Dallas (38-12) at Memphis (14-35) (February 14) Dallas led 12-9 with 7:30 left and Memphis scored the next 10 points to go up 19-12 with 5:45 to go. Memphis led 25-19 with 3:40 left and Dallas went on a 10-1 run to go up 29-26 with 1:30 remaining. Dallas led 31-29 after 1. Dirk Nowitzki had 12 points and Pau Gasol had 10 points. Dallas shot 57% FG including 5-9 3-pointers, but Memphis stayed in the game by shooting 7-10 FT. The game stayed close in the 2nd quarter with 7 ties and both teams holding small single-digit leads. Dallas went on a 9-1 run to go up 51-45 with 3:50 remaining. Dallas led 57-54 at the half. Michael Finley had 13 points in the quarter. For the half, both teams were shooting around 50% FG and Dallas was (amazingly) out-rebounding Memphis 27-14. The Grizzlies were staying in the game at the line as they shot 12-19 FT and Dallas shot 8-8 FT. Dallas scored the first 8 points of the 3rd quarter to go up 65-54 with 9 minutes left. Memphis responded with a 15-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Shane Battier, to go up 69-67 with 5 minutes to go. The teams traded leads over the next few minutes and Dallas closed the quarter by scoring the last 10 points, capped by a 3-pointer by Walt Williams, to go up 85-76 after 3. Dallas led 96-86 with 7:15 remaining, but still could not take their lead into a more comfortable range as Memphis scored the next 8 points to pull within 94-96 with 5:30 remaining. The teams traded 2 points over the next minute and Shawn Bradley had a dunk, blocked a shot, and hit a hook shot to give Dallas a 104-98 lead with 3:30 to go. Wesley Person hit 1 of 2 free throws and Bradley got 2 more inside with 2:50 left. Jason Williams hit a jumper with 2:15 left and the teams traded misses and turnovers before Steve Nash hit one of his circus shots with 40 seconds to go to give Dallas a 108-101 lead. Pau Gasol got the quick dunk, but 2 free throws by Finley iced the game. Dallas won 110-103. Dallas was never able to pull away and make this the easy win it should have been against one of the poorer teams in the league. Dallas did out-rebound Memphis 51-34 including 15-8 offensive, but Memphis had fewer turnovers than Dallas (9-16) - only the 7th time this season that has occurred, and the previous turnover difference high was just 3. Dallas shot 47.1% (40-85) FG and Memphis shot 44.7% (34-76) FG. Dallas let their hot shooting 3-point 1st half (7-14) influence them as they kept trying them in the 2nd half, but that well was dry (just 3-15 3-pointers in the 2nd half). Memphis did help out by missing 10 of their 36 free throws while Dallas hit all 20 of their free throws. An unlikely hero in this game: Shawn Bradley came out in the 2nd half and played very well. He was a defensive presence in the 3rd quarter and an all-around presence in the 4th quarter. He had 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 blocks in the 4th and finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks for the game. When Bradley has a double-double, Dallas wins. Dallas is 27-0 over the last 3 season when Bradley has had a double-double. The high man for Dallas was Dirk Nowitzki with 31 points including 12-19 FG and 6 rebounds. Michael Finley had 29 points including 4-11 3-pointers and 8 rebounds. Steve Nash had 16 points and 13 assists. Raef LaFrentz also had a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds including 7 offensive before fouling out with 4 minutes left in the game. Pau Gasol led the way for Memphis with 25 points including 9-13 FT and 7 rebounds. Jason Williams had 15 points and 6 assists. Wesley Person had 14 points including 0-5 3-pointers and Shane Battier had 11 points and 5 rebounds. Earl Watson had 9 points and 6 assists and had the highlight of the night with his block on a Shawn Bradley layup attempt. Watson is 6-1 and Bradley is 7-6. Even if he did use Bradley's shoulder to help him elevate, it was still impressive. Quotes Don Nelson: "Nothing seems to come easy for us at this point. But it was nice to get a win." Nelson on Memphis: "I thought they played well, but it was fun and different to play against a zone for nearly every possession." Nelson on Bradley: "It's about time he finished one of those. He actually dunked one, which was nice. We had their zone in a bind a few times and he