Dallas (43-12) at Washington (26-28) (February 23) Both teams start the game shooting poorly, but Washington found their shooting touch long before Dallas did and scored 16 straight points to go up 21-4 with 3:50 left as Dallas opened the game shooting a mere 2-15 FG. Nick Van Exel scored the last 4 points of the quarter and Washington led 26-13 after 1. Dallas only shot 25% FG and the 13 points was the 2nd fewest points Dallas had in a quarter this season. But, as the saying goes, if you're going to be down big, best to be down big early - and that proved to be true this day. Washington led 33-17 with 9:15 remaining and Dallas scored the next 7 points to pull within 33-24 with 8 minutes. Dallas continued to chip away at Washington's lead and 2 free throws by Steve Nash and a jumper by Walt Williams pulled Dallas within 44-46 with a minute to go. Washington led 49-44 at the half. Dallas' comeback was spurred by Eduardo Najera, who had 6 points on putbacks, and Williams, who had 10 points on 4-4 FG in the quarter. For the half, Jerry Stackhouse had 20 points. Dallas' big 3 opened the 3rd quarter with an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the game at 52-51 with 8 minutes to go. The teams traded leads and Dallas held a single-digit lead for most of the rest of the quarter. Consecutive 3-pointers gave Dallas their largest lead at 74-63 with 40 seconds left. Dallas led 74-65 after 3. Dirk Nowitzki had 14 points and Michael Finley had 11 points in the quarter. A 3-pointer by Nash and jumper by Nowitzki gave Dallas an 84-72 lead with 6:25 remaining. But this was definitely a game of runs and Washington mounted a 13-2 run, including 6 points from rookie Juan Dixon, to pull within 85-86 with 2 minutes left. The teams traded missed, Nowitzki hit 2 free throws, and Dixon drove for 2 with 1:15 to go. The teams again traded misses and Nowitzki was again sent to the line where he hit both free throws with 36 seconds left. But Stackhouse drained the 3-pointer with 27 seconds left to tie the game at 90-90. Dallas ran the clock down and Nash missed, but got the rebound and saved the ball to Nowitzki, who didn't hesitate (should have) to throw up the long jumper, which missed, and Michael Jordan ended up with the ball under the basket and Washington called timeout with 2.6 seconds left. Washington got the ball in to Jordan and he elevated as time was running out, but his 18-footer clanked off the inside back corner of the rim and out as the horn sounded and we had overtime [phew]. Dixon had 11 points in the 4th quarter. Nowitzki opened the overtime with a jumper and Nash followed that up with a 3-pointer to give Dallas 95-90 lead with 4:10 remaining. The teams traded jumpers and Dixon drained a 3-pointer. Dallas missed, the teams traded turnovers, and Jordan drove for 2 to tie it all up at 97-97 with 2:10 to go. Finley took on 2 defenders and answered with a jump hook. Dixon missed and Nash hit a jumper to give Dallas a 101-97 lead with a minute left. Jordan hit a jumper. Nash started to drive, lost the ball, recovered it, and got the layup with 27 seconds remaining. Jordan again hit a jumper and Finley was intentionally fouled. He only hit 1 of 2 to leave Washington an opening as Dallas led 104-101 with 20 seconds to go. Stackhouse missed a 3, but Washington got the ball back and reset. Dixon had the ball behind the arc, faked but Finley didn't buy it, rose and shot, but Finley was there to block the shot and Dallas got the rebound. 2 free throws by Nash capped the scoring. Dallas won 106-101. It was a game with extreme ups and downs. Having arrived around 2 am and having a very early start time helped to lead to Dallas' extremely poor start. Fortunately the team does have strong offensive power and was able to find their shot and overcome the dismal start. And it is only fair after all the criticism Michael Finley got for the quick 3 at the end of the Minnesota game that Dirk Nowitzki get some criticism for leaving time on the clock with his last shot, which left an opening for Jordan to try to get the game winner (granted, Finley left 8 seconds and Nowitzki left 3 seconds). As would be expected with an overtime game, none of the stats really favors either team. Dallas finished shooting 47.1% FG (13-21 FG after starting 4-19 FG) and Washington shot 44.4% FG. Dallas shot 16-18 FT and Washington shot 14-18 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Washington 39-38, but Washington had more offensive rebounds at 10-6. Washington surprisingly had fewer turnovers than Dallas as they had 10 turnovers while Dallas had a high for them 15 turnovers. It was the first overtime game of the season for Dallas. The big 3 carried the way for Dallas, with a boost from the bench in the 2nd quarter. Dirk Nowitzki led the way with 29 points and 10 rebounds in 52 minutes. Michael Finley had 24 points including 1-7 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. Steve Nash had 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists. 9 of his points came in overtime. Eduardo Najera and Walt Williams came in the 2nd quarter and provided the energy and offense that the team had been lacking. Najera had 8 points on 4-4 FG and 4 rebounds including 3 offensive. Williams had 10 points. Nick Van Exel had 11 points, but only shot 4-12 FG. The big guys didn't give anything in this game as Shawn Bradley had 0 points and 2 rebounds in 17 minutes and Raef LaFrentz had 0 points and 1 rebound in 6 minutes. Washington had the big 2 of Michael Jordan and Jerry Stackhouse. Jordan had 30 points including 14-26 FG and 9 rebounds in 51 minutes. Stackhouse had 30 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists in 51 minutes. Tyronn Lue had 12 points, but a couple of his shots were unadvised quick shots or one-on-one shots. Juan Dixon, along with Jordan, was a key component of Washington's comeback in the 4th quarter. Dixon had 16 points on 7-16 FG and 2-10 FT. Quotes Don Nelson: "It was really a heck of a game with a lot of big plays. I really think we were just lucky down the stretch." Nelson: "It was their Big 2 against our Big 3. We knew Michael wanted to be the guy who created and made the plays. But no matter what we did, he found a