The Mavs trimmed the roster to 15 players by releasing Khalid El-Amin and Muggsy Bogues. El-Amin's contract was guaranteed for this season, so he will still be paid. Bogues was under contract for this season and next, but Dallas opted to keep Ruben Wolkowyski instead of hanging on to Bogues in case they needed his contract to work a future trade (Bogues never appeared in Dallas and is essentially retired). Dallas placed Darrick Martin (broken right hand), Wolkowyski (sprained right ankle), and Eduardo Najera (left knee tendinitis) on IR. The Mavs only have 11 available players on the active list as the NBA ruled that Wang Zhizhi had to be on the active list even though he is still in China for a few more weeks. Adrian Griffin started suffering from back spasms on Saturday and did not play in Tuesday's Detroit game. He is doubtful for the Philly game tonight. Greg Buckner aggravated his sprained right ankle during the 1st quarter of the Detroit game, left the game late in the 1st quarter, did not return, and is doubtful for tonight's Philly game. Detroit at Dallas (October 30) Steve Nash opened the scoring at the new arena with a jumper almost a minute in, but Dallas missed their next 9 shots and Detroit took a 10-5 lead with 6:43 remaining. The Mavs scored the next 6 points to briefly take the lead at 11-10 with 4:50 left. Detroit led 17-15 with 3:13 to go and Dallas' shooting woes continued as Detroit closed the quarter with an 8-2 run to go up 25-17 after 1. Jerry Stackhouse had 11 points. Dallas shot 7-22 FG in the quarter. The game stayed close in the 2nd quarter as Detroit was unable to push their lead larger than 8 points. Detroit led 44-40 at the half. Michael Finley was carrying Dallas with 12 points in the quarter as the other players were struggling. Finley was also doing a good job defending Stackhouse as Stackhouse only had 2 points in the quarter. [Greg Buckner defended Stackhouse in the 1st quarter, but the role of defending Stackhouse fell to Finley when Buckner left the game with a sprained ankle late in the 1st quarter.] Dallas only shot 1-7 3-pointers in the half and usual high scorer Dirk Nowitzki only had 1 point. A different Dallas team came out in the 2nd half. Where Detroit controlled the pace in the 1st half with a slow down defensive game, Dallas pushed the ball and played their fast paced game in the 2nd half. Finley opened the quarter with a 3-pointer. Detroit led 54-47 with 7:22 left and Dallas went on a 17-3 run, including 3 3-pointers, to go up 64-57 with 3:30 remaining. Detroit scored the next 7 points to tie the game at 64-64 with 1:15 left, but Nowitzki nailed a 3-pointer and Juwan Howard had a layup to give Dallas a 69-64 lead after 3. Finley had 11 points. Nowitzki, who ended his field goal drought with a monster slam 3 1/2 minutes into the quarter, had 9 points. Dallas continued their rally in the 4th quarter with a 9-2 run with 6 points by Nowitzki and 3 by Finley to give Dallas a 78-66 lead with 8:40 remaining. A 3-pointer by Nowitzki gave Dallas a 84-71 lead with 6:44 to go. Dallas led 88-75 with 4:35 left, but Detroit went on a 10-2 run to pull within 85-90 with 48 seconds remaining. Off a made Detroit free throw, Dallas beat the Detroit press with a half court pass to Nowitzki who went streaking to the basket with 2 Pistons trailing. Michael Curry gave Nowitzki a hard shove when Nowitzki got near the basket and the ref called a flagrant foul. Nowitzki hit the 2 free throws, Dallas retained possession and Nowitzki hit a layup to seal the game. Dallas won 94-87. It was a a tale of 2 halves. The Mavs looked much, much better in the 2nd half, including shooting an impressive 7-12 3-pointers. It helped that Dirk Nowitzki finally showed up in the 2nd half. Nowitzki had 9 points in the 3rd quarter and 11 in the 4th quarter after only having 1 point including 0-5 FG in the 1st half. But the man of the game was Michael Finley. Finley was a steady force throughout the game, providing not only sweet, sure shots, but solid defense on Detroit's best player. Finley had 34 points - 16 in the 1st half and 18 in the 2nd - including 4-6 3-pointers and also had 6 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse had 11 points in the 1st quarter, but only 16 points (mostly free throws as he shot only 2-11 FG in the last 3 quarters) the rest of the game. Steve Nash's circus shots were not falling (a couple of drives in the paint with crazy shots that were no where close to going in - when he's on, he hits those). He had 14 points, but shot only 5-15 FG. But he was stellar in the area the Mavs need him most - play making - as he finished with 11 assists. Juwan Howard's shot is still missing (10 points including 3-10 FG), but he was the high man with 10 rebounds. The surprise of the night had to be Tim Hardaway only shooting 3 shots and none of them were the quick shots that drove me nuts in the pre-season. Hardaway made 1 of those shots for 2 points and dished out 8 assists. Shawn Bradley did not start as Detroit has a smaller lineup, but did play well when he got in (and, of course, did have a couple of bad plays). His good performance (7 points and 9 rebounds) was hindered at the end when he got on Dick Bavetta's bad side with complaints about non-calls and calls against Bradley (Bavetta seems to have had something against Bradley for a long time) and Bradley fouled out late in the game after 2 boarderline calls went against him. Danny Manning's numbers do not show his game. He only had 4 points and 6 rebounds, but was active with his hands in disrupting Detroit's players. Donnell Harvey only played 2 minutes as his only stats were a foul (on Stackhouse who he was brought in to defend when Finley picked up his 3rd foul) and a turnover. Detroit has nothing offensively besides Stackhouse. Michael Curry was the only other Piston in double digits with 12 points. Ben Wallace is still a monster rebounder (and the Mavs did do a good job of