NBC has dropped the Washington-Dallas game for Sunday, March 31. The game is still scheduled for 2:00 pm. It is not yet known at what time the game will be televised on Fox Sport Southwest. If NBC is broadcasting another game at 2 pm, Fox is not allowed to broadcast the game at the same time (NBC has exclusive coverage - no other NBC games can be shown when NBC has an NBA game on). If there is a conflict, the game will likely be tape-delayed. I'll let you know when I find out more details. The game will be broadcast live on the radio (103.3 FM). [And who knows, since Jordan is playing again, NBC may pick the game back up.] Dallas at Golden State (March 16) The 1st quarter was close as neither team had more than a 6 point lead. Dallas led 20-16 with 5:20 remaining and Golden State scored the next 8 points to go up 24-20 with 3:15 left. Michael Finley hit a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left and Golden State led 33-30 after 1. Erick Dampier had 11 points and Finley had 13 points. Golden State scored the first 2 buckets of the 2nd quarter to go up by 7 points. Golden State led 43-36 with 9:40 to go and Dallas went on a 15-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Raef LaFrentz, to go up 51-45 with 5 minutes remaining. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter. 2 free throws by Nick Van Exel capped the quarter and Dallas led 59-57 at the half. LaFrentz had 11 points in the quarter. Dallas opened the 3rd quarter with a 19-6 run, including 12 points from Dirk Nowitzki, to go up 78-63 with 5:30 left. Consecutive 3-pointers by LaFrentz gave Dallas a 92-69 lead with 1:40 remaining. Golden State scored the last 7 points of the quarter. Dallas led 92-76 after 3. Dallas shot 13-20 FG including 5-7 3-pointers and Golden State shot 8-20 FG in the quarter as Dallas out-scored Golden State 33-19. Chris Mills hit consecutive 3-pointers to pull Golden State within 88-98 with 8 minutes remaining. Both teams struggled over the next 3 1/2 minutes as each team only scored 1 bucket. Dallas went on a 13-4 run to go up 113-94 with 2:20 left. Dallas won 117-100. The 1st half was much closer than the Mavs would have liked, but Dallas pulled away in the 2nd half - a much better performance the previous Saturday vs Golden State. Dallas basically relied on 3 players. Dirk Nowitzki had 30 points and 9 rebounds. Raef LaFrentz had 30 points on 12-19 FG and 6-9 3-pointers. Michael Finley had 27 points and 5 assists. No other Mav had more than 7 points. Steve Nash had just 7 points on 3-10 FG and 1-6 3-pointers in 27 minutes (did not play in the 2nd quarter), but did have 9 assists. Greg Buckner had 7 points and 9 rebounds including 4 offensive. Golden State was playing without Danny Fortson as he was suspended by the league for collecting too many flagrant foul points. Chris Mills tried to bring Golden State back in the 4th quarter as 15 (5-6 FG, 3-3 3-pointers) of his 19 points game in the 4th. Mills finished with 19 points including 7-10 FG and 7 rebounds in just 22 minutes off the bench. Antawn Jamison was the high man for the Warriors with 20 points including 8-11 FT and 7 rebounds. Erick Dampier had 15 points including 6-8 FG, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Jason Richardson struggled with 13 points on 6-17 FG. Golden State lost despite having 7 players in double-digits. Quotes Don Nelson: "I was worried about this game all day long. We've won here quite a lot, but we took a while to figure out what we needed to do. It's not an ideal situation, but we know how to win in this building." Nelson: "I was worried about this game all day long. I knew we were going to have to play a great game to win this and we did. We have won here quite a lot and this is a game that we had to have." Nelson on LaFrentz: "We have encouraged him to shoot the 3-pointer because we know that he can shoot it. He shoots a great percentage from behind the arc and then he got on a roll and even made some when he was covered. It was quite a performance from Raef." Dirk Nowitzki: "The Warriors scored 33 points in the 1st quarter and our defense saved us in the 3rd. We can't allow that in the playoffs, we have to clamp down during the whole game not just the 3rd quarter." Raef LaFrentz: "Our defensive energy in the 3rd quarter is what won the game for us. We got hot during the 3rd period but it was our defensive pressure that got the win