Gary Trent missed the Phoenix game due to a bruise right knee. He sprained his left big toe prior to the Portland game and did not play in that game. On Wednesday, Dallas placed Trent on IR due to the toe injury and activated Calvin Booth. Booth saw his first minutes as a Mav in the Minnesota game. Dirk played Portland and Minnesota games with a cold. Steve Nash did not play in the 2nd half of the Minnesota game due to a strained groin. The move was a precautionary one - they didn't want a more serious injury to result. Phoenix at Dallas (March 17) Dallas had blown out their last 4 opponents and decided the treat Phoenix the same way. Dallas led 12-10 with 5 minutes left and scored the next 9 points (4 points by Dirk Nowitzki and 7 by Michael Finley) to go up 21-10 with 2 minutes remaining. Steve Nash drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer and Dallas led 29-14 after 1. Finley had 11 points, Nash had 10 points, and Jason Kidd had 10 points. Dallas shot 12-26 FG and Phoenix shot 6-23 FG. Dallas scored the first 4 points of the 2nd quarter to push their lead up to 19 points and led 33-14 with 11 minutes left. Dallas led in the teens the rest of the quarter. Phoenix scored the last 4 points of the quarter and Dallas led 54-41 at the half. Dirk Nowitzki had 9 points in the quarter. The 3rd quarter was almost the same as the 2nd as Dallas refused to let Phoenix into the game and led between 12 and 19 points. Dallas led 84-66 after 3. Nowitzki had 15 points in the 3rd quarter. Dallas led 93-75 with 8 minutes left and Jason Kidd single handly tried to get Phoenix into the game as Phoenix chiseled away at Dallas' lead. Kidd scored 11 straight points for Phoenix to pull Phoenix within 10 points at 88-98 with 4:25 remaining. Dallas led 104-91 with 3:10 left and Phoenix scored the next 7 points to pull within 6 points at 98-104 with 2 minutes left. The teams traded turnovers and Juwan Howard hit 2 free throws with a minute remaining. A free throw was all Phoenix could muster the rest of the way. Dallas won 109-99. The Mavs led from start to finish. The Mavs played a solid game and it would have been a complete blowout if not for Jason Kidd's heroics in the 4th quarter and Phoenix shooting 12-17 FG in the 4th. Dirk Nowitzki led the way with 34 points including 12-20 FG and 13 rebounds and Steve Nash had 28 points. Michael Finley defended Jason Kidd most of the way (Kidd would have posted up Nash each time down the floor if Nash was on him) and Finley finished with 20 points, 6 rebounds, and a season high 11 assists. Juwan Howard had a poor offensive outing with 11 points including 4-14 FG, but contributed by snagging 14 rebounds. As I said, Jason Kidd had a monster game with 32 points including 15 points in the 4th, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists. Fortunately, Clifford Robinson was the only help Kidd received. Robinson had 26 points and 9 rebounds. Shawn Marion only had 13 points including 4-13 FG, but did have 15 rebounds and Mario Elie (10 points) was the only other Sun in double-digits. Quotes Don Nelson: "We're still right on schedule. We're really establishing our home court. We're in a really nice position - the 6th position [in the Western Conference] - and fooling around with 5th." Nelson: "It's the right time to start playing really well. I think we're playing the best ball of our season. Certainly we have better players now than we had a month ago, and they're blending in wonderfully well. Coach feels really good about his team." Nelson: "Before the trade [for Howard], we were just not as good as the teams we were competing with. I thought the trade made us even, or maybe have an edge on a couple of them now." Nelson: "Nowitzki was just on fire from outside and that was a big part of our offense. I went with our smaller lineup and they did very well." Nelson: "Finley's 11 assists speak for itself. We are moving the ball. He was drawing double-teams and finding the open guy." Dirk Nowitzki: "I missed a couple early, but I'm always going to keep shooting, especially when I'm open. They were chasing at me at the 3, so I was able to put it on the floor and drive." Juwan Howard: "Steve couldn't miss, Dirk was filling it up, Mike filled it up, and I was cleaning up the dirty work." Howard: "It's amazing. I haven't played with a group like this in a long time. This is a very unselfish team. We all just play together." Scott