The NBA named Michael Finley (Dal) and Eric Snow (Phi) as Players of the Week. Finley averaged 24.2 points and 5.8 rebounds as Dallas went 4-1. Snow averaged 17 points and 8 assists as Philadelphia went 3-1. Congrats, Fin! Dallas now has a record of 56-24. 56 wins is more than anytime in team history - Dallas went 55-27 in 86-87 (won the Midwest Division). Dallas also has the best road record in the league (and will finish the season with the best road record) at 27-13. That is also a new Mavs record, breaking last season's 25-16. Dallas has 1 road game left (Wednesday's Phoenix game) and 1 home game left (Tuesday's Utah game). Despite those great records and only 2 games left, the Western Conference playoff seeding is still up in air. Only Sacramento (#1), Minnesota (#5), and Portland (#6) are set in their position. Dallas, San Antonio, and the LA Lakers currently have the same record at 56-24. Dallas or San Antonio will finish #2 due to winning the division title - San Antonio does have the tie-breaker on Dallas if the two finish with the same record. The Lakers have the tie-breaker on both Dallas and San Antonio. So, the #2, #3, and #4 seeds will be decided in the next 3 days. Seattle and Utah are battling for #7 and #8 and both have a record of 44-36 (Utah has the tie-breaker). Dirk Nowitzki has missed the last 4 games due to his sprained left ankle. He could have played in the last 2 games, but the coaches decided to sit him to give the ankle more time to heal (he actually participated in the layup drill prior to the Sacramento game). He hopes to play Tuesday vs Utah. In addition to the sprain, Nowitzki has bone spurs in both ankles - when he sprains an ankle, it aggravates the spurs, causing more pain. He'll like (but not definitely) undergo surgery during the off season to remove the spurs. Avery Johnson suffered a bruised left calf during Thursday's Houston game. He was placed on IR prior to the Seattle game and Johnny Newman was activated. [Being placed on IR with less than 5 games remaining in the season does not affect a player's playoff eligibility in anyway.] Houston at Dallas (April 11) Dirk Nowitzki did not play due to a sprained ankle. Dallas jumped out to a 13-3 lead with 5 minutes left as Houston simply could not score. Houston opened the game shooting 3-16 FG. Dallas led 21-11 after 1. Dallas led 23-14 with 10:15 to go and went on a 10-2 run to go up 33-16 with 7:15 to go. A jumper by Eduardo Najera gave Dallas their largest lead at 47-27 with 2:25 remaining. Cuttino Mobley was fouled with a second left in the quarter (bad call) and hit both free throws. Dallas led 51-35 at the half. Dallas shot 52% FG and and Houston shot 34% FG and Dallas out-rebounded Houston 26-17. Dallas forgot that there was a 2nd half and Houston came out determined to get back into the game and did so by opening the quarter with a 15-6 run to pull within 52-57 with 5:30 to go. Mobley had 8 points during that run. Dallas did manage to hang on to a single-digit lead. Moochie Norris hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left and Dallas led just 67-63 after 3. Houston scored the first 8 points of the 4th quarter to take a 73-67 lead with 9 minutes remaining. Dallas scored the next 8 points to re-take the lead at 75-73 with 5:20 left - Dallas took 3 consecutive charges during the run [I felt these were legit, despite Houston's complaints]. Steve Francis drove for a layup, but was called for a flagrant foul on Dallas' possession [this, however, was a bogus call - it was a foul, but no where near flagrant]. Mobley drove for a layup and then hit a jumper to give Houston an 82-80 lead with 2:40 left. The teams traded jumpers and Michael Finley nailed a 3-pointer to give Dallas an 83-82 lead with 1:45 left. Terrence Norris missed a jumper and Nick Van Exel drove for 2 with a minute remaining. However, Francis blew by Raef LaFrentz for the layup and LaFrentz [stupidly] fouled him from behind. Francis hit the free throw to tie the game at 85-85 with 51 seconds to go. Van Exel missed, but got the rebound with 29 seconds remaining and Dallas ran the clock down. Van Exel missed with 5 seconds left and Houston called timeout. Houston got the ball into Mobley, who was closely defended by 2 defenders and his desperation fling was easily blocked by Adrian Griffin and we had overtime at 85-85. Francis continued