Halftime in Dallas: Mavericks 47, Magic 45

The Orlando Magic jumped out to an early lead against the Dallas Mavericks in their first preseason game of the 2009/2010 NBA season, but trail at the half by a 47-45 score, as Dallas closed the half on an 8-0 scoring run.

Dwight Howard leads Orlando with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. Jameer Nelson has 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting--all three-pointers--while Rashard Lewis has added 10 points as well. High-profile newcomer Vince Carter has contributed 6 points on 2-of-6 shooting. Notably, 5 of his shot attempts have come from long-range.

Jose Juan Barea leads all scorers with 13 points in 14 minutes off Dallas' bench, as he's had no trouble getting into the lane against the Magic's sluggish defense. Dirk Nowitzki has 11 points on just 2-of-7 shooting, but has converted 7 of his 9 free-throw attempts.

As far as the Magic's rotation is concerned, Jason Williams was the first man off the bench, replacing Nelson at point guard after he picked up his second foul in the game's first 90 seconds. We've also seen J.J. Redick come in for Carter, Matt Barnes spell Mickael Pietrus at small forward, Brandon Bass replace Lewis at power forward, and Marcin Gortat relieve Dwight Howard at center. Ryan Anderson is the only Magic newcomer on a guaranteed deal not to appear in the game.

The Magic's offense stagnated at times with the lineup of Nelson, Redick, Pietrus, Bass, and Howard on the floor. I'm curious to see if that lineup fares better with another creator--Carter, most likely--in it.

The second half is due to get underway at any moment.