Dallas at LA Lakers (December 5) It was a close game in the 1st quarter with neither team able to build much of a lead. The Mavs were playing Dirk Nowitzki on Shaquille O'Neal by fronting O'Neal and having help from the backside - and O'Neal was eating them alive (but he wasn't getting much help from the other Lakers). Nowitzki also had a strong offensive game. Dallas led 26-25 after 1. The game remained close in the 2nd quarter with O'Neal and Nowitzki still dominating on the offensive end. Nowitzki nailed a 3-pointer and Michael Finley dunked the ball with 2.2 seconds left and Dallas led 55-48 at the half. [Adrian Griffin stole the ball and Nowitzki hit another 3-pointer, but it was released a fraction of a second after time expired]. O'Neal had 25 points on 11-13 FG and 2-8 FT (no Hack-a-Shaq) and Nowitzki had 22 points including 9-11 FG. Kobe Bryant, who was playing with a head cold, only had 5 points including 2-7 FG. Bryant came alive to open the 3rd quarter and the ball kept going through him as the Lakers briefly took the lead at 62-61 with 8:30 remaining as Bryant had 6 points during a 14-4 run. Steve Nash answered with a 3-pointer and a layup after a number of Lakers' misses to give Dallas a 66-62 lead with 7:40 left. Dallas held a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter and led 79-75 after 3. Griffin had 10 points and Bryant had 10 points in the 3rd quarter. Johnny Newman hit a 3-pointer to give Dallas an 84-77 lead with 10:50 to go. The Lakers scored the next 8 points to go up 85-84 with 9 minutes remaining. Nowitzki hit a free throw and a 3-pointer and Danny Manning hit 2 free throws with 6:10 left to give Dallas a 90-85 lead as the Lakers missed 5 consecutive shots. Finley was a spectator at that time as he collected his 6th foul with 6:35 left. It was Dallas' turn to go ice cold (as they were for most of the 4th) as they missed 7 straight shots while the Lakers went back to O'Neal and he scored 7 points to give the Lakers a 92-90 lead with 1:45 to go. The Lakers' zone defense was having an effect on Dallas, but the Mavs were also missing some open looks and settling for outside shots. The Mavs finally put points on the board after a 5 1/2 minute drought when Nowitzki hit 2 free throws with just 40 seconds remaining to tie the game at 92-92. Robert Horry missed a 3-pointer, but Rick Fox grabbed the rebound and was fouled and he hit 2 free throws to put the Lakers on top with 19 seconds left. Derek Fisher tapped the ball away from Nowitzki and the ball went off of Nowitzki's knee out of bounds. The Lakers inbounded the ball and Fox was immediately fouled. Fox hit both free throws to give the Lakers a 4 point lead at 96-92 with just 9 seconds left. The Mavs, who were out of timeouts, pushed the ball up quickly and went for 2 as Griffin missed a layup, got the rebound, and put it back in with 2 seconds to go. The Lakers lobbed the ball into the front court where Bryant got the ball and took it in for a reverse slam dunk at the buzzer. The Lakers won 98-94. Though a close game, this was not a good game for either team. The Mavs were allowing Shaquille O'Neal to dominate the game and the Lakers were content to watch O'Neal dominate the game. O'Neal shot 78.3% (18-23) FG and the rest of the Lakers shot 29.7% (19-62) FG. With this strategy, the Mavs were in the game and likely would have won it if they had just a decent shooting game in the 4th quarter. Dallas shot a mere 4-19 FG in the 4th quarter including a 6 minute 46 second field goal drought between Dirk Nowitzki's 3-pointer and Adrian Griffin's layup with 2 seconds left. And the 3-pointer was Nowitzki's only field goal made (missed 4) in the 4th after shooting 11-15 FG through 3 quarters. The Mavs also hurt themselves by not having a timeout available to use with 10 seconds left in the game. I questioned it at the time it occurred and really questioned it at the end of the game - why did Nelson use his 20 seconds time out with 19 seconds left in the 3rd quarter??? The Mavs were up by 4 points at the time and the play they ran did not work - in fact Brian Shaw was fouled on the rebound, but he missed both free throws with 2.6 seconds left. I also questioned why Dallas settled for the outside shot play after play in the 4th quarter despite missing shot after shot - they should have taken the ball inside, which they had done when they had small leads. Dallas also allowed the Lakers to coral too many offensive rebounds in giving them 17 offensive boards, including 2 that came off of missed free throws. As I said, the Lakers rode O'Neal to this win as the Mavs' defense of fronting him did not work. O'Neal had a monster game with 46 points on 18-23 FG (15 of those 18 came from layups or dunks) and 10-22 FT and 15 rebounds including 6 offensive. 