The Mavs activated Roy Tarpley from IR. Tarp had missed 20 games with tendinitis in his right knee and last played January 27. Houston at Dallas (February 28) Carl Herrera and Robert Horry did not play. Houston had only 9 players dressed. 1st: The game stayed pretty close at the start of the first quarter. Dallas was up 5-4 and the game was tied at 9-9. Houston was up 18-13 off of a 3-pointer by Kenny Smith. A couple of missed shots later, Clyde Drexler fed Smith for a layup and Houston was up 18-13 with 6 minutes left. The teams traded misses and baskets. An Hakeem Olajuwon miss led to a Dallas break, but Olajuwon got back to make the block and Houston ran. Smith got 2 and a foul on the break. He made the extra. 25-17 Houston. Chucky Brown got 2 more for Houston before Dallas ended their run with a basket by Scott Brooks. The teams traded points and Houston was ahead 29-21 with 2 minutes left. Drexler made a jumper and Dallas scored the last 5 points of the quarter. Houston 31-26. Brown had 10 points, Smith had 8 points, Popeye Jones had 6 points, Mashburn had 6 points, and Lorenzo Williams had 8 rebounds. 2nd: Roy Tarpley scored the first 6 points of the quarter for Dallas and Olajuwon had a hook shot to put the score at 33-32 Houston. Houston then turned the ball over and Dallas ran. Lucious Harris made the layup to give Dallas the lead. Brooks stole the ball and fed Tarpley for 2 and Dallas led 36-33 with 9:40 left. Sam Cassell answered with a 3-pointer and Vernon Maxwell threw in a 3 of his own. After Tony Dumas made 1 of 2 free throws and the teams traded baskets, Houston was up 41-39. The centers traded baskets and then the teams traded possessions on the next 6 plays. Olajuwon converted the 3 point play and Popeye made a jumper. 46-43 Houston. Mario Elie made a 3-pointer, and Olajuwon got 2 up close to give Houston a 51-43 lead with 4 minutes left. The teams traded baskets. Dallas went on a 9-0 run with 8 of those points, including a 3-pointer, from Jason Kidd. 54-53 Dallas 42 seconds. Drexler answered with a banker and nailed a 3-pointer just before the buzzer. Houston 58-54. Kidd re-injured his sprained left ankle, but was able to return after sitting out the last 30 seconds of the half. Houston was shooting 54% FG and Dallas shot 50% FG. Dallas shot 13-18 FT and Houston shot 2-2 FT [but Dallas was playing more around the rim than Houston]. Houston made 6-12 3-pointers. Dallas had 9 offensive rebounds that they converted to 15 points. Drexler had 9 points, Smith had 11 points, Olajuwon had 13 points, and Brown had 14 points including 7-9 FG and 7 rebounds. Tarpley had 10 points in 8 minutes and Kidd had 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. 3rd: The Mavs started the quarter with a 6-2 run to tie the game at 60-60. The teams traded baskets and missed 3-pointers and it was still tied at 62-62 with 8:55 left. Olajuwon made 1 of 2 free throws and the teams traded baskets. Olajuwon block a shot, Houston ran, and Smith got 2. 67-64 Houston 7:25. Brown made a layup. Kidd drove, made the layup, and was foul. He made the extra. Drexler got 2 and Mashburn got 2 off of free throws. Olajuwon made 2 more and Houston was up 73-69 with 4:55 left. Mashburn turned his left ankle [who's next???] and left for the quarter after missing 2 free throws. He returned about 3 minutes into the 4th. Houston was up 75-72 with 3 minutes left. The teams traded free throws. Drexler got a slam. George McCloud made 2 and Houston was up 79-76. Olajuwon made 1 of 2 free throws and Harris made a basket. After a miss by Drexler, Scott Brooks drove to the basket for the scoop shot. Olajuwon missed the mid court heave. It was all tied up at 80-80 after 3. Both teams were shooting 47% FG and Mashburn had 12 points in the quarter. 4th: Brooks opened the quarter with a jumper. Maxwell made 1 of 2 free throws. Donald Hodge made a jumper and Dallas was up 84-81. The teams traded a couple of possessions. Tarpley nailed a 20-footer and Dallas was up 86-81 with 8:36 left. Drexler scored the next 4 points on free throws. 86-85 Dallas 7:55. Houston tied the game at 90-90 on a dunk by Olajuwon with 6:53 left. The game was still tied at 95-95 with 4:44 left. Lorenzo putback a miss by Mashburn. Maxwell got 2 off a layup. 97-97 3:15. Dallas committed a 24 second violation and Maxwell missed 2 free throws. Kidd missed a 3-pointer and then blocked Maxwell's shot attempt. 