tonight." LaFrentz: "My release felt good, and my shot was going down, and my teammates got me the ball where I could do something with it. This is a unique team, because our small [guys] are the ones posting up, and our big [guys] are the ones spotting up for the 3s. Whatever works to get us the win, I guess." Brian Winters: "We came out flat in the first 4 minutes of the 3rd quarter, and I have no idea why." Winters on missing Fortson: "I don't think it was a huge factor. I thought some of the other guys stepped up and played well." Antawn Jamison: "When you play against that team, you know you're going to run up and down the court and get a lot of opportunities to score some points, but it's difficult to guard those guys. You know it's going to be the type of pace you want to play at, but you're going to have your hands full." Jamison: "When they made their run, it was nearly all 3-pointers. The tendency for our centers defensively is to run back to the paint. But those guys don't even get close to the paint; they just fire up from the 3-point line and that really hurt us there." Jamison: "The thing about them, is that from the 1 to the 5, they all can run the floor, all can pass the ball, and can really shoot the ball. It makes it hard to outscore them and they do kind of lull you into running up and down the court." Dallas Mavericks 117, Golden State Warriors 100 at Golden State (March 16) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 30 29 33 25 - 117 .484 .464 .500 .824 Golden State 33 24 19 24 - 100 .523 .286 .481 .714 Halftime: Dallas 59-57 3rd Q: Dallas 92-76 Technicals: None Flagrant fouls: Eduardo Najera 8:02 1st, Troy Murphy 10:51 3rd Refs: Dick Bavetta, James Capers, Kevin Fehr Attendance: 16,423 (cap 19,596) Did not play: Danny Fortson (suspended) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 34 9-17 3-6 9-9 30 2-9 4 1 3 3 0 Eduardo Najera 14 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 2-3 0 0 2 0 0 Raef LaFrentz 30 12-19 6-9 0-0 30 2-4 1 2 4 2 1 Michael Finley 45 12-24 3-4 0-0 27 0-3 5 2 1 0 0 Steve Nash 27 3-10 1-6 0-0 7 0-3 9 3 1 0 0 Greg Buckner 24 2-4 0-0 3-4 7 4-9 2 0 4 0 1 Wang Zhizhi 4 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0-1 0 0 2 1 0 Shawn Bradley 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Adrian Griffin 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2-3 0 0 3 1 0 Nick Van_Exel 25 2-8 0-3 2-2 6 0-2 3 2 0 3 0 Johnny Newman 19 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 1 4 2 0 Avery Johnson 2 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 2 0 0 0 Totals 48 45-90 13-28 14-17 117 12-39 24 13 24 12 2 Golden State Warriors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Troy Murphy 28 4-7 0-0 5-6 13 1-7 1 4 4 1 0 Antawn Jamison 41 6-16 0-2 8-11 20 2-7 0 0 2 0 0 Erick Dampier 29 6-8 0-0 3-7 15 5-6 1 5 1 0 3 Jason Richardson 41 6-17 1-5 0-0 13 1-5 2 3 2 2 0 Gilbert Arenas 30 5-11 0-3 0-0 10 0-4 4 1 6 1 0 Bob Sura 27 4-8 0-1 2-2 10 1-4 7 2 0 4 0 Larry Hughes 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 1 0 0 Chris Mills 22 7-10 3-3 2-2 19 2-7 0 2 3 0 0 Adonal Foyle 11 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 0 0 2 Dean Oliver 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-79 4-14 20-28 100 13-42 16 19 19 8 5 Dallas at LA Lakers (March 17) The game stayed really close in the 1st quarter with 5 ties and 9 lead changes and the lead was never more than 5 points (and only once at that - the rest 3 or less). Steve Nash hit 2 free throws with a minute left and Dallas led 26-25 after 1. Dallas only shot 9-22 FG while the Lakers shot 12-23 FG, but Dallas also shot 4-9 3-pointers and 4-4 FT while LA shot 1-5 3-pointers and 0-4 FT. Dallas opened the 2nd quarter with a 13-4 run that included 3 3-pointers to go up 41-29 with 8:10 remaining. Dallas led 51-40 with 3:27 left and the Lakers scored the next 11 points to tie the game at 51-51 with 1:45 to go. Greg Buckner drove for 2 with 3 seconds left to give Dallas a 59-57 lead at the half. Laker star Kobe Bryant only had 2 points on 1-3 FG. Dallas shot 10-19 3-pointers in the half. Dallas continued to shot the 3s in the 2nd half, but struggled beyond the arc. Dallas led 66-61 with 8 minutes remaiing and the Lakers went on a 14-2 run to go up 75-68 with 3 minutes left. But the Lakers could not build their lead larger than 7 points. Dirk Nowitzki hit a 3-pointer with 28 seconds to go and the Lakers led 