I went to the Mavs-Golden State game last Saturday. I had fun watching the Warriors' players during the pre-pre-game warmup. They had the Texas-Michigan college game on the jumbotron and three or four players of the players would take a couple of shots and then stand around watching the game for a few minutes, take a few more shots and then watch the game... They didn't get too much shooting in there. Of course, Chris Webber was one of them. I was surprised that they had 10 players out there for about 20 minutes. (I commented to my dad that with the problems the press has been reporting, maybe the players didn't want to be in the locker room.) Chris Mullin left shortly after I arrived. Someone finally came out and sent all the players to the locker room. For the Mavs, Sean Rooks, Tim Legler, and Tony Campbell were shooting when I arrived and someone had just gone into the locker room. Lucious Harris came out a few minutes later. And that was it for about 14 minutes (although Dreiling did come out, but he just spent the time stretching). The rest of the players, except for Mashburn and Randy White, came out and they actually had an organized warm up. I had never seen them do this before. At one end of the court, they had a shooting drill and at the other end, they had a big man drill. I don't know if it was by design or if one person started doing it and the other joined in. They stayed out there for about 13 minutes. Lucious Harris was _hot_. He looked good and I hoped it would carry over into the game. My big question that I would be very greatful if someone would answer is who is the announcer for the Warriors who shoots 3s so well? After all the players left the court, he took off his jacket and started shooting threes from the corner - long sleeve shirt and tie and all. He was hitting an incredible percentage, and then he got hot. After he made his ninth straight, he got some applause. Then his tenth and the applause got louder as more people figured out what was happening. And his eleventh. And his twelfth. He missed his thirteenth and a big "aww" was heard. He stopped after the miss and we gave him a nice round of applause. Who was he??? [The real irony was that the half time show was a three-point shootout. The winner made eight out of 18.] The game (I'll keep the summary short so I can get this out today): The Mavs started by looking pretty poor and definitely were not into the game. Fortunately, Golden State was missing a lot of their shots the first few minutes of the game. The teams started hitting more and it was definitely a fast paced game. Neither team substitiuted until a couple of minutes left in the quarter. The Webber-Mashburn shootout that I was hoping for didn't appear. it was 30-24 GS after 1. A couple of minutes into the quarter, Buckner inserted Tim Legler and a little bit later, Lucious Harris. Both of them were on fire and played the rest of the quarter. Thanks to their efforts, the Mavs out scored Golden State 38-28 in the quarter and were up 62-58 at the half. Buckner came out of the half with his starters and did not substitute until about 3 minutes left in the quarter - and it was Tony Campbell that came in. He inserted Legler with about 2 minutes left in the quarter. The Mavs were getting creamed on the boards. Nobody, for the Mavs, was getting any. Jim Jackson also had many off his 8 turnovers in the 3rd - and they were ugly turnovers. Chris Gatling was having an incredible game. Latrell Sprewell was having a poor game. At one point, he was only 3-11 FG and two of the 3 makes were awesome (and I mean awesome) dunks. I was really surprised when I saw his final stats. Golden State led 90-87 after 3. They announced during the break that Jamal Mashburn had reaggravated his hip injury and wouldn't be returning. I had wondered why he was having such a poor game and had attempted so few shots. A warning sign: they had a fan event during the quarter in which a fan scoops with a shovel money from one can and drops it in another can. Chris Mullin walked over, looked in the can, saw it was money, and jokingly grabbed a handful and stuffed it in his shorts. No, the opposing players aren't supposed to have that much fun and be enjoying themselves. The Mavs continued to perform poorly. The only thing they had going for them was Golden State had 5, including the 1st, illegal defenses called against them. Harris and Legler only took a couple of shots during the quarter. At one point a line up of Legler, Harris, Jackson, Campbell, and Jones was in there. The final was GS 116, Dal 107. 1 2 3 4 F 2FG% 3FG% TFG% FT% Golden State 30 28 32 26 - 116 .524 .333 .511 .827 Dallas 24 38 25 20 - 107 .456 .200 .517 .619 ^^Ouch The key for the game: rebounds. Golden State outrebounded the Mavs 53-32 and 23-11 offensive boards. And they are supposed to be a poor rebounding team. It also didn't help that the Mavs missed 8 freethrows. The Warriors were the first team this season to have four players with 20 points or more against the Mavs. The Warriors: Chris Mullin had a solid and enjoyable game with 20 points on 9-16 FG and 2-3 3-ptrs, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 5 steals in 43 minutes. Billy Owens also played well and had 20 points on 8-16 FG and 4-4 FT and 9 rebounds in 39 minutes. Chris Webber had a spetacular dunk but didn't shine as brightly as I was hoping for. [Heck, I wanted a rookie shootout.] He had 13 points on 6-10 FG and 1-2 FT, 12 rebounds, and 2 impressive blocks in 26 minutes. Avery Johnson had 2 points on 0-6 FG, 0-1 3-ptrs, and 2-2 FT and 2 assists in 14 minutes. Latrell Sprewell had those two incredible dunks and apparently had a good 4th quarter. He had 24 points on 7-16 FG, 0-2 3-ptrs, and 10-11 FT, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in 46 minutes. Jeff Grayer had 16 points on 6-13 FG and 4-5 FT in 39 minutes. Chris Gatling looked like a starter in a surprising performance. He had 21 points on 9-11 FG (!!!) and 3-5 FT, 15 rebounds - 8 offensive, and 4 blocks in 28 minutes. Jud Buechler had no stats besides 4 minutes. Josh Grant had no stats besides 1 minute. The Mavs: Jamal Mashburn reaggravated his injury in the second, but continued to play with it. He struggled the entire time on the court. He had 6 points on 2-7 FG, 0-1 3-ptrs, and 2-5 FT, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in 28 minutes. Doug Smith had a quiet and mediocre performance with 12 points on 6-11 FG and 0-1 FT and 4 rebounds in 28 minutes. Lorenzo Williams was the only Mav who could rebound Saturday night. He had 8 points on 4-7 FG and 0-2 FT, 10 rebounds with a team high of 4 offensive, and 2 blocks in 27 minutes. Fat Lever continues as the Mavs only true point guard. He had 9 points on 4-9 FG, 0-2 3-ptrs, and 1-2 FT, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists in 33 minutes. Jim Jackson had a solid offensive performance, but needs to learn to control the ball. He had 31 points on 13-24 FG, 0-2 3-ptrs, and 5-5 FT, 2 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 blocks, and 8 turnovers in 45 minutes. Tony Campbell didn't look that good and had 10 points on 5-10 FG, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist in 23 minutes. Popeye Jones looked aweful. His only stats were 2 rebounds with 1 offensive and 1 foul in 12 minutes. Tim Legler was impressive. He had 20 points on 7-13 FG, 2-4 3-ptrs, and 4-4 FT, 2 assists, and 0 turnovers in 24 minutes. Lucious Harris also played well and had 11 points on 5-8 FG, 0-1 3-ptrs, and 1-2 FT in 20 minutes. Randy White, Greg Dreiling, and Donald Hodge DNP-CD. patricia