Steve Nash missed the last 3 practices due to the flu. He did play in the Clippers game. LA Clippers at Dallas (April 4) Dallas came out really sluggish and the Clippers shot out to a 12-2 lead with 8:40 remaining. Dallas finally started to play and scored the next 8 points. The Clippers led 16-15 with 4:20 to go and scored the next 10 points to go up 26-15 with 3 minutes left. Dirk Nowitzki hit a jumper at the buzzer and the Clippers led 27-21 after 1. Corey Maggette scored 9 points. The teams traded baskets and Dallas scored 6 straight points to tie the game at 29-29 with 8:30 left. The Clippers scored the next 6 points to hang on to a single-digit lead. Steve Nash drove for a wild layup with 4 seconds remaining to give Dallas their first lead of the game. Dallas led 44-43 at the half. Dallas mostly held a single-digit lead in the 3rd quarter. Dallas led 70-67 with 2 minutes to go and scored the last 7 points of the quarter to go up 78-68 after 3. Dirk Nowitzki had 11 points in the quarter. The Clippers scored the first 5 points of the 4th quarter to pull within 73-78 with 10:40 to go, but Dallas then went on a 20-6 run to go up 99-79 with 6:30 left. The run was capped by a beautiful baseline drive, behind the basket flip up and in by Michael Finley - Finley was fouled driving and the refs first waved the basket off and then huddled and reversed their call (counting the basket was the correct call as Finley never put the ball back down). Not surprisingly, Alvin Gentry was not happy with the call reverse and picked up a technical protesting (Nowitzki made the T free throw and Finley missed the foul free throw). Maggette hit a 3-pointer, but Dallas scored the next 8 points to push their lead to 107-82 with 3:45 remaining. Dallas led in the 20s the rest of the game. Dallas won 115-90. Dallas had yet another slow open and it was a really ugly 1st half. I'm still surprised that Dallas actually had the lead at the half - even more surprising was that both teams were shooting in the high 40s in the half as it seemed that both teams were struggling to find the basket. The game improved in the 3rd quarter as both teams picked up their play - and picked up the pace. Dallas just kicked it into a higher gear in the 4th quarter. It seemed like one minute Dallas had a single-digit lead and the next minute Dallas had a 20 point lead. Dallas out-scored the Clippers 37-22 in the 4th quarter and 71-47 in the 2nd half. Dallas shot 52.6% (50-95) FG and the Clippers shot 43% (34-79) FG. Dallas also out-rebounded the Clippers 50-39 including 18-14 offensive. Dirk Nowitzki led the way with 25 points including 9-14 FG and 8 rebounds. Michael Finley had 20 points including, 10 points in the 4th quarter, and 5 assists. Nick Van Exel had his 2nd start as a Mav and, as with his other start, the Mavs struggled in the 1st quarter - I don't like him as a starter with this team (no problem with playing Nash and Van Exel at the same time in the 4th, though). 8 of Van Exel's 12 points came in the 4th quarter. Steve Nash was turnover prone early, but finished with 11 points, 7 assists, and 4 turnovers. Greg Buckner had a very nice game with 13 points including 6-7 FG and 5 rebounds. Evan Eschmeyer had 4 points and 10 rebounds including 5 offensive in just 15 minutes in his first game in a month. The Clippers were led by Michael Olowokandi, who dominated Dallas inside, with 19 points and 8 rebounds, but also had 7 turnovers. Elton Brand had 13 points and 9 rebounds including 7 offensive. Jeff McInnis had 17 points and Corey Maggette was the 4th Clipper in double-digits with 16 points. Quotes Don Nelson: "We have a showdown in San Antonio. It will be an important game and I think both teams are looking forward to that. It will certainly have a playoff intensity and atmosphere down there and I am looking forward to it. Tonight we had a very slow start and I guess that was to be expected. I have had Nash out for 3 practice days. I had to explain to our team at half time what happened to [the Clippers] in Utah when they let their guard down and lost an important game. We didn't want the same thing to happen to us. We played a very fine 2nd half, although we weren't really in control until the 4th quarter. At least we played with intensity for all but 6 or 7 minutes of the game." Nelson: "I have been a Buckner fan a long time. Even without Buckner in the lineup, we are doing so well and that surprised me. To have him back and have him in our rotation makes me very comfortable. He is really a good basketball player. He compliments the guys on the team. Not only does he defend, but he is working on his jumper and playing a little point guard. He is comfortable running a couple of sets. He puts a burden on the other team." Nelson: "Eschmeyer was very strong tonight. It was a kind of game that I expected him to do well in and he did. Bradley was also very active and pretty good. If I can get those big guys to play at that level every night, we are pretty solid at the center spot. I thought Raef struggled a little bit and seemed a little uncomfortable out there. Nick seems to be fitting in better than Raef now. They have kind of reversed their roles [Van Exel struggled right after the trade and LaFrentz played well]. Hopefully before this is all over they will be comfortable in their roles." Dirk Nowitzki: "We weren't ready at the beginning of the game, we looked a little rusty. But in the 2nd half, we played some defense, started running, and made