The Mavs will have a House Party hosted by KLIF Wednesday at Reunion Arena. The doors will open at 5 pm and the Mavs will practice from 6:00 to 7:30. It is free, including parking. Tonight's game vs Minnesota in LA won't be broadcast on KLIF until 10pm (or whenever the SMU game ends) on tape delay. Dallas vs Portland in Inglewood, California (October 20) Buck Williams and Clifford Robinson did not play. It was an incredibly small crowd according to Ted Davis. He guestimated that there were about 200 people there for the start of the game and maybe up to 2,000 by the end. The game started at 5 pm Pacific time and preceded the LAL-Min game (which had about 8,000 in attendance). Starters Portland: Dontonio Wingfield, Rod Strickland, Aaron McKie, Chris Dudley, Bob Thornton Dallas: Jamal Mashburn, Jason Kidd, Jim Jackson, Loren Meyer, Popeye Jones The CBA refs were extremely whistle happy the entire game. Wingfield collected his third foul 3 minutes into the game and sat. Portland was up 6-5 with 8:30 left. Dallas went on a 11-1 run behind Mashburn, who had 8 points already, and was up 16-7. There wasn't much pace to the game due to the refs constantly blowing their whistles - both teams were in the penalty half way through the quarter. Popeye collected his third foul with 5 minutes left and Dudley got to show his improvement from the summer. According to Ted Davis, Dudley has gotten rid of the ugly hitch he used to have in his free throw shooting (aw, there goes the fun from watching him shoot free throws). He made 4-6 FT for the game (he shot 46% last season). Dudley also got a T for letting the refs know how good of a job they were doing. Mashburn continued to score and the Mavs were up 25-15 with 3 minutes left. Dallas was up 33-24 after 1. Both teams were shooting over 50% FG. Mashburn had 20 points on 5-8 FG and 10-11 FT and Jackson had 5 points. The bench was in for Dallas for the 2nd quarter. The whistles continued to blow and it was a really boring quarter. Portland had committed 10 turnovers in the first 17 minutes of the game and Dallas was up 40-32 with 7 minutes remaining. Portland went on a 13-7 run over 4 minutes to cut Dallas' lead down to 47-45 with 2:50 left. Dallas closed the quarter with a 6-3 run and led 53-48 at the half. None of Dallas' starters played in the quarter and Strickland did not return until the last 1 1/2 minutes of the quarter. For the half, Mashburn had 20 points, Terry Davis had 8 points and 5 rebounds, Tony Dumas had 8 points, and Jackson had 5 points. Harvey Grant had 8 points, Dudley had 8 points, and Strickland had 6 points. Dallas' shooting was down to 41% FG (thanks to the bench - see below) and Portland shot 44% FG for the half. There were a total of 45 free throws attempted in the half and Dallas shot 20-24 FT. The starters (plus Gary Trent and Dudley) started the 3rd quarter. Dallas was up 61-57 with 7:30 left. Popeye had all of his 8 points in the quarter. Dallas was up 69-65 with 5:30 remaining and 73-68 with 4 minutes left. Meyer's good performance was cut short when the whistle happy refs gave him his 6th foul on a touch call. Dallas was up 87-80 after 3. Jackson had 11 points in the quarter. The Mavs' starters sat to start the quarter and only Popeye played in the 4th. Strickland also remained seated for Portland. Brian Fair had 2 steals and T Davis scored Dallas' first 7 points of the quarter to give Dallas a 94-82 lead with 9:44 left. Portland behind H Grant and Wingfield then took over. Portland went on an 11-1 run to cut Dallas' lead to 95-93 with 6:30 left. Dallas was up 99-98 with 4:15 left. H Grant had 11 points in the quarter. The lead went back and forth. Portland was up 102-101 with 2 minutes left. The Mavs missed on about 6 attempts. Wingfield hit a banker. George McCloud got a rebound, putback, and was fouled. He missed the free throw, though. Portland was up 104-103 with 42 seconds left. Wingfield made 1 of 2 free throws. 