Dallas activated Shawn Bradley and Greg Buckner and placed Danny Manning (lower back strain) and Tariq Abdul-Wahad (sore left knee) on IR on Tuesday. Phoenix at Dallas (March 5) The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with Phoenix mostly holding small leads. Phoenix led 23-17 after 1. Dallas shot 6-22 FG and Phoenix shot 10-20 FG. Phoenix led 31-23 with 8:40 left and Dallas went on a 12-4 run to tie the game at 35-35 with 3:50 remaining. Phoenix scored the last 5 points of the quarter and led 44-40 at the half. Dallas was still shooting poorly at 9-23 FG, but Phoenix joined in the cold shooting at 7-20 FG. Michael Finley had 12 points including 5-6 FG in the quarter. Dallas opened the 3rd quarter with a 9-4 mini-run to take a 49-48 lead with 8:35 to go. The teams traded leads over the next few minutes. Finley hit a fadeaway jumper with 34 seconds left and Dallas led 63-58 after 3. Dirk Nowitzki had 12 points and 7 rebounds in the quarter. Dallas opened the 4th quarter with a 15-4 run to go up 77-62 with 7:30 remaining. But Dallas went ice cold and Phoenix went on a 15-3 run to pull within 77-80 with 41 seconds left on a jumper by Tom Gugliotta. Finley missed a baseline fadeaway with 17 seconds to go. Stephon Marbury took a quick, long 3-pointer with 11 seconds left that clanked off the side of the basket and Nowitzki grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He hit 1 of 2 free throws. Anfernee Hardaway missed a 3-pointer and that was game. Dallas won 81-77. That is called winning ugly. Dallas did not hit a field goal in the last 8 minutes of the game (the last 4 Dallas points came off of free throws). And Dallas shot just 37% FG while Phoenix shot just 35.7% FG. Yuch. Dirk Nowitzki had his 3rd 20-20 game in the past 7 games. He had 30 points (11-25 FG) and 20 rebounds. It was one of the uglier 20-20 games you'll see as he also had 8 turnovers. I kept thinking about how poor of a game he was having and then wondering how he could be having such great numbers. The Denver trade has done wonders for Dirk as he is averaging 14.8 rebounds in the 6 games since the trade and averaged 9.6 rebounds in the 54 games before the trade. Michael Finley had 24 points and 9 rebounds. Raef LaFrentz had an ugly double-double with 12 points including 4-15 FG and 12 rebounds. He also had 5 blocks. Johnny Newman only had 6 points, but helped contain Shawn Marion defensively. Steve Nash only had 3 points on 1-5 FG but did have 9 assists in 26 minutes. Nick Van Exel continued to struggle with just 2 points including 1-7 FG and 3 assists. Eduardo Najera (4 points) was the only other Mav to score. Jake Tsakalidis was, surprisingly, the high man for Phoenix with 15 points. Shawn Marion could not buy a basket, but had a ton of rebounds with 13 points including 3-12 FG and 18 rebounds. Stephon Marbury also shot poorly with 13 points on 6-21 FG and 8 assists. Tom Gugliotta was the 4th Sun in double-digits with 10 points including 4-11 FG and 7 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson: "Well, you wanted a defensive game - that's what it looked like. It was still a 4 point win and that's about what we averaged for the year I suppose. It was quite a game actually. I was worried about this game and rightfully so. I was surprised when they gave the lead away. They made a couple of poor plays and missed some shots. Before you know it, they were right back in it. The bottom line is that we won a game we were supposed to win and we did it the hard way." Dirk Nowitzki: "We haven't had any rhythm on offense. We're standing around and not moving the ball. We've won the last 2 games and that's about the only positive thing. Our defense has been crisp. Our zone looked good and we held them to 77 points which is great, but on the offensive end we just looked brutal." Nowitzki: "We were standing around, we weren't moving the ball. We missed so many layups, it's a joke." Nowitzki: "We always find a way to let the other team stick around and find a way to get back into the game. It's just terrible. We should have a lot of guys getting a lot of rest. We kept it close but we've got to do a better job playing through." Nowitzki: "We really have to talk about our brutal