Skiles: "They did to us what they've been doing to everyone." Skiles: "Those guys are great shooters. Nash, Finley and Nowitzki are gym-rat types of guys. They love to play, they love to practice, they work on their games. And that's the key to the NBA right now. There are an awful lot of teams that can't bring it on a consistent basis. I'm not surprised by any success they have." Skiles on Dallas getting Howard: "I thought it was a good move right away. He's a multi-dimension player. He knows how to play, so he fits in with what they do." Skiles on Kidd: "He kept us in it. I thought he played with a lot of heart and did everything he could do personally to have a steal win out there." Skiles on Rogers: "Rodney has been lethargic for so long now, frankly I'm tired of watching it." Jason Kidd: "They made some tough shots. We tried to make Steve score and Steve did. Steve made some tough shots, but then again, we had some breakdowns." Kidd: "We were coming back, but they always made a shot when they had to make one." Kidd: "When we stop people, we are at our best. Tonight we didn't do that. It seemed like they always made a shot when they had to." Kidd: "We have to step up if we want to be playing [in the playoffs] in April. If we don't, we can sit back and watch it on TNT and NBC." Mario Elie: "There's no sense of urgency. I can't understand it. We can't fold and bend over. We're fighting for our playoff lives, and we're not getting it done. Just play hard, that's the one thing we can control, that and knowing the game plan. If you don't, you're going to get burned. It's basic, basic basketball stuff. This is a playoff atmosphere, and we've got to battle every play. It's frustrating. Jason is out there playing his heart out. I feel bad for the guy. He leaves it on the floor, and the man needs some help. I don't know if guys are ready to go home on vacation. I wish they'd let me know. I want to play. I've got a 10-year playoff streak and I want it to keep going." Dallas Mavericks 109, Phoenix Suns 99 at Dallas (March 17) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 29 25 30 25 - 109 .431 .667 .464 .767 Phoenix 14 27 25 33 - 99 .437 .385 .429 .880 Halftime: Dallas 54-41 3rd Q: Dallas 84-66 Technicals: Phoenix Illegal D 3:18 2nd, Phoenix Illegal D 7:01 3rd Refs: Terry Durham, Tony Brothers, Hank Armstrong Attendance: 18,187 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Gary Trent (bruised right knee) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 41 4-14 0-0 3-4 11 4-14 3 2 4 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 46 12-20 2-3 8-8 34 4-13 1 2 4 1 4 Shawn Bradley 18 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 2-4 0 1 5 0 1 Michael Finley 41 8-16 2-3 2-6 20 1-6 11 0 3 3 0 Steve Nash 38 10-19 2-3 6-6 28 1-3 3 4 0 0 0 Greg Buckner 19 2-3 1-1 1-2 6 2-4 2 0 5 0 1 Howard Eisley 22 1-5 0-1 1-2 3 0-0 3 2 2 0 0 Eduardo Najera 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 1 0 0 0 Vernon Maxwell 6 1-2 1-1 0-0 3 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 39-84 8-12 23-30 109 15-46 23 12 23 6 6 Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shawn Marion 41 4-13 0-0 5-7 13 4-15 1 4 5 1 1 Clifford Robinson 40 9-21 2-4 6-7 26 5-9 3 2 3 0 4 Jake Tsakalidis 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 Mario Elie 40 3-5 2-4 2-2 10 1-6 2 0 2 2 2 Jason Kidd 44 12-23 1-3 7-7 32 2-9 9 4 5 0 1 Tom Gugliotta 20 3-7 0-1 0-0 6 2-6 0 1 3 1 0 Tony Delk 27 3-9 0-1 2-2 8 0-1 1 1 1 0 0 Rodney Rogers 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Vinny Del_Negro 14 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 3 0 2 2 0 Elliot Perry 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 36-84 5-13 22-25 99 14-46 19 14 23 6 9 Portland at Dallas (March 20) It was expected to be a tough, tough, playoff-like game and it was. Dallas scored the first 5 points of the game and held small leads the rest of the quarter. Dallas converted 5 consecutive free throws to take a 24-12 lead with a minute remaining. Dallas led 24-14 after 1. Michael Finley had 10 points. Portland scored the first 7 points of the 2nd quarter to pull within 21-24 with 9:50 remaining. Dallas held a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter and led 43-38 at the half. The game stayed close in the 3rd quarter. Dallas led 59-53 with 5:30 to go and Portland scored the next 9 points to go up 62-59 with 2:35 left. Dallas