The start time for the November 1 game at Philadelphia has been changed from 7 pm to 6 pm (Central Time). The game will not be broadcast on TNT as TNT has opted to show a Michael Jordan game. Darrick Martin's left hand, which he broke October 2, will remain in a cast for 2 more weeks. Dallas is working with China on moving up Wang Zhizhi's arrival. It was originally thought to be mid-December, but now the target date is the week of November 19. The NBA ruled that Dallas must keep Wang on the 12 man active roster (or release him) until he rejoins the team. Thus, Dallas needs to cut 2 players before the season starts. Wang's delay in rejoining Dallas is due to his obligation to play in the Asian Games. Denver at Dallas (October 16 - pre-season) You knew before the game started that this was not going to be a good game as Denver is without their best and only truly good player as Antonio McDyess went down a few weeks ago with a knee injury that will keep him out until February. Juwan Howard was Don Nelson's pick for this game to not play. Dallas started Greg Buckner, Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Bradley, Michael Finley, and Steve Nash while Denver started Tariq Abdul-Wahad, Kevin Willis, Raef LaFrentz, Voshon Lenard, and Nick Van Exel. Dallas did not dominate the 1st like one would have expected, but did lead 28-23 after. But Dallas did dominate the 2nd quarter by out-scoring Denver 34-18 in the quarter. Dallas led 62-41 at the half. Finley had 14 points and Nash had 13 points. Dallas shot 54% FG and Denver shot 33% FG. Nowitzki injured his knee early in the 3rd quarter and had everyone concerned. He did return late in the quarter and was okay (I wouldn't have allowed him back in no matter how much he wanted in as a. it was a blow out and b. it was a pre-season game). It was a free throw fest in the 3rd quarter as the refs whistles kept blowing on both teams. I didn't think that quarter was ever going to end. It finally did and Dallas held a commanding 96-60 lead after 3. The scrubs (plus some of Tim Hardaway) were on the floor for the garbage time 4th quarter. All of Khalid El-Amin's and Ruben Wolkowyski's minutes came in the 4th. Denver even had an anti-Nelson lineup of 4 forwards and centers and 1 guard on the court for some of the 4th. Dallas won 112-80. Man is Denver a bad team. No question that they will be vying for the worst record in the league this season (and sadly (as in the state of the bottom dwellers), they probably aren't the worst team in the league). Dallas shot 48.1% (37-77) FG and Denver shot 36.5% (27-74) FG. Denver's starters only had 28 points including 10-32 FG. Most of Cedric Ceballos' numbers (13 points and 10 rebounds) came in the 4th and Zendon Hamilton (14 points) was the only other Nugget in double-digits. No Mav played more than 28 minutes. With the limited minutes and the game being 3 days ago (and trying to get this out before I head to tonight's game), no Mavs' performances sticks out in my mind. Just a couple of random thoughts from looking at the stats and things floating to the top of my memory. Steve Nash was really clicking with 22 points and 6 assists. The play of the game was unquestionably when Nash fumbled the ball in the paint, picked it up, turned, and two-handed flung (it wasn't a "shot") the ball at the basket, and it banked in as the shot clock buzzer sounded. Michael Finley swished one of the cleanest 3-pointers you'll see. Dirk Nowitzki's 15 points (4-6 FG and 7-11 FT) seemed low from what his play looks like. He had one of his unexpected power drives that always makes you go "Yes!" and see just what a star he looks to become. Evan Eschmeyer picked up fouls like crazy - it seemed like the refs were picking on him. Donnell Harvey looked well in the 4th and shot a good looking mid-baseliner that had me going "What's he doing shooting from outGood shot!" Don Nelson says (and take it with a grain of salt) that he is done playing with the lineups and will take the last 3 pre-season games more seriously and as an opportunity to get the team off to good start going into the regular season. Quotes Dan Issel: "Maybe the message that we were trying to play some of the younger kids, maybe the message sent was that we weren't trying to win the game. That was the first time this training camp that I felt like we really didn't get a top effort." Issel: "I thought the guys playing for jobs played hard. The guys that aren't playing for jobs didn't get much done." Issel: "We did what we said we were going to do: play the people that needed to play. You can tell by the number of turnovers we had that there were some lineups out there that weren't used to playing together. I thought to this point and in all of our practices, we played hard. But we didn't play hard tonight." Tariq Abdul-Wahad: "It's an indication of where we are. We made a lot of progress (in training camp), and then we took like 6 steps back, it seems." Dallas Mavericks 112, Denver Nuggets 80 at Dallas (October 16) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 34 34 16 - 112 .471 .556 .481 .767 Denver 23 18 19 20 - 80 .387 .250 .365 .639 Halftime: Dallas 62-41 3rd Q: Dallas 96-60 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 0:56 1st, Denver defensive 3 seconds 8:18 3rd, Denver defensive 3 seconds 7:25 3rd, Refs: Don Vaden, George Toliver, Anthony Jordan Attendance: 13,786 (cap 19,200) Did not play: Juwan Howard (sore left knee), Antonio McDyess, Avery Johnson, Isaiah Rider Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Greg Buckner 20 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2-3 1 0 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 20 4-6 0-1 7-11 15 0-4 5 0 0 1 0 Shawn Bradley 18 1-1 0-0 4-4 6 2-7 0 1 2 0 2 Michael Finley 25 6-13 1-1 3-4 16 2-2 1 1 3 1 2 Steve Nash 25 6-13 2-3 8-8 22 0-2 6 2 3 0 0 Adrian Griffin 28 4-7 0-0 3-4 11 1-3 0 1 3 3 0 Tim Hardaway 16 3-8 2-3 0-0 8 0-1 2 0 1 0 0 Donnell Harvey 25 4-7 0-0 1-2 9 2-6 3 1 5 1 1 Danny Manning 9 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 1-2 1 0 2 1 0 Eduardo Najera 23 1-6 0-0 5-8 7 1-5 3 2 3 1 0 Evan Eschmeyer 16 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 0-1 1 2 6 0 1 Ruben Wolkowyski 8 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 0 1 0 1 0 Khalid El-Amin 7 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 2 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 37-77 5-9 33-43 112 13-38 25 11 30 11 6 Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Tariq Abdul-Wahad 15 0-4 0-0 2-4 2 0-2 0 0 4 0 0 Kevin Willis 22 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 6-9 2 5 3 0 0 Raef LaFrentz 23 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 2-4 0 1 2 0 4 Voshon Lenard 21 3-9 2-5 0-0 8 1-5 0 1 1 0 1 Nick Van_Exel 21 3-11 0-3 3-5 9 1-4 5 2 4 0 0 James Posey 23 1-8 1-2 4-4 7 1-3 0 3 5 1 0 Menk Batere 13 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 1 0 3 1 0 Cedric Ceballos 25 6-11 0-1 1-4 13 4-10 2 7 6 0 0 Ryan Bowen 17 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 2-4 1 0 0 0 2 Kenny Satterfield 8 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 Zendon Hamilton 21 4-8 0-0 6-9 14 3-4 0 0 1 0 0 Omar Cook 19 1-3 0-1 5-6 7 0-1 1 4 0 1 2 Shawnelle Scott 12 2-3 0-0 1-2 5 3-4 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 27-74 3-12 23-36 80 23-52 12 27 31 4 9 patricia