performances lately. We don't have any rhythm on offense, and we're standing around and are not moving the ball. We look terrible right now. Our defense today was pretty crisp, but offensively, it's just been brutal lately." Nowitzki on LaFrentz's blocks: "That's what we need on defense is a shot blocker. He does a great job of helping out on the weak side. He's always there and has great timing." Nowitzki on his 3rd quarter performance: "I just tried to be more aggressive. I still consider it a bad game." Steve Nash: "It was important to get the win even though we struggled on offense. We're trying to re-establish our offense. We're not playing very well, but we all need to take responsibility." Nash: "In the 2nd half we really stepped up our defense. It wasn't until late in the game when they made their run. For the most part we did a good job of containing them." Nick Van Exel: "We showed we can play defense when we put our minds to it. We know we're going to see this kind of pace when we get to the playoffs. We also know there's going to be more physical teams than the team we played tonight." Van Exel: "That's a huge confidence booster knowing we can play defense when we put our minds to it." Avery Johnson on LaFrentz: "He not only got 5 blocks, but he altered a lot of shots." Johnny Newman on his defensive play earning him minutes: "I just like the minutes. I know I can score, but they don't need me to do that. As long as we get wins, I'm happy." Frank Johnson: "We took some shots that I did not necessarily like. But I look at the 1st half - we had some opportunities to break on them and did not execute. They got points in transition because we weren't getting back. We held them to 37% from the field but they were getting transition baskets. You can't win that way. Especially when you don't execute when you get a chance in the fast break. We have to improve in that area." Johnson: "It was a lack of execution when we had a chance to score in transition. I can't say they were defending. We missed some easy shots in there. We're shooting it too fast, we're getting some contact, but not enough to get fouls called. We have to find a way to get to the line more." Johnson on Marbury's 3-point attempt: "We wanted him to either drive and get a 3-point play or he could take the 3-pointer. He settled for a shot he thought he could make." Stephon Marbury: "I couldn't buy a basket. I couldn't shoot the ball into the ocean if I wanted to." Tom Gugliotta: "I think we hurt ourselves more than anything. We became stagnant and nobody was moving. They switch a lot and play a lot of junk defense. When you fall into their trap, it looks like they are playing great defense. If you have patience and you move the ball, you can carve it up and get layups. At times we did that, but for some reason we didn't stick with it." Gugliotta: "We were playing terrible and every time I looked up I expected to see us trailing by 8 or 10 points. But I would look up, and it would be a 1 or 2 point game. We just didn't have any flow offensively, and that's how we fell behind. When we get behind, then we start moving the ball and just playing basketball. It's frustrating because when we move the ball and play defense, we can beat anybody." Gugliotta: "We have been playing hard. We're just not consistently playing well and playing together, but guys are playing hard. We knew this team would let us back into the game if we stuck with it, and we had an opportunity; but to be down 12 with 4 or 5 minutes to go makes it tough to win. They are a talented offensive team and the way we were executing our offense, it made them look good on defense." Anfernee Hardaway: "We've got to learn how to stick around long enough to win these games. We let them go on that spurt where Dirk Nowitzki made like 5 or 6 shots in a row. You just can't let that happen." Dallas Mavericks 81, Phoenix Suns 77 at Dallas (March 5) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 17 23 23 18 - 81 .418 .143 .370 .792 Phoenix 23 21 14 19 - 77 .382 .125 .357 .842 Halftime: Phoenix 44-40 3rd Q: Dallas 63-54 Technicals: None Refs: Danny Crawford, Dee Kantner, James Capers Attendance: 19,745 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Johnny