needed to be where he was and finish the plays. So I was really happy to see that." Michael Finley: "We can start 3 7-footers. And if we can play well with that lineup, then it'll make us an even better team." Dirk Nowitzki: "We don't want to get in the habit of losing." Nowitzki: "We haven't performed well against zones; it's weird. But we don't really face zone a lot, and that's why we seem to struggle against it. They played zone for almost 48 minutes, and I'm glad we were able to attack a little better and find open shots." Nowitzki: "We weren't surprised by them hanging with us until the end. They played hard up until the end. We knew we needed a win. We had to get a win." Nowitzki: "We weren't surprised by them hanging with us to the end. They ran the Nets out of the gym. And ever since Hubie came in, they've played harder." Nowitzki: "The whole season, we haven't done a good job of protecting leads. We always seem to relax a little bit and let the opposing team right back in the game." Nowitzki: "Bradley was big today. We need that more out of him - being a factor in the middle, blocking shots, and rebounding. He was a big factor in winning the game today." Nowitzki: "We need more of that from Shawn. If he gets the ball near the basket and can finish, it's huge for us." Shawn Bradley: "This was an absolute must-win for us. I mean, [a loss] wouldn't have ended our season. But we needed a win really bad." Bradley: "It was a matter of everyone having good spacing. With the way we run our offense, when they're in the zone, if we do what we supposed to, there's going to be openings. We were able to take advantage of them in the 4th quarter." Bradley: "I had one blocked by Watson, although he did use my shoulder to help himself elevate. I told him, 'Great job. You'll probably get on Sportscenter.' But when Steve started penetrating, a lot of things can happen on those plays, and they were leaving me." Bradley on Watson's block: "He grabbed my shoulder and he went up. I never got off the ground." Raef LaFrentz: "We could not go back home 0-3 on this trip. Especially when we thought we should have gone 3-0. To go back with a 4 game losing streak, that would have been tough." Hubie Brown: "They really have a lot of great pieces. The point guards who can dribble and make great passes, they can see the floor. And in their perimeter game, they can shoot better than Sacramento and maybe better because they've got more guys. Tonight they did a good job." Brown on Dallas: "They only have 12 losses and the next closest teams have 15. Everybody talks about Sacramento, but everybody talks like they [Dallas] have warts. They've got a lot of great pieces. They have point guards who can cut you up and they have 5 guys shooting over 37% in 3s. That's unheard of." Pau Gasol: "I thought we did a good job, we just couldn't get it done at the end. It was very close, it was right there. We were competing with the best team in the league. We didn't take good shots at the end. We didn't make the right plays at the end." Gasol: "I was more aggressive than I was against New Jersey." Lorenzen Wright: "They've got a bunch of shooters. They got people coming off the bench who can shoot. You can't leave anybody open or they'll knock 'em down." Earl Watson on his block on Bradley: "No one was around him and I knew he was going to shoot it. I took a running start, tried to jump as high as I could and I braced myself because he's pretty big. I caught it at the backboard." Shane Battier on Dallas: "They have an unconventional offense. ... They put 5 shooters on the floor who stand out there and shoot." Battier: "We played them tough, but that's the reason they have the best record in the league right now. Nash and Nowitzki made big shots under pressure situations.'' Dallas Mavericks 110, Memphis Grizzlies 103 at Dallas (February 14) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 31 26 28 25 - 110 .538 .345 .471 1.000 Memphis 29 25 22 27 - 103 .463 .409 .447 .722 Halftime: Dallas 57-54 3rd Q: Dallas 85-76 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 11:19 1st Refs: Joey Crawford, Derek Collins, Luis Grillo Attendance: 15,924 (cap. 19,342) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 42 12-19 2-6 5-5 31 0-6 1 3 3 2 1 Raef LaFrentz 30 6-10 0-0 0-0 12 7-14 0 2 6 