LA Clippers at Dallas (April 18) Dallas held a 8-4 lead as both teams were missing a lot of shots. The Clippers pulled within 1 at 10-9. The Clippers were only shooting 3-12 FG. Dallas scored the next 4 points to go up 14-9 with 5:15 remaining. Dallas' lead was still 5 at 18-13 with 3:14 left and at 20-15 with 2:30 left. After 1, Dallas led 26-19. Eric Piatkowski had 9 points. Charles Outlaw got hit with a T for hanging on the rim. Roy Tarpley made the free throw to give Dallas a 29-23 lead. Dallas was up 37-29 with 6:54 to go. Tarpley got a putback to give Dallas a 42-34 lead with 5:24 left. The Clippers scored the next 5 points, then Dallas scored the next 9 points. Dallas 48-39 with 2:10 to go. The Clippers closed the quarter with a 9-3 run. At the half, Dallas led 54-48. Dallas shot 46% FG and the Clippers shot 47% FG. Dallas was out- rebounding the Clippers 28-17. Jamal Mashburn had 11 points, Tony Dumas had 9 points - all in the 2nd quarter, Tarpley had 9 points and 7 rebounds, George McCloud had 6 points, and Lucious Harris had 6 points. Piatkowski had 11 points and Loy Vaught had 8 points. All who played in the 1st half scored. [Reception went from horrendous to incomprehensible, so 2nd half game notes taken from wire reports.] Dallas led 84-73 after 3. Scott Brooks got a layup and Dallas led 90-76 with 8:25 left. The Clippers went on a 12-4 run to get within 94-88 with 4:25 left. Vaught had 8 of those 12 points. Dallas closed the game with a 10-3 run and won 104-91. Tarpley had 6 of Dallas' last 10 points. Dallas out-rebounded the Clippers 61-44. Lorenzo Williams broke the Mavs team record for blocks in a season with 145. Kurt Nimphius had 144 in 83-84. The game was the Mavs' 26 sell-out of the season. Quotes Dick Motta: "We let them stay around a long time. I thought we moved the ball up and down the court real well tonight. When Roy is like that he can really do it. He just seems to get to the ball when he is in sync." Motta: "We're not eliminated yet. We'd like to end the season on a positive note, no matter what happens. We've won 36 games this year. I would have taken 14 -- one more than the Mavericks had last year." Jason Kidd: "We're still alive and have something to play for. We could still get in, but if we don't, the season certainly hasn't been a failure." Kidd: "If somehow we sweep all of these games and Denver losses a couple here and there, maybe we can slide right in there. But our season is not going to be a failure if we do not make it. If we win all of our ball games and somehow Denver and Sacramento don't want to go to the playoffs then we'll be happy to go." Lucious Harris: "We're still thinking about the playoffs, it's keeping us going." Bill Fitch: "We kept crawling up on them and it looked like we were going to get over the hump, but never got over it. A lot of the time we were shooting ourselves in the foot. Rebounding is an important part of defense and I don't take a lot of pride in the defense we played tonight." Fitch on the Mavs: "They've really got it turned around. They have tremendous players coming off the bench like George McCloud and Scott Brooks. There offense just keeps coming after you. We made a run, but they had too many guns." 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Team Reb Dallas 26 28 30 20 - 104 .500 .200 .465 .846 4 LA Clippers 19 29 25 18 - 91 .441 .333 .422 .696 6 Halftime: Dallas 54-48 3rd Q: Dallas 84-73 Technicals: Charles Outlaw 10:06 2nd (hanging on the rim), Bill Fitch 6:02 4th, Dallas illegal D 10:36 4th Refs: Bill Oakes, Ed Middleton, Ted Bernhardt 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 26 8-15 0-2 4-5 20 2-3 2 5 1 3 0 Popeye Jones 27 6-9 0-0 3-4 15 2-8 2 3 0 0 0 Lorenzo Williams 33 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 5-11 0 3 0 3 1 Jason Kidd 33 3-11 1-4 2-2 9 3-6 9 0 2 5 0 Lucious Harris 31 6-15 0-1 2-3 14 2-5 2 3 2 2 0 George McCloud 22 3-8 0-0 2-3 8 1-5 2 2 0 1 0 Scott Brooks 15 2-6 0-1 2-2 6 1-1 1 0 1 0 0 Roy Tarpley 23 7-11 0-0 5-5 19 7-14 1 0 0 5 0 Tony Dumas 18 3-5 1-2 2-2 9 0-1 0 5 0 3 0 Doug Smith 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-3 1 3 0 0 1 Totals 240 40-86 2-10 22-26 104 24-57 20 24 6 22 2 LA Clippers Reb Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Pts O-T Ast PF Stl TO Blk Loy Vaught 38 13-20 0-0 2-3 28 6-17 0 3 2 3 0 Eric Piatkowski 26 5-12 1-4 2-2 13 1-3 0 3 0 0 0 Tony Massenburg 17 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 1-4 0 3 0 2 0 Pooh Richardson 20 2-4 1-1 1-1 6 0-1 7 1 1 0 0 Harold Ellis 17 1-5 0-0 2-2 4 2-3 2 1 1 1 0 Gary Grant 28 4-8 1-2 0-0 9 0-1 7 4 0 3 0 Terry Dehere 31 1-9 1-4 4-6 7 1-1 2 5 0 5 1 Michael Smith 10 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Charles Outlaw 30 4-7 0-0 1-3 9 3-6 1 2 4 2 1 Lamond Murray 22 2-9 1-3 2-4 7 1-2 3 2 0 0 1 Randy Woods 1 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 240 35-83 5-15 16-23 91 15-38 22 24 8 16 3 The race for 8th: With Denver's loss to San Antonio and Dallas' win, the Mavs are still (barely) in the playoff hunt. Either a Denver win or Dallas loss will eliminate the Mavs from the playoffs. And Denver plays Minnesota at home tonight. There are 3 games left for the 3 teams fighting for the 8th playoff spot in the Western Conference (who will likely face San Antonio in the 1st round). The remaining schedule: Denver (38-41) Sacramento (37-42) Dallas (36-43) 4/19 Min at Den 4/20 Sac at GS 4/20 SA at Dal 4/22 Den at GS 4/21 Sea at Sac 4/21 Dal at Pho 4/23 Sac at Den 4/23 Sac at Den 4/23 Dal at LAC 2 home, 1 away 1 home, 2 away 1 home, 2 away Correction: New York's pick will most likely be the 24th, not 22nd as I had mentioned (I forgot to figure in the expansion teams). patricia