80-76 after 3. Shaquille O'Neal had 11 points including 5-7 FG in the 3rd quarter. Dallas shot 1-9 3-pointers in the quarter. Like the 1st quarter, the game stayed really close in the 4th quarter with the largest lead just 5 points. Raef LaFrentz hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 94-94 with 4:30 left and it became a game of who was going to blink first as the teams exchanged blows. Rick Fox had a layup with 4:14 left and Nash hit a 3-pointer with 3:20 left to give Dallas a 97-96 lead. But Robert Horry answered with a 3-pointer, Nick Van Exel countered with another 3, and Derek Fisher nailed a 3-pointer to give the Lakers a 102-100 lead with 2:25 remaining. Nash turned the ball over, but Bryant missed a jumper, but LaFrentz missed a 3-pointer with 1:30 to go. Bryant missed another jumper and Nowitzki drained a 3-pointer with a 1 minute remaining to give Dallas a 103-102 lead. The Lakers got the ball into Shaquille O'Neal in the post and he passed the ball out to Horry as Dallas' defense collapsed on O'Neal. Horry drained the 3 with 46 seconds left to put the Lakers up 105-103. Van Exel missed a 3-pointer with 31 seconds to go. Rick Fox drove baseline under the basket, stopped, went up and came back down (no travel called), and went up and his shot was blocked. Dallas got the rebound and ran the other way with Nash having the ball with 6 seconds left, Nash passed to Michael Finley, Finley dribbled to the elbow behind the arc, rose and shot the 3 dead-on, but it was short as it clanged off the rim. LA won 105-103. It was a good game, but as opposite what I've said to a number of games this season, a loss is a loss is a loss. This team is long past moral victories and simply playing the Lakers close is no longer good enough. I was annoyed that Dallas did not call a timeout to setup the last play - they looked like they didn't know what they were going do as Nash was dribbling the ball. I know that Michael Finley got a good look and the idea of not allowing the defense to setup, but I felt the team would have been better served by a timeout and bringing the ball to halfcourt with 6 seconds left. I really wished that the refs would have called the travel by Rick Fox (how they didn't is beyond me) and the Mavs probably would have called a timeout with the dead ball. That is not to say that the refs were bad as it was just one call (overall, the balance of calls seemed slightly in favor of the Lakers, but not really lopsided or affecting the outcome of the game). The interesting thing was that the Lakers got lulled into playing Dallas' game in that Dallas shot 15-40 3-pointers and the Lakers shot 8-23 3-pointers - the combined 63 3s attempted set the non-overtime NBA record for 3s attempted (and the overtime (actually 2 overtimes) record is 64). Though Dallas did go away from the running game that they thrive in during the 3rd quarter and settled for a half court game as the Lakers out-scored Dallas 23-17 in that quarter. But the 11 ties and 16 lead changes made for an exciting game. And the last 6 baskets of the game were 3-pointers. No surprise that Shaquille O'Neal lead the way for the Lakers with 28 points on 13-18 FG and 2-6 FT and had 9 rebounds. Surprising that Kobe Bryant only had 14 points including 5-14 FG, but he also had 9 rebounds and 11 assists. But it was the trio of Fox, Robert Horry, and Derek Fisher that killed Dallas. The 3 combined to shot 7-16 3-pointers. Horry had 19 points including 5-14 FG and 2-5 3-pointers, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Fox had 16 points on 7-11 FG and 2-4 3-pointers, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. And Fisher had 16 points including 3-7 3-pointers off the bench. Michael Finley had 21 points (only 1-7 3-pointers) and 10 rebounds in playing all 48 minutes - he did not commit a turnover in the game. Dirk Nowitzki struggled from the field, but not behind the arc, with 17 points including 6-16 FG and 4-7 3-pointers and 10 rebounds. Steve Nash had 20 points but also had 5 of Dallas' 9 turnovers. Laker killer Nick Van Exel had 20 points and 5 assists. Raef LaFrentz wasn't the difference Dallas hoped he would be in this game as he only had 7 points including 2-8 FG and 7 rebounds. Don Nelson ran different players against Bryant each quarter. Adrian Griffin had the assignment in the 1st quarter, Greg Buckner had it in the 2nd quarter, and Johnny Newman had