13 of O'Neal's points came in the 4th quarter including 5-9 FT. Dallas did not use Hack-a-Shaq (intentionally fouling a player without the ball to send him to the line at the end of the first 3 quarters) in this game as Phil Jackson had O'Neal on the bench for end of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarters. Kobe Bryant was the only other Laker in double-digits with "just" 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Rick Fox had 8 points including 1-8 FG, but did have the 4 game clinching free throws, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Robert Horry had 6 points including 2-11 FG and 13 rebounds including 7 offensive. Nowitzki also had a monster game, despite a poor 4th quarter, with game highs 33 points on 12-20 FG and 14 rebounds. The Lakers were ignoring Adrian Griffin on offense and he took full advantage with a season high 21 points including 11-19 FG and 4 steals. Michael Finley had a poor outing before fouling out with just 11 points including 3-10 FG and 5 turnovers. Steve Nash missed a couple of shots he normally makes and had 13 points including 4-10 FG and 13 assists. Shawn Bradley started but only played 11 minutes and did not score and had 4 rebounds. Juwan Howard strangely only played 14 minutes and had 4 points and 7 rebounds. Danny Manning played 25 minutes and had 7 points and 8 rebounds. Johnny Newman was brought in for defense and had just a 3-pointer in his 16 minutes of play before fouling out. Tim Hardaway did nothing in his 19 minutes on the court. Evan Eschmeyer got in for a minute at the end of the 3rd - my guess was that he was coming in to Hack-a-Shaq, but O'Neal came out the same time Esch went in. Quotes Phil Jackson: "I do not think that we ever felt like we were in control of that ballgame. They kept the pace going their direction and kept us on our heels a lot of the game. It was almost like they baited us into always using Shaq in many respects. I had to convince the players that we had to get everybody else involved." Shaquille O'Neal: "My teammates were looking for me. I told them to bring it to me tonight, no matter what type of defense they threw at me. And they did. I've been waiting for this game." O'Neal: "I'm kind of upset with myself for missing free throws that I should have not missed. I missed some shots I usually don't miss. I should have had 60 [points]." O'Neal on Dallas' defense of fronting him: "I'm unfrontable. They were taking advantage of the new rules and putting someone in front of me, and someone behind me. But if you throw the ball at an angle and snap it, I have good hands and good balance where I can go up strong and make a strong move." O'Neal: "We once again played good enough to win. It was a long night. You are going to have to beat us to win. We may make mistakes and you may capitalize off those mistakes, but in order to get a win, especially here, you have to beat us." Lindsey Hunter on the Lakers' zone defense in the 4th: "We were just mixing it up. With a team like that, you have to try to keep them off balance and not let them get comfortable. Once they find something they like they keep doing it. When you mix them up on defense it makes them think about it." Samaki Walker on defending Nowitzki: "It's a tough matchup. The guy is a 7-foot swingman, can shoot the lights out of the ball, can penetrate. He is a crafty player. In the 2nd half I just tried to be a little more physical, make him put the ball down on the floor. He continued to hit some tough shots all night. He is one of those players that is going to create a lot of problems for power forwards in this league." Don Nelson: "I thought it was a good basketball game. I thought we gave it a good effort and we needed to make a shot or 2 down the stretch and we just didn't do it. But I was very proud of our team and we did a good job." Nelson: "That's the idea, to be close enough to win down the stretch and we did that. We didn't win, but we were right there where we wanted to be." Nelson on his strategy with O'Neal: "Well, we had a strategy. Whether it was successful or not, the main thing is I was coaching a score, and I thought our team was doing it real well, staying in that, and we had a chance to win." Steve Nash: "Not many teams have a chance to beat the Lakers, especially here. What can you say? They're the best team in the world." Nash: "We could not make shots at the end of the game and it hurt us. We did get good looks, but we couldn't make them. They went into a zone and it threw us off a little. But for the most part we were getting good looks." Nash on O'Neal: "It probably wouldn't matter if he was a 75% free throw shooter. You have to foul him or he'll just dunk it." Los Angeles Lakers 98, Dallas Mavericks 94 at Los Angeles (December 5) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% LA Lakers 25 23 27 23 - 98 .493 .167 .425 .538 Dallas 26 29 24 15 - 94 .484 .294 .443 .826 Halftime: Dallas 55-48 3rd Q: Dallas 79-75 Technicals: None Refs: Jack Nies, Scott Foster, Gary Zielinski Attendance: 18,997 (sellout) Los Angeles Lakers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Rick Fox 35 1-8 1-5 5-6 8 1-6 6 2 3 0 0 Samaki Walker 22 2-4 0-0 1-1 5 0-2 1 0 2 1 1 Shaquille O'Neal 40 18-23 0-0 10-22 46 6-15 2 3 4 1 1 Kobe Bryant 42 9-23 0-2 1-2 19 2-9 5 4 1 3 0 Lindsey Hunter 22 2-6 1-3 0-2 5 1-3 1 1 1 1 0 Robert Horry 30 2-11 0-3 2-2 6 7-13 4 0 4 1 2 Mitch Richmond 6 0-4 0-1 2-2 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Devean George 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 3 0 1 Derek Fisher 24 2-5 1-3 0-0 5 0-2 3 0 3 0 0 Brian Shaw 8 1-2 0-1 0-2 2 0-1 1 1 0 0 1 Stanislav Medvedenko 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Mark Madsen 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 37-87 3-18 21-39 98 17-52 23 12 22 7 6 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 41 11-19 0-1 1-1 23 1-3 1 2 3 4 0 Dirk Nowitzki 42 12-20 3-5 6-8 33 3-14 3 1 4 0 3 Shawn Bradley 11 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-4 2 0 1 0 0 Michael Finley 31 3-10 0-3 5-6 11 0-1 2 5 6 1 0 Steve Nash 40 4-10 1-3 4-4 13 0-2 13 4 3 1 0 Danny Manning 25 2-4 0-0 3-4 7 1-8 1 0 5 1 1 Juwan Howard 14 2-7 0-0 0-0 4 3-7 1 1 2 0 0 Tim Hardaway 19 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Johnny Newman 16 1-3 1-3 0-0 3 0-2 1 1 6 1 1 Evan Eschmeyer 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 35-79 5-17 19-23 94 8-41 24 14 32 8 5 patricia