Despite what I said in a different post (Sonju wasn't all that clear), Director of player personnel Keith Grant said that unrestricted free agents do not have to be protected for the expansion draft. Restricted free agents can be selected during the draft. Here's an interesting stat for you: since Dallas made the dreadful Aguirre for Dantley trade, the Mavs have won only 156 out of 500 games. Not including the Detroit game (which is a sell-out), Dallas has sold-out 19 of their 29 home games and have had an average attendance of 16,485. The LA Lakers tried to snatch George McCloud out from under us. Prior to his being signed by the Mavs for the rest of the season, the Lakers made an offer to sign him for the rest of the season. When mentioned that playing for the Lakers could mean reaching the playoffs, McCloud responded, "I'm not even thinking like that. This team (Dallas) can scare a lot of people down the stretch. That would be about as much fun for me. Besides, this is the team that gave me a chance. I'm big on loyalty." On again, off again Mav Morlon Wiley was almost back in Dallas, this time as a special assistant. Friday morning, Wiley had accepted a position as a Mav assistant, but Friday evening Atlanta offered him a 10-day contract and he accepted. Part of his agreement with Dallas was that he could leave if an offer to play came along. Wiley: "I appreciate the opportunity. Mr. Carter has always been a real good owner. All he asks of the guys is they work hard. He's created a family environment." Jason Kidd told Mark Jackson (Indiana) about his sprained ankle prior to the Indiana game on February 26. During the game, Jackson responded by saying, "Hey, you're not really hurt." Kidd had 16 points including 7-9 FG and 9 assists in 35 minutes in the loss. Jim Jackson had been walking without crutches since Wednesday. They are waiting for the swelling to go down before starting the rehabilitation. In the not so important department, if Jackson does not return this season, he will not finish as a league leader in scoring. To qualify for a league leader in scoring, a player must play 70 games or score 1,400 points. Jackson currently has played in 51 games and scored 1,309 points for an average of 25.7 and is the 5th leading scorer in the league. [And Mashburn is 6th at 24.0.] Since Jackson has been out, Kidd has averaged 17.3 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds over the past 3 games (Indiana, Houston, Cleveland). Jamal Mashburn entered the ranks of bizarre injuries. He did not play in the Cleveland game, not due to his sprained ankle as I had thought, but because of a soreness on his right buttock caused by a penicillin shot. Mash has been suffering from the flu the past few days (which might explain his poor shooting in the last game) and received the shot for strep throat. He tried to work out the soreness by jogging up and down the court for about 30 minutes prior to the game. Mash: "I think I'm almost over the flu, but it's the soreness. I have trouble pressing down on my legs." Dick Motta to trainer Doug Atkinson: "Next time, give him pills." Special thanks to John Nordahl for letting me go to the game. John is finishing up his 2nd tour of the NBA for the book he is working on (look, John, free advertisement). [He's also the reason that the game notes are kind of sketchy as we talked about various basketball things during most of the game.] Cleveland at Dallas (February 2) Well, it was ugly basketball. The Cavaliers were throwing up bricks, but the Mavs could not seem to get more than an 8 point lead most of the first half. Neither team seemed really into the game. The Mavs were up 23-19 after 1 and 49-41 at the half. Cleveland missed 16 of their first 20 shots, but stayed in the game by only committing 1 turnover and having 7 steals, while Dallas had 13 turnovers and 0 steals. Those 13 turnovers lead to 8 Cavalier points. For the half, Dallas shot 52.6% (20-38) FG and Cleveland 31.3% (15-48). Dallas shot 7-8 FT and Cleveland 9-9 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Cleveland 30-17. The Mavs had 28 points in the paint and the Cavs had 18 points in the paint. George McCloud had 9 points and 5 rebounds, Popeye Jones had 6 points and 6 rebounds, Jason Kidd had 9 points, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds, Lucioys Harris had 8 points including 4-6 FG, and Roy Tarpley had 10 points. Chris Mills had 8 points. Terrell Brandon had 6 points on 1-8 FG and 4-4 