Boston (20-14) at Dallas (29-5) (January 10) Dallas came out in the 1st quarter looking sluggish and lackadaisical and the teams traded a series of small runs. Boston scored the 1st 5 points of the game and Dallas then scored the next 10 points to go up 10-5 with 7:15 to go. The teams traded 2 free throws and then Boston scored the next 10 points to take a 17-12 lead with 4:35 remaining. It was then Dallas' turned as the Mavs scored the next 8 points. Dallas led 24-22 after 1. Dallas was shooting in the high 30s and Boston in the mid-40s. Dirk Nowitzki, who scored Dallas' first 8 points, had 15 points already. The teams traded 3-pointers to open the 2nd quarter and then Dallas found their shooting touch and Boston lost theirs. A 3-pointer by Walt Williams kicked of an 18-3 monster run by Dallas and a 3-pointer by Michael Finley ended the run to put Dallas up 48-30 with 4 minutes to go. And most of the run occurred with Nowitzki resting on the bench. Dallas led 60-41 at the half. Finley had 16 points in the quarter. For the half, Dallas shot 50% FG including 5-8 3-pointers and Boston shot 38.9% FG including 5-16 3-pointers. And Dallas out-rebounded Boston 26-16 including 11-4 offensive, with Adrian Griffin having 6 offensive boards himself. Griffin played all of the 1st half and was solid in all aspects of the game with 6 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists while guarding Paul Pierce, who had just 8 points. Dallas did not let up in the 3rd quarter as the Celtics got no closer than 18 points and Dallas scored 12 straight points, capped by a 3-point play by Steve Nash, to take a 88-56 lead with 3 minutes remaining. Dallas led 92-60 after 3. The 1st quarter went to Nowitzki, the 2nd quarter to Finley, and the 3rd quarter (naturally) went to Nash who had 13 points in the quarter. Pierce tried to carry his team in the 3rd quarter, but he got no help as he scored 12 of Boston's 19 points in the quarter. The 4th quarter was pure garbage time and the only negative was that the Mavs reserves struggled to score and it was an ugly affair as the Boston scrubs out-scored Dallas 18-11 in the quarter. Dallas won 103-78. Yet another expected tough game turned out to be an easy one. I guess Dallas saw Sacramento's thumping of New Jersey the previous day and thought it looked like fun to beat up on an Eastern conference team. Needless to say with such a blowout, all of the stats favored Dallas. Dallas shot 46.4% (39-84) FG including 8-18 3-pointers while Boston shot 36.8% (28-76) FG including 9-32 3-pointers. Dallas shot 17-20 FT and Boston shot 13-18 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Boston 49-36 including 15-10 offensive. Dallas had twice as many assists as Boston at 30-15. Boston had 15 turnovers which Dallas converted into 25 points while Dallas had 9 turnovers which Boston converted into just 3 points. On the court, you could see that Dallas simply wanted the ball more in hustling after the rebounds and loose balls. The big 3 all had solid games, but the star of the game is not shown stat-wise. Adrian Griffin was a stud. He was active everywhere and played solid defense. He played every minute until subbing out with 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Griff had 8 points including 3-10 FG, 12 rebounds including 7 offensive, and 5 assists. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 28 points including 12-20 FG in 27 minutes. Michael Finley was solid with 22 points and 7 assists (including a _sweet_ one to Nash under the basket through traffic for the easy 2 (and I had the perfect view for the pass)). Steve Nash was somewhat quiet offensively, but active on the court and had 13 points and 6 assists in 26 minutes. Raef LaFrentz came off the bench and had 11 points including 5-7 FG, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Shawn Bradley started, but got frustrated with calls and non-calls. He only had 2 points and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes. Walt Williams had 9 points and 4 rebounds and Nick Van Exel had 2 points including 1-6 FG, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in giving Nash some rest. Paul Pierce led led the way for Boston with 20 points including 4-8 3-pointers and 6 assists, but also had 5 turnovers. He drained a couple of tough, tough shots. Antoine Walker had a terrible game with just 11 points including 4-14 FG, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. And he was on the court during half of the garbage time during the 4th quarter. Tony Delk had 13 points including 4-6 FG and Walter McCarty was the 4th Celtic in double-digits with 11 points and 5 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson: "It was unexpected. I