it in the 3rd quarter. Finley and the zone had Bryant in the 4th as none of Griffin, Buckner, and Newman played in quarter as Nelson mostly played a lineup of Nowitzki, LaFrentz, Finley, Nash, and Van Exel. Quotes Phil Jackson: "This was a great game to watch. Dallas was up to the challenge and came back after we got a short lead. They kept pressure on the game all the way through. We had a couple of big plays down the stretch." Jackson: "I thought that this is one of those times when we stepped into our shoes as champions." Jackson on LaFrentz: "We did a pretty good tonight on him. He had a couple of 3s and they were important for them, but I think it's given him a lot of freedom and a lot of exterior play." Kobe Bryant: "You could kind of feel it once the game started, one of those triple-double nights. It was fun to play in a game like that." Bryant on Horry's game winning 3-pointer: "He's done that so many times throughout his career. To have him be in a starting role, it's really worked out well for us. He's just stepped up big for us." Bryant on Dallas' mid-season trade: "It definitely made them a better team." Robert Horry on his game winning 3-pointer: "I just threw it up there and prayed. They just pack it in on Shaq, he causes a crowd. He kicks it out." Horry: "They just pack it in on Shaq. They were in zone and they tried to go back to man. We just dump it into Shaq. Shaq does his thing and he draws a crowd and just kicks it out." Horry on Dallas: "The thing is, they don't drop off. If Steve Nash goes out of the game, they bring in Van Exel." Horry: "They shot what, 100 3s tonight? It made it difficult. We have to learn how to use that and find a way to rotate or do something to try to combat them from knocking those shots down. Or just pray that they miss them." Rick Fox: "We beat them at their game tonight. That's not anything that was drawn up on the board today. That's not the game plan. If we had our druthers, we'd slow the tempo down a little bit, make them guard Shaquille a little more and get them in foul trouble a lot earlier." Don Nelson: "It has never been easy to win here for a lot of teams. Certainly, we are leading the pack, but it was a heck of a basketball game. I really thought that last shot was going in. It was in rhythm in the open court and it would have been a fitting ending." Nelson: "We played extremely well and did a lot of things that we hoped to do. I thought we could give them a good game and have a chance to win." Nelson: "We accomplished what we wanted to offensively and we put up a good fight defensively. It was a heck of a game and we got beat." Michael Finley on his missed 3-pointer: "I thought it was down." Dirk Nowitzki: "We took way too many 3-pointers to win the game. We should have taken the ball to the basket more." Nowitzki on Horry's 3-pointer: "I thought we were clamping down on Shaq, I left him too open. That was my fault." Steve Nash: "I think they were fortunate to beat us tonight. We are going to have to continue to make less mistakes and be more efficient. We are really close." Nash: "We had a chance to win just like they did, and they just got the bounces when it counted. I take my hat off to them, but, at the same time, I think they were fortunate to beat us tonight." Raef LaFrentz on Horry's 3-pointer: "It was a small lapse in coverage. The last play, we were thinking of putting Shaq on the line. But credit Horry for knocking down some shots." LaFrentz: "Robert Horry stands in my mind as the guy that hurt us." LaFrentz: "Our guards did a decent job on Kobe, he only had 14 points. Shaq was a load, but all in all, I thought we did a decent job. Not good enough to win, but a decent job on their big 2." Nick Van Exel: "We live by the 3-pointer. Tonight we got shot in the foot by that." Van Exel: "We took entirely too many 3-pointers. I know that's our game, but we had them in the penalty with 6 minutes left and we continued to shoot the 3-ball." Van Exel: "We shot way too many 3-pointers. Eventually, you're going to have to take the ball to the basket. Teams don't give you 3-pointers; they welcome your 3-pointers. There's no way you can win a championship shooting 3-pointers." Van Exel: "We had a shot. I had a shot. Mike had a shot. It just didn't go down for us. It was exciting, but it don't mean anything unless we go to Dallas and win. If we don't win it, it's back to the same old drawing