Don't forget that tonight's game vs Minnesota is an early 7:00 pm start (instead of the usual 7:30 home game start). It's on TBS nationally (but still Fox locally). Prior to the Clippers game, Dallas activated Evan Eschmeyer and placed Greg Buckner on IR with strained left calf. Dallas at LA Clippers (February 16) The Clippers were playing without 6th man Quentin Richardson due to a sprained left foot. Dallas mostly held a small single-digit lead for the 1st quarter and led 32-29 after 1. Dallas led 47-45 with 5:50 left and the Clippers then took full advantage of Dallas' porous defense and scored the next 11 points (1 dunk, 3 layups, 1 jumper, and 1 free throw) to go up 56-47 with 3:40 remaining. The Clippers pushed their lead to as large as 12 points and led 68-56 at the half. Eric Piatkowski was killing the Mavs and had 15 points (incuding 3 3-pointers) in the 2nd quarter and 23 points in the half. Dallas only shot 8-25 FG in the 2nd quarter while the Clippers were sharp-shooting (and Dallas not defending) with 15-22 FG in the quarter. The Clippers out-scored Dallas 39-24 in the 2nd quarter. Dallas got no closer than 9 points in the 3rd quarter and the Clippers scored 5 straight points to take their largest lead at 92-74 with 2:30 to go. But Dallas scored the last 7 points of the quarter. The Clippers led 92-81 after 3. The Clippers scored the first 6 points of the 4th quarter and led in the double-digits until the final Dallas basket. The Clippers won 119-110. Yuch. Dallas picked up their offense some from the poor game vs Portland, but their defense was actually worse. Nothing worked - man-to-man, zone, big lineup, small lineup. The Clippers took full advantage of all the holes in everything Dallas tried. And the fact that the team did not assign someone to stick to Eric Piatkowski like glue after Piatkowski showed that he was hot drove me nuts. His defender would often slack off of Piatkowski to flash some post help or as part of the zone and Piatkowski would get the open look. Piatkowski had a career high 36 points on 11-16 FG, 5-8 3-pointers, and 9-9 FT. He also had 6 rebounds in playing all 48 minutes. The Clippers only out-scored Dallas in the 2nd quarter, but Dallas showed no ability to stop the Clippers so all they had to do was stay close to Dallas' offensive output in the other 3 quarters. The Clippers shot 51.3% FG and Dallas shot 42.7% FG. Corey Maggette also enjoyed Dallas' soft defense with 21 points on 7-11 FG, 3-4 3-pointers, and 4-8 FT (should have kept fouling him as that was the only thing he couldn't hit) and also had 6 rebounds. Jeff McInnis was one of 3 Clippers with a double-double. McInnis had 20 points and 15 rebounds. Michael Olowokandi caused problems early in the post (and the Mavs made the situation worse by doubling Olowokandi in the post after a bit and he would kick out for an open outside shot) and had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Darius Miles provided a boost from the bench (only 2 other points from the bench) with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Elton Brand was the only Clipper starter not in double-digits with 9 points and 9 rebounds as he was limited due to foul trouble. Michael Finley was the high man for Dallas with 23 points including 9-16 FG and 5 rebounds. Juwan Howard had 19 points and 8 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki had a quite double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Steve Nash continued to struggle shooting and had 16 points on a poor 5-17 FG and 8 assists. No other Mav was in double-digits. Shawn Bradley started as part of Don Nelson's 2nd game venturing with a taller lineup and was completely ineffective with no points, just 2 rebounds, 1 block, and 3 fouls in 12 minutes. Quotes Alvin Gentry: "This was great. That team there is about as good as any team in the West. They've got so many weapons, so many combinations they can throw at you, it's hard to get them stopped. I thought we did as good a job as you can do defensively and they still got 110." Gentry: "We did about as good a job [as you can do] defensively - holding them to 42% shooting - and that's all you can hope for." Gentry: "When the pace is fast and we're able to run - that's when we're at our best." Gentry: "We are at our best when we are running the fastbreak. When we can rebound the basketball and run, we are at our best." Gentry: "Piatkowski was in there the whole time and he had it going. He's capable of doing that. Jeff did a great job of finding [Piatkowski] and he knocked down the shots." Gentry: "We didn't do anything extra for them. But we made some adjustments on