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 6 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2-2 0 1 2 0 1 Steve Nash 34 6-13 2-5 2-2 16 0-2 13 3 4 0 0 Michael Finley 44 9-21 4-11 7-7 29 2-8 3 2 2 1 0 Shawn Bradley 27 4-5 0-0 4-4 12 2-10 2 0 2 1 5 Walt Williams 18 2-8 1-3 0-0 5 2-5 0 3 2 0 1 Nick Van_Exel 23 1-5 1-4 0-0 3 0-2 4 0 0 0 0 Eduardo Najera 11 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 0-2 0 2 1 0 1 Adrian Griffin 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 40-85 10-29 20-20 110 15-51 24 16 23 4 9 Memphis Grizzlies REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shane Battier 32 4-7 3-5 0-0 11 1-5 1 0 2 2 2 Pau Gasol 33 8-14 0-0 9-13 25 4-7 3 1 0 0 0 Lorenzen Wright 27 1-10 0-0 1-2 3 1-6 3 2 1 2 1 Jason Williams 30 6-12 3-6 0-0 15 0-2 6 3 4 1 0 Wesley Person 31 5-11 0-5 4-6 14 1-2 1 0 0 3 0 Stromile Swift 21 2-6 0-0 1-2 5 1-2 0 1 1 0 0 Earl Watson 18 3-4 1-2 2-3 9 0-0 6 0 1 1 1 Drew Gooden 16 2-7 1-2 2-2 7 0-5 0 2 3 0 1 Michael Dickerson 17 2-4 1-2 2-2 7 0-2 1 0 3 2 0 Mike Batiste 15 1-1 0-0 5-6 7 0-3 1 0 3 0 0 Totals 48 34-76 9-22 26-36 103 8-34 22 9 18 11 5 Miami (18-33) at Dallas (39-12) (February 15) Dallas opened up to an 8-0 lead 2 1/2 minutes in as Miami missed their first 4 shots. The Heat finally put points on the board and slowly chiseled away at Dallas' lead. Miami scored 6 straight points to go up 18-17 with 4:15 to go. Their lead was short lived as Dallas scored the next 6 points and held a small single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 26-24 after 1. After shooting 50% FG in the 1st quarter, Dallas couldn't buy a bucket in the 2nd. The teams traded buckets to open the quarter and Miami then scored the next 10 points, starting with 2 3-pointers, to go up 36-28 with 6:40 left. A 9-2 Miami run gave the Heat their largest lead at 49-37 wit 1:30 left. A 3-pointer by Dirk Nowitzki and 2 free throws by Michael Finley capped the scoring for the quarter. Miami led 49-42 at the half. And after shooting just 4-17 FG and scoring 16 points in the 2nd quarter, Dallas had to be happy just to be down by 7 points. For the half, Miami 43% FG and Dallas shot 38% FG. Miami out-rebounded Dallas 30-17 including 10-3 offensive. The 3rd quarter saw Miami playing sloppy and clinging to a single-digit lead. Dallas pulled within 1 point 3 times, but the Heat had an answer each time to maintain their lead. A turnaround jumper by Nick Van Exel pulled Dallas with 64-65 with a minute left, but Travis Best drained a long 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer. Steve Nash hit a jumper as the quarter wound down and Miami led 68-66 after 3. Miami committed 7 turnovers in the quarter. A putback by Eduardo Najera tied the game at 68-68 with 11:40 left, but Best scored the next 5 points to put the Heat back on top 73-68 with 10:35 left. Dallas responded with a 9-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Finley, to go up 77-73 with 7:50 to go. A 3-pointer by Nash gave Dallas an 85-80 lead with 4:35 left and neither team would score over the next 2 minutes. Najera hit 1 of 2 free throws and Best nailed another 3-pointer to pull Miami within 83-86 with 1:30 left. Nowitzki hit a jumper, Mike James hit a jumper, and Van Exel hit a jump hook shot to put Dallas up 90-85 with 44 seconds left. Best hit a jumper with 29 seconds left and the Heat decided not to foul, but Caron Butler was called for a reach foul with 21 seconds left and Finley hit both free throws to give Dallas a 5 points lead. Miami missed and Dallas hit 6-6 FT in the final seconds to seal the win. Dallas won 98-92. It definitely wasn't a pretty game and both teams looked tired and sluggish at points as it was a 2nd night of a back-to-back for both teams and the 4th game in 5 nights (and 4 different cities) for Dallas. Neither team shot well with Dallas shooting 42.5% (31-73) FG and Miami shot 40% (36-90) FG. Miami only shot 9-26 FG in the 4th quarter. Miami shout have just stayed behind the 3-point line, where they shot 10-20 3-pointers. Dallas had the huge edge in free throws in shooting 31-38 while Miami shot just 10-13 FT. But the key stat was turnovers and points off turnovers. Dallas committed 5 turnovers which Miami converted into just 2 points and Miami committed 16 turnovers which Dallas converted into 24 