answered with a 6-1 run to close the quarter and led 65-63 after 3. Scottie Pippen had 14 points in the 3rd quarter. Pippen also collected a technical foul after the quarter ended and the 4th quarter opened with a free throw by Dirk Nowitzki. Dallas led 70-65 with 11 minutes left and Portland went on an 8-2 mini-run to take a 73-72 lead with 7:40 left. Greg Buckner hit a free throw and Nowitzki drained a 3-pointer to put Dallas back on top at 76-73 with 7 minutes to go. Pippen received his 2nd technical and was ejected (and, as a switch, Rasheed Wallace was there trying to calm Pippen down and keep him from the ref). The game was tied on a 3-pointer by Steve Nash (shock as it was only his 2nd field goal) at 79-79 with 4 minutes left. Dale Davis had a monster slam, Steve Smith hit a technical free throw (illegal D), and Rod Strickland hit 2 jumpers to give Portland a 86-79 with 1:53 left. Portland hit 8-10 FT down the stretch to hang on for the win. Portland won 96-88. As I said, a tough, tough, hard fought game. Dallas made the night difficult for themselves by shooting very poorly at 39.3% FG while Portland shot 50% FG. Give some credit to Portland's defense, but also to Dallas having an off night - a number of missed layups and open jumpers. The Mavs also missed 9 free throws (including 3 missed by 90% shooter Steve Nash). The Mavs again went with a short rotation of basically 7 players (Vernon Maxwell only played 6 minutes). Michael Finley was high man with 24 points and Juwan Howard had a nice game with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Dirk Nowitzki struggled with his cold and his shot and only had 15 points including 5-14 FG and 4-8 3-pointers, but did snag 13 rebounds. Steve Nash was terrible. His circus shots were not falling and he had more than the 1 turnover he was credited with it. He finished with 9 points including 2-12 FG and 9 assists. Shawn Bradley did a decent job guarding Rasheed Wallace. For Portland, Wallace was the high man with 18 points including 7-11 FG and 8 rebounds. Scottie Pippen had 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists before his ejection. Dale Davis did his usual blue-collar work and had 9 points including 2 monster jams (one off of his missed free throw - Finley's fault for not blocking Davis out) and 11 rebounds. They got a nice, unexpected boost from Rod Strickland with 8 of his 10 points in the 4th quarter. He also had 7 assists. Bonzi Wells (15 points, 6 rebounds) and Damon Stoudamire (11 points on 2-9 FG and 7-10 FT, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) were the other Blazers in double-digits. Superstitious blame for the loss: What the heck was Mr. Carter doing wearing a black hat??? Quotes Mike Dunleavy: "This is the team we were used to seeing early in the year." Dunleavy: "I was just trying to find the right fit for us. It's difficult trying to figure certain guys, how they're doing, how they're playing - and trying to work matchups for us at one time, then maybe trying to counter their matchups at another time." Dunleavy: "Obviously, at this point in time when you've lost 5 of your last 6 games, the very next game is a very big win. Obviously they were ahead of us in the standings and now they're behind us. It's big in that sense, but every game right now, there's no easy games for any of these teams in the top 8, 9 or 10, looking at the playoff picture." Dunleavy: "Some of our smaller guys posted up well. Rod gave us some big baskets down the stretch. Obviously, all of that was vital to us." Dunleavy on Pippen: "He was being aggressive, taking the ball to the rim. That's what we wanted. We wanted our guys to be aggressive, we wanted them to finish and to follow in if the shot blockers came to the penetration and be able to clean all that up." Dunleavy: "Rod did a good job making plays. He had good reads and he made big shots in the clutch." Dunleavy: "I want all our big guys to be aggressive for us - to rebound and get to the rim - and in the 2nd half, Dale was really strong for us. His intensity was just tremendous." Steve Smith: "I know we have heart. We may have lost games, but we never laid down. The losing streak wasn't fun, but eventually, it was going to make us dig down." Smith: "Dale was big. I think he's the reason we won. We need that out of him." Scottie Pippen: "We knew we had to step up and challenge them for an individual standpoint of