27 seconds. As the clock ran down, McCloud missed, Dumas rebounded and passed out to Brooks. Brooks shot at the buzzer and nailed it. But the refs ruled that the shot was after the buzzer. Portland won 105-103. For Portland, Wingfield had a nice 2nd half (but Mashburn ate him alive the few minutes he played in the first quarter). Portland fans have to be happy with Dudley's new free throw style. For a change, the Mavs showed much better defense and effort than the three previous blowouts. Mashburn and Jackson looked good in their limited time. Meyer also looked good. He had several nice moves around the basket and a couple of good dishes. He got his 5th foul on a clean block (the fans ooh'ed at the block then boo'ed at the refs). Terry Davis also had a nice game and showed his improvement from the summer - his shooting touch. One of the things I noticed (and kept forgeting to mention here) while watching their practices is that he has developed an nice 15- to 20-footer. His 17 points (including 6-9 FG) far exceeded his game high of 11 points from the past two seasons. This loss rest purely on the shoulders of the bench. The starters did a good job, but the bench did little to help them. None of the 3 Js played in the 2nd and 4th quarters. Dallas was up by 9 after 1 but only up by 5 at the half. Dallas was up by 7 after 3, but lost the game by 2. Dallas' shooting percentage of 41.9% may look pretty bad, but it is again the bench's fault. The 5 starters actually shot 50% (23-46). The bench shot 35% (14-40). If you take Terry Davis' 6-9 out of that, it is a pathetic 25.8% (8-31) FG. The lack of bench production was one of our major weaknesses last season. So far, it looks to be the same problem this season. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final FG% 3P% FT% Reb Fouls Portland 24 24 32 25 - 105 .473 .286 .738 64 34 Dallas 33 20 34 16 - 103 .419 .222 .784 44 33 Halftime: 53-48 Dallas 3rd Q: 87-80 Dallas Technicals: Chris Dudley Refs: Gary Zielinski, Roddy Mott Portland Trailblazers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bob Thornton 28 1-5 0-1 1-2 3 0-3 3 0 3 0 1 Dontonio Wingfield 15 7-10 2-3 2-3 18 1-1 1 2 4 1 0 Chris Dudley 32 5-7 0-0 4-6 14 2-13 0 3 5 2 2 Rod Strickland 29 4-11 0-2 5-8 13 2-4 5 4 1 1 0 Aaron McKie 24 5-7 1-2 1-2 12 0-4 7 2 2 0 0 Gary Trent 26 3-9 0-0 4-6 10 2-6 0 1 4 0 0 Derrick Chievous 8 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 1 1 2 0 0 Michael Hawkins 20 2-7 1-4 2-2 7 0-4 5 3 3 2 0 Arvydas Sabonis 24 2-4 0-0 3-4 7 3-5 2 4 3 0 0 Reggie Slater 10 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 1 0 3 1 0 Harvey Grant 23 4-10 0-2 9-9 17 1-4 6 2 4 0 2 Thomas Hill 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 35-74 4-14 31-42 105 11-47 31 22 34 8 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jamal Mashburn 24 7-16 0-1 12-13 26 1-2 1 0 2 3 0 Popeye Jones 20 4-8 0-0 0-0 8 1-6 0 0 4 0 0 Loren Meyer 24 4-5 0-0 2-3 10 1-2 2 1 6 0 1 Jim Jackson 24 7-13 1-3 1-1 16 2-4 1 2 3 1 0 Jason Kidd 20 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 8 2 3 1 0 Cherokee Parks 24 3-8 0-0 1-1 7 1-7 2 1 2 0 1 Scott Brooks 14 1-6 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 1 0 0 2 0 George McCloud 21 2-8 0-3 0-1 4 1-1 2 1 3 1 0 Lucious Harris 12 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Terry Davis 24 6-9 0-0 5-8 17 0-6 1 2 4 0 1 Tony Dumas 19 1-6 1-1 8-10 11 3-4 3 2 5 0 1 Brian Hopgood 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Marcus Grant 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2-2 0 1 1 0 0 Brian Fair 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 2 0 Totals 48 36-86 2-9 29-37 103 12-37 21 13 35 10 4 patricia