Newman 36 2-3 0-0 2-4 6 0-0 1 0 3 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 11-25 0-3 8-9 30 1-20 2 8 3 3 0 Raef LaFrentz 40 4-15 1-5 3-3 12 4-12 0 4 4 1 5 Michael Finley 48 9-21 0-3 6-8 24 2-9 3 3 2 0 0 Steve Nash 26 1-5 1-1 0-0 3 1-4 9 2 3 1 0 Eduardo Najera 14 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 2-4 1 1 2 2 1 Nick Van_Exel 30 1-7 0-2 0-0 2 0-4 3 0 3 1 2 Shawn Bradley 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 1 Avery Johnson 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 30-81 2-14 19-24 81 10-53 19 18 21 9 9 Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Tom Gugliotta 37 4-11 0-0 2-2 10 1-7 2 2 2 1 0 Shawn Marion 42 3-12 0-1 7-8 13 2-18 1 1 4 2 1 Jake Tsakalidis 29 6-10 0-0 3-3 15 0-3 0 0 4 0 0 Joe Johnson 34 4-11 0-0 0-0 8 2-7 2 1 3 1 1 Stephon Marbury 39 6-21 1-4 0-0 13 0-1 8 3 2 1 0 Bo Outlaw 13 2-3 0-0 1-2 5 1-3 0 1 1 1 1 Anfernee Hardaway 16 1-6 0-1 2-2 4 1-5 3 2 4 2 0 Milt Palacio 12 2-5 0-0 1-2 5 1-2 1 1 0 0 0 John Wallace 12 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 1 2 1 0 0 Dan Majerle 6 1-3 0-2 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 30-84 1-8 16-19 77 8-47 18 13 22 8 3 Toronto at Dallas (March 7) Dallas led 10-8 with 8:40 remaining and Dallas scored the next 9 points to go up 19-8 with 6:45 remaining. Dallas' lead hovered around 10 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 33-24 after 1. Dallas led 41-34 with 7:45 to go and Alvin Williams scored the next 8 points to give Toronto a 42-41 lead with 5:25 remaining. The teams traded leads and Dallas built the lead back up to 6 points at 53-47 with 1:50 left. Toronto scored the next 7 points and Shawn Bradley hit a baseliner at the buzzer to give Dallas a 55-54 lead at the half. Dallas shot 59.4% (22-37) FG and Toronto shot 44.7% (21-47) FG in the half. Toronto got 10 more shot attempts as they were grabbing the offensive rebounds like crazy. Dallas also hurt themselves by missing 8 free throws in the half. A Vince Carter hook (only his 8th point) opened the 3rd quarter and Dallas then went on a 10-2 run to go up 65-58 with 8:30 remaining. Dallas led the rest of the quarter as Toronto could get no closer than 5 points, but Dallas' lead was no larger than 12 points. Dallas scored the last 4 points of the 3rd and led 88-77 after 3. Nowitzki and Steve Nash had 10 points each. The Mavs really turned it on in the 4th by opening the quarter with a 12-1 run to give Dallas a 100-78 lead with 8:50 to go. Toronto pulled with 12 points at 90-102 with 6:15, but could get no closer as Dallas had an answer to every Toronto challenge. Dallas won 122-103. After 3 poor performances (which included 2 wins), Dallas finally had a good outing. Dallas shot a season high 64.8% FG including an amazing 12-15 FG in the 4th quarter. It wasn't a perfect game as Dallas did miss 10 free throws and allowed 26 offensive rebounds. But Toronto only shot 41.1% FG. To be fair, Vince Carter is playing injured and Toronto is in the middle of a terrible slump (13 losses in a row), but that is more reason why Dallas should have beat Toronto so soundly. Dallas had 3 players that did not miss a field goal or free throw. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 35 points including 13-20 FG. With that performance, I think we can excuse him just having 5 rebounds. Michael Finley had 25 points and 6 assists. Steve Nash had a double-double with 19 points including 7-10 FG and 15 assists and just 2 turnovers. Raef LaFrentz was the 4th Mav in double-digits with 13 points on 6-8 FG and 5 rebounds in 23 foul limited minutes. The unsung hero was the energy and rebounding of Eduardo Najera. His numbers were just 3 points and 7 rebounds, but he had 4 of Dallas' mere 5 offensive rebounds and played good defense. Johnny Newman again played good defense with this night's tough assignment of Carter. Nick Van Exel struggled mightly from the line with 1-6 FT, but had 9 points and 6 assists. Carter was the high man for Toronto with 19 points, with 8 points coming in the 4th quarter, and 6 assists. He also had to work hard defensively in trying to defend Finley. Keon Clark had a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds including 7 