to be honest, as hard as I could," Comeau said. With the crowd cheering every play down the stretch, the Coyotes silenced them by tying it. Ekman-Larsson circled at the point and ripped a shot that flew through heavy congestion in front to get past a surprised Bobrovsky. "(Mike Ribeiro) got it up to me and I just walked the line and tried to shoot the puck and I was lucky it went in," Ekman-Larsson said after his 15th of the season. After a Phoenix turnover, Wisniewski sent a long pass to Johansen who raced in from the left wing with one defender back and tucked a hard wrist shot inside the far post against Greiss, who had 26 saves. "It was a roller-coaster," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "Our effort was really strong. Our execution, well, it was a choppy game. A team would turn over the puck and the other team would score and get the advantage." Martin Erat and Shane Doan also had goals for the Coyotes, who have lost five in a row (0-2-3). They came in with 86 points, just a point back of Dallas which holds the second wild-card spot in the West. "It was a nice shot by their guy," Doan said. "This is a tough place to play. Bobrovsky is a great goalie. They have some great young players who go to the net hard and they play hard. We wanted to find ways to get to the net and we did. We just needed to make one more play." In the end, Columbus got the puck onto the stick of the right guy. "We got one of our most talented players in a position to make a play," Richards said. "And he made the play." Notes: After the game, Columbus left for a game at Dallas on Wednesday for the resumption of a suspended game from last month, then will play back-to-back games at Tampa Bay and Florida on Friday and Saturday. ... Nathan Horton played one shift in the second period for the Blue Jackets after missing four games and then left with an apparent recurrence of a lower-body injury. ... Phoenix RW Radim Vrbata assisted on Erats goal to reach 50 points in a season for the third time (07-08, 11-12). ... Erat has 17 goals and 42 assists in 62 career games against Columbus. ' ' '