way to get loose." Michael Finley on Jordan's regulation ending shot: "If I was at home, I'd probably hope that he'd make it. But going up against him, I knew that the possibility of him making the shot was pretty good. We just wanted to make it tough for him. If it went in, we'd just continue to be part of history, but fortunately for us, he missed." Finley on Washington's comeback at the end of the 4th: "We didn't want it to come down to that, but we knew if the game came down to clutch situations, Michael was going to try to take over the game. And that's what he did. He started making shots." Finley on blocking Dixon's 3-point attempt at the end of overtime: "I knew he was setting me up to get a good look at the 3. I just waited until he squared up." Dirk Nowitzki: "We were a little flat the 1st quarter. We were a step slow on every play and they made us pay by making some fastbreak points. We never really got in the game, but our bench was huge for us in the 2nd quarter. Walt, Eddie, and those guys came in and made some shots, played defense and got us back in the game. That was huge for us." Nowitzki on Jordan's regulation ending shot: "I thought it was going in for sure. It looked good to me." Steve Nash: "I didn't feel great today. I didn't make many shots. When overtime came, I figured that would be a chance to make up for that and just get my team a chance to win." Nash: "I felt terrible most of the game. We didn't really have a lot of bounce to us. The bench deserves a lot of credit for the way they played in the 2nd quarter." Nash on Jordan's regulation ending shot: "I'm pretty sure everybody in the arena thought the shot was going in. There's nothing more demoralizing than seeing Michael in that situation. But nobody makes them all." Nick Van Exel on Dallas' early deficit: "One thing we've been doing pretty good this season is not panicking." Van Exel on Jordan's regulation ending shot: "I just thought it was over. I just knew he was going to make that shot. Then once we went into overtime, we buckled down and got the stops we needed." Doug Collins: "We could have very easily rolled over when it started slipping away from us, and our guys just kept fighting. I couldn't have been more proud of them. Obviously, I wanted to win the game. But if our guys will fight like that every night, we are going to win a lot of games, because that team [Dallas] is good." Collins on Jordan's regulation ending shot: "If I could draw the script and said Michael will be shooting an 18-footer at the buzzer to win the game, would you take that? I would have said, 'Absolutely.' Especially against this kind of team." Michael Jordan: "It is disappointing because of what we were coming off of, playing great basketball in the last couple of games. We wanted this game badly because it really sends a statement and it makes up for one of the games we gave up earlier." Jordan: "A loss is a loss. I guess if you want to look for a moral victory, but no matter how you look at this it's a loss." Jordan: "If you want to look for moral victories, you can definitely look at this as one. But either way, it goes into the loss column. If we play this way against any teams the rest of the season, then we're going to win our share of the games." Jordan on his regulation ending shot: "I thought I made it. I got exactly what I wanted. I had a great look, hit the back of the rim." Jordan on his regulation ending shot: "I thought I had made it. I got exactly what I wanted. I felt like the defense was going to really try to prevent me from trying to go to my left. I made a lot of my game of going to the right. I got a good look, but it didn't go in." Jerry Stackhouse: "We did a lot of good things all night and gave ourselves a chance, but they kept coming and kept making plays. We definitely did not take advantage of some opportunities we had. We had some chances to extend our double-digit lead ... but instead of us getting 2 points, they came down and got 3. That killed us." Charles Oakley: "You can't lose a game like this at home, with so much at stake. We let it slip away. Our defense got tougher, but we have to know how important a game is when we're on the court and do the little things right." Dallas Mavericks 106, Washington Wizards 101 OT at Washington (February 23) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 13 31 30 16 16 - 106 .508 .385 .471 .889 Washington 26 23 16 25 11 - 101 .508 .280 .444 .778 Halftime: Washington 49-44 3rd Q: Dallas 74-65 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 6:58 1st, Brendan Haywood 3:28 3rd, Dirk Nowitzki 9:01 4th Refs: Derek Collins, Dick Bavetta, Scott Foster Attendance: 20,173 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Larry Hughes (sprained right ankle), Etan Thomas (bruised left eye) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 41 10-19 1-7 3-4 24 0-6 3 2 2 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 52 11-23 3-8 4-4 29 0-10 2 5 3 1 1 Shawn Bradley 17 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 3 1 0 Raja Bell 17 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 0 2 1 0 Steve Nash 46 6-16 3-5 7-7 22 1-6 10 3 1 1 0 Raef LaFrentz 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 1 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 35 4-12 2-4 1-2 11 0-4 3 3 2 1 0 Eduardo Najera 24 4-4 0-0 0-0 8 3-4 0 0 3 0 0 Walt Williams 27 4-6 1-2 1-1 10 1-4 1 1 3 2 1 Totals 53 40-85 10-26 16-18 106 6-39 19 15 20 7 3 Washington Wizards REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jerry Stackhouse 52 9-22 3-8 9-9 30 0-7 6 0 3 2 1 Christian Laettner 32 3-5 0-1 1-2 7 3-10 5 0 5 1 1 Brendan Haywood 23 2-5 0-0 1-3 5 2-3 1 2 1 1 2 Michael Jordan 52 14-26 0-0 2-2 30 2-9 3 6 3 2 1 Tyronn Lue 43 5-12 2-5 0-0 12 0-3 3 1 3 1 0 Bryon Russell 11 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 1 0 1 1 0 Juan Dixon 28 7-16 2-10 0-0 16 0-1 1 0 4 1 0 Kwame Brown 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Bobby Simmons 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Charles Oakley 18 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 2-4 1 0 1 2 0 Totals 53 40-90 7-25 14-18 101 10-38 21 10 21 11 5 patricia (oh, the weather outside is frightful...)