Mavs long time PA announcer Kevin McCarthy returned after being out a few weeks due to ear surgery. The Mavs activated Doug Smith and placed Jim Jackson on IR with his sprained ankle. Detroit at Dallas (March 4) 1st: Detroit was up 6-3 then Dallas scored the next 6 points to go up 9-6. Dallas was up 13-12 when Detroit scored the next 4 points to go up 16-13 with 4:53 left. Scott Brooks nailed a 3-pointer and the Mavs were up 20-16. The game was tied at 20-20 and Detroit was up 25-23 after 1. Detroit was shooting 48% FG and Dallas 38% FG. Popeye Jones had 6 points and 3 rebounds and Oliver Miller had 8 points and 4 rebounds. 2nd: Detroit opened the quarter with a 7-1 run and was up 32-24 with 10:05 left. The Mavs battled back and were down 36-31 with 7:42 left and 38-35 with 5:54 left. The game was all tied up at 41-41 with 3:52 to go. The lead went back and forth and was tied at 47-47 at the half. Detroit shot 46% FG (21-46) and Dallas shot 40% (17-43) FG. Detroit shot 4-5 FT and Dallas shot 11-16 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Detroit 25-19. Roy Tarpley had 12 points in the quarter. For the half, Joe Dumars had 0 points on 0-6 FG (and Jason Kidd was playing good D) and Allan Houston had 10 points. 3rd: Detroit started the 2nd half with 2 3-pointers. Jamal Mashburn nailed a long 2 to give Dallas' its first points of the quarter. Detroit led 53-49 with 9:51 left. Detroit was up 58-55 with 8:06 left. Grant Hill got his 6th point of the game on a banker and Detroit led 60-55 with 6:30 left. Mashburn nailed a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 61-60 lead with 5:33 left. Dallas was up 64-62 with 4:17 when Kidd drove to the basket and Miller fouled him hard. Kidd fell flat on his back and just laid there. Miller was assessed a flagrant foul. Kidd stayed down a few minutes before he even sat up [and I eventually remembered to breathe]. During that time, Miller gathered a T for complaining that it wasn't a flagrant (it wasn't), then coach Don Chaney also got a T for arguing the call. Lucious Harris made the two technicals and Kidd made 1 of 2 free throws and then sat. Tarpley was fouled on the following play and made both free throws to give Dallas a 69-62 lead with 3:36 left. Dallas was up 73-68 with 1:50 left when Detroit closed the quarter strong with a 8-0 run. 76-73 Detroit after 3. Mashburn had 20 points and 3 assists, Tarpley had 16 points and 6 rebounds, and Kidd had 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. Houston had 16 points and 3 rebounds, Grant Hill shot 4-12 FG and had 7 rebounds and 7 assists, and Joe Dumars had come alive (and Tony Dumas then Harris were defending him) and had 11 points. 4th: Detroit was leading 78-73 with 10:20 to go. Tarpley hit the open baseliner for Dallas' first points of the quarter. 78-75 Detroit 9:05. Detroit was up 80-77 with 8:24 to go and both teams were shooting 2-7 FG for the quarter. Dumas made the layup and converted the 3 point play to tie the game at 80-80 with 7:45 left. Dallas was still ice cold and committing turnovers and Detroit was up 84-80 with 6:45 left. Kidd drove for 2 to bring Dallas within 2 at 84-82 Detroit 5:40. The teams traded misses and Hill drove for 2 and the foul. He made the extra to give Detroit a 87-82 lead with 4:50 left. Dumars flopped and drew the offensive foul on Kidd. Miller hit the 10-footer and George McCloud hit the 3-pointer and Detroit was up 89-85 with 3:37 left. Lorenzo Williams blocked a shot (1 of 6 blocks for the game) and Kidd missed a 3-pointer badly. Hill made 2 free throws. 91-85 Detroit 2:51 left. Dallas turnover the ball over and Dumars missed a 3-pointer. Mashburn nailed a jumper. Detroit was up 91-87 with 2 minutes left. Terry Mills made 1 of 2 free throws. Dallas turned the ball over again and Dumars made a free throw on the illegal D call. Miller got 2 inside. 