offensive. He had a MONSTER, full-extension slam dunk over Shawn Bradley late in the 2nd quarter that got 3 long OOOOOh's from me. Antonio Davis also had a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds including 7 offensive, but he shot just 2-11 FG (and when you are shooting from that close to the basket...). Morris Peterson had 16 points off the bench (had been starting and slumping) in 17 minutes. Toronto held a player's only meeting after the game. With the win, Dallas reached 43 wins for the season. That amazingly is the most wins by any team thus far this season. Dallas (43-18) is tied with Sacramento (42-17) for the best record _in_the_league_! Okay, Sac does get the nod percentage-wise, but as a Mavs fan, being at the top in the league is a hard concept to believe. This is a team that before last year had not been in the playoffs (much less actually won a playoff game) in 10 years - the worst team in the NBA, baseball, NFL, and NHL in the 90s. No question that the players deserve a ton of praise, but let's also give Don Nelson props for building a winning franchise. Don Nelson now has a record of 171-170 with Dallas. It is the first time he is above .500 with Dallas since his 1st game here. Only Michael Finley pre-dates Nelson's tenure here. Quotes Don Nelson: "For the first time since the trade, we are going to give the team a well deserved day off. They played really well together. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty darn good. Defensively we were strong and stayed together to do the things we needed to do. I was really pleased with the game and the players that were able to play in it." Nelson: "I would say the offense was clicking. The running game was strong. We executed a couple of plays that we were working on and have been trying to find a way to get Nick more involved in the offense. Not that it was that successful tonight, but it was a start and I think the longer we play together and practice together, the more we will have a good feel for those things. I think Johnny Newman set the stage for the game. His defensive play made it difficult for Carter to score. He is one of the best scorers in the league. Buck took over for him because I needed to rest Johnny. It gave Bradley a chance. He didn't do very well the 1st half, but did a little bit better in the 2nd half and it is a start and we will go from there." Nelson on starting Najera in the 2nd half: "I took LaFrentz out so he wouldn't pick up an early 4th [foul]. Eddie stepped up and proved again that he is an important part of this team. He was able to shut Clark down, which was just giving us fits. [Clark] was a little too quick for Dirk. I told Eddie before the game that I was going to match him up with Clark." Nelson on Najera: "That's what Eddie has been doing all year. He stepped up and proved again that he's an important part of this team." Michael Finley: "We're on the verge of something good. Right now, we can't look at the standings and hope other teams lose. If we keep winning, I like our position." Finley: "We're making the focus that we want to win our division, first and foremost. Whatever happens after that is pretty much secondary." Dirk Nowitzki on being tied for tops in the league: "We like stuff like that. We want to finish as high as we can. If we have a chance to be the best in the league at the end of the season, we're going to go for it." Steve Nash: "In the 1st half, we got out-rebounded pretty bad and gave up some offensive rebounds for easy buckets. In the 3rd period we took advantage of the open court opportunities and took off from there." Nash: "We made a lot of jumpers, but we also got some easy layups tonight and that obviously helps your shooting percentage." Nash: "We played so well offensively tonight that we felt in control for the most part and we broke their spirit in the 2nd half." Raef LaFrentz: "It was a close game, a game of streaks in the 1st half. In the 3rd quarter we really did a good job of limiting them to one shot and then running." LaFrentz: "They pounded us on the boards tonight. We knew they would be a big physical team and that would be an area where we needed to concentrate on." LaFrentz: "Dirk really got it going in that 