Sacramento (33-16) at Dallas (38-9) (February 4) Both teams started out shooting well and Dallas was still unable to stop Sacramento from going inside. The game was tied at 9-9 with 8 minutes left and Dallas' shooting touch left them while Sacramento was still scoring at will as the Kings went on a 22-7 run to go up 31-16 with 1:35 remaining. A 3-pointer by Predrag Stojakovic gave Sacramento their largest lead at 34-18 with a minute left. Nick Van Exel hit a jumper near the end of the quarter and Sacramento led 37-24 after 1 - and Dallas had to feel fortunate to be down by just 13 points with as poorly as they played offensively and defensively. Sacramento shot 69.6% FG and Dallas shot 39.1% FG. Stojakovic had 15 points. Sacramento led in the teens for most of the 2nd quarter as Dallas just couldn't get under the 10 point deficit margin. Dallas used a 10-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Michael Finley, to pull within 58-62 with 40 seconds to go - thus proving the often sung mantra: if you're going to be down big, best to be down big early. Doug Christie hit a jumper as the quarter ended and the Kings led 64-68 at the half. Dallas was still shooting 39% FG, but Sacramento's shooting had dropped to 63% FG for the half. Dallas scored the first 6 points of the 3rd quarter and it was a whole new ballgame at 64-64 with 10:30 to go. Sacramento scored the next 4 points and was able to hang on to a small lead for the next 8 minutes. Consecutive 3-pointers by Finley gave Dallas an 83-82 lead with 1:50 remaining - their first lead since early in the 1st quarter. Christie hit another jumper at the quarter buzzer and Sacramento led 88-85 after 3. It was a very tight 4th quarter as the teams exchanged leads several times. There were 9 lead changes and 2 ties in the 12 minutes. A 3-pointer by Steve Nash and a 3-pointer by Van Exel surrounded a free throw by Hidayet Turkoglu and Dallas led 100-97 with 6:30 left. The teams exchanged jumpers and then Dallas went scoreless over the next 4 minutes as Sacramento scored 7 straight points to go up 106-102 with 1:50 remaining (the largest lead by either team of the quarter). Finley finally ended Dallas' drought with a jumper with 1:35 to go. Sacramento missed on 2 attempts and Dallas had nice ball movement to find Finley for an open 3, which he drained to give Dallas a 107-106 lead with a minute remaining. Sacramento called timeout and Mike Bibby nailed a quick jumper to give the Kings back the lead with 52 seconds left. Dirk Nowitzki dribble-drove from the side to the middle, stopped, and hit the short turn-around jumper with 31 seconds remaining and Dallas led 109-108. Sacramento made the nice passing from Bibby (who the Mavs double-teamed) to Turkoglu, who missed the open 3-pointer, but Keon Clark was all alone (due to the double) under the basket and slammed home the miss with 16.5 seconds left. Dallas called timeout. The Mavs got the ball to Nowitzki about 18 feet from the basket on the wing and isolated him with Stojakovic bodying him up from behind. Nowitzki dribbled and dribbled backing in with some bumps between the 2 players (and the refs let them play) and turned and his 15-footer clanked off the back rim with less than 2 seconds left, Chrisite grabbed the rebound, and the Mavs were unable to get to the player with the ball to foul him before time expired. Sacramento won 110-109. If the team had just shown up slightly in the 1st quarter... But it was still an exciting game between 2 of the best in the league, even though Sacramento was missing Chris Webber (but Dallas also had an excuse in having played a tight game on the road the night before). Sacramento's hot shooting start slowly cooled off during the game (I had fun amusing myself by watching the number decrease out of the obscene level ("They're down to 65%, 62%, ...")) and finished at 51.8% FG while Dallas' shooting went up slightly from their cold end to the 1st quarter and they finished shooting 43.7% FG. Dallas made up the difference in their shooting woes with 3-pointers (actually shot better behind the arc) as they shot 13-29 3-pointers. Sacramento shot 6-9 3-pointers. The Kings also tried to help Dallas by missing 7 free throws (16-23). Dallas shot 20-24 FT. Sacramento out-rebounded Dallas 50-41 and both teams had 7 