his strong late game showing by driving for 2 to open the overtime and was again fouled. Steve Nash missed and Francis hit a jumper to give Houston a 90-85 lead with 3:50 remaining. but Nash answered with a quick 3-pointer. Kenny Thomas got a layup and Eddie Griffin hit 1 of 2 free throws to give Houston a 93-88 lead with 3:20 left. Michael Finley hit a jumper and 3-pointer to tie the game at 93-93 with 2:24 to go. Houston missed as the shot clock was running down, but Francis got the rebound. Francis hit a jumper with 1:35 to go. Dallas missed on their possession. Francis drove and, as the defense collapsed on him, kicked out to an open Griffin, who nailed the killer 3-pointer to give Houston a 98-93 with 45 seconds left. Van Exel drove for the quick 2. Francis missed with 23 seconds remaining. Nash's 3-point attempt hit the front of the rim with 8 seconds left, but Najera tapped the rebound out, but Finley missed at the buzzer. Houston won 98-95 in overtime. It was a tale of 2 halves. Unfortunately, Dallas forgot that there were 2 halves. Man, did the Mavs find a cure for my playoff fever that I caught earlier in the day. Houston simply wanted the game more in the 2nd half and Dallas acted like they had already won the game. After shooting 52% FG in the 1st half, Dallas shot just 30% FG in the 2nd half and overtime while Houston went from 34% FG to 55% FG. Dallas even got a couple of breaks from the refs in the 4th quarter and still managed to blow it. Don Nelson also gets some credit for the loss with some of the junk lineups he threw out there. Nelson decided to matchup with Houston instead of making Houston matchup with Dallas. You have to question a lineup of Nick Van Exel, Eduardo Najera, Michael Finley, Greg Buckner, and Adrian Griffin and then you sub Steve Nash in for Buckner??? The quick back-court of Cuttino Mobley and Steve Francis has always given Dallas problems and it was their play that put Houston back in the game. Francis struggled for most of the game, but scored 7 points in overtime and had the key assist for the killer 3-pointer. He finished with 20 points on 8-21 FG and 4-8 FT and 7 assists. Mobley played well throughout the game and had 29 points and 8 rebounds. Kenny Thomas was the only other Rocket in double-digits with 11 points and 9 rebounds. Rookie Eddie Griffin had 9 points and 10 rebounds. Wasted in this game was an excellent performance from Najera, who started in Dirk Nowitzki's place. Najera had 17 points and 15 rebounds. It was Dallas' first loss in a game Najera started. Finley was the high man for Dallas with 25 points including just 10-28 FG and 7 rebounds. Nash had 16 points, but just 4 assists and 5 turnovers. Van Exel was the only other Mav in double-digits with just 10 points including a very poor 4-16 FG. Even more disappointing than blowing such a large lead is the fact that Dallas gave up control of their own destiny with the loss. Dallas was 1/2 a game up on San Antonio in the race for the Midwest title before this game and the 2 are now even - with the Spurs holding the tie-breaker. San Antonio will have to lose a game for Dallas to have a shot at the title. Quotes Rudy Tomjanovich: "We've had some incredible games of late. Incredible finishes. They've been very exciting." Tomjanovich on what he said during halftime: "We've been horrible in the 1st half about 20 times, maybe more this year. We just said read the defenses better, move the ball. We've had some great 2nd halves this season and been horrible in the 1st." Tomjanovich on EGriffin's 3-pointer with 46 seconds left: "We ran that play earlier and Steve got a layup out of it, but that time they took that away, leaving Eddie out there. Eddie had missed like 16 shots in a row or something, but when we needed it he came up big. Law of averages. I knew he was just due. He got hurt and he had to get back into rhythm. We talked about what to do and what not to do - just play. I talked to him about staying in the game mentally and not letting a couple of missed shots keep you from playing well. When he plays in the flow - he is just phenomenal for a 19 year-old kid. Blocking shots, rebounds, second effort plays." Tomjanovich on the reffing (there were a number of questionable calls against Houston in the 4th quarter): "I'll have nothing to say about officiating, I love my money." Steve Francis on his shooting: "It was a struggle for me all game. I have been shooting the ball excellent for the last 10 or 11 games, but tonight I wasn't able to come out and hit my shot, so I thought I did a lot of things to get my teammates involved: rebound the ball, pass the ball to open guys. I thought my defense was great tonight." Francis on the comeback: "Anytime you shoot like we did in the 1st half, you are going to fall behind by 15, 16, 20 points. We stayed with it. Don Nelson is a great coach just like our coach. He's a coach of matchups, and I thought our coach did a great job of exploiting their matchups against us. We came out and Cuttino got hot in that 3rd quarter, and we just jumped on his back and rode it on out." Francis on celebrating after the win: "That's the kind of war it was out there. I felt like celebrating. You have to have fun when you win a game like that." Cuttino Mobley: "I was just being aggressive. In that situation you've got to turn it up. Those guys are doing what they want to do. They're hitting 3s and laughing when they make a mistake. All right, it's cool. It ain't that funny when we come back and run it in your butt. How about that?" Mobley: "We love playing basketball too much to quit. We're going to battle every night. It's been a tough season and I challenge any team in the league to go through what we've gone through and be a playoff team. Nothing against them, but Dallas wouldn't be a playoff team if they had the type of injuries we had. As bad as it's been, we won't give up. That says a lot. We're going to take this season to heart, work hard over the summer and come back ready to prove what we can really do." [Apparently Mobley forgot that Dallas missed Finley for a numbers of games and went 11-1 without him.] Eddie Griffin: "We just wanted to show that we still could play even though we aren't playing for anything and prove to ourselves that we can play against the top teams in the league. We know they are one of the best teams in the league and we want to be up there with them sooner or later, so we want to play at the same level they are playing at." Griffin on his 3-pointer in overtime: "That was just the natural flow of the play. Coach knew that if Steve [Francis] drove and drew a lot of the defense and then find the open guy, and I was open." Griffin on his 3-pointer: "Steve drew the defense and he found me. I had no hesitation and I knocked it down." Don Nelson: "I guess we learned tonight that there are 2 halves to every basketball game. And a very dangerous Houston team, which we don't match up very well with, did exactly what I said they'd do in the locker room if we're not careful. And that is that they could very easily get hot at any and win the game. We were careless and didn't approach the game the way we did in the 1st half. And as a result, we were fighting for our lives most of the game." Nelson: "The unexpected happens. We beat 2 teams we probably didn't have any business beating with the shape that we were in and you let your guard down and a non-playoff team comes in and knocks your socks off. It is another nail in our coffin as far as the division goes. We were fighting an uphill battle as far as I am concerned, but we still wanted to stay in the hunt. I thought if we lost the division it certainly wouldn't be tonight's game." Nelson: "What worked early didn't necessarily work late. In a battle, we just have such a hard time scoring." Nelson on what was the toughest match-up: "They all were. They have the 3 small guys that can hurt you with 1-on-1 basketball and they can put you in a bind. We were in a battle, we had too hard of a time scoring from all of our scorers. We didn't shoot well in the 2nd half." Steve Nash: "This is a good lesson. We've played so many close and big games, and then we got the big lead against a team that wasn't going to the playoffs and we relaxed. There no excuse about Dirk. We were flat and we didn't deserve to win. We didn't shoot well and things were too easy in the 1st half." Nick Van Exel: "This game was a bit demoralizing. They looked like the team that was playing for a Midwest Championship. It was a real tough loss. These next 2 games for us are very important so we have to get ready for them." Van Exel: "We struggled in the 2nd half in trying to contain Francis and Mobley. They played a lot harder than we did in the 2nd