Monta Ellis smiling wide after Pacers’ 26-point win over Mavs

He can say it’s just another game, but we know otherwise.

His smile after the game said otherwise.

Going against the Dallas Mavericks, the team Monta Ellis played for the previous two seasons and chose not to re-sign him over the summer, the Pacers’ marquee summer signee couldn’t help but smile in the locker room after Wednesday’s game.

“Yeah, they were talking (to me),” Ellis, who signed a four year, $44 million deal with the Pacers, said while cheesing. “It was all jokes and laughter and probably got me going. Hey, we got it going.”

It took Ellis a while to get in a groove. About 27 minutes of game time, in fact. He missed all eight of his shots in the first half and a 20-footer 14 seconds into the third quarter.

“First half I was broke,” he said. “Had some good looks but they just weren’t going down. Coach just told me to continue to attack, keep taking my shots and I was just able to get out in transition in the beginning of the second half, get some easy buckets, and shots just started falling.”

Three minutes into the third, Ellis drained a pull-up jumper from 18-feet out. Then he got a steal, followed by a dunk. 27 seconds later, a finger roll.

“Monta is a streak shooter. Once he got a couple of baskets, he was on his way,” said Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki.”

That 6-0 spurt forced Dallas coach Rick Carlisle to take timeout, and the Pacers would never relinquish the lead, which would balloon to as many as 26.

“He really got himself going,” Pacers head coach Frank Vogel said following the Pacers’ 107-91 win. “… It was just a matter of time. Monta is at the point in his career where scoring 25 points a night isn’t the most important thing. Winning every night is. I love that he’s all about winning right now.”

“I’ve been playing basketball since I was five,” Ellis said. “I’ve never been scared. I always approach the game the right way. I guess it’s just in my blood to just go out and just play. It’s a game.”

“It is (just another game), but it definitely feels better,” said Dallas native C.J. Miles, who scored a game-high 20 points. “I know being my hometown team (that) it definitely feels better. And I didn’t even play there so I know he feels good.”

Also, you know everybody is watching back in Dallas.

“Exactly,” Miles said with a smirk.

Say what you want, Monta, but your face tells the truth. And you just couldn’t hide that smile after the 26-point stomping.

Paul George played through an upper respiratory infection and still managed 19 points and seven rebounds in 32 minutes.

Now, the Pacers look to string three consecutive wins together since losing four of five when the Brooklyn Nets, including ex-Pacer guard Donald Sloan, are in town on Friday night (7:00 p.m.). They, the Pacers are on the road for three of their next four games.