offensive rebounds, but 2 of the King's offensive boards came in the last 2 minutes of the game. On the if only front: Nick Van Exel hit a shot at halftime just after the buzzer (automatic review, but everyone knew it was a tad late). But still, Dallas could have shown something in the 1st. The 1st quarter was the only quarter that Sacramento out-scored Dallas. Mike Bibby's eyes once again lit up at the sight of the Mavs and was the Kings' high man with 27 points including 10-16 FG. Predrag Stojakovic stepped up his game in Chris Webber's absence with 24 points including 4-5 3-pointers and a season high 14 rebounds. But his key play was his defense of Dirk Nowitzki on Dallas' finally play [I thought foul should have been called with one of the body bumps (they had a foul to give, so it wouldn't have been free throws), but the refs decided to let the contact occur]. Hidayet Turkoglu had 17 points and Keon Clark also had 17 points off the bench including 8-11 FG and 8 rebounds. Doug Christie had a well balanced game with 8 points on a perfect 3-3 FG and 2-2 FT, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Vlade Divac had 11 points including 4-11 FG and 6 rebounds in 28 minutes. And former Mav Jim Jackson had 6 points (including a blast from the past, pre-ankle injury reminder, explosive dunk), 6 rebounds, and 5 assists as Sacramento basically went with a 7-man rotation due to injuries and the coach trying to get a win (Damon Jones was the only other King to see time on the court, and that was for just 5 minutes). Both Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki did not score in the 1st quarter, but did produce after that. Nowitzki tied Michael Finley for high scorer with 28 points. 10 of Nowitzki's points came in the 4th quarter. He also had 16 rebounds and 5 assists. Finley shot 4-8 3-pointers. Nash also finished with a double-double with 13 points including 3-3 3-pointers and 14 assists. Nick Van Exel was the 6th man and part of the spark that got the Mavs going in the 2nd quarter. He had 17 points including 6-17 FG, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Raef LaFrentz had 9 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 fouls, and Shawn Bradley had 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 17 minutes. Walt Williams had 8 points, Raja Bell had 2 points, and Antoine Rigaudeau was scoreless on 1 attempt in 5 minutes. Adrian Griffin did not play due to tendinitis left knee. He underwent an MRI on his knee and it showed no permanent damage. The Mavs are off until next Tuesday due to the All-Star break. They get a back-to-back in Minnesota and in Milwaukee, one day off, and then another back-to-back in Memphis and vs Miami in Dallas - it's the M week. Quotes Rick Adelman on the win: "Its huge. Give our guys a lot of credit. They kept coming back at us and it seemed like they were making every shot. We stayed with it and got the ball to bounce the right way at the end, at least for us." Adelman: "We've been struggling and have not been playing well over the last couple of games. Our guys were emotionally ready to play this game." Adelman on Clark: "He was really active. With our team, if the other guys keep moving, its going to open up for Keon. There were times I thought we were impatient again and not making them guard us. It seems like we have been on the road for 3 months, so for these guys to stay with it and keep battling back, its great to see them get rewarded with a win. It's just a huge win for us." Adelman on Stojakovic defending Nowitzki on the last play: "Predrag is used to guarding him. I put Jimmy on him because Predrag had 4 fouls and Jimmy had 3 and I was running out of people. Predrag and Hidayet, especially Predrag, has played him the most and I think knows him and knows what he like to do. We would like to have Predrag on him normally because he has played against him so many times, but I was running out of people with fouls and I was trying to protect Predrag when Jimmy was guarding him." Adelman on going with Bibby, Clark, Jackson, Stojakovic, and Turkoglu down the stretch: "They were the ones doing the best job defensively. [Dallas] had found some ways to hurt us, and that group was doing the best job. You can play pretty good defense against them and still give up points