guarding the screen and roll, which they run very well, and how we played them in the post." Gentry: "I thought we did a great job on Nash. He is the heart and soul of them." Elton Brand: "Everybody across the board played well, with great effort. We knew they were coming after us." Eric Piatkowski: "We're an athletic team, and we can play that brand of basketball. If a team would run and gun with us every single night, we'd just love it. For us to get it going, we need to play great defense and we need to get out and run." Piatkowski: "As a shooter, if you can get the first couple shots down, get 9 or 10 quick points, then you can have a real good night. That's a shooter's mentality. It was just one of those nights for me." Piatkowski: "After I got a couple of shots, they started to play their zone and it was kind of lose so I was able to get some good looks and when I hit some shots, I got into a zone and they just started falling for me." Piatkowski: "Before the game, in the locker room, I looked around and noticed there weren't that many players who were dressed to play. So I said, 'You know what? I'm going to have a good game.'" Piatkowski: "You've just got to step up. That's part of being a professional. I don't think that most of us could play 48 minutes every single night because you'll get worn down. But there will be nights like this where you're shorthanded and you have to play like that." Piatkowski on Olowokandi: "When he starts getting it going on both ends, we're a really tough team. That's what he did in all of our big victories. Any of our big games this year have all revolved around him playing really well. So, he's kind of the key for us right now." Michael Olowokandi: "In the 2nd half, I assumed more of a defensive role. I was trying to block shots, trying to rebound, and trying to make things difficult in the paint. It worked out for us tonight." Jeff McInnis: "We like to play that fast. We just came out with the attitude to run with them and we were successful." Darius Miles on Piatkowski: "He made some amazing shots. And they weren't just rolling in. They were smacking in." Don Nelson: "You know what, they don't mind playing us. They're athletic, they get after it. Good for them. We've got them one more time in our place. We'll see what happens. If they beat us again, they're pretty good." Nelson on Piatkowski: "[I didn't expect that] against us. He can have nights like that, but I thought we would find him and keep him down. You have to give him credit. He still got off." Dirk Nowitzki: "This is 2 games in a row that we really haven't played that well. They were running on us all night. If we want to win, we have to run both sides of the floor well. Maybe we were crashing the boards too hard." Nowitzki: "I would say we didn't play our best game but they played great hitting shots as the clock ran down and they made a lot of transition baskets. They played well all the way through tonight's game." Nowitzki on Piatkowski: "He was amazing. He is a great shooter. We left him open and we know he is a shooter. We basically made them hot." Nowitzki: "I had some good looks in the 1st half. To me, I had a bad game. I couldn't find a rhythm out there tonight and as a shooter, if you can't get in a rhythm, then your shots are going to be off and that's what happened to me tonight." Los Angeles Clippers 119, Dallas Mavericks 110 at Los Angeles (February 16) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% LA Clippers 29 39 24 27 - 119 .484 .625 .513 .771 Dallas 32 24 25 29 - 110 .423 .444 .427 .833 Halftime: LA Clippers 68-56 3rd Q: LA Clippers 92-81 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 7:54 1st, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 8:24 4th Refs: Bob Delaney, Sean Corbin, Phil Robinson Attendance: 19,120 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Quentin Richardson (left mid-foot sprain) Los Angeles Clippers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Elton Brand 22 2-4 0-0 5-6 9 2-9 1 3 5 1 1 Corey Maggette 44 7-11 3-4 4-8 21 1-6 2 1 3 0 0 Michael Olowokandi 43 7-18 0-0 1-2 15 2-11 3 3 3 0 4 Jeff McInnis 43 8-17 2-3 2-2 20 1-2 15 1 3 1 0 Eric Piatkowski 48 11-16 5-8 9-9 36 0-6 4 2 2 0 0 Darius Miles 33 5-12 0-0 6-8 16 5-12 4 2 4 0 1 Keyon Dooling 5 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 2 0 2 0 0 Harold Jamison 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Obinna Ekezie 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 41-80 10-16 27-35 119 11-46 31 13 22 2 6 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 33 7-12 0-0 5-6 19 2-8 1 0 4 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 