half and we also didn't shoot the ball well. It's tough to win when you shoot like that. Those guys came out in the 2nd half and wanted it more." Van Exel: "They played harder than we did in the 2nd half. They wanted it more. They came at us first with their pick-and-roll game, then with their isolation game and kicked us around. That's the bottom line." Van Exel on if there were any lessons learned: "You shouldn't have to learn anything at this stage in the season. They came at us with their pick-and-roll game and they kicked our butts with it." Raef LaFrentz: "This was a game we should have won and didn't. It's frustrating." LaFrentz: "In the 2nd half they really made a strong run and they were able to get into the middle of the floor and get a lot of good looks." LaFrentz: "Defensively we had some breakdowns and I'm sure we will address those." LaFrentz on missing Nowitzki: "Dirk's a great player and we eagerly await his return, but right now the worse thing for him would be to come back too soon and re-hurt his ankle. Hopefully, we will get him back as soon as possible. This was a game that we should have won, it's a game we had to win and we didn't. We didn't execute offensively and it's frustrating." Houston Rockets 98, Dallas Mavericks 95 OT at Dallas (April 11) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Houston 11 24 28 22 13 - 98 .514 .214 .464 .607 Dallas 21 30 16 18 10 - 95 .393 .353 .386 .733 Halftime: Dallas 51-35 3rd Q: Dallas 67-63 Technicals: Houston defensive 3 3:54 2nd, Steve Francis 3:04 2nd, Cuttino Mobley 6:05 4th Flagrant fouls: Kelvin Cato 5:18 1st, Steve Francis 4:35 4th Refs: Michael Smith, Ronnie Nunn, Tommy Nunez Attendance: 20,098 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Dirk Nowitzki (sprained left ankle) Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dan Langhi 17 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 0-3 1 0 1 0 0 Kenny Thomas 37 5-9 0-0 1-3 11 3-9 0 0 2 0 1 Kelvin Cato 19 3-4 0-0 1-3 7 3-6 0 1 0 0 1 Steve Francis 46 8-21 0-2 4-8 20 2-4 7 4 3 1 1 Cuttino Mobley 49 12-25 0-3 5-5 29 2-8 2 2 3 2 0 Terrence Morris 13 3-5 0-1 2-2 8 1-4 1 1 0 1 0 Eddie Griffin 33 2-6 2-4 3-6 9 2-10 1 0 1 0 2 Oscar Torres 11 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Moochie Norris 38 3-7 1-4 1-1 8 0-7 6 3 3 4 0 Tierre Brown 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 53 39-84 3-14 17-28 98 13-51 19 12 14 8 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 30 4-10 0-0 0-0 8 4-8 3 0 3 2 2 Eduardo Najera 42 7-12 0-0 3-6 17 8-15 3 0 4 0 0 Raef LaFrentz 23 2-8 0-1 0-0 4 4-8 0 0 4 0 4 Michael Finley 47 10-28 3-6 2-2 25 3-7 4 4 2 1 0 Steve Nash 43 5-13 2-4 4-5 16 0-2 4 5 2 0 0 Wang Zhizhi 15 4-4 1-1 0-0 9 0-5 1 0 2 2 1 Nick Van_Exel 34 4-16 0-5 2-2 10 1-4 3 1 1 1 0 Greg Buckner 22 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 2-5 1 0 5 0 1 Avery Johnson 6 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 1 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 3 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 53 39-101 6-17 11-15 95 23-55 20 11 24 6 8 Dallas at Seattle (April 13) Dirk Nowitzki and Rashard Lewis did not play due to sprained left ankles. The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with neither team holding more than a 6 point lead. There were 5 ties and 6 lead changes. Evan Eschmeyer got a layup at the buzzer and Dallas led 26-25 after 1. Dallas was leading despite the fact that they committed an uncharacteristically high 6 turnovers in the quarter. Dallas led 36-31 with 8:40 left and scored the next 7 points to go up 45-33 with 6:40 to go. Dallas led in the teens the rest of the quarter. Dallas scored 8 straight points to go up 62-45 with 20 seconds remaining, but Desmond Mason hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Dallas led 62-46 at the half. Nick Van Exel had 10 points in the 2nd quarter. Dallas shot 57% FG and Seattle shot 30% FG in the half. Seattle was staying in the game at the line by shooting 16-19 FT while Dallas shot 8-10 FT. Unlike the Houston game, Dallas decided to show up in the 2nd half. And show up they did. Dallas led 70-54 with 8:50 to go and went on an 18-2 monster run, including 12 points from Michael Finley, to go up 88-56 with 4:35 remaining. Dallas led 96-66 after 3. Finley had 17 points on a perfect 6-6 FG, 2-2 3-pointers, and 3-3 FT in the quarter. The