3rd quarter and that really helped us build the gap." LaFrentz: "Going into the game tonight, it wasn't an ideal situation for us because this is a very talented team. Any team that has dropped 12 games in a row coming into tonight's game, you don't necessarily want to see them because they are going to be looking to work hard and get healthy fast." Lenny Wilkens: "They came out - they were running, shooting. They shot the ball extremely well, especially from the outside. In the 1st half, I thought we hustled, we scrapped, we got back in the game. In the 3rd quarter our defense kind of fell apart. We didn't talk and help and you can't do that against a team like this. You have to get good help, you have to get rotation." Wilkens: "Vince didn't look too comfortable out there tonight at times. In the 1st half, I thought he was moving okay. In the 2nd half, he was a little sore, but he wanted to play. We'll have to see." Wilkens on Carter and Davis not playing well: "It's tough. They are out 2 key guys. If you take Nowitzki and Nash are playing horrible - it's the same thing. If they are struggling, it hurts. Other guys have to step up. We got good production off the bench from Peterson and Dell, but they are not going to take you to the same level that those 2 guys are." Vince Carter: "We had a chance. We just fell a little short. Things just aren't going our way right now. We just have to keep playing and know that [a win] is going to happen soon." Jerome Williams on Dallas' 2nd half: "Whenever a team can change lineups like that in the 2nd half, really go small like that, and really make us adjust to them, that is a very talented team. I think if we played as hard as we did tonight against a lesser team, we win the game. They have a lot of talent over there with Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki as the cornerstones; it really makes everybody else's job that much easier." Williams: "It's tough losing that many games with the type of team that we have. We had to meet and talk things over amongst ourselves, because we really can't rely on the coaches; we can't blame them. We've got to look at each individual in this room and really make a collective effort to go out and do our jobs. That's what we talked about and from this moment on, guys are just going to go out there and do what they have to do. And if they're not doing their jobs, it's up to the team to pull out the whipping stick, basically." Dallas Mavericks 122, Toronto Raptors 103 at Dallas (March 7) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 33 22 33 34 - 122 .650 .636 .648 .670 Toronto 24 30 23 26 - 103 .403 .462 .411 .742 Halftime: Dallas 55-54 3rd Q: Dallas 88-77 Technicals: None Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Luis Grillo, Nolan Fine Attendance: 19,945 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Johnny Newman 22 3-3 1-1 0-0 7 0-1 1 0 4 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 43 13-20 2-4 7-9 35 0-5 1 1 2 2 2 Raef LaFrentz 23 6-8 1-1 0-0 13 0-5 0 0 4 0 3 Michael Finley 40 8-17 1-2 8-10 25 1-4 6 0 3 1 0 Steve Nash 30 7-10 2-2 3-3 19 0-4 15 2 3 2 0 Nick Van_Exel 26 4-8 0-1 1-6 9 0-2 6 1 0 0 0 Greg Buckner 17 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 0-4 2 0 5 1 0 Shawn Bradley 9 3-3 0-0 1-1 7 0-1 0 0 3 0 1 Eduardo Najera 24 1-1 0-0 1-2 3 4-7 1 3 3 1 0 Avery Johnson 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Wang Zhizhi 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 46-71 7-11 23-33 122 5-34 32 9 27 7 6 Toronto Raptors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jerome Williams 30 4-10 0-0 4-6 12 4-5 2 1 1 1 2 Antonio Davis 36 2-11 0-0 8-10 12 7-15 1 4 5 0 1 Keon Clark 37 8-16 0-1 2-3 18 7-15 0 1 4 1 1 Vince Carter 37 6-15 2-4 5-6 19 4-4 6 3 4 1 0 Alvin Williams 34 4-12 1-1 1-1 10 0-1 7 2 4 0 0 Dell Curry 23 4-13 2-5 0-0 10 2-4 1 0 1 1 0 Chris Childs 11 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 1 0 4 1 0 Hakeem Olajuwon 9 1-1 0-0 0-2 2 0-4 2 1 1 0 0 Morris Peterson 17 6-10 1-2 3-3 16 1-2 1 1 2 0 0 Michael Stewart 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 1 0 Jaren Jackson 3 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 37-90 6-13 23-31 103 26-51 21 14 27 6 4 patricia