stopping guys and I thought we did a great job of it. It was a great team win for us." Pippen: "Our coaching staff has a better feel of how to rotate the guys in and out. It was the difference in the game." Pippen: "The 3rd quarter gave me an opportunity to be a little bit more aggressive. I saw the game kind of pulling away and it gave me an opportunity to step up and be a little bit more aggressive. It worked out great for us." Dale Davis: "I thought we played hard and I thought we played with a lot of emotion. That's the type of effort it's going to take for us to try to win this thing and get out of this hole." Rod Strickland: "It felt great to be out there and be on the winning side of it. I just hope we can continue to do that." Strickland: "I pretty much just tried to make something happen. I just had some opportunities to get to the basket." Don Nelson: "The bottom line to this game was that we didn't shoot well enough or play well enough to win. We just didn't play well enough. We've been playing great but we didn't play well tonight and they had a lot to do with that." Nelson: "We can stumble like anyone else. We can get beat. Even if we play well we can get beat." Nelson: "Dirk wasn't feeling very well tonight, and I didn't want to play him 44 minutes, but with Gary out, I really didn't have a choice. I don't think it's going to get any better tomorrow, either." Nelson: "They posted Steve Nash up on two occasions. You heard us both times tell it was good strategy on Mike's [Dunleavey] part." Michael Finley: "This isn't a statement. In the Western Conference, a lot of games are going to go back and forth. It'll go all the way down to the last day." Finley: "We didn't knock down the shots we usually do. It was a tough game overall. They were more aggressive." Finley: "They were the aggressor in the 3rd and 4th quarter, and that's why they won." Dirk Nowitzki: "We really didn't play that well. We didn't make our shots and our running game wasn't working." Nowitzki: "You have to give Portland their props. They played good defense on us. It was just one of those days. But we've got to play better against the good teams." Nowitzki on playing sick: "When you suit up you've got to bring what you can. I've got a little cold, but that's not why I missed my open shots." Steve Nash: "You have to play better than that, especially in the 4th quarter if you expect to beat a good team like Portland. We didn't play well enough to win." Nash: "I'm disappointed in the way that I played. Obviously, I didn't have my best game shooting the ball, I played really tired. I've got to continue to battle fatigue. I was tired, so I was trying to control my fatigue, not my adrenaline. Sometimes you can get too excited, but we've played in a lot of big games lately, and we've responded well." Juwan Howard: "You have nights like this. We have to learn from this and put it behind us. That's a veteran ballclub, and I'm sure they're aware of where they are in the standings." Portland Trailblazers 96, Dallas Mavericks 88 at Dallas (March 20) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Portland 14 24 25 33 - 96 .521 .200 .500 .760 Dallas 24 19 22 23 - 88 .435 .273 .393 .640 Halftime: Dallas 43-38 3rd Q: Dallas 65-63 Technicals: Detlef Scrempf 1:07 1st, Dallas Illegal D 10:28 2nd, Rasheed Wallace 5:37 2nd, Scottie Pippen 0:00 3rd, Scottie Pippen (ejected) 6:35 4th, Dallas Illegal D 2:51 4th Refs: Joe DeRosa, Scott Foster, Scott Wall Attendance: 18,187 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Arvydas Sabonis (sprained left ankle), Gary Trent (bruised right knee) Portland Trailblazers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Scottie Pippen 35 7-13 1-1 1-2 16 4-6 5 3 1 1 0 Rasheed Wallace 47 7-11 0-0 4-4 18 0-8 4 2 4 0 1 Dale Davis 27 4-7 0-0 1-2 9 3-11 0 1 4 1 0 Damon Stoudamire 28 2-9 0-3 7-10 11 0-7 6 3 2 0 1 Bonzi Wells 37 7-13 0-0 1-2 15 1-6 3 4 3 0 0 Steve Smith 31 2-3 0-1 4-4 8 0-5 1 1 2 0 0 Detlef Schrempf 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 3 0 0 Rod Strickland 21 5-12 0-0 0-0 10 2-3 7 0 1 2 0 Shawn Kemp 11 4-7 0-0 1-1 9 1-4 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 38-76 1-5 19-25 96 11-50 26 15 22 4 2 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 43 9-18 0-0 2-4 20 3-10 2 2 6 0 5 Dirk Nowitzki 44 5-14 4-8 1-2 15 3-13 2 2 3 3 2 Shawn Bradley 34 3-4 0-0 1-2 7 3-5 2 2 5 0 2 Michael Finley 42 9-22 1-5 5-6 24 