Seattle reserves did cut into Dallas' lead some, but it was far too little as they would get no closer than 17 points. Dallas won 116-99. After blowing it vs Houston, Dallas took care of business against Seattle and didn't slack off. And Michael Finley was just awesome in the 3rd quarter. Dallas shot 53.4% FG and Seattle shot 41% FG and Dallas also out-rebounded Seattle 43-41. After committing 6 turnovers in the 1st quarter, Dallas only had 2 turnovers the rest of the game. Finley finished with 29 points including 11-17 FG. Eduardo Najera had his 2nd consecutive double-double (and his 6th of the season) with 14 points and 11 rebounds. He also had 3 steals. Nick Van Exel was a stud off the bench with 22 points including 9-12 FG [and, amazingly, only attempted 2 3-pointers] in 26 minutes. Raef LaFrentz looked good [which is an improvement] with 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Steve Nash only had 10 points including 4-10 FG, but did have 9 assists as Don Nelson limited his minutes to just 22 minutes. The Mavs got some unexpected offensive production from Greg Buckner with 17 points including 7-10 FG. He also had 6 rebounds and had the fun of chasing around Gary Payton. And Payton was the only Sonic to have a good performance. Payton had 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists - all highs for the team. Vladimir Radmanovic had 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Desmond Mason had 11 points including 4-12 FG. And Brent Barry had 10 points on 1-8 FG and 8-8 FT, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Quotes Don Nelson: "We were hitting shots and maybe it got to the point where it was one of those nights. I really have a rough time evaluating my own team to be quite honest with you." Nelson on 55 wins: "Any time you can do that, it has to be a special year, especially playing in the West." Nelson on the chance of winning the division: "There's an outside chance that could happen, [but] it's not looking that good." Nelson on possible 1st round matchups: "We'd rather match up with the Pismo Beach Panthers. There isn't a team that's easy in the West." Nelson on Nowitzki: "It gave me a chance to rest Nowitzki. He is feeling better, he told me, so we will make him a game-time decision tomorrow." Nelson on Nowitzki: "When he gets healthy, I'm going to play him. But I don't want him to play until he is." Nelson on Nash: "Nash is not healthy but he's getting there, so it was nice not to have to play him that long. He was more active than I've seen him the past couple of weeks, and that was good to see." Michael Finley on his good game: "It wasn't anything spectacular. I just had good looks at the basket and made the most of the situation." Dirk Nowitzki: "I'll definitely play Tuesday and Wednesday for sure and hopefully be ready for the playoffs." Steve Nash on a group of fans who serenaded him with the Canadian national anthem: "Those were all of my buddies who drove down [from Canada]. They probably had a few too many drinks, that's for sure. They were having a good time, and for me to be able to be a part of allowing them to enjoy this makes me feel really good." Nick Van Exel: "We came out and set the tone early. We were able to hold onto the lead and not let them feed off their crowd's energy. It was big in that 3rd quarter the way we kept that momentum up. We didn't give them a chance." Van Exel: "We shot the ball well, but I thought defensively we did a lot of good things. They've got a lot of good finishers, so we made an extra point to get back on defense, because we knew that that was a big part of their offense." Greg Buckner on Dallas' bench out scoring Seattle's bench 45-41: "Any time you have Nick Van Exel coming off your bench, you're going to have an advantage." Buckner on Dallas' team record tying 55 wins: "We've got a second season that people call playoff time. If we can break the record for playoff wins, that means we're world champs, and that's what we want to do." Nate McMillan: "This is big time basketball and we have to learn how to play in this situation. Tonight, we didn't play. Our big guys didn't step up and make plays." McMillan: "This team is basically where I expected it to be. They've got to learn how to play. The last couple of weeks the level of play has been raised and we're learning how to play it. Right now we