some shots." Nick Van Exel: "The intensity was down in the 1st half. We started off slow in the 1st quarter. Steve, like he's been doing since I got here, coming out and trying to pick up the tempo to get it to where we like to play. Once we did that, it opened the game up." Van Exel on Dallas' 2nd half defense: "The defense was great. They didn't get as many open looks at the basket. We slowed Olowokandi down, we changed up our defensive mindset, and we tried to get him out of the game as best as we could and make other players beat us." Van Exel on if Dallas was looking ahead to San Antonio: "That's overrated - looking ahead. You don't really think about the next game. It may look like it when we start off sluggish, but we just didn't come out with the intensity we needed." Raef LaFrentz on the 3rd quarter: "The match-up was good - I had Olowokandi on me. We were going to try and involve him in the pick-and-roll and try to get some open looks that way. I was able to knock down some shots." LaFrentz on not looking past the Clippers to the San Antonio game: "Not hard at all, really. This game is as big as that game. We had to win this game to get to the showdown, so we really took it one game at a time. We had to win tonight in order to make Saturday night more important." Alvin Gentry: "They have a lot of weapons. I thought we played well the 1st half. We did a pretty good job, but we had a breakdown on screen-and-rolls. You have to guard them on the screen-and-rolls. I thought our effort was good but we gave up too many points in the 2nd half. We didn't score like we did earlier in the season [against Dallas]." Gentry: "We had some points where we played some good basketball, so it shows the potential of this team." Gentry: "They just outplayed us in the 2nd half. They got some separation. They made some plays and we didn't." Gentry: "They didn't make any adjustments. We just missed shots. You have to score 100 points to beat this team. We were averaging 116 against them and tonight we got 90.'' Gentry on Dallas: "They're good. They've got something to play for. They feel like they have something to play for. They feel like they are going to go deep into the playoffs so they are looking to get home court advantage as far as they can. LaFrentz and Van Exel make them that much better." Elton Brand: "We still have a shot at a winning record, we still have a shot at .500. Since the playoffs are out of reach, that is one of our goals now." Darius Miles: "We're playing hard, we're just not executing. So we really didn't deserve to win." Michael Olowokandi: "They played very well. They're the Dallas Mavericks, No. 1. We were lacking on the defensive end. It crumbled from the top and it exposes everything down below. People need to know what they need to do. I'm not sure if it is ability or effort." Olowokandi: "The last 3 games are indicative of our season. We had some points where we played some good basketball, so it shoes the potential of this team. This summer will bring a lot of shuffling. I'm sure the GM and all the people whose responsibilities are to pull this basketball team together, will make some good changes to make us a very competitive basketball team next year. " Olowokandi on miss a team meeting, which was why he did not start: "I'm sorry I violated team policy, but I thought it was more important for me to get some rest. We were back-to-back and we got in at 2 in the morning." Dallas Mavericks 115, Los Angeles Clippers 90 at Dallas (April 4) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 21 23 34 37 - 115 .556 .357 .526 .714 LA Clippers 27 16 25 22 - 90 .492 .222 .430 .692 Halftime: Dallas 44-43 3rd Q: Dallas 78-68 Technicals: LA Clippers defensive 3 seconds 3:24 2nd, Alvin Gentry 6:27 4th Refs: Danny Crawford, Jason Phillips, Sean Corbin Attendance: 20,050 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 36 10-19 0-4 0-1 20 2-4 5 1 3 1 1 Dirk Nowitzki 37 9-14 2-3 5-5 25 2-8 2 2 1 2 1 Raef LaFrentz 20 3-10 1-3 2-4 9 2-6 0 1 5 0 0 Steve Nash 24 5-8 0-1 1-1 11 0-1 7 4 1 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 23 5-12 2-2 0-0 12 1-3 4 1 0 0 1 Greg Buckner 32 6-7 0-0 1-2 13 1-5 1 2 2 1 3 Evan Eschmeyer 15 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 5-10 1 0 4 0 1 Adrian Griffin 20 4-7 0-1 1-1 9 1-4 2 0 3 0 0 Eduardo Najera 15 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 1-4 0 0 0 1 0 Shawn Bradley 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 3-3 2 0 2 0 1 Avery Johnson 5 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 Wang Zhizhi 4 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 50-95 5-14 10-14 115 18-50 24 11 21 5 8 Los Angeles Clippers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Elton Brand 36 4-8 0-0 5-6 13 7-9 3 2 1 1 2 Corey Maggette 33 5-12 1-5 5-6 16 0-1 2 1 2 1 0 Sean Rooks 8 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 2 0 0 Jeff McInnis 35 6-14 3-6 2-2 17 0-4 2 1 3 2 0 Eric Piatkowski 28 2-9 0-4 0-0 4 1-5 0 0 2 1 0 Michael Olowokandi 34 8-14 0-0 3-8 19 3-8 3 7 2 1 2 Earl Boykins 13 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 0-0 1 1 1 0 0 Quentin Richardson 25 2-8 0-2 0-0 4 1-3 3 0 0 1 0 Darius Miles 23 3-3 0-0 3-4 9 2-8 1 2 1 0 0 Doug Overton 2 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Harold Jamison 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Tremaine Fowlkes 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-79 4-18 18-26 90 14-39 15 15 14 7 4 patricia (off to San Antone)