thought we were in for a real tight, tough ball game. It was a nice surprise. I almost consider this to be part of the road trip. The most important game of the road trip, as far as I am concerned. To win the last one at home and then go off to start a really tough part of our schedule from this point on. So it is nice to get back to playing well. I don't really have any complaints about the game. You wish your bench could continue on in the 4th quarter and play a little bit better than we did, but often times that is the case and it doesn't happen that way so we won't complain too much about that. Even though Nash didn't score, I really thought he was effective early on in the 1st quarter. Nick came in the 2nd quarter and really played well to keep us going in that quarter. My point guard play was really strong. My player of the game was Griffin, no question. He was the reason it was an easy game for us. He rebounded, played magnificent defense, and was all over the place. When we needed him to make shots he made them also. I was really pleased with him. We ran Point Griff. He comes up with 5 assists. Raef played really well again. I think we have everyone playing well at this point so it's a good time to go on the road." Nelson on resting the big 3: "It is really important to get these guys some rest. Dirk got 27 minutes, Nash 26, Mike 33. Those are really nice numbers for us. With a day off tomorrow and some more rest and we are ready to go." Nelson: "They shoot the 3 more than anybody in basketball and that is part of their offense. Part of the deal that they do, we try to extend our defense to take that away from them. I thought we did a good job. When those shots are falling they are really difficult to beat, but they don't fall every night." Nelson: "I expect to play well. I don't set goals as far as wins and losses. I don't think we've lost a game yet where we've played well. I think we were sleep walking a little bit through our homestand. I think Utah beat us, but the Milwaukee game we let them hang a little too close and they got hot at the end and beat us. Even some of the games that we won, I didn't care too much for our performances. I think overall we did fine because we kept winning. In the Atlanta game we started to play well again, moving the ball and tonight we played extremely well. That is what I am looking for to continue to play like this, be really sharp and crisp and move the ball and do all the things we've been doing." Michael Finley: "We're always looking to improve as a team and it was important for us to come out tonight and get this win because the next road trip is going to be a tough one. We go in with the mentality that we can win each and every ballgame by playing hard and playing together." Finley: "It was a total team effort, literally. Offensively and defensively we came out and were the aggressor. As a result, we set the tone for the game and kept it up for the entire game." Dirk Nowitzki: "We contested every shot. We kept the ball out of their hands and tried to deny Walker all night and I think that worked out well in both games that we played them." Nowitzki: "We were playing with a lot of energy and offensively we were able to give ourselves 2nd and 3rd opportunities. Normally we're not a great offensive rebounding team, but tonight we gave ourselves more chances." Nowitzki on Dallas' 30-5 start: "It's unbelievable, it's amazing, but we can't rest now. We've got a tough West Coast road trip coming up." Adrian Griffin: "I just wanted to bring some energy and defensive presence out on the court tonight. I just wanted to play hard. I realize that I'm in a great situation with the Mavericks. As a player you can't ask for anything else. We're winning, and I just try to go out there and leave everything out on the court." Griffin on Boston: "They have a good team and they made a little bit of a run at us in the 1st quarter. We're playing good right now and they just ran into a good team tonight. They just had a tough night tonight." Walt Williams: "Over the last few games, we hadn't been shooting that well from the outside. We were due for a good game." Jim O'Brien: "We just did not contend well enough. In the 1st half, we challenged shots, gave up too many 2nd shots an enable them to throw the ball outside for open 3s. They're a real juggernaut at this point in time." O'Brien: "I think they really have it rolling. I think they are a very, very talented team. I think they are very difficult for us to guard and they must be difficult for everyone else in the league to guard since they are leading the league in field goal percentage. They pass the ball great. They take advantage of who you have on the