board." Van Exel on the re-match on Tuesday: "We can't be satisfied with anything but a W in Dallas. If we don't get that W, it's going to be back to the drawing board." Los Angeles Lakers 105, Dallas Mavericks 103 at Los Angeles (March 17) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% LA Lakers 25 32 23 25 - 105 .541 .348 .488 .682 Dallas 26 33 17 27 - 103 .489 .375 .435 .875 Halftime: Dallas 59-57 3rd Q: LA Lakers 80-74 Technicals: Dirk Nowitzki 6:08 2nd, LA Lakers defensive 3 seconds 1:05 2nd, Don Nelson 6:18 3rd Refs: Joey Crawford, Michael Smith, Tony Brothers Attendance: 18,997 (sellout) Los Angles Lakers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Rick Fox 33 7-11 2-4 0-0 16 0-8 7 2 4 0 0 Robert Horry 41 5-14 2-5 7-8 19 1-8 3 0 2 2 4 Shaquille O'Neal 42 13-18 0-0 2-6 28 4-9 4 2 3 0 1 Kobe Bryant 41 5-14 1-1 3-3 14 0-9 11 1 1 1 0 Lindsey Hunter 21 1-6 0-4 0-0 2 1-3 1 0 1 1 0 Samaki Walker 13 3-3 0-0 1-3 7 0-2 1 0 1 0 0 Derek Fisher 27 6-11 3-7 1-1 16 0-3 3 1 2 0 0 Devean George 15 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 1-2 0 1 2 1 0 Mitch Richmond 7 0-3 0-1 1-1 1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 41-84 8-23 15-22 105 7-44 30 8 17 5 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 12 2-5 0-0 2-2 6 1-5 1 0 1 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 44 6-16 4-7 1-2 17 1-10 4 2 5 1 1 Raef LaFrentz 36 2-8 2-7 1-2 7 1-7 3 2 2 1 3 Michael Finley 48 8-18 1-7 4-4 21 2-10 1 0 2 0 1 Steve Nash 34 7-14 3-7 3-3 20 0-2 4 5 4 2 0 Wang Zhizhi 12 2-4 2-4 0-0 6 0-1 3 0 4 0 1 Greg Buckner 12 2-3 0-0 2-2 6 1-2 0 0 3 0 0 Johnny Newman 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 30 8-16 3-8 1-1 20 0-4 5 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 37-85 15-40 14-16 103 7-43 21 9 23 4 6 Los Angeles Lakers at Dallas (March 19) Dallas was in LA on Sunday and the Lakers were in Dallas on Tuesday. And this game started off similar to Sunday's game as the 1st quarter stayed really close. There were 5 ties and 8 lead changes and neither team lead by more than 4 points. Nick Van Exel's layup with 7 seconds remaining gave Dallas a 31-28 lead after 1. Shaquille O'Neal had 13 points. Dallas scored the first 5 points of the 2nd quarter to go up 36-28 with 10:20 left. The Lakers went on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 38-38 with 7:50 to go. Van Exel hit a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 41-38 lead with 6:54 left, but that would be Dallas' last basket until 1:02 remaining as Dallas went ice cold. The Lakers were able to score 11 straight points during Dallas' drought to go up 49-41 with 1:35 left. Kobe Bryant converted a 3-point play to give the Lakers a 52-43 lead with a minute remaining, but Dallas scored the last 6 points of the quarter, capped by a jumper by Michael Finley at the buzzer. The Lakers led 52-49 at the half. The Lakers led 62-58 with 7:10 remaining on a dunk by O'Neal. Dallas then went on a 24-6 run over the rest of the quarter to go up 82-68 after 3. Dallas only shot 50% FG in the quarter, but the Lakers really struggled in shooting just 6-19 FG in the quarter as Dallas out-scored the Lakers 33-16. Dallas took a 17 point lead at 90-73 on a layup by Steve Nash with 8:20 remaining. The Lakers scored the next 5 points and Nash answered with a 3-pointer and 2 free throws. Derek Fisher hit a 3-pointer, but Nash again drove for the layup and was fouled. The 3-point play gave Dallas a 98-81 with 5:30 remaining. Nash hit 2 more free throws to finished scoring 9 straight Dallas points. Dallas lead comfortably the rest of the quarter. Dallas won 114-98. Finally a win against the Lakers. And a convincing win. The win broke a 7 game lossing streak Dallas had against the Lakers (a loss is a loss, but none of those 7 losses were by more than 10 points). But it was just one game and not too much should be made out of this win. Dallas won on rebounding and 3-pointers. Dallas out-rebounded the Lakers 56-45 including 19-11 offensive. Dallas shot 10-24 3-pointers and the Lakers shot 3-12 3-pointers. It was another clean game as there were just 20 combined turnovers (just 17 turnovers in Sunday's game). Steve Nash was the man in this game with 30 points including 11-18 FG and 5 assists. He took advantage of the open paint as Dallas had succeeded in pulling Shaquille O'Neal away from the basket with their 3-point shooters (and in this game, unlike Sunday where they mostly stayed outside, Dallas drove a lot more). Michael Finley had 22 points including a couple of jumpers as the shot clock was expiring (and only 1 turnover making his 2 game total 1 turnover in 88 minutes). Dirk Nowitzki struggled shooting and had 19 points including 5-16 FG and 11 rebounds. Raef LaFrentz had a nice game with 12 points (just 4-10 FG and 1-5 3-pointers, though), 13 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 3 blocks. 