That’s a wrap

The Mavs put the finishing touches on the eight-game preseason by easing past Chicago 96-88 tonight at AAC.

Josh Howard led the way with 19 points before leaving in the third quarter with a wrist sprain. Avery Johnson said he was about to take Howard out before he hit the floor falling over Bulls guard Ben Gordon.

Devin Harris had the pedal to the metal early, and finished with 13 points and four assists. Jason Terry was perfect from the field (6-6) and scored 16 in 20 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki took just six shots in 28 minutes, scoring 10.

Gana Diop, looking to establish himself at center, turned in his third straight solid rebounding game since returning from the flu with eight boards. Crowd favorite Brandon Bass tallied his fourth straight double-figure scoring outing with 10 points along with eight rebounds.

Asked if he was happy the preseason was over, Johnson went both ways with the answer.

“Yes and no,” he said. “Yes from the standpoint that it is preseason and no because we wish we could have another game before we open up, but that is just the way it is.

“We’ve done a lot of good things in preseason and we have gotten a lot accomplished, but we still have some days of practice. There is nothing like a game, so we will try to do the best that we can do and to try and manage these next six or seven days.”