2:12 left. Popeye missed. Elie scored on a finger roll with 1:35 left. Harris drove for 2 and it was all tied up again at 99-99 with 1:15 left. Drexler got 2 inside with 50 seconds to go. Kidd missed a 3-pointer and rebounded his own miss. 36.1 seconds. Mashburn drove baseline, missed, but Popeye got the one-handed tip-in while being fouled by Brown! And he made the free throw to give Dallas the lead at 102-101 with 23.9 seconds left. The Mavs were playing agressive D and Harris tipped the ball towards midcourt and Drexler ran it down. Drexler passed to Cassell who drove towards the basket and passed the ball out (smartly, as 3 Mavs converged in front of him and he ran smack into Popeye right after the pass [offensive foul if he had kept the ball]) to Olajuwon who missed the open free throw jumper off the back of the iron at the buzzer! Mavs Win! Dallas 102, Houston 101. There were six ties and four lead changes in the 4th quarter. Dallas outrebounded Houston 54-39, including 21-11 offensive. Houston, who lives and dies by the 3-pointers, made 6-12 3s in the 1st half and only 1-9 3-pointers in the 2nd half. The hero of the game was, of course, my man Popeye Jones with the game winning tip-in and free throw. He finished with another double-double at 12 points and 10 rebounds in 28 minutes. Jason Kidd had a great game and had 18 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. Scott Brooks also had a great game vs his former team. He had 12 points on 6-9 FG and 5 assists in 23 minutes. Welcome back, Roy! Tarpley had 13 points in 20 minutes. Jamal Mashburn led the way with 22 points. The role of unsung hero, as usual, goes to Lorenzo Williams. He had a solid game and played Olajuwon well. He finished with 10 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 blocks in 42 minutes, including the entire 1st half. Of all people, Chucky Brown was the star for Houston. Brown actually had a short stint with Dallas back in November, 1993 (last 12 days before being waived and played in 1 game for 10 minutes scoring 3 points on 1-1 FG and 1-1 FT and had 1 rebound and 2 fouls). He had 18 points on 9-12 FG and 10 rebounds. Clyde Drexler lead the Rockets with 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Despite playing against a smaller and lighter center, Olajuwon did not shine (compared to his usual MVP status). He had 21 points including 9-25 FG, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 7 rebounds in 44 minutes. Ya, that sounds impressive and he had some great plays, but he missed a lot of shots that he shouldn't have. Quotes: Popeye Jones: "I knew that Jamal was going to take the shot. I told him on the out-of-bounds that I was going to get the ball to him. I was just trying to concentrate on positioning myself well enough in case the ball came long to tip the ball in. Luckily, I held Chucky Brown off with one arm and tipped it in with the other." Dick Motta on Scott Brooks: "What tremendous pressure to come in in front of the home crowd - that is hard enough - and then to be playing against your former teammates that you have been through a world championship with makes it doubly hard," Clyde Drexler: "This is a game where you have to come out with a good frame of mind. Dallas was shorthanded and the easiest thing to do was take them lightly. You have to come out as little more focused and take care of business." 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 26 28 26 22 - 102 .513 .077 .449 .677 Houston 31 27 22 21 - 101 .516 .333 .471 .737 Halftime: 58-54 Houston 3rd Q: 80-80 Technicals: Dallas illegal D Officials: Dan Crawford, Nolan Fine, Scott Foster Attendance: 17,502 (sell-out) Dallas REB Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST PF STL TO BLK Jamal Mashburn 32 9-21 0-3 4-5 22 0-2 2 0 2 2 0 Popeye Jones 28 5-12 0-0 2-5 12 5-10 1 1 0 0 0 Lorenzo Williams 42 4-6 0-0 2-4 10 7-13 2 4 3 3 4 Jason Kidd 34 5-13 1-4 7-9 18 4-10 7 3 1 4 1 Lucious Harris 33 4-7 0-3 0-0 8 1-7 1 1 2 1 0 Scott Brooks 23 6-9 0-1 0-0 12 0-0 5 2 2 1 0 Roy Tarpley 20 5-12 0-0 3-4 13 1-3 1 3 1 2 0 George McCloud 16 1-3 0-2 2-2 4 1-3 1 1 0 1 0 Tony Dumas 6 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 1-1 1 1 0 0 0 Donald Hodge 6 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 1-5 2 1 0 0 0 Totals 240 40-89 1-13 21-31 102 21-54 23 17 11 14 5 Houston REB Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST PF STL TO BLK Mario Elie 23 4-10 1-5 0-0 9 3-4 5 4 2 0 0 Chucky Brown 40 9-12 0-0 0-0 18 3-10 1 3 0 2 1 Hakeem Olajuwon 44 9-25 0-1 3-5 21 3-7 5 4 2 4 7 Clyde Drexler 43 9-19 1-5 5-5 24 1-8 6 3 1 2 0 Kenny Smith 22 5-8 2-4 1-1 13 1-4 4 3 0 1 0 Pete Chilcutt 12 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-3 0 1 1 2 0 Vernon Maxwell 25 2-6 1-2 1-4 6 0-0 1 3 0 0 0 Sam Cassell 26 2-5 2-4 4-4 10 0-3 5 1 0 3 0 Tracey Murray 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 Totals 240 40-85 7-21 14-19 101 11-39 27 23 6 15 8 patricia