1-3 2 1 2 1 1 Steve Nash 37 2-12 1-4 4-7 9 1-5 9 1 3 1 0 Howard Eisley 12 1-4 0-3 0-0 2 0-2 1 0 4 0 0 Greg Buckner 22 4-6 0-0 3-4 11 1-1 1 0 2 0 0 Vernon Maxwell 6 0-4 0-2 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 33-84 6-22 16-25 88 12-39 19 9 26 5 10 Dallas at Minnesota (March 21) The Mavs were coming off a tough game the night before and it showed. Minnesota shot ahead to a 12-2 lead a mere 9 minutes into the game and Don Nelson called a timeout to remind his players that the game had started. It didn't help much as Minnesota took a 18-8 lead from 6:30 left to a 28-9 lead with 3:20 remaining. Dallas finally started making some shots and closed the quarter with a 13-1 run. Minnesota led 29-22 after 1. Kevin Garnett had 8 points and starter Sam Mitchell 10 points on mostly open looks. Minnesota shot 13-23 FG and Dallas shot 7-16 FG. The Mavs continued their rally by opening the 2nd quarter with 4 points from Dirk Nowitzki to pull within 26-29 with 11 minutes left. The Mavs were not able to pull closer and Minnesota eventually built their lead up to 13 points at 51-38 with 2:20 left as Anthony Peeler made consecutive 3-pointers. Juwan Howard scored the last 4 points of the quarter and Minnesota led 53-44 at the half. Garnett had 10 points and Nowitzki had 11 points. For the half, Garnett had 18 points on a perfect 9-9 FG. Dallas pulled within 6 points at 47-53 on a 3-pointer by Dirk Nowitzki with 10:40 to go. Minnesota didn't let Dallas get close and slowly built their lead back up and led 75-60 with 1:20 remaining. Nowitzki drained a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left and Vernon Maxwell made a layup just before the buzzer to close the quarter. Minnesota led 78-68 after 3. Minnesota led 84-75 with 8:40 left and basically put the game away with a 15-5 run, including 9 points by Wally Szczerbiak, to go up 99-80 with 5 minutes to go. During the run, Szczerbiak and Howard got in a little shoving and trash talking squabble and both received technicals. It was Howard's 2nd T (got the first for complaining to the ref in the 3rd quarter) and he was ejected. The Mavs' scrubs came in and managed to pull within 10 points at 92-102 with 2:20 remaining, but Minnesota scored the next 4 points to ice the game. Minnesota won 109-97. Yuch. I was worried about this game and my fears came to be: they gave so much in the Portland game that they had nothing left for this game and Minnesota was really up for this game with vengeance on their mind. Despite the fact that it wasn't a blowout the entire way, Dallas never really seemed into the game. The Mavs' defense was pretty poor as they allowed Minnesota to shot 56.5% FG (while only shooting 43.8% themselves). The Mavs also hurt themselves by missing 10 free throws. Even though he played with a cold, Dirk Nowitzki was the only Mav to have a good game. He finished with 30 points, but only 4 rebounds. Michael Finley only had 16 points including 4-13 FG and 5 turnovers. Juwan Howard had 13 points including 6-16 FG and 5 rebounds before his ejection. Steve Nash only play 13 first half minutes as his leg was tightening up on him during the game and the coaches decided to be conservative. With Minnesota's smaller lineup and Kevin Garnett completely eating him up, Shawn Bradley was completely ineffective and only played 16 minutes. He did hit his first 3-pointer of the season with a minute left in the game. Calvin Booth had a nice performance in his first appearance as a Mav with 8 points (needs to work on free throws, though (2-6)) and 5 rebounds in 16 second half minutes. He did a decent job defending Garnett and had 2 blocks. No question who the star was for this game. Kevin Garnett was a monster with 28 points including 14-17 FG, 15 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 blocks. Minnesota got their spark for the game from the old man. Sam Mitchell started and played a season high 33 minutes (his previous was only 22 minutes), had a season high 20 points on 10-18 FG, and a season high 7 rebounds. Wally Szczerbiak had a great 4th quarter with 13 points and finished with 23 points including 10-17 FG and 5 rebounds. Anthony Peeler chipped in 17 points and 6 assists. Quotes Flip Saunders: "We jumped on them early, but that's almost a double-edged sword. You know at this level it's tough to sustain that type of intensity against playoff teams, which they are." Saunders on starting