Dallas (31-7) at Seattle (17-21) (January 19) Dallas once again opened the game looking sluggish, but the game stayed close. Seattle scored 8 straight points to go up 19-13 with 3:25 remaining. Nick Van Exel scored the last 5 points of the quarter and Dallas led 22-21 after 1. Dallas led 26-23 with 10:35 remaining, but Predrag Drobnjak hit a jumper and Brent Barry drained consecutive 3-pointers to put Seattle up 33-26 with 7 minutes left. Another 3-pointer by Barry gave Seattle their largest lead at 42-32 with 3:40 to go. Things got real ugly over the last 3 minutes of the game as only 2 baskets were made. However, Seattle was in the fouling mode (including a bizarre head lock and throw down flagrant by Vitaly Potapenko on Raja Bell) and Dallas scored the last 10 points of the quarter to tie it up at 44-44 at the half. Dallas shot 44% FG and Seattle shot 46% FG. The game stayed close in the 3rd quarter with both teams holding single-digit leads. Seattle led 57-51 on a 3-pointer by Rashard Lewis with 5:50 remaining, but Dallas answered with a 13-2 run to go up 64-59 with 2:10 left. Dallas led 66-61 after 3. It was deja vu in the 4th quarter as the game resembled the previous game in Phoenix as the Mavs went ice could and could not find the basket. Actually, neither team could find the basket to start the quarter as almost 2 1/2 minutes went by before points were put up on the board (and Dallas would go another minute before getting their first points of the quarter). The game stayed close as it was tied up 3 times during the first half of the quarter. A jumper by Kenny Anderson put Seattle up 79-76 with 4:50 left, and it was 3 minutes before either team scored again (including 2 missed free throws by Raef LaFrentz). Anderson had another bucket to put Seattle up 81-76 with 1:50 to go. Michael Finley got 2 inside. Anderson missed a jumper and Dirk Nowitzki missed a jumper, but Finley hustled for the rebound and moved outside with it and passed it to Steve Nash, who passed it right back and Finley drained the 3-pointer to tie it up at 81-81 with a minute left. Seattle called timeout and Lewis hit a jumper with 43 seconds left. Finley missed a jumper with 24 seconds left and Seattle passed the ball ahead as the Mavs were a step behind in getting to the player to intentionally foul them and Lewis blew the layup and the ball bounced to the corner and Lewis and LaFrentz dove for it, but the ball went out of bounds off of LaFrentz and it was Seattle ball with 11 seconds left. Dallas was able to foul this time and Lewis hit both free throws. Nash drove and missed the short jumper with 5 seconds left and Lewis got the rebound and time expired. Seattle won 85-81. Yes, Dallas' defense has been lacking in the past several games, but their offense has completely disappeared, especially in the 4th quarter, and it is killing them. Dallas only shot 6-18 FG in the 4th quarter. And all 3 of Dallas' main weapons were off as the big 3 combined to shot just 15-46 FG for the game. During the 4 game lousy road trip (Dallas went 1-3), Dallas shot just 41% FG and all of the big 3 shot under 40% FG. For the game, Dallas shot 38% FG and Seattle shot 46.8% FG. Seattle played better team ball as they had 27 assists while Dallas had just 14 assists. Only 5 Mavs players had an assist in the game. Seattle also did a good job of getting back and preventing fast break opportunities as Dallas only had 6 fast break points. Dallas lost despite Gary Payton having a very subpar night. Payton had just 12 points on 6-17 FG, but did have 8 assists. Rashard Lewis had a great game with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Despite playing with pain in his knees, Brent Barry had his stroke going and had 13 points on 5-7 FG and 3-5 3-pointers and also dished out 6 assists. Ansu Sesay and Jerome James started, but provided nothing in limited minutes. Predrag Drobnjak came off the bench and provided a boast with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Kenny Anderson put his grumblings behind him in this game and had 13 points and 7 assists. No one had a good game for Dallas. Michael Finley was the high man with just 16 points including 6-17 FG and 6 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki did have a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds, but only shot 5-16 FG. He was also the high assist man with 6. Steve Nash had a dismal outing in front of a ton of his fans who came down from Vancouver to see this game. Nash had 14 points including 4-13 FG, 3 assists, and 3 steals. He did hit all 5 of his free throws to extend his streak of consecutive free throws made to 40 straight. Nick Van Exel and Raef LaFrentz were the only players to have decent performances. Van Exel had 14 points (5-11 FG) and 3 assists. LaFrentz had 10 points and 7 rebounds. I was one of many shaking my head when Antoine Rigaudeau made his Mavs debut midway through the 2nd quarter. The Mavs were in the middle of a close game and Don Nelson inserts a player who has had only one practice