points. After getting clobbered on the rebounds in the 1st half where Miami had 13 more rebounds than Dallas, Dallas did improve in the 2nd half and only got out-rebounded by 3 boards. Still, the final rebounding numbers are ugly as Miami out-rebounded Dallas 56-38 including 19-6 offensive. Though he wasn't a stats leader, Eduardo Najera played a key role with his hustle, energy, defense, and rebounds. He had 7 points and 5 rebounds in the 4th quarter. Eddie finished with 9 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki struggled for a long stretch (1-12 FG) during the game, but finished with a solid game of 25 points on 7-20 FG and 10-11 FT, 12 rebounds, and a career tying high 8 assists. Steve Nash had 19 points. Michael Finley had 17 points including 5-14 FG and missed a free throws (actually missed 2 during the game) after having made 31 straight. He also had 7 rebounds. Nick Van Exel provided a boost off the bench with 17 points and 5 rebounds. Miami was playing without their best player Eddie Jones. Travis Best was the high man for Miami with 21 points including 4-6 3-pointers and 8 assists. Rookie Caron Butler had 14 points, but shot poorly with 4-15 FG. He also had 9 rebounds. Eddie House had 13 points and LaPhonso Ellis had 10 points including 4-12 FG. Brian Grant had 4 points on 2-7 FG and 11 rebounds before fouling out in 25 minutes (actually got some extra time as a ref decided to give one of his fouls to another player (the foul was clearly committed by Grant)). Rasual Butler had 10 points in the 1st half and Vladimir Stepania had 8 points and 14 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson: "Well, Najera to the rescue. First, it feels great to not have to get on an airplane and go someplace else. It seems like a long, long time since we've been home. I put Najera in for a couple of minutes and he and the team started playing well, that I stayed with it. I really hated to do that because it is probably not fair to him at this point. I wanted to be careful with him and bring him along slowly. The plan didn't go that way and I needed him to win the game. He made big play after big play. Probably not much that will show up in the box score, but that is the Najera that we have grown to love and respect. It sure was good to have him in the lineup. I thought we needed him to win the game. This was a real tough game for us. They are very physical and a very good defensive team. It is not easy going. We were put to the test tonight. This was our 4th game in 5 nights and we have some pretty tired guys out there. It wasn't an easy game to play in, but they somehow found a way and I expected that they would do that. I was really happy when they did because you don't always get that. I thought Miamis really playing well, especially after the big win last night against Houston. We thought it would be a real tough game and it was." Nelson on turnovers: "There was one game, I think it was against Milwaukee, that we had 16. That was the most I can remember all year. To have the turnovers be 5 to 15, those are 10 huge possessions. It seemed like they were making every shot, every 3. They shot 50% on the 3s and a lot of them were either extra long or contested and they still made them. We tried to mix our man-to-man and zone up and no matter what we did, they seemed to make the 3 tonight." Nelson: "Van Exel turned his ankle in the game yesterday. In the 1st half he was really non-aggressive and I thought it must have something to do with his ankle being sore. The plan I had in the locker room changed in the 2nd half. I didn't plan on playing Najera that much. We started with the big lineup and I knew I would go small eventually. I thought the way Nick was playing, we would use him as a back up to Steve and about 7 guys would have to gut it out and find a way to win. But [Van Exel] started playing really well and I love it when he's aggressive. He really got a lot done for us. He's one of the few guys when on a roll thats hard to stop unless you double team him. He's got all those moves and somehow finds cracks and seams and makes the defense pay. He's another guy who takes all these risks and chances and very seldom turns the ball over. That's been his history, not turning the ball over. He's really a good player in those situations where