Mitchell: "When you've lost to a team twice by 20 playing big, obviously that's not working." Saunders on Mitchell: "When he starts smelling that popcorn of playoff basketball, he starts playing better. It's kind of like he gets rejuvenated and starts looking ahead to the playoffs. He's done that over the last 3 years and he's been effective for us coming down the stretch." Kevin Garnett: "The goal was to be aggressive. The last 3 times we played these guys, we weren't aggressive and we let them do what they wanted to do. Tonight we concentrated on defense and that turned into offense." Wally Szczerbiak on his and Howard's technicals: "We kind of got tangled up. I kind of pushed him off me. He just said a few words, and I said a few words. I'm not going to back down. So once he got tossed out he was probably trying to get me out of there, but I wasn't going to let that happen." Sam Mitchell: "I knew if I made shots, we could get Bradley out of the game. Whoever he was guarding had to make shots. He stays in the game if we don't." Don Nelson: "Touche'. They did to us what we did to them. I commend their effort. They were certainly ready for us, jumped on us in the 1st quarter and we played catch-up the whole game. We didn't come out right, and we didn't play well at the beginning, and as a result we lost." Nelson: "They jumped on us early and we never caught up. It's impossible to come back after you get down like that, especially on the road." Dirk Nowitzki: "We knew they were going to come after us and we obviously didn't match their energy at the start. Once we picked it up, it was too late." Nowitzki on Garnett: "It was an unbelievable game for him. He showed us why he's a superstar, and he's one of the most exciting players in the league to watch." Steve Nash: "They came out on fire, and we came out with a lack of energy. I'm glad we got ourselves in a good position [in the standings] before this point because it's going to be very tough from here on out." Nash on sitting: "It was a precautionary thing. It's no fun to sit on the bench and watch your teammates fighting for their lives. But the coaches wanted me to look in the future and see we have a lot of games left, and not ruin myself before that time comes." Calvin Booth on his Mavs debut: "Overall I'm happy with the way I performed, considering it was my first game in a while. You never know what to expect when you come off an injury. Shot blocking is probably the biggest thing that I can provide, and depth inside. I think we can use a couple of more big guys [inside], and I think I know how to play the game." Vernon Maxwell describing the game: "Payback." Minnesota Timberwolves 109, Dallas Mavericks 97 at Minnesota (March 21) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Minnesota 29 24 25 31 - 109 .566 .556 .565 .727 Dallas 22 22 24 29 - 97 .446 .400 .438 .677 Halftime: Minnesota 53-44 3rd Q: Minnesota 78-68 Technicals: Minnesota Illegal D 10:16 2nd, Juwan Howard 11:19 3rd, Juwan Howard (ejected) 8:05 4th, Wally Szczerbiak 8:05 4th, Eduardo Najera 3:51 4th, Kevin Garnett 3:51 4th Refs: Mike Mathis, Dan Crawford, Courtney Kirkland Attendance: 18,101 (cap 19,006) Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Sam Mitchell 33 10-18 0-1 0-0 20 2-7 3 0 5 1 0 Wally Szczerbiak 43 10-17 1-2 2-2 23 2-5 4 0 3 1 2 Kevin Garnett 41 14-17 0-0 0-0 28 3-15 6 2 4 0 5 Terrell Brandon 36 2-7 0-0 2-3 6 1-5 7 3 2 0 2 Anthony Peeler 36 6-10 3-4 2-2 17 0-2 6 0 3 4 1 LaPhonso Ellis 11 0-4 0-0 1-2 1 1-1 0 0 2 0 0 Felipe Lopez 25 5-9 1-1 1-2 12 1-4 3 3 4 1 2 Reggie Slater 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Chauncey Billups 12 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 3 2 1 1 0 Totals 48 48-85 5-9 8-11 109 10-39 32 12 25 8 12 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 29 6-16 0-0 1-2 13 2-5 2 2 3 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 39 11-20 2-5 6-6 30 2-4 1 1 1 0 1 Shawn Bradley 16 2-3 1-1 2-2 7 0-7 0 2 2 0 0 Michael Finley 38 4-13 1-3 7-7 16 1-4 3 5 2 1 1 Steve Nash 13 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 4 1 1 0 0 Howard Eisley 41 4-10 2-4 0-0 10 1-2 6 1 2 3 1 Eduardo Najera 14 2-2 0-0 0-2 4 0-5 0 0 0 0 0 Vernon Maxwell 21 2-7 0-1 2-4 6 0-2 1 1 1 1 1 Greg Buckner 13 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 0 2 3 2 0 Calvin Booth 16 3-5 0-0 2-6 8 4-5 1 0 1 0 2 Totals 48 35-80 6-15 21-31 97 10-34 18 16 16 7 7 patricia