keeping an eye on him to try to block him out) with 12 boards to go with 6 points. Rebounding, as always, remains as Mavs problem as they were out-rebounded 49-42 (though they were only down a couple of boards with about 5 minutes left in the game). Quotes Don Nelson: "I hope they're not all like that. When we were teetering, [Finley] stepped forward and carried us and got the confidence back as a team that we were going to win the game." Nelson: "We had to rely on Mike and he did a marvelous job. He won the game for us. When we were teetering, he gave us a lift. He played like a leader." Nelson: "Nowitzki seemed really tight in the 1st half but got his rhythm in the 2nd half. I had to rely on Mike, not only offensively but to do a tough job defensively. He rose to the occasion and did a marvelous job on both ends of the court and really won the game for us. He did what he was supposed to do as our leader in this game." Michael Finley: "Sometimes when you're guarding a guy whose offensively is not their mainstay, you seem to get lost and lose focus a little bit and you start standing around watching. But when you happen to guard Stackhouse, it kept me in the game, because I knew every time down the play was for him in some sense. Ultimately my defense started my offense." Finley: "I was just getting the ball in good position and I made the most of it. My teammates were screaming at me to take shots." Finley: "It was a tough game without two of our better defenders. It took a total team effort out of all the guys. That's what it took for us to win out there tonight." Dirk Nowitzki: "My shot just wasn't going in, and I really wasn't aggressive enough. We looked terrible out there at the beginning, but the biggest thing is that we won." Nowitzki: "My shot just wasn't going in and I really wasn't aggressive enough. I went out early at halftime and tried to get some more shots in and got really warmed up." Nowitzki: "I don't know what happened. Shots just weren't going in for me. I went out early at halftime and tried to get some more shots in and get really warmed up. That worked for me." Steve Nash on Nowitzki in the 2nd half: "We definitely wanted to get him involved. He hit some shots and got some confidence." Tim Hardaway: "Michael Finley got hot during the 1st half, and it kept going in the 2nd half. It was a defensive battle out there, especially in the 2nd half." Hardaway on Finley: "He carried us from beginning to end. He carried us on his shoulders." Rick Carlisle: "It was a tough night offensively for us, but overall I thought the effort was pretty good. It was a combination of us being less efficient offensively, which was giving them more momentum into their offense. Nash is so good at motoring the ball into the paint and getting things a little scrambled." Carlisle: "It was a combination of us being less efficient offensively, which gave them momentum into their offensive." Carlisle: "It's not about me, it's about winning. I thought we had a good defensive 1st half, then we succumbed to some shot-making. It was a tough night offensively. They are a team of shot-makers, but I thought overall the effort was pretty good." Carlisle: "I thought we had a good defensive first half, then we succumbed to some shot-making and we let them get out in transition a little bit." Jerry Stackhouse: "They did a good job spreading us out, making shots. Our principles were to be low to the ball. I was trying to keep under control coming down full-speed. They had guys running down the middle. We were trying to protect, and they were getting open 3s. Those guys shoot the ball too well to let them get open 3s. Tonight was a lot of fanfare. They had a few things going in their favor. We'll start over in Memphis." Stackhouse: "We saw some things that we need to tighten up. We all did a good job, we just need to do a little more. Everybody, including myself, has to find a way to do a little more." Michael Curry on Dallas' 3-pointers: "If you look at those 3s, I bet 5 of them came in transition." Clifford Robinson on Curry's flagrant foul: "It was a foul, but I don't think it was a flagrant foul." Dallas Mavericks 94, Detroit Pistons 87 at Dallas (October 30) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 17 23 29 25 - 94 .413 .421 .415 .900 Detroit 25 19 20 23 - 87 .393 .353 .385 .875 Halftime: Detroit 44-40 3rd Q: Dallas 69-64 Technical fouls: Detroit Defensive 3 seconds 11:22 2nd, Dallas Defensive 3 seconds 9:56 2nd, Del Harris, 3:21 4th Flagrant fouls: Dell Curry, 0:44 4th Refs: Dick Bavetta, Mike Smith, LeRoy Richardson Attendance: 19,200 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Adrian Griffin (back spasms) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Greg Buckner 10 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 0 0 1 0 0 Juwan Howard 34 3-10 0-0 4-4 10 6-10 0 2 1 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 42 6-16 2-6 7-8 21 0-7 2 1 1 2 0 Michael Finley 46 14-28 4-6 2-2 34 1-6 3 2 3 1 1 Steve Nash 37 5-15 2-5 2-2 14 1-2 11 3 4 1 0 Danny Manning 20 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 3-6 0 2 2 1 2 Tim Hardaway 24 1-3 0-2 0-1 2 0-0 8 2 1 1 0 Donnell Harvey 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 25 2-4 0-0 3-3 7 0-9 0 0 6 1 1 Totals 48 34-82 8-19 18-20 94 12-42 24 13 20 9 4 Detroit Pistons REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Curry 27 4-7 1-1 3-4 12 0-2 3 0 3 1 0 Clifford Robinson 36 2-9 1-3 2-2 7 2-2 0 1 3 1 0 Ben Wallace 32 3-8 0-0 0-0 6 3-12 0 2 2 1 3 Dana Barros 27 3-4 1-1 2-2 9 0-7 3 0 0 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 44 7-19 1-4 12-14 27 3-8 6 5 4 0 0 Mikki Moore 14 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 2-3 0 0 3 1 0 Jon Barry 22 2-8 2-5 2-2 8 1-4 3 3 0 1 0 Chucky Atkins 21 3-11 0-3 0-0 6 0-1 4 2 2 1 0 Zeljko Rebraca 17 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 5-10 1 3 3 0 1 Totals 48 30-78 6-17 21-24 87 16-49 20 19 20 6 4 patricia