he's aggressive." Nelson on Nowitzki: "As you've probably noticed this year, his passing has been a priority for us. It was a nice performance." Dirk Nowitzki: "They beat us up pretty good in the 1st half. They almost doubled our rebounds in the 1st half. We just wanted to come out and be a little stronger in the 2nd half. Not get pushed under the boards all the time and just be a little tougher out there. We showed we could do that in the 2nd half, but against the good teams, we have got to do that the entire 48 minutes." Nowitzki on Najera: "He's probably our toughest inside defender. He does all the little things. He gets the loose balls, hustles, and takes charges. He's a little undersized for a power forward, but he still gets it done. It's great to see him back and he's going to play big for us in the 2nd half of the season." Nowitzki on playing 4 games in 5 nights: "It was tough, but we have a deep enough team to overcome that. We had a couple of tough losses, but we've won 2 in a row now and the Minnesota and Milwaukee games could have gone either way. It nice to come back home for a couple of days. It's fun to play in front of the home crowd because they always give us energy and that helped us get the big win for us tonight." Steve Nash: "This was a tough game, being our 4th game in 5 days, and we came out a little sluggish. But in the 4th quarter, we were more physical and aggressive defensively and that paid off in the end for us." Nick Van Exel: "We dug deep and got stops when we needed stops and we executed in the half-court to pull out the victory." Raef LaFrentz: "We knew it was going to be a tough task tonight. We knew they were going to go after all the offensive rebounds and be very physical with us. It was good that we were able to answer the call, bounce back after a sub-par 1st half and get it together and get it going in the 2nd half." LaFrentz: "You've got to be able to win all types of games. You're going to have games in the 80s, you're going to have ball games in the 110s. That's really the strength of this team, we're capable of winning regardless of the situation." LaFrentz: "There were 3 guys that really stepped up tonight down the final stretch of the game, Eddie, Nick, and Mike. Mike had a tough defensive job all night and he answered the bell. Mike's play the last 5 minutes of the game was exceptional. Nick really provided the energy for us off the bench tonight." LaFrentz on Najera: "He was big. He had a big time 4th quarter. He was just trying to find his way after coming back off the injury. He was feeling kind of sluggish at times, but tonight he was outstanding. He really did a good job defensively. He got big rebounds and scored some big buckets for us. He was doing it all." Eduardo Najera: "Miami's a very physical team and we knew they'd be a big challenge for us. We didn't respond well in the 1st half but in the 2nd half we rebounded and played defense a lot better." Najera: "Good teams are going to win even though they're not shooting well. I thought we did a good job down the stretch defensively." Najera: "I've still got a lot of strength to get in my legs and it's going to take a couple of extra weeks. I'm still mentally out of it, because I'm a little bit afraid to feel that same pain that I used to have before surgery." Najera: "Slowly, it's coming back, my jumping ability. It's not like I was a high flier, but I've got to be able to come over the top of all these big guys." Pat Riley: "We just couldn't overcome. We played as hard as we could but we couldn't overcome some sloppiness in the 2nd half. We had 16 turnovers for 24 points and we couldn't overcome the free throw discrepancy. It's just too much to overcome. You have to hit home runs all the time. Until I look at the game and figure it out, we just couldn't overcome that. It was a difficult loss for us." Riley on Dallas' defense: "They were man for most of the 2nd half, except for a couple of possessions. They were pretty much straight up and straight down from a defensive standpoint. There wasn't much zone in the 2nd half." Riley: "We weren't executing and guys were a little bit unsure. Their defense was really good. The guys that were on Caron were trying to get him the ball. They zoned him and brought a guy from the weak side and played behind