Dirk Nowitzki underwent an MRI on his sprained right ankle. The MRI showed no structural damage and the sprain was down-graded to a mid-ankle sprain instead of a high-ankle sprain. He is still listed as day-to-day and will get treatment on the ankle twice a day. He hopes to play Saturday, but it probably won't be known until near gametime on Saturday if he'll be available. Dallas at San Antonio (December 11) With Dirk Nowitzki and Adrain Griffin (partially separated right shoulder) being unavailable, Walt Williams sucked it up and played, despite not being 100% healthy. And with 2 starters out, Don Nelson opened with a lineup of Steve Nash, Nick Van Exel, Michael Finley, Raef LaFrentz, and Shawn Bradley. San Antonio scored 9 straight points to take a 14-6 lead with 8 minutes left. A 3-pointer by Stephen Jackson gave the Spurs a double-digit lead at 25-15 with 3:50 left, but Dallas responded with a 12-2 run to tie the game at 27-27 with 30 seconds remaining. The game was tied 29-29 after 1. Malik Rose open the 2nd quarter with a dunk and then San Antonio fell into the trap of the zone of settling for outside shots (which they clanked after clanked after clanked) and Dallas started playing a team game (instead of a player trying to carry the load). Dallas scored 18 straight points - and 5 of the 8 baskets were off of assists - to go up 47-31 with 7 minutes to go. San Antonio finally settled down and worked the ball inside the arc and then their outside shots started falling as they went on a 16-1 run to pull within 51-52 with 1:30 left and the Mavs players reverted back to trying to do things themselves as their offense struggled. Dallas led just 54-53 at the half. The Spurs started out shooting just 1-13 3-pointers, but Tony Parker hit 2 3-pointers near the end of the 2nd quarter. San Antonio opened the 3rd quarter with a 17-5 run to take a 70-59 lead with 5:40 remaining. Dallas scored the next 5 points to keep the game from getting out of hand. Jackson nailed a 3-pointer with a minute left to give San Antonio an 80-69 lead after 3. San Antonio out-scored Dallas 27-15 during the quarter. The Spurs scored 8 consecutive points to give San Antonio their largest lead at 90-73, but Finley decided to put the team on his back and carry him as he hit 3 3-pointers in a row and added a jumper to pull Dallas within 84-93 with 6:50 to go. Nash also got into the act by hitting a 3-pointer to make it a 6 point game with 5:30 left. Finley nailed his 4th 3-pointer of the quarter to pull Dallas within 92-97 with 3 minutes to go, but Parker answered with a 3 as the shot clock was winding down. The teams traded buckets and Finley was fouled attempting a 3-pointer and hit all 3 free throws with 1:17 left. David Robinson only hit 1 of 2 free throws, but Nash passed the ball to LaFrentz in the post and he lost the ball when he turned in and collided with Robinson. San Antonio hit 8-10 FT in the last minute to hang on to the win. San Antonio won 111-104. Once again, this game came down to poor rebounding. Unless you are shooting lights out (and Dallas wasn't except for that stint during the 2nd quarter), you just have to grab more than 6 offensive rebounds. And San Antonio out-rebounded Dallas 50-35. The game was also won in one quarter. The 3rd quarter was the only quarter where San Antonio out-scored Dallas. The free throw difference is deceptive (San Antonio attempted twice as many free throws) as Dallas was intentionally fouling at the end of the game. Not surprisingly, the loss of Dirk Nowitzki's rebounding and scoring hurt the Mavs and too often individual players would try to take it on themselves instead of playing a team game. And the Mavs once again made a non-star look like a superstar. 2nd year man Tony Parker, who had been a in major sophomore slump and only shooting 41% FG prior to this game, had a career high 32 points on 10-16 FG, 3-5 3-pointers, and 9-10 FT. He also had 6 assists. I was surprised that the Spurs didn't pound the ball into Tim Duncan more as he should have been able to kill the Mavs almost every time down. He still had a strong game with 22 points including 10-15 FG and 13 rebounds. The fact that he only attempted 2 free throws shows that they didn't run the ball through him enough. David Robinson had a burst of youth during this game and didn't look like his old self. He had 17 points (2nd most points he's had this season) including 6-8 FG and 10 rebounds. Stephen Jackson also contributed 17 points and had 9 rebounds off the bench. Michael Finley had 36 points including 5-8 3-pointers and 8 rebounds. He tried to carry the team back as 17 of his points came in the 4th quarter. Steve Nash had 21 points, 10 assists, and 3 