can't have goofing-off possessions." McMillan: "This is the time for the guys who want to be big-time players to step up and play like big-time players." McMillan on Lewis: "There is a possibility that we may not see Lewis until the playoffs." Brent Barry: "We didn't do anything. We did the opposite of everything we were trying to accomplish." Desmond Mason: "It's not disappointing at all. It was bad that we went out and played with a lack of effort for the most part. But we can't get our heads down." Jerome James: "It's tough but it's not as dramatic as everybody is making it out to be. Dallas is one of the best teams, they have a high-powered offense. When they are shooting shots like they were shooting - it's going to be tough to beat them." James: "We have had success this year by turning teams into perimeter teams. But that is a perimeter team." James on possible 1st round opponents: "[Dallas] is definitely not the team we want to meet." Earl Watson: "We've just got to work hard and stay together. We just have to come back, and if we do face them in the 1st round we just have to make adjustments. It was not any individual's fault, it was a team effort." Dallas Mavericks 116, Seattle Sonics 99 at Seattle (April 13) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 26 36 34 20 - 116 .577 .353 .534 .842 Seattle 25 21 20 33 - 99 .389 .545 .410 .862 Halftime: Dallas 62-46 3rd Q: Dallas 96-66 Technicals: Seattle defensive 3 seconds 0:47 1st Refs: Ron Garretson, Tom Washington, Derrick Collins Attendance: 17,072 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Dirk Nowitzki (sprained left ankle), Rashard Lewis (sprained left ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 26 2-7 0-0 0-0 4 1-3 2 0 3 0 0 Eduardo Najera 43 5-12 0-0 4-5 14 2-11 2 0 3 3 2 Raef LaFrentz 26 6-11 1-3 1-1 14 1-7 0 1 3 1 4 Michael Finley 35 11-17 3-5 4-4 29 1-4 1 2 1 1 0 Steve Nash 22 4-10 0-1 2-2 10 1-4 9 3 1 0 0 Greg Buckner 31 7-10 1-2 2-4 17 4-6 3 1 5 2 1 Nick Van_Exel 26 9-12 1-2 3-3 22 0-3 4 2 0 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 18 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 1 1 2 1 0 Wang Zhizhi 13 2-7 0-4 0-0 4 1-3 1 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 47-88 6-17 16-19 116 11-43 23 10 20 8 7 Seattle Sonics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Desmond Mason 32 4-12 1-1 2-2 11 0-3 0 2 2 1 1 Vladimir Radmanovic 31 5-12 2-2 0-2 12 2-5 2 0 4 3 0 Jerome James 13 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 2-4 0 1 1 0 1 Brent Barry 32 1-8 0-3 8-8 10 1-5 5 0 2 1 1 Gary Payton 35 8-19 1-1 4-4 21 3-6 7 3 2 1 1 Predrag Drobnjak 22 3-6 0-0 2-2 8 5-7 1 0 0 0 0 Vin Baker 11 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 1 1 1 0 0 Earl Watson 13 2-3 1-1 2-2 7 0-1 2 2 1 0 0 Ansu Sesay 27 4-9 0-0 1-3 9 0-3 1 0 1 0 0 Shammond Williams 16 2-5 1-3 4-4 9 0-2 6 1 1 0 0 Olumide Oyedeji 8 3-3 0-0 0-0 6 0-3 0 0 1 2 0 Totals 48 34-83 6-11 25-29 99 14-41 25 10 16 8 4 Dallas at Sacramento (April 14) Dirk Nowitzki did not play due to a sprained left ankle. Dallas went on a 10-3 mini-run to go up 20-11 with 4:30 remaining. Dallas led around 9 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 31-22 after 1. Michael Finley had 12 points. Dallas led 36-26 with 10:25 left and went on a 10-4 run to go up 46-30 with 6:30 to go. Consecutive 3-pointers by Bobby Jackson pulled Sacramento within 41-48 with 3:15 to go, but Dallas scored the next 4 points. Dallas scored the last 4 points of the quarter, including a jumper from Raef LaFrentz at the buzzer, and led 63-48 at the half. Dallas shot 51% FG and Sacramento shot 38% FG. Doug Christie hit a jumper to open the 3rd quarter, but Dallas then scored the next 9 points to go up 72-50 with 9:10 left. Dallas led 74-54 with 7:10 to go and Sacramento went on a 13-3 run to pull within 67-77 with 3 minutes remaining. Nick Van Exel drove for the layup at the quarter's end and Dallas led 85-73 after 3. Sacramento scored the first 6 points of the 4th quarter to pull within 79-85 with 10:45 left. Shawn Bradley answered with a dunk off a nice feed from Van Exel and Van Exel nailed a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 90-79 lead with 10 minutes to go. Sacramento score 3 points and LaFrentz answered with a 3-pointer. Hidayet Turkoglu converted a 3-pointer play, but LaFrentz hit another 3-pointer to give Dallas a 