court. They take advantage of that in pick-and-rolls and isolation situations. They keep you off balance with their defense. They did a good job of denying in their man-to-man defense and playing a lot of zone. They are just a hell of a basketball team." Paul Pierce: "They're the best team in the league, definitely one of the most talented. If you don't match their hustle and energy, the game ends up like this." Pierce: "I'm definitely disappointed. We lost to a team that definitely has more talent than us, but we didn't go out there and work as hard as they did. They got all the loose balls. They out-rebounded us. They beat us pretty much at every phase of the game, and that can't happen. We didn't come with our A game today. They obviously did and we took a whacking." Antoine Walker: "They've got 3 great players and a supporting cast that's doing a good job. We'll see when April comes. That's when you've got to do really well." Eric Williams: "It was one of those situations tonight where Dirk got off to a great start and once we started to pay attention to him, then Finley hurt us. Dallas just knows how to play basketball. They know how to move the ball and they got guys out there that can really score. It's always going to be tough to try to guard them." Williams: "Whenever you double-team, they get rid of the ball real fast. They've got guys out there with Michael Finley and Nash ... They've got a lot of guys out there who can score the basketball, so it's always going to be tough, night in and night out, to guard them." Williams: "You can't give them extra chances. They got shooters all over the place. They've got a good point guard who knows how to penetrate and find guys. Dirk got off to a great start, and once you start to pay attention to him ... they know how to play basketball. They move the ball and find the guy who's open." Williams: "Adrian Griffin played great tonight. The guy that you least expect some times does some of the biggest things that don't show up in the final boxscore. He had a lot of rebounds and a lot of offensive rebounds and that really hurt us." Tony Delk: "They got a lot of hustle points tonight when the ball bounced long and Adrian Griffin tracked them down and made the extra pass. Those guys are good shooters, especially when they are wide open. We just didn't rebound the ball as well as we should have. They got off to a fast start in the 2nd quarter and started making shots. They are a team that excels when they get out on the break. You have to honor everyone out on the court, not just one player because they have a lot of great shooters." Delk: "Everyone on our team should be feeling bad about this particular loss. We played hard the other night against the Hornets, but we really didn't come back with the same effort tonight. We didn't play with the same type of intensity that we usually play with night in and night out." Dallas Mavericks 103, Boston Celtics 78 at Dallas (January 10) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 24 36 32 11 - 103 .470 .444 .464 .850 Boston 22 19 19 18 - 78 .432 .281 .368 .722 Halftime: Dallas 60-41 3rd Q: Dallas 92-60 Technicals: none Refs: Bill Spooner, Derrick Stafford, Gary Benson Attendance: 20,032 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 34 3-10 0-0 2-2 8 7-12 5 0 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 27 12-20 3-6 1-1 28 1-4 1 0 2 0 1 Shawn Bradley 16 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 0-4 1 1 3 1 1 Michael Finley 33 7-14 3-4 5-7 22 1-4 7 1 0 2 0 Steve Nash 26 5-10 0-2 3-3 13 1-2 6 1 0 2 0 Raef LaFrentz 30 5-7 0-0 1-1 11 1-8 3 2 3 0 3 Walt Williams 29 3-8 2-6 1-2 9 1-4 2 0 4 0 1 Nick Van_Exel 20 1-6 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 4 1 1 1 0 Raja Bell 11 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 2 3 0 0 Avery Johnson 9 2-3 0-0 2-2 6 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Popeye Jones 5 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2-4 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 39-84 8-18 17-20 103 15-49 30 9 20 6 6 Boston Celtics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Antoine Walker 36 4-14 0-3 3-5 11 1-3 3 3 2 0 0 Eric Williams 32 2-7 1-3 4-5 9 1-3 0 0 4 0 0 Tony Battie 24 3-5 0-0 2-2 8 4-8 2 0 1 1 1 Tony Delk 28 4-6 3-5 2-2 13 0-1 2 2 1 2 0 Paul Pierce 33 7-16 4-8 2-3 20 1-6 3 5 2 0 0 Walter McCarty 32 5-11 1-6 0-0 11 2-5 0 0 2 0 1 Shammond Williams 23 0-7 0-4 0-0 0 0-4 3 2 1 0 0 Mikki Moore 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Kedrick Brown 15 2-5 0-1 0-0 4 0-4 0 0 1 1 0 J.R. Bremer 9 0-2 0-1 0-1 0 1-1 2 1 1 0 0 Bruno Sundov 5 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 28-76 9-32 13-18 78 10-36 15 15 17 4 2 patricia