with the team and was new to the NBA??? Needless to say, it was a very poor debut as Rigaudeau picked up a foul less than 20 seconds after being inserted, stepped out of bounds with the ball, was called for palming, missed his only shot attempt (a 3-pointer), and Seattle's lead increased by 9 points during his 5 minutes on the court. Quotes Nate McMillan: "I think they came in tonight and played well, well enough to win this game. It was a big win for us after the month that we have seen. These guys, as I've said, haven't given up. They've continued to work. We got some breaks and we've played well the last 2 games." McMillan: "These guys came out and played a 48-minute game and beat the best team in the league. I thought it was a solid effort both defensively and on the offensive end of the floor." McMillan: "It was a big win for us after the month that we've seen." McMillan: "The movement of the ball and the movement of the guys out on the floor allowed us to get opportunities, which we did with 27 assists, which we haven't had in a while. It was just a solid effort." McMillan: "It was the best zone defense I've seen us play. We did a good job of communicating and talking and switching and bumping down, matching up with their guys and keeping them in front of us. In the 2nd half, the defense was even better. They didn't get a lot of penetration. They had only 6 fastbreak points at the half, and they finished with 6. We executed the game plan to perfection." McMillan: "We were not favored in this game, guys will play a little more relaxed against this team. [We] played more aggressive against this team. Against a young team like Cleveland and Denver, teams you should beat, not having that confidence in what you were doing can get you timid and hesitant. If that game is close, you tighten up. I thought tonight we didn't look that way. I didn't see that in us on either end of the floor." McMillan on Lewis: "He's doing some of the things that we hoped he learn to do and that is stepping up when the game is on the line, making plays whether it's defensively, offensively, or playing with the ball in his hands. He had a couple of offensive rebounds and you know he had a double-double tonight in scoring and boarding for us. He's capable of doing that and we need for him to play that way in order for us to have an opportunity to win the game." McMillan on the 4th quarter: "We just played with confidence. I didn't see that we were intimidated or being hesitant at anything that we were doing. I thought defensively they felt like they could get stops. Offensively, they felt pretty comfortable in their offense. A couple of times they looked confused against the zone and what we were trying to do against that zone, but for the most part they looked confident and they believed they could win this game." Rashard Lewis: "I had no conscience. I was just thinking, 'Put it through the hoop.'" Lewis: "Kenny gets into the gaps and penetrates the ball real well and he's able to kick it out and get a lot of guys open shots. I was just in the right spot at the right time. I was able to sneak under the basket and he dropped it to me." Lewis: "They're the best team in the NBA right now. They only have 8 losses, and that tells you what kind of team we are when we come to play." Brent Barry: "Yeah, knocking down a couple of shots helped. I've just really been hurting. I just want to get myself out there and give the team whatever I could tonight. Knocking down those few shots was good, but just being out on the floor and trying to get guys in the right spots again tonight. I mean it was just a total team effort for us tonight. Kenny played great off the bench tonight. Predrag had a phenomenal night shooting the ball and he's been real frustrating lately, cursing in Yugoslavian in the last few games, and tonight he had it going a bit." Barry: "For once in that 2nd half they went to that zone quite a bit and we've been struggling a bit in the last couple of games, especially against Utah when we weren't doing a good job of not only passing the ball but cutting through and making them respect some of the players in the paint. And what we did tonight was we did some of things that we've worked on in practice and put them out on the floor and they seemed to work pretty well for us." Kenny Anderson: "They have a very talented team. They put you in a lot of isos or one-on-one, so we knew it was going to be a tough game. But we came out and played with a lot of confidence and everybody moved the ball very well and everybody got involved." Anderson: "But we still got to take one game at a time. We won 2 in a row and that's good, but we know how it felt to lose 6 in a row so we just got to keep getting better and stay together and just play basketball - have fun, play hard, and play with confidence and just do what the coaching staff asks us to do from game to game." Don Nelson: "Our offense went cold at the wrong time. In the 4th quarter we just couldn't seem to make a shot, a big enough shot. We