96-85 lead with 7:33 remaining. A 3-pointer by Van Exel gave Dallas a 107-91 lead with 4:15 left and Dallas led in the teens the rest of the game. Dallas won 113-100. Wow. I really wasn't expecting this. Even though Sacramento didn't have anything to play for (locked into the best record in the league), they were playing hard and even though Dallas was never able to truly pull away, Dallas was clearly in control for most of the game. Whenever Sacramento threatened, Dallas had an answer, most of the time with a 3-pointer. Dallas also out-rebounded Sacramento 50-41 including 18-14 offensive. The Kings hurt themselves by missing 14 free throws - they had a huge free throw advantage by shooting 26-40 FT while Dallas shot 15-16 FT [but I didn't think the reffing was bad - though I wish they'd call offensive 3 seconds for once]. Dallas became the only team this season to win twice in Arco Arena, where Sacramento is a league best 35-5, and Dallas also took the season series 3-1. The hero of this game was easily Nick Van Exel with 27 points including 14 in the 4th quarter and 5 rebounds. Raef LaFrentz had his best game in a long time with 21 points including 10 in the 4th quarter and 13 rebounds before fouling out with less than 2 minutes left. Michael Finley had 20 points and 6 rebounds, but had a poor 2nd half with just 2 points on 1-7 FG. Steve Nash was the 4th Mavs with 20+ points with 21 points and had 13 assists. Eduardo Najera had 13 points including 6-9 FG and 6 rebounds before fouling out with 2:30 left in the 4th. He often had the fun of trying to defend Chris Webber. Webber was the high man for Sacramento with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Vlade Divac had 18 points, but only shot 6-12 FT. He also had 9 rebounds including 6 offensive. Scot Pollard and Bobby Jackson and 12 points each and Peja Stojakovic had a very poor outing with just 11 points including 4-12 FG and 6 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson: "We played pretty good last night, I don't think we play good against just them. They probably let their guard down a little bit, with having everything clinched. I know their coaches wanted to beat us. I'm trying to figure out why we won this game without Dirk, and it's probably a pretty good reason - they maybe thought it would be a little bit easier than it was. We played great, and I actually think its good that we can win these games without Nowitzki." Michael Finley on 56 wins: "This is a tremendous feat for this team and for this organization. We've come a long way and, believe it or not, we still have a little ways to go. But from where they came from since I've been here, it's been a dramatic turnaround. And you have to give credit to Coach Nelson as the coach and general manager, and also give credit to Mark Cuban for, more importantly, acquiring guys who want to win and who wants the best for the franchise." Steve Nash: "When guys come off the bench and are tough defenders, it gives us another look and we still have a lot of fire power. We are looking forward to Dirk getting back, although there is no real rush until the playoffs. If they pay too much attention to me, my teammates will kill him, and that makes it really easy for me and it's a fun job to have." Nash on Dallas' road play: "I don't know what it is. We are really unaffected by a hostile environment. We are a resilient team. We never get down. We are a good comeback team. We never really feel out of the game. Our shooting ability is a great attribute to have on the road." Nash: "We're really unaffected by a hostile environment and we're really resilient, too. We don't have to rely on the judgments of the refs in tough places like this, because we shoot a lot of jump shots." Nick Van Exel: "It's tough to play against a team that plays the same way as you do. We just wanted to play the run-and-gun and see who has the most points at the end. We pulled it out tonight because we made shoots and defended well. We came out here to get the job done, beat Seattle and then beat Sacramento in this tough building." Van Exel: "We beat them at their own game. I just thought we were more aggressive than they were. It's the kind of game you'll remember when the playoffs come around." Van Exel on if Sacramento wasn't giving it their all: "I saw a lot of emotion in their faces. However you want to take