2 of his points came off a slam putback of a Dallas miss. Adrian Griffin had 9 points and 6 rebounds (4 offensive) and Greg Buckner had 4 points and 7 rebounds, but their job was on the defensive side where they helped limited Kobe Bryant to just 12 points including 4-18 FG. Seeing his first career minutes vs the Lakers, Eduardo Najera was a key spark in this game [still don't know any rational reason for why he did not play in Sunday's game]. He had 7 rebounds including 5 offensive in just 13 minutes. Nick Van Exel had a poor night with just 7 points including 2-9 FG. Wang Zhizhi was the 9th Mav to play and had 8 points in 8 minutes. No surprise that O'Neal was the high man for the Lakers. He had 32 points including 13-23 FG, 10 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 5 turnovers. He was limited some when he picked up his 4th foul with 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter (but didn't leave the court until about 3 minutes left). As mentioned above, Bryant only had 12 points on 4-18 FG and 4-7 FT, but did have 8 rebounds. 2 of his baskets were great shots where his defender did everything he could do and Bryant still made the shots. Rick Fox had 16 points and 9 rebounds. Derek Fisher was the only other Laker in double-digits with 10 points. Some other sights from the game: During one timeout, I was surprised to see 2 Lakers jumping rope on the court to keep warm (I think one was George, don't remember who the other was). Never seen that before. Seen players ride bikes in the tunnel, but not jumping rope on the court. At first I thought it was 3 Lakers as I saw Mark Madsen jumping, but he didn't have a rope - of course, then I couldn't help but think of the clip of Madsen dancing that ESPN loves to play. Mark Cuban's baseline seats are on the Mavs baseline a few feet from where the ref stands while players shoot free throws. Everytime in the 2nd half when O'Neal went to the line, Cuban was yelling in the refs ear and pointing at the line complaining about O'Neal breaking the plane on his free throws. Free throw shooters are not allowed to break the plane of the free throw line until the ball hits the rim. A good chunk of the time, O'Neal not only breaks the plane, but actually steps over the line before the ball hits the rim. No surprise that the ref opted to ignore Cuban's yelling and this rule. I could understand being flexible if he was just breaking the plane, but the fact that often O'Neal's foot actually hits the floor before the ball hits the rim is a blatant violation of the rules. The rule is there and clear - enforce it. The fact that the ref was knowingly ignoring the rule probably led to the non-call when Nowitzki had a lane violation during one of O'Neal's free throws. Phil Jackson was his usual annoying self. Despite the fact that the game was out of reach, Jackson dragged out the last minute of the game by having his team intentionally foul Dallas to stop the clock several times and actually called a 20 second timeout with 18 seconds left. I'm only greatful that he didn't use the other 2 timeouts he had left - some of us had to go to work in the morning. Jackson said that the prolonging of the game was part of a lesson for his team, but I'm of the mindset (and said it at the time) that he was trying to take the enthusiasm out of Dallas' sails by it not being a quick ending and having some of the crowd leave before the final buzzer. As good as a win this was, this was not the big game of the week. Thursday's matchup against San Antonio has extreme implications for the division championship and the Mavs' number one goal for the rest of the regular season is to win the Midwest Division. Getting the #1 seed is still possible and is a goal, but it is secondary to winning the division. Quotes Don Nelson: "I don't want you to make too much of this game, like we shouldn't have made too much of it out there. It was a well played game by us. A lot of emotion, the