him. We had our opportunities. It was a 2 or 3 point game in the last few minutes and we just couldn't get over the hump." Riley: "We wanted to attack and advance the ball, but I thought we got a little bit out of control in the 2nd half. We are not as good in transition as they are because they have so many finishers and shooters. We have to learn how to take the foot off the gas and execute." Riley on Nowitzki: "He handles, rebounds, drives, and has developed a post-up game. He's a dead-eye shooter from outside and is really becoming one of the top 5-10 players in the whole league." Brian Grant on Miami's 4th quarter shooting: "Instead of taking nice, set shots, a lot of them were leaners and shots that didn't have much of a chance of going in. We have to be more forceful. I think guys got a little too excited." Travis Best: "They stepped up the pressure defensively and we kind of got out of sync and I think the momentum switched in their favor. They were able to get out in the open court and make some plays. In the 4th quarter we had a little miscommunication a couple of times and they got some easy buckets. Najera really hurt us, getting to the boards and doing the things he does, the dirty work, making plays around the basket." Best: "Dallas did a good job against us defensively. They really got into us and changed the momentum of the game." Best on Van Exel: "He's a guy who can come in and give them big numbers off the bench. They are already a high-powered offense with their starting 5. To have somebody like Nick who can handle the ball and score and do so many things, it makes it tough on the opposing team." Mike James: "Dallas is a team you can't really make mistakes against because they have so many shooters and scorers. We played hard, but hard isn't always the way to go. You have to play hard and smart." Dallas Mavericks 92, Miami Heat 92 at Dallas (February 15) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 26 16 24 32 - 98 .448 .333 .425 .816 Miami 24 25 19 24 - 92 .371 .500 .400 .769 Halftime: Miami 49-42 3rd Q: Miami 68-66 Technicals: Raja Bell 2:40 3rd, Pat Riley 1:21 3rd Refs: Anthony Jordan, George Toliver, Mike Callahan Attendance: 20,003 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Eddie Jones (strained left groin), Anthony Carter (tendinitis left knee) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Eduardo Najera 22 4-6 0-0 1-2 9 2-6 1 1 2 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 44 7-20 1-5 10-11 25 1-12 8 2 5 1 2 Raef LaFrentz 20 3-6 0-1 0-0 6 0-3 1 0 3 0 2 Michael Finley 42 5-14 1-4 6-8 17 2-7 1 1 0 1 1 Steve Nash 40 6-12 3-4 4-4 19 0-1 4 1 1 2 1 Shawn Bradley 15 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 30 5-9 0-1 7-9 17 0-5 2 0 2 0 0 Raja Bell 13 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 1 0 2 2 0 Evan Eschmeyer 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 2 0 1 Adrian Griffin 4 0-1 0-0 3-4 3 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Walt Williams 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 31-73 5-15 31-38 98 6-38 18 5 18 6 7 Miami Heat REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Caron Butler 39 4-15 1-1 5-5 14 3-9 1 3 5 1 0 Malik Allen 28 3-9 0-0 0-1 6 2-6 1 1 3 0 0 Brian Grant 25 2-7 0-0 0-0 4 3-11 2 3 6 1 0 Travis Best 37 7-13 4-6 3-3 21 1-3 8 3 3 0 0 Eddie House 30 6-15 1-1 0-0 13 1-3 2 3 4 0 0 Mike James 29 3-9 0-3 0-0 6 1-3 7 2 3 0 0 Vladimir Stepania 21 4-6 0-0 0-2 8 5-14 0 0 4 0 0 LaPhonso Ellis 21 4-12 2-7 0-0 10 2-4 0 0 4 0 0 Rasual Butler 10 3-4 2-2 2-2 10 1-2 1 0 1 0 2 Totals 48 36-90 10-20 10-13 92 19-55 22 16 33 2 2 BTW, When I pointed out to Mark Cuban that .3 seconds had been added to the clock after instant replay was used at the end of the 1st quarter of the 11/19 Dallas-Lakers game, he responded that it had also occurred in a couple of other games and when he asked the league why time wasn't put back on the clock for the Minnesota game, Stu Jackson's response was that it was an end of game situation. Got to love the league in that you can correct a time situation for the 1st 3 quarters, but not for the last quarter. Cuban has asked the league to allow for time corrections with instant replay, but that likely would have to be voted on by the rules committee and wouldn't come into effect until next season. patricia