"We've struggled all year shooting threes," coach Lionel Hollins said. "Dallas played us a zone to cut off our inside game, but O.J. (Mayo), Mike (Conley) and Rudy (Gay) shot the threes well."

No one shot it better than Mayo, who made five-of-eight threes. Mayo has insisted lately that the Grizzlies had several good three-point shooters, although the stats didn't show it.

"Every good team has shooters," Mayo said. "We have shooters, we've got guys who can make threes. We just had to start making them at a higher rate."

Because the Grizzlies are getting three-point looks this year in a different way over last year -- it's more of drive-and-dish, inside-out three look than throw it around the perimeter three -- it has taken time for an almost totally new team to learn. "I think we've finally learned to trust each other on both ends of the floor," Mayo said. "We're making the extra pass on offense and on defense we're helping each other. Relying on that trust is a big step for us."

GRIZZLIES 98, MAVERICKS 82: A 17-0 Grizzlies' run in the second quarter erased a six-point deficit and proved to be a blueprint for the Grizzlies' eighth win of the year, improving to 5-3 at home. Dallas shot just 35.2 percent from the field, as Memphis played some of its best lockdown defense of the year.

The Grizzlies went cold at the start of the fourth quarter and coach Lionel Hollins feared his team would have the same meltdown it suffered in a recent loss at the Clippers. But once O.J. Mayo broke the final period ice with a three-pointer, Hollins felt a lot better.

"We kept attacking the basket, and that's something we didn't do in Los Angeles."