crowd was great and treated it like a playoff game. They run into that every place they play. That is nothing new to them. We haven't beaten them in a long time. It was just our time. Guys really played hard and played well. Coach is happy and the players deserved it. It just seemed like it was in the stars. It just kind of happened." Nelson: "We got a split with the World Champs and I think that's pretty good." Nelson on limiting Newman's minutes: "Johnny has been hurting and I had thought about putting him in the 2nd half, but the other guys were getting the job done and we'll just leave it at that. We tried Eddie at one of the 4 positions when we got into foul trouble. It was really as simple as keeping a fresh body on Kobe. We tried to do the same with Shaq, but he is too tough for us, let's face it. As long as you're scoring, you can give up 30 points to a player or two and still win. This was a really good experience for our guys. You don't get many playoff type atmospheres. We had one in Portland, but we weren't up to it. We weren't ready." Nelson on Bryant's poor game: "It doesn't mean that the next time we play he couldn't get 40 or 50 against us, because you know he can and so do we. We have a lot of respect for Kobe." Nelson on Wang: "The more games he gets in like this, the better it is for him. I can't say that there is a game where he has been constant. I have been very careful with him. If he is not helping us, I take him out of the game. He has the ability to shoot the ball like Dirk Nowitzki. He has some offensive moves that we don't allow him to do right now." Michael Finley: "I think it was a good win for us psychologically, for us to beat the team that we've struggled against so many times. We've come up close a lot of times but that wasn't good enough. To finally get that win and know that we can beat that team is good." Dirk Nowitzki: "It's awesome. That's what we want. I feel like we should have beaten them on Sunday. We played them solidly today." Nowitzki: "On Sunday, we didn't take advantage of Shaq being away from the basket. Tonight we did and got some layups." Steve Nash: "We have had a tendency to give our leads away or give our confidence away in the 3rd quarter, so we just tried to really push it and be aggressive." Nash on driving: "I still would have taken the 3s if I was open. I tried to push it and get the tempo going a bit in our favor and make them play our style a little bit as well, and not just settle to play against them and play their way and see if we can win." Nash on the difference between winning close and winning by a large margin: "I don't really care. We won and that's all that matters. It was a big win because we are trying to win our division or win the west, not because it was the Lakers." Nash: "We need to continue to get better and not make too much of one game or one mini-series." Nash on beating LA: "It's not that big a deal to me, because I'm still mad that we lost on Sunday. I honestly don't feel that great because I feel like we had a legitimate chance to win 2 in the series and it's frustrating to come away with one after playing a good enough game to win in LA." Raef LaFrentz on defending O'Neal: "You just have to do the best you can and try and make his looks as difficult as you can and try and limit his dunks. That is easier said than done. The further away from the basket you can keep him, the better off you are going to be. You feel very weak guarding him. Normally, if I can lock somebody up before they go up and get my bodyweight on them, they can't take me up and dunk on me. Him, you can have 2 or 3 guys on him and he is still going to go up with the basketball. He is a very dominant force and that is a fact." LaFrentz on drawing charges on O'Neal: "He likes to get into somewhat of a rhythm with the dribble. Normally, 1 bump, 2 bumps. Those bumps are hard bumps. If you let him continue to pound it, he will get you there in 2 dribbles and dunk on your head, so you either have to be heavy and strong or do something else; whether that is using your quickness to get around him and deny him the ball or find some other method." LaFrentz on Dallas' defense on Bryant: "In my time in the league, I've never seen anything like it, 2 games in a row. They [the Mavs defenders] were sensational." Nick Van Exel: "We had a chance to win in Los Angeles and we won convincingly tonight. It makes