95-87 Detroit 1:06. Kidd blew the easy layup and Miller got the easy 2 on the break. The rest was just details. Detroit 98, Dallas 91. If you can't make a basket and turn the ball over down the stretch, you're not going to win. Pure and simple. The Mavs shot 8-26 (30%) FG for the 4th quarter and 35.2% FG (32-91) over all. Only Roy Tarpley (8-16) and Scott Brooks (1-2) shot 50%. Detroit controlled the pace of the game by slowing down to a 24 second offensive, minus a couple of fast breaks. Joe Dumars. What more needs to be said. He's an all-star. 19 points in the 2nd half. Once he got started, he couldn't be stopped. Even when they finally put Kidd back on him in the 4th quarter. Neither Grant Hill nor Jason Kidd had all that great of an offensive game. But both helped in other aspects. Kidd had 10 points including 3-15 FG, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists. Hill had 15 points including 6-16 FG, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists. It's not fair to call it a match-up as neither defended the other. But they did have 2 of the more interesting match-ups. Kidd did a good job on Dumars in the 1st half and 6'8" Hill defended 7'0" Tarpley in the 4th and held him to 2 points. Kidd and Hill shook hands and shared a few comments at half court both before the game and after the game. Quotes: Joe Dumars: "It was a big win for us. We haven't had a road win in a long time. It was very important for us to get it over with." Dumars: "As a veteran you have to pick it up and know when to pick your spots. I felt like if we were going to have a chance, I was going to have to step it up and take control." Dick Motta: "We played so good against Houston, and Cleveland was a real challenge for us, so maybe we thought we were playing a team of our own caliber. I think the hot-shot rookies had something to do with it. We had a real good practice yesterday, we were going 800 miles per hour. Tonight, they didn't even look like the same bunch." Motta: "It was like, 'Oh, do I have to sit through the second half? I could have stayed home and watched a real game.'" Jamal Mashburn: "They played great defense. Joe Dumars took over and he showed veteran leadership. It's frustrating, we couldn't get it going." Jason Kidd: "I was getting the same shots I've been getting. That's the way it goes sometimes. Sometimes you're on fire. Or you can be out there building a house [bricks], like I was tonight." On the change of play after the flagrant foul: Don Chaney: "We were already playing with intensity. But I thought we picked it up emotionally from that point." Motta: "You're at home. That's when you want to go for the throat. Step on them while they're down. They were in disarray. They were down." 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Detroit 25 22 29 22 - 98 .500 .267 .460 .824 Dallas 23 24 26 18 - 91 .368 .267 .352 .767 Halftime: 47-47 3rd Q: 76-73 Detroit Detroit's largest lead: 98-87 4th Dallas' largest lead: 69-62 3:36 3rd Dallas' last lead: 73-72 1:14 3rd Lead changes: 12 Technicals: Miller 4:15 3rd, Coach Chaney 4:15 3rd, Dallas illegal D 1:26 4th Refs: Ron Garretson, Greg Willard, Luis Grillo Attendance: 17,502 (sell-out) Detroit Reb Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Terry Mills 29 4-8 1-2 1-2 10 0-6 1 0 5 0 2 Grant Hill 38 6-16 0-0 3-3 15 2-9 9 2 3 1 0 Oliver Miller 33 8-15 0-1 1-1 17 4-10 1 3 3 2 4 Joe Dumars 42 7-18 0-4 5-6 19 0-2 6 4 3 0 1 Allan Houston 43 5-12 3-6 3-4 16 1-4 1 2 4 0 1 Negele Knight 11 2-4 0-1 0-0 4 0-3 3 0 1 0 0 Rafael Addison 23 3-7 0-1 0-0 6 0-1 0 0 3 2 2 Mark West 15 3-5 0-0 1-1 7 2-4 1 0 0 0 2 Mark Macon 6 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 240 40-87 4-15 14-17 98 9-40 22 11 23 5 12 Dallas Reb Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Jamal Mashburn 38 8-20 2-5 4-5 22 2-4 4 2 1 2 0 Popeye Jones 25 3-10 0-1 1-2 7 2-7 1 0 3 0 0 Lorenzo Willaims 36 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 3-9 2 0 3 1 6 Jason Kidd 34 3-15 0-3 4-6 10 2-7 7 1 3 1 0 Lucious Harris 31 5-13 0-2 7-8 17 2-3 1 1 2 1 0 Scott Brooks 14 1-2 1-1 1-2 4 2-4 1 2 2 0 0 Roy Tarpley 30 8-16 0-1 2-2 18 2-9 1 2 3 0 1 Tony Dumas 13 2-6 0-1 2-3 6 3-2 1 0 1 1 0 George McCloud 14 1-5 1-1 2-2 5 2-5 2 1 0 0 0 Donald Hodge 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 240 32-91 4-15 23-30 91 20-50 20 9 19 6 7 patricia