36 6-14 2-3 4-5 18 4-10 2 2 2 0 0 Shawn Bradley 12 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 1 3 0 1 Michael Finley 37 9-16 1-1 4-4 23 2-5 3 0 1 0 1 Steve Nash 30 5-17 2-3 4-4 16 1-2 8 1 3 2 0 Evan Eschmeyer 8 1-2 0-0 2-4 4 1-2 0 0 2 1 0 Wang Zhizhi 17 3-8 1-5 0-0 7 0-4 1 1 2 1 0 Tim Hardaway 25 3-11 2-5 0-0 8 2-3 4 0 1 0 0 Eduardo Najera 13 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Adrian Griffin 17 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 0-1 0 1 1 1 0 Danny Manning 9 2-4 0-1 1-1 5 2-4 1 0 2 0 1 Johnny Newman 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 41-96 8-18 20-24 110 14-41 20 6 23 5 3 Dallas at Phoenix (February 17) The big news of the night was that Phoenix coach Scott Skiles resigned a few hours prior to the game. Assistant coach Frank Johnson was named as coach. The other news was that Stephon Marbury did not start due to disciplinary reasons. Phoenix scored 8 straight points to take a 16-6 lead with 6 minutes remaining. Steve Nash (2 fouls) and Dirk Nowitzki (3 fouls) got in foul trouble in the 1st quarter and sat a good chunk of the quarter. Phoenix took their largest lead at 27-12 with 2 minutes left. Tony Delk, who had 12 points, was subbed out and Marbury came in the game. Dallas then started their rally by scoring the last 6 points of the 1st quarter. Phoenix led 27-18 after 1. Dallas continued their run as Phoenix's shooting fell off the map. Dallas scored the first 15 points of the 2nd quarter to take a 33-27 lead with 8:20 to go. Phoenix missed 11 straight shots during Dallas' 21-0 run (longest run in team history - was 20). Nowitzki returned during the run and played a good chunk of the 2nd quarter without picking up a 4th foul. Phoenix ended Dallas' run with a 3-pointer by Rodney Rogers and a jumper by Shawn Marion, but Dallas then went on a 14-2 run to go up 47-34 with 3:40 remaining. Juwan Howard scored the last 4 points of the quarter and Dallas led 53-38 at the half. Dallas out-scored Phoenix 35-11 in the quarter (ouch). Phoenix only shot 5-20 FG in the quarter. Dallas took their largest lead at 61-42 with 9 minutes left and led in the teens the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 79-66 after 3. Dallas led in the teens the entire 4th quarter as Phoenix could get no closer than 11 points. Dallas won 105-92. What a difference a game makes. Where Dallas' defense was completely ineffective against the LA Clippers the night before, Dallas' zone defense completely befuddled Phoenix - Dallas extensively used the zone after the 1st quarter. Dallas only out-scored Phoenix in the 2nd quarter (again the reverse of the Clippers game where the Clippers only out-scored Dallas in the 2nd quarter), but out-scoring them 35-11 was enough to make this a blowout game. It was the first time in 7 games that Dallas held an opponent under 100 points. Dirk Nowitzki had a double-double with 20 points including 4-5 3-pointers (no free throws) and 10 rebounds. I was amazed that Phoenix never took the ball at Nowitzki and tried to get his 4th foul in the 2nd or 3rd quarters (picked up his 4th foul late in the 4th quarter) - you have one of your opponent's best players in foul trouble and you don't try to take him out of the game??? Michael Finley struggle shooting (7-20 FG) but did have 19 points and 5 rebounds. Steve Nash's shooting touch returned some (not great, but not as pathetic as it was in the last 2 games) and he had 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. The surprise of the night was the offensive output from Johnny Newman. Newman had 17 points including 6-8 FG and 3-4 3-pointers (missed his last 2 shots) and 5 rebounds. No other Mav had more than 8 points. After losing the previous 2 games, Don Nelson went away from the tall lineup he had been experimenting with. Shawn Bradley did not play and (surprisingly) Wang Zhizhi did not play. Wang had been struggling the past 3 games (4-15 FG, 2-10 3-pointers). Phoenix was led by Shawn Marion's 27 points and 11 rebounds. Tony Delk quieted down after his 12 point 1st quarter performance and had 25 points for the game including 4-9 3-pointers and 5 assists. Anfernee Hardaway was the only other Sun in double-digits with 16 points and 6 rebounds. Bo Outlaw had 6 points (the hitch has returned to his free throw shooting - it was gone during pre-season) and 10 rebounds. Stephon Marbury only played 14 minutes and sat the 2nd half (leaving suspicions of something have been said during halftime). Dallas finished their 6 game road trip (which spanned the All-Star break) with a record of 4-2. Dallas plays 9 of their next 10 games at home. Quotes