it we got the W." Raef LaFrentz: "We are just trying to build momentum going into the playoffs. This is a possible team we will have to go through, to get to the playoffs. We knew it would be a big challenge to come in here and get a win, but our team has already gotten a win here. That's not easy to do, but it was a good performance and we feel good about ourselves leaving this arena with a W." LaFrentz on Dallas winning 2 in Arco Arena: "That's weird. It's a tough place. To come in and get one is tough." Rick Adelman: "If anything I messed this up a bit because I wasn't substituting like I normally do. I saw no sense to play guys extended minutes. I wanted to do some things too; play some guys out on the floor that haven't played together. Dallas shoots the ball well and has guys who get on the floor and get around you. They played a nice game." Adelman: "I wasn't going to play anyone for 40 minutes, but I was still trying to win. Maybe I sat guys too long in the 2nd quarter, but Dallas still took it to us." Doug Christie: "I can't say what happened to us in the 1st half. They came out and they were ready to play. They played good ball, and not that we didn't, but we have to give them credit. They came out there and made their shots. In the 2nd half, we just had to make sure that we were playing the way we were capable of playing, and that's what Coach tried to emphasize. At this point, we want to play as hard as we can, but we don't want to get hurt. You just have to go out there and play." Bobby Jackson: "We came in here tonight not expecting to really play hard. We were just going through the motions. We just didn't play the way we were capable of playing. We want to go into playoffs with our heads on right. The starters came out tonight very aggressive. I don't think that Coach is going to work them too hard until playoffs. Give Dallas credit. They jumped on us real hard. We've had a long season." Scot Pollard: "You want to stay in a flow and you want to stay ready to go, but at the same time, in the back of your head, you know it doesn't mean much. So you have to think, 'Do I start my star players? Do I play my All-Stars heavy minutes and risk getting them injured going into the most important time of the year?'" Dallas Mavericks 113, Sacramento Kings 100 at Sacramento (April 14) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 31 32 22 28 - 113 .514 .364 .479 .938 Sacramento 22 26 25 27 - 100 .492 .235 .438 .650 Halftime: Dallas 63-48 3rd Q: Dallas 85-73 Technicals: Sacramento defensive 3 seconds 9:30 1st, Rick Adelman 2:14 2nd, Chris Webber 2:14 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 6:20 3rd Flagrant fouls: Chris Webber 9:35 1st Refs: Danny Crawford, Kevin Fehr, Tim Donaghy Attendance: 17,317 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Dirk Nowitzki (sprained left ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 20 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 1 0 4 0 0 Eduardo Najera 21 6-9 0-0 1-2 13 2-6 0 1 6 0 0 Raef LaFrentz 35 8-17 3-7 2-2 21 5-13 2 2 6 1 2 Michael Finley 40 10-21 0-1 0-0 20 3-6 1 1 1 1 0 Steve Nash 38 6-10 1-5 8-8 21 1-2 13 1 2 0 0 Greg Buckner 19 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2-4 1 1 1 1 2 Nick Van_Exel 33 10-21 3-6 4-4 27 1-5 4 1 3 1 0 Wang Zhizhi 11 2-7 1-3 0-0 5 1-3 0 0 3 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 15 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-5 1 1 3 0 1 Shawn Bradley 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 1 0 3 0 0 Totals 48 45-94 8-22 15-16 113 18-50 24 9 32 4 5 Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Predrag Stojakovic 31 4-12 1-3 2-2 11 0-6 1 1 0 0 0 Chris Webber 33 7-13 0-0 5-8 19 1-9 4 3 2 0 0 Vlade Divac 27 6-12 0-0 6-12 18 6-9 1 2 3 1 2 Doug Christie 30 1-5 0-3 5-5 7 1-3 8 3 1 1 0 Mike Bibby 32 4-9 1-2 3-3 12 1-3 3 1 5 1 0 Scott Pollard 15 1-1 0-0 2-3 4 1-2 0 0 0 0 1 Hidayet Turkoglu 25 3-9 0-1 2-5 8 2-3 2 0 1 1 0 Bobby Jackson 26 5-14 2-8 0-1 12 2-4 3 0 2 0 0 Gerald Wallace 7 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-1 1 0 2 0 0 Lawrence Funderburke 9 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 2 1 0 0 Mateen Cleaves 3 1-1 0-0 1-1 3 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Chucky Brown 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 35-80 4-17 26-40 100 14-41 24 12 17 4 3 patricia Go Mavs!