DALLAS - The star of Rajon Rondos debut with the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night was Monta Ellis — the teammate whom the Mave

DALLAS - The star of Rajon Rondos debut with the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night was Monta Ellis — the teammate whom the Mavericks hope helps Rondo form a lethal backcourt combination that will make them championship contenders. Wholesale NBA Jerseys Authentic .Ellis equaled his season high with 38 points, including 11 during the final four minutes, as the Mavericks rallied late to beat the depleted San Antonio Spurs 99-93. Ellis broke a 93-93 tie with a driving basket with 1:48 to play to give Dallas the lead for good. He hit 15-of-23 from the field and made four steals.The Spurs dropped their fourth straight, including three-overtime games on Wednesday and Friday.I felt it, Ellis said of his late surge. Its in my blood. Those guys were tired from last night, and their defence let up, so we took advantage.Rondo, the four-time All-Star who played his first eight-plus seasons with the Boston Celtics, scored six points on 3-for-11 shooting. Acquired Thursday in a multi-player trade, he had nine assists, seven rebounds.It was exciting, Rondo said. Best part was we got the win.Dirk Nowitzki, limited to 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting, said of his new teammate: I actually think that he knows the plays better than some of our own guys.Marco Belinelli led San Antonio with 21 points. Aron Baynes added a career-high 16 points.Spurs coach Gregg Popovich dressed 10 players and played only eight. Veterans Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, who logged 90 and 71 minutes in the triple-overtime games, respectively, were left home. Danny Green and Tiago Splitter dressed but didnt play. They already were missing injured Tony Parker (hamstring) and Kawhi Leonard (hand) while Patty Mills (back) has yet to play this season.Giving up 25 points off turnovers on the road is not going to make it easy to win a game, Popovich said. But I thought the effort and the play out of these guys was really spectacular.Rondo missed his only two field-goal attempts of the opening half and scored his first points as a Maverick with 7:59 to play in the third quarter on a drive that ended with goaltending by Boris Diaw.Rondos definitely a great player, the Spurs Cory Joseph said. He fills the stat sheet. He definitely can rebound. He can always pass the ball, so youve got to be aware on the weak side.The Spurs used a 12-point run starting in the final minute of the opening quarter to break a 21-21 tie and lead going into the fourth quarter. The Mavericks trailed 47-42 at intermission having scored their fewest first-half points of the season.___TIP-INSSpurs: They have lost six of their last eight games . San Antonio hit all of its 26 free-throw attempts. . The Spurs had won 10 consecutive regular-season games against the Mavericks, who took them to seven games in the first round of last seasons playoffs.Mavericks: Dallas won for the first time this season in five games in which it failed to score 100 points. . Coach Rick Carlisle said he doesnt expect Raymond Felton (ankle) to make his season debut by Christmas.MINUTE BY MINUTEPopovich said he has no set plans for further reducing minutes for Duncan, Ginobili or anyone else in the wake of the recent three-overtime games: It doesnt happen in one game or two games or six games. It happens over a season. You have to think in the long term.ZONE READ?Carlisle said the addition of Rondo could lead to Dallas playing more zone defence like it did with Jason Kidd: Its definitely in the tool box of things. On paper, he looks like a guy that would fit well at that scheme because of anticipation, long arms, defensive rebounding ability.UP NEXTThe Spurs will host the Los Angeles Clippers, the fifth consecutive game against teams that would currently qualify for the playoffs, on Monday.The Mavericks will host Atlanta on Monday. They are 12-2 against Eastern Conference opponents. NBA Jerseys China . A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press the Steelers will part ways with the former Pro Bowler, a move that hardly serves as a surprise after fifth-year linebacker Jason Worilds agreed to accept a "transition player" tag last week. Wholesale NBA Jerseys Free Shipping .com) - The Boston Bruins announced Monday that the team has signed goaltender Niklas Svedberg to a one-year contract. http://www.cheapnbajerseysusa.com/ .The 24-year-old quarterback spent four seasons at Northern Illinois and in 2013 was a finalist for the Heisman, which is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in U.BROSSARD, Que. -- It was up to veterans Brian Gionta and Tomas Plekanec to convince the world, and perhaps themselves, that the Montreal Canadiens still have hope. The team that looked so solid in coming back to eliminate the first-place overall Boston Bruins is down 3-1 to the