Don Nelson: "We haven't been home for a long time. This would have been an easy game to pack it in and not show up. We approached it just the opposite. It was a huge game and the guys responded. It didn't look good in the 1st quarter. We had a couple of guys get in foul trouble early. I thought Timmy Hardaway came in and did a great job of keeping us afloat. We could've gone down by 25 points easily, but he made some shots, ran the team. And then, of course, the big 2nd quarter and we just rode that the rest of the game. I thought if we could withstand the 1st quarter, especially the first 6 or 8 minutes, that we'd get back in the game. I thought they were full of emotion, considering the circumstances surrounding today. You always expect that they're going to try to impress the new coach and give a lot of energy. And then, of course, it evens out. After you blow that energy out, often times there's a big lull. And that could've happened to them." Nelson: "We only won 1 quarter - we won that substantially and just rode that the whole game. We couldn't stop them man-to-man, so we went with our zone and our zone was good. That opened up the game for us." Michael Finley: "They came out with a lot of energy, but I could have told you that with the coaching change. But we sustained that run and then when the situation arose we just took advantage of it in the 2nd quarter. Although they got the big lead in the 1st quarter, our heads didn't go down. We just kept trucking along and got the win." Dirk Nowitzki: "The zone really helped us. They didn't really know what to do against it. It worked very well. That 1st quarter, I thought it was going to be a long night again. But we really turned things around in the 2nd quarter. They really looked terrible against the zone. There was no movement, we stayed with them and they didn't make their shots. That's what won the game." Nowitzki: "That 1st quarter we looked bad again. We've just got to take more pride in our man-to-man defense. The zone worked well; the zone bailed us out. But there's going to be nights where we have to play man-to-man, so we have to get back to being a good man-to-man team." Steve Nash: "The last few games, we missed a lot of easy shots and the 1st quarter was no different. Finally, we started making the easy ones and that gave us an opportunity to get a rhythm and get a lead. We expected them to play hard and come out with a fresh start. This was a really big win for us. We lost one last night and it was important for us to get this one." Tim Hardaway: "We put more of a focus on defense after the way we've had our [tails] kicked the last 2 games." Johnny Newman: "Good things happened for me tonight. I've been waiting for the opportunity to get in there and get into a good groove and get some touches. I know that's what I can do. I know this is a deep team, and if I have to wait for certain situations, then I understand." Frank Johnson: "What hurt us was our second unit. With the first unit, we were able to get some shots, push the ball, have an up-tempo game and get some lay-ups, get some good looks. On the defensive end, we held them to 2 layups. In the 2nd quarter, we gave them about 7 or 8 layups. Our defense let us down a little bit. Not a little bit, a lot." Johnson on Dallas' comeback in the 2nd quarter: "I was thinking about throwing it in or resigning after the 2nd quarter." Johnson: "During that stretch when things weren't going our way you saw some guys' heads drop. That's what we've got to get out of. We have to pick our heads up and fight our way through it. I told the guys when we had made that run during the 1st quarter, 'These guys are not going to stop. They'll keep coming at you and they'll keep pushing,' and they did. They started making shots and getting easy baskets. We didn't play the way we played the 1st quarter." Johnson: "Another thing that I've got to address is that even against that zone, I think we became a little impatient in settling for that first shot rather than moving the ball and penetrating the seams. Once we started to penetrate the seams, we were able to get in there and make plays." Johnson: "Of course, I would have loved to have a victory the first game. A matter of fact, I think I will get rid of that [game] ball now. I would have loved to have a victory, but we lost to a very good ball club. We lost to a very confident ball club. They're good." Johnson on not playing Marbury in the 2nd half: "I liked the energy that we had with that first unit. Rodney picked it up a lot on the 2nd half." Shawn Marion: "Tough loss. Tried to fight all the way to the end. They had