Monta Ellis responds to criticism with huge night as Mavs top Spurs

Dallas Mavericks guard Monta Ellis entered Tuesday night's game against the surging San Antonio Spurs in the middle of his greatest struggle in his two years with the franchise. The 29-year-old guard went just 4-of-22 for 11 points in a disappointing loss to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, leading head coach Rick Carlisle to impugn the team's effort and inspiring speculation that Ellis won't be with the team past this offseason. Simply put, Ellis was not the most popular guy in a Mavericks uniform when they got set to tip off against the defending champs at the American Airlines Center.

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One game won't change everyone's mind, but Ellis proved that he can still be a very valuable part of the Dallas attack in a 101-94 victory over San Antonio that created a virtual tie with the Spurs for sixth place in the West standings (the Spurs are still ahead by percentage points). He tied his season-high with 38 points on 16-of-27 from the field (2-of-6 from deep) and added five assists, regularly making things happen in the pick-and-roll and knocking down open mid-range jumpers when available. It was an ideal Monta Ellis performance, the sort of display that has caused him to be such a success under Carlisle for the bulk of his time in blue and white. Take a look at the highlights here:

After the game, Ellis and Carlisle made sure to respond to the "Too much Monta?" question posed by ESPNDallas.com's Tim McMahon after the Suns debacle:

While the Spurs wouldn't seem an ideal opponent for a bounce-back night, they were the perfect opponent for Ellis. He came into Tuesday having averaged 32.0 ppg on 59.1 percent shooting in this season's two previous games vs. San Antonio. But it's not as if the Spurs simply ignore Ellis so they can get after other scorers — top defender Kawhi Leonard checked him for much of the night and had this fantastic steal to show for it:

It's obviously not yet clear if Ellis's fantastic night proves to be an outlier, but it's worth remembering that his horrific showing against the Suns and his previous 3-of-9 outing in a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies weren't exactly a continuation of horrible struggles, either. While it's true that the Mavericks offense hasn't been stellar and that Ellis has not come up huge in crunch time, the blame shouldn't fall only on his shoulders. The Dallas offense has been at its best over the past two years when Ellis is in command of the pick-and-roll, and it would be wrong to identify him as the problem simply because he has been a low-efficiency malcontent at other stops in his career. (For that matter, it would be similarly wrongheaded to scapegoat Rajon Rondo, even if his introduction via trade in December seems to have set off the Mavericks' dip.) Problems are rarely so simply explained, especially when they pertain to a system as complicated as that of an NBA offense.

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This 38-point explosion could end up as a momentary high in the middle of the Mavericks' lows, but it does prove that the team is not beyond repair. There is serious talent on this roster — it's up to Carlisle and his players to figure it out. With only 10 regular season games left, they don't have much time to find that ideal setup before the playoffs.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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