steals. Nick Van Exel had his first poor outing since his return from injury and disappeared in the 2nd half as he only had 4 points in the half. He finished with 16 points and 8 assists. Raef LaFrentz had a terrible night shooting - even when near the basket - and had 12 points including 4-14 FG and 5 rebounds. Shawn Bradley had 7 points including 3-4 FG and 7 rebounds. Dallas only got 12 points from their depleted bench (6 each from Popeye Jones and Avery Johnson). Still not healthy, Walt Williams wasn't able to score (0-6 FG), but did have 8 rebounds in 25 minutes. Quotes Gregg Popovich: "If we had been shooting at our usual 29th-in-the-league clip, the game might not have come out the same way." David Robinson: "It was a great opportunity for us to respond to a challenge. Finally." Robinson: "Those guys are capable of hitting 6, 7, 8 3-pointers in a row. It was great to respond to that." Tony Parker: "We were not shooting well and had some turnovers [in past games], but tonight we stayed together and turned it all around. That was key." Parker on his recent struggles: "I never lost my confidence. As a basketball player, you can never do that." Parker: "Even if you're shooting bad, the point guard is still the head of the snake. You have to bring something." Don Nelson: "I'm proud of them. They didn't give up. I liked the game and the effort." Nelson: "If you play the zone long enough they're going to figure it out. But we didn't have enough big guys to play man-on-man. We normally play a lot of different defenses, but we were too shorthanded for that." Nelson: "It's discouraging when your guys play the game hard, penetrate and go to the hoop, and don't get any respect from the refs." Michael Finley: "This was a very winnable game. They're very weak in the transition and we didn't take advantage of that." Finley on missing Nowitzki: "We really missed him on the rebounding. He has the ability to get the defensive rebound and start the break, and that would have been a bonus for us because that team is weak in transition defense and we could have exploited that." Steve Nash: "I give Tony a lot of credit because he did what he's supposed to. He's got the luxury of playing with 2 big men. We had to focus on them and he stepped up." Nick Van Exel: "They started hitting the shots they were missing in the 1st half. Tim did his thing, and they swung the ball around. They were just better than us tonight." Shawn Bradley on missing Nowitzki: "We missed Dirk because he's a pretty good part of this team. We would love to have had him tonight, but we still had opportunities to beat this team. Moral victories count for very little in the NBA. We just needed to go out and find a way to win with who we had on the floor." San Antonio Spurs 111, Dallas Mavericks 104 at San Antonio (December 11) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% San Antonio 29 24 27 31 - 111 .589 .296 .488 .808 Dallas 29 25 15 35 - 104 .492 .357 .452 .769 Halftime: Dallas 54-53 3rd Q: San Antonio 80-68 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 3:28 2nd, San Antonio defensive 3 seconds 9:31 3rd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 7:49 4th Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Jim Clark, Leon Wood Attendance: 17,632 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Adrian Griffin (partially separated right shoulder), Dirk Nowitzki (sprained right ankle) San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bruce Bowen 37 4-10 1-4 0-0 9 1-5 1 4 3 1 2 Tim Duncan 42 10-15 0-0 2-2 22 2-13 2 3 3 0 3 David Robinson 29 6-8 0-0 5-8 17 2-10 3 1 1 4 1 Tony Parker 35 10-16 3-5 9-10 32 0-1 6 2 1 1 0 Steve Smith 26 1-5 0-3 1-1 3 0-3 5 2 2 1 0 Stephen Jackson 28 7-18 2-9 1-2 17 3-9 2 2 2 0 0 Malik Rose 18 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 4-7 0 1 0 0 0 Steve Kerr 13 1-4 1-4 1-1 4 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Kevin Willis 7 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 0-0 2 1 2 0 0 Danny Ferry 5 1-2 1-2 0-0 3 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 41-84 8-27 21-26 111 12-50 23 17 15 7 6 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 44 13-23 5-8 5-6 36 2-8 1 3 2 0 0 Raef LaFrentz 32 4-14 1-4 3-3 12 1-5 0 1 5 1 1 Shawn Bradley 21 3-4 0-1 1-2 7 2-7 1 0 4 2 2 Steve Nash 40 9-19 2-5 1-1 21 0-4 10 2 5 3 0 Nick Van_Exel 44 7-17 2-6 0-0 16 0-1 8 4 1 0 1 Popeye Jones 19 3-4 0-0 0-1 6 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 Walt Williams 25 0-6 0-3 0-0 0 1-8 1 0 4 2 1 Avery Johnson 11 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 Raja Bell 4 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 42-93 10-28 10-13 104 6-35 22 11 23 9 5 patricia