them think." Adrian Griffin: "We know we can beat the Lakers now. I'm not going to lie to you - that's a great feeling." Greg Buckner: "It had to happen sooner or later. You're going to have to play defense and rebound to win a championship." Buckner on Bryant's poor game: "It's all Kobe. For some reason, he's not as aggressive against us as he is against other teams." Phil Jackson: "We're weak-minded right now. We're weak in mind and body. Physically, I don't like the way we looked at all in the 3rd quarter. I thought we came out soft, and if we're not ready, we'll get beat by the Spurs." Jackson: "Well they were due to beat us and they got us good tonight. They were a little more aggressive to the ball and the basket in the 2nd half. It's funny though, my coaches and I were sitting and watching the tape [from Sunday] and La Frentz was flopping. I said to them, 'I bet you a dollar we get down to Dallas and they call those fouls on Shaq' and they sure did. Those guys baited right for those fouls every time and Shaq was in foul trouble with a 10 point lead in the 2nd period and it changed up the game. I hate to see that in an NBA game, but those things happen." Jackson on if the fouls affected O'Neal: "Definitely. But they took angles away from us and made us pass at different angles, they made some adjustments defensively that I thought were good." Jackson on Dallas defending Bryant: "Well, they did a good job against Kobe. They just did a good defensive job. He missed a ton of those little rattlers that just came out - he missed 4 of them in the 3rd period alone. That will happen some night. But, yes, he struggled tonight." Shaquille O'Neal: "They ran it down our throats in the 3rd quarter." Kobe Bryant on if it was just one of those nights: "I would say so. They played well. They had a lot of fast break points and that put us back on our heals. We're just trying to take this one in stride." Bryant: "It was truthfully one of those nights. I had couple of shots that just rattled around in the basket and then came out. You have to take the good with the bad. My rhythm really wasn't there and some of the credit goes to the defense. The shots were in, but just didn't fall." Bryant: "It's probably a big win for them, but we didn't play well and we let the game slip away in the 3rd quarter." Bryant: "It's just a loss. It's probably a big win for them, but we just didn't play well. We'll take it and move on." Rick Fox: "I think they'll have a good postseason run. I don't know if we'll see them. But I think for the most part, I'd rather see them than some of the other teams. This is not a team with a style of play suited for playoff basketball. That's just my personal opinion." Dallas Mavericks 114, Los Angeles Lakers 98 at Dallas (March 19) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 31 18 33 32 - 114 .406 .417 .409 .865 LA Lakers 28 24 16 39 - 98 .471 .250 .439 .719 Halftime: LA Lakers 52-49 3rd Q: Dallas 82-68 Technicals: LA Lakers defensive 3 seconds 2:12 3rd, Rick Fox 0:18 4th Refs: Eddie F. Rush, George Toliver, Ken Mauer Attendance: 20,112 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 40 7-17 2-3 6-6 22 1-4 3 1 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 45 5-16 2-4 7-8 19 2-11 3 2 4 1 0 Raef LaFrentz 35 4-10 1-5 3-3 12 5-13 1 0 5 1 3 Adrian Griffin 20 3-7 0-1 3-5 9 4-6 1 0 3 0 0 Steve Nash 34 11-18 2-5 6-6 30 0-3 5 4 2 0 1 Nick Van_Exel 23 2-9 1-3 2-3 7 0-3 3 1 0 0 0 Greg Buckner 22 1-5 0-1 2-2 4 2-7 1 0 5 2 1 Eduardo Najera 13 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 5-7 1 2 4 0 0 Wang Zhizhi 8 2-4 2-2 2-2 8 0-2 0 0 3 0 1 Totals 48 36-88 10-24 32-37 114 19-56 18 10 28 5 6 Los Angeles Lakers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Robert Horry 35 2-5 0-2 3-4 7 0-4 4 1 4 1 1 Rick Fox 27 5-9 0-0 6-6 16 3-9 1 1 5 1 0 Shaquille O'Neal 38 13-23 0-0 6-9 32 5-10 2 5 4 0 0 Kobe Bryant 35 4-18 0-2 4-7 12 0-8 3 1 5 0 0 Lindsey Hunter 20 0-4 0-2 0-0 0 1-3 3 0 2 1 0 Devean George 24 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-5 0 1 1 0 0 Derek Fisher 28 3-9 2-4 2-2 10 0-1 1 0 3 1 0 Samaki Walker 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 3 1 0 Mitch Richmond 16 4-6 1-2 0-0 9 0-4 4 0 1 0 0 Stanislav Medvedenko 7 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Mark Madsen 2 1-1 0-0 2-4 4 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 36-82 3-12 23-32 98 11-45 18 10 30 5 1 patricia