missed some free throws down the stretch and as a result it cost us the game. We're struggling a little bit right now as much offensively as defensively. We tightened our defense up preparing for the game, but offensively we just couldn't make a shot. We were all kind of cold and their defense was soft in a match up zone so we just didn't move the ball well enough tonight." Nelson: "You have to play the ball off the weak side and we thought about it but didn't do it. We just couldn't get solid ball movement. I did all we could to encourage it but we just couldn't get it. In the beginning of the game we had tons of great open looks but we missed them all. The start was poor and the finish was poor. In between we actually played hard and well. We really played hard all game, the effort was there." Nelson: "The big 3 all kind of went cold and we didn't move the ball very well. You have to move the ball to the weak side to make the defense work and we didn't do that. If you move the ball, you get better shots." Nelson: "They played a match up zone and it was effective against us because we didn't move the ball. I thought we were prepared to do that but we just couldn't get enough of it." Michael Finley: "They came down and made some big shots and key stops. There's a reason we lost, but it didn't come down to those last possessions. Throughout the game, we let them get confidence." Finley: "Earlier in the year, everything was fun. But now everything is a struggle. We have to remain positive, and once we come out of this thing, we're going to learn from it and be better from it." Dirk Nowitzki: "We can win tough games. It's not like we're scared of these teams. We've just have to get back to doing what got us here." Steve Nash: "I don't know why we're playing so poorly. This is not what we had in mind on this trip." Nick Van Exel: "The matchups were kind of good. We were trying to get the ball inside to Dirk. When we got it inside he didn't have many angles to attack. It comes down to our defense. We didn't get any stops and we had too many breakdowns. It's tough when you play a team like this and you give them too many chances. When they get second shots and good rebounds, it's tough to beat them." Van Exel on Payton and Anderson: "It's a nasty little duo because you can take GP off the ball and let him rest a little bit. Then you got a guy like Kenny who can definitely create for himself and his teammates. It makes them tough to defend when you got that many guys who can get their own shots and make their teammates better. With 2 point guards on the floor, you can get a lot of penetration. ... We use it a lot when it's effective. And they used it on us." Van Exel on 3 straight losses: "We just got to man up. Throughout the NBA season you got 82 games and there is going to be those tough times. It's all how we come out of it. Right now we aren't looking too good but we got to man up and get tough and fight through it." Raef LaFrentz: "It's been a tough road trip. We didn't see this coming. We didn't expect to be coming off 3 losses, but we are. We've just got to work through it." Seattle Sonics 85, Dallas Mavericks 81 at Seattle (January 19) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Seattle 21 23 17 24 - 85 .492 .357 .468 .800 Dallas 22 22 22 15 - 81 .400 .316 .380 .789 Halftime: 44-44 3rd Q: Dallas 66-61 Technicals: Gary Payton 10:10 3rd, Seattle defensive 3 seconds 2:51 3rd Refs: Scott Wall, Steve Javie, Tim Donaghy Attendance: 16,359 (cap. 17,072) Did not play due to injury: Vladimir Radmanovic (sprained right ankle) Seattle Sonics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Rashard Lewis 39 7-13 2-4 3-4 19 2-13 1 4 3 2 0 Ansu Sesay 15 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 1 5 1 0 Jerome James 7 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 0-2 0 1 1 0 0 Brent Barry 37 5-7 3-5 0-0 13 0-2 6 2 4 2 0 Gary Payton 39 6-17 0-3 0-0 12 0-2 8 4 3 1 0 Predrag Drobnjak 36 8-13 0-1 3-3 19 2-9 2 0 1 1 1 Desmond Mason 29 3-12 0-1 0-0 6 1-6 3 1 1 1 0 Kenny Anderson 30 6-11 0-0 1-1 13 1-3 7 2 3 0 0 Vitaly Potapenko 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 36-77 5-14 8-10 85 8-41 27 17 22 8 1 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 18 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 1 4 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 45 5-16 1-5 4-4 15 0-14 6 1 2 0 1 Shawn Bradley 11 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 2-2 0 2 0 2 1 Michael Finley 43 6-17 2-3 2-2 16 4-6 1 2 2 0 2 Steve Nash 35 4-13 1-3 5-5 14 0-2 3 3 1 0 0 Raef LaFrentz 32 5-13 0-2 0-2 10 5-7 0 1 4 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 36 5-11 2-5 2-4 14 0-1 3 1 1 0 0 Raja Bell 8 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Walt Williams 6 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 Antoine Rigaudeau 5 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 0 2 1 1 0 Avery Johnson 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 30-79 6-19 15-19 81 12-35 14 13 16 3 4 patricia