Did both teams shoot really bad? Yes. Did I get annoyed by some of the comments the announcers made? Yup. Was it a close game? Yes. Was the ending painful? Very. Did I think about not writing a summary because of the pain? Yes, but here I am. Now that the rhetorical questions are out of the way, some notes from the Mavs-Blazers game Tuesday night on TNT. I didn't get a newspaper, so I don't have much in the form of stats. The announcers started getting on my nerves by harping on the crowd. They didn't mention that the game was a half an hour earlier than almost all Mavs home games but kept mentioning how the fans liked to arrive late and how quiet it was. They then mentioned that there would be only about 13,000 people. I think that is quite good for a team that has played so bad for the past 3 years. In the first quarter, both teams played lethargic. The Mavs shot less than 30% FG and the Blazers around 32% FG. The Mavs could do nothing with Clifford Robinson and he had a good half with 15 points. Portland played very good D and I was impressed with their defensive rotation. It seemed that whoever had the ball was double teamed and whenever that player passed to the open Mav, he was double teamed before he could do anything. I was surprised that the Mavs didn't turn the ball over more with that tough D. Greg Dreiling started and wasn't very active in this quarter - I was yelling at the screen for Buckner to put Rooks in. The Blazers were up by 10 after one. In the second, instead of falling asleep like they had in the past two games, the Mavs came alive and start playing. They would make a run and then make a couple of rookie mistakes and then play mediocre for a bit and then rally again and then make some mistakes and ... Popeye Jones was hustling like crazy - going for loose balls, rebounds, and running the length of the floor to prevent a break away layup. I was surprised that the announcers only briefly mentioned how he got his nickname (it's the kind of stuff announcers usually drool over). Tim Legler made a couple of pretty shots (yes, there were actually some in this game). Darren Morningstar pissed Harvey Grant off and Grant got his 3rd foul midway through the 2nd. Apparently Terry Davis' participation in practice has had an effect on the team as several players were _not_ playing soft in the paint, especially Sean Rooks who gave two hard fouls in the second half, both to Terry Porter. The Mavs' rallies and slumps only cut two points off the Blazers' lead and it was 44-36 at the half. Dallas shot 29% FG on 15-51 in the half - it was their offensive rebounding that kept them in the game. Portland shot 40% FG on 16-40 in the half. Again, it was an up and down quarter for the Mavs. They would have some good rallies and then make some mistakes. Either Clifford Robinson cooled down or the Mavs figured out how to defend him as he only had 7 points for the rest of the game - most of those free throws. The Mavs played with a lot of emotion in the (about) last 2 minutes of the quarter and cut Portland's 5 points lead - they even had a 2 points lead on Derek Harper's 3 with about 30 seconds left. It was a tie game after 3, 62-62. Dallas came into the fourth hot and played with a lot of emotion as Portland went cold and had several turnovers. Dallas started the quarter with a 7-0 run in 2 minutes. TNT then switched over to the end of the Cleveland-Atlanta game where we got to watch 2 minutes of timeouts. When they finally switched back, Portland was within two. The game see-sawed back and forth for the rest of the quarter. With about a minute and a half to play, only Harper and Rooks seemed willing to shot. The others would pass instead of shooting. I guess Mashburn and Jackson don't have the desire to take the money shots yet - Jackson even threw the ball away a couple of times. With the game tied 87-87, Portland missed and Popeye Jones grabbed the rebound and immediately called timeout with about 2 seconds left. The clock didn't stop until .4 seconds, but the refs were "kind" enough to put 1 second on the clock. Jim Jackson fumbled the inbounds pass but managed to shoot an airball 3 pointer at the buzzer. Overtime. Overtime belonged to Portland. The first minute the teams traded baskets and then Portland went on a mini-rally. Dallas never recovered and nothing was clicking for them - very frustrating to watch. Portland won 100-93. For the game, Portland shot 39% FG and Dallas shot 34%. Clyde Drexler had 25 points on 8-20 FG and 9-11 FT, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. Terry Porter had 20 points. Clifford Robinson had 23 points. Derek Harper showed why some people love him and some people hate him. He made 5-9 3 pointers. The 5 were really sweet, but one of the misses was really ugly. The Mavs had just came out of a timeout and Derek throw up an airball from 3 feet behind the 3 point line. He played with a lot of hustle (as usual) and got a lot of minutes. I guess (hope) that Buckner and Harper have settled their problems as Derek has been playing a lot of minutes in the past 3 games and has not been pulled at key times. He had 21 points for the game. Popeye Jones played with a lot of hustle and impressed the announcers. He had 18 rebounds. (Have I mentioned how much I like Popeye or thanked Houston for their gift lately?) Jamal Mashburn had a decent game with 17 points. He started really cold (but, hey, they all did) and managed to connect more as the game went along. Nothing stellar or cellar. I liked Sean Rooks hustle and pounding. I hope Buckner comes to his senses and starts giving Rooks more playing time - and eventually giving him his starters position back. He is by no comparison the best center the team has. Jim Jackson didn't have good game. With this loss, Dallas now has the second longest loosing streak in team history at 16 games. Their longest is 19 and that is in danger with the Mavs facing San Antonio Thursday, at Houston Saturday, and at New York Monday. They then play at Milwaukee on Wednesday and Minnesota on Thursday. patricia [And I thought that this was going to be a short summary.]