FT, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists, and Bobby Phills had 8 points including 3-10 FG. Dallas built up their largest lead at 52-41 a minute into the 3rd, but could not hit anything the rest of the quarter. The Mavs shot 26% on 6-23 FG. Dallas was leading 64-60 after 3. Dallas built the lead up to 71-62 with just under 7:50 left. Dallas was up 74-68 before Danny Ferry went bonkers. Ferry scored 8 points during a minute and a quarter run, including 2 3-pointers, to give Cleveland the lead at 76-74 with 4:45 left. Dallas finally awoke and got into the game. Kidd tied the game at 76-76 on a pair of free throws and the score stayed there for a couple of plays. The Mavs ran the post-up play for Kidd on Brandon and Kidd got the layup and the foul. He made the extra to give Dallas a 79-76 lead with 2:36 left. Harris made 1 of 2 free throws and John Williams made a layup to put the score at 80-78. Kidd fed McCloud for a layup to push the Mavs' lead up to 82-78 with 1:20 left. After about 40 more seconds without any points, Mills missed 2 free throws. Cleveland immediately fouled Tarpley on the in-bounds and Tarp made his free throws to give Dallas a 84-78 with less than 39 seconds left. A couple of timeouts, a lot of free throws, and a few baskets later, Dallas won 90-84. Man, am I glad that Dallas only has to see Cleveland once a year. That's ugly ball they play. It may be effective, but it's not something I'd want to pay to watch. Cleveland officially tied the NBA record for fewest turnovers in a game with 3 turnovers. That is not correct though, as John noticed that they only had 1 turnover in the first 3 quarters and started keeping track for the 4th. Cleveland started the quarter with 2 quick turnovers and had at least 2 more in the quarter. Despite all the traveling that went on during the game, the refs only called about two of them. Tarpley alone had at least 6. With Jackson's and Mash's absence, the Mavs got a nice balanced attack from McCloud (16 points), Kidd (18 points), Harris (18 points), and Tarpley (18 points). Quotes: Jason Kidd: "When you have two of your guns on the sideline, you can't show that you're scared or nervous. I did feel poised out there, but I think I've been poised all season. I like these kinds of challenges because that brings the best out of me." Kidd: "I was letting the game come to me. When you have Jamal and Jimmy sitting, that's 50 points. But this team has had a good week. We're overcoming obstacles. This was another obstacle we had to overcome." George McCloud: "This was a great win. It will be great for the guys' confidence. Guys who hadn't been playing a lot stepped up." Dick Motta: "They make you play hard, and they make you look awfully bad. They shorten their offense. They milk the clock and they shorten the game." Motta on McCloud, who was inserted to guard Ferry after Ferry scored 8 consecutive points in the 4th: "He came in and did a great job on Danny Ferry. Ferry almost took the game from us." 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 23 26 15 26 - 90 .408 .500 .416 .793 Cleveland 19 22 19 24 - 84 .365 .308 .356 .783 Halftime: 49-41 Dallas 3rd Q: 64-60 Dallas Cleveland's largest lead: 76-74 4:46 4th Dallas' largest lead: 52-41 10:43 3rd Lead changes: 3 Technicals: none Refs: Jack Niles, Don Vaden, Tony Brothers Attendance: 12,194 (cap. 17,502) Dallas Reb Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk George McCloud 39 5-13 1-1 5-6 16 3-9 2 1 3 0 0 Popeye Jones 33 3-14 0-0 2-4 8 3-15 4 3 1 0 0 Lorenzo Williams 32 2-4 0-0 0-1 4 3-6 2 2 6 0 4 Jason Kidd 34 6-14 0-2 6-6 18 3-6 8 3 0 0 0 Lucious Harris 39 7-11 0-0 4-6 18 1-6 1 1 1 0 0 Roy Tarpley 25 6-15 0-0 6-6 18 2-8 1 2 1 0 0 Scott Brooks 17 1-4 1-2 0-0 3 0-1 2 0 1 0 0 Donald Hodge 13 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-4 0 3 3 1 0 Tony Dumas 8 2-2 1-1 0-0 5 0-1 0 2 1 0 1 Totals 240 32-77 3-6 23-29 90 15-56 20 17 17 1 5 Cleveland Reb Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Michael Cage 25 3-7 0-0 0-0 6 3-8 0 0 1 0 0 Chris Mills 38 5-11 1-3 5-5 16 2-4 1 0 3 1 0 John Williams 44 4-15 0-0 7-10 15 2-8 2 0 2 2 2 Terrell Brandon 37 5-15 0-3 4-4 14 0-3 7 1 5 2 0 Bobby Phills 37 5-15 0-0 2-4 12 1-5 4 1 4 2 1 John Colter 11 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 0-1 2 0 1 1 0 Danny Ferry 12 4-9 2-4 0-0 10 0-4 2 0 2 1 0 Tony Campbell 9 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 2-3 0 1 2 0 0 Fred Roberts 27 3-6 1-2 0-0 7 0-3 0 0 2 0 1 Totals 240 31-87 4-13 18-23 84 10-39 18 3 22 9 4 patricia