their spurts, we had our spurts, and we just couldn't get over that hump and close it out. I think we got within 8 and they hit a 3. It just killed us, when Tim Hardaway hit that 3. That was it. That was the whole game. They're a great team and they hit some big shots tonight. They were hitting 3s from everywhere and it's what killed us tonight. Our transition was kind of terrible. Transition defense was terrible from the get-go, but we picked up the 2nd half, but they were still knocking down 3s." Anfernee Hardaway: "The first unit went out there and put a pretty impressive number up on a really good team, and we came in with the reserves, and we didn't have the same energy. Everything dropped. They went on a run and we couldn't stop it. They were so good, shooting the basketball in the 2nd quarter, you didn't think they would ever miss, and we had the opportunities right there to put them away, and we just didn't do so." Hardaway: "We had energy going and then we subbed to get some of those guys out of there, and our second unit didn't have it. We shot a lot of jump shots and they went to a zone and shut us down. They went on their run and they protected their lead with the zone. We could never break the zone." Hardaway on the coaching change: "We just wanted to go out there and play hard. If you lose, someone has to take the fall for it. To me, it was a collective thing with the team and the coaching staff, we were all together and [Scott Skiles] decided to step down." Hardaway: "It was a weird night. It was kind of unfair to Frank. Scott stepped down, they played a zone the whole game, Steph didn't start because of a disciplinary thing. We just fell asleep in that 2nd quarter and they took off." Tony Delk: "We have to get better playing against the zone. They stopped the ball extremely well. I think that was hurting us the most in this game." Delk: "They shot the ball extremely well. They had guys coming off the bench and the guys who were out there they shot the ball well. They are a good team that is at the top of their division. They play well together and they enjoy each other and have fun." Delk on Dallas' comeback: "It happens. In an NBA season, teams are going to make runs, but we still have to go out there and play as a team, and do what got us the lead, which was share the ball. It's going to take Frank some time to get a feel for certain guys and rotations. Once he gets that down, he's going to have his own rotation that he'll stay with over a period of time." Delk: "I think when you make a coaching change the day of the game, it's kind of hard. It's hard for him to know which guys to play, which rotation. You've got to get a feel when guys are playing well and when they're not. It's going to take Frank time, but he's going to do a good job." Dallas Mavericks 105, Phoenix Suns 92 at Phoenix (February 17) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 18 35 26 26 - 105 .424 .500 .442 .905 Phoenix 27 11 28 26 - 92 .460 .261 .407 .762 Halftime: Dallas 53-38 3rd Q: Dallas 79-66 Technicals: Bo Outlaw 6:58 3rd Refs: Joey Crawford, Mark Wunderlich, Violet Palmer Attendance: 16,809 (cap 19,023) Did not play due to injury: Jake Voskuhl (left foot injury) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 31 4-8 0-1 0-0 8 1-5 4 2 3 3 1 Juwan Howard 29 3-10 0-0 2-2 8 1-4 2 2 2 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 35 8-15 4-5 0-0 20 1-10 3 0 4 1 0 Michael Finley 37 7-20 1-4 4-4 19 1-5 1 1 2 1 0 Steve Nash 31 6-15 1-2 5-5 18 3-5 6 3 2 1 0 Tim Hardaway 18 2-5 1-4 0-0 5 0-4 4 0 1 0 0 Danny Manning 7 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 5 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Eduardo Najera 21 1-3 0-0 4-4 6 1-4 3 0 3 1 0 Johnny Newman 26 6-8 3-4 2-2 17 0-5 0 0 1 1 1 Totals 48 38-86 10-20 19-21 105 9-44 23 8 18 8 2 Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shawn Marion 43 11-21 0-3 5-6 27 4-11 1 3 1 1 0 Bo Outlaw 37 3-7 0-0 0-2 6 3-10 4 1 3 0 0 Jake Tsakalidis 21 2-6 0-0 2-2 6 1-4 0 1 4 0 1 Tony Delk 39 8-19 4-9 5-6 25 1-3 5 1 2 2 0 Anfernee Hardaway 42 7-14 0-1 2-3 16 0-6 4 4 1 1 0 Rodney Rogers 27 3-12 1-6 2-2 9 2-9 5 1 1 2 0 Stephon Marbury 14 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 2 0 2 1 0 Dan Majerle 4 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0-0 0 2 1 0 0 Tom Gugliotta 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 2 0 0 Joe Crispin 5 1-3 1-2 0-0 3 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 John Wallace 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 2 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 35-86 6-23 16-21 92 13-46 23 14 18 7 1 patricia