New York Rangers in the NHL Eastern Conference final, but Gionta insisted Monday that morale is good and the Canadiens are far from finished. They will be facing elimination in Game 5 of the best-of-seven series at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night, however. "Its no secret: you start doing the right things, you start getting rewarded for it and momentum builds," Gionta said. "You keep carrying that. "A couple of teams have been able to do that this year, the Kings and the Rangers. So its not something that cant be done and with the group we have in here, we believe we can do it. And we believe weve got better as the series goes on." Gionta and Plekanec were part of a Canadiens team that came back from a 3-1 deficit to upset the high-powered Washington Capitals en route to their last trip to the conference final in 2010. They did it that time with desperate shot-blocking, spectacular goaltending from Jaroslav Halak and a quiet belief that they could pull it off. This time, they are looking to third-stringer Dustin Tokarski to imitate Halak. The 24-year-old has been solid in goal since replacing the injured Carey Price in Game 2, allowing eight goals in 11 periods over three games. He helped them claim an overtime win in New York in Game 3 but was beaten on Martin St. Louis overtime snipe in Game 4 on Sunday night. The Canadiens have played the Rangers close to evenly since a 7-2 loss in the series opener, but there were worrying signs in their latest loss. Defenceman Alexei Emein missed most of the first period after blocking a shot and then was mostly immobile after he returned. And top forwards Thomas Vanek, who has struggled all series, and Max Pacioretty were all-but invisible. And they remain without Price, the Canadian gold medallist from the Sochi Olympics in February who suffered a suspected right knee injury when New Yorks Chris Kreider crashed the net in the second period of the series opener. Price skated for about 20 minutes without equipment before the teams optional practice, but coach Michel Therrien said he will not be back in this series. For Gionta, hope comes from a feeling that his team is getting better and still has time to turn things around, as they did when they fell behind 3-2 to the Bruins in the conference semifinal. The Canadiens rebounded with their best game of the playoffs in Game 6 and closed it ouut in Boston two days later. Cheap NBA Store. "We were able to wear (Bostons) defence down with our speed and our forechecking," he said. "We need to get better at that and I think thats what weve got better at as (the New York series) went on. "Try to take advantage of their defencemen down low, try to spend some time in the offensive zone, and start to make breakdowns and make things happen that way. Our backs are against the wall. Its win or go home. I would expect the same kind of effort as we had against Boston for sure." They could also improve on special teams, although they had a breakthrough when P.K. Subban finally got a power play goal to tie the game in the third period on the sixth of Montreals eight man-advantages. "We sat down after the second period and made a little adjustment and it worked and hopefully we can carry it over to the next game," said Plekanec. "Special teams was one of the things that we probably werent good enough at in the series so far, so it would be a good time to turn that around. "Its not over. I didnt see one guy that was down after the game." Plekanec was among five players in the Game 4 lineup who joined the reserve players in the optional skate, along with Tokarski, Rene Bourque, Michael Bournival and defenceman Francis Bouillon, who scored in his first appearance in the series in place of rookie Nathan Beaulieu. Another potential boost for the Canadiens would be to score the first goal, which they did consistently in the first two rounds but have yet to do against the Rangers. It would perhaps give them another missing element -- confidence. "We have to start playing more with confidence, making the right plays at the right time," said Plekanec. "When theres a play, weve got to make it. "When theres no play, weve got to go for the puck. Sometimes we didnt make the right decisions, so thats an aspect that definitely can be better. Confidence is a thing that, when you dont make the right plays, you start chipping it in instead of making plays, and sometimes its a situation where you should have made a play." Therrien feels his team has shown it can bounce back against the Bruins and can do it again. Gionta, a Stanley Cup winner with New Jersey in 2003, agrees. "Part of the playoffs part of being a professional, of being part of a winning team is being able to regroup and forget about it and deal with the circumstances that are ahead of you and not with whats behind you," he said. "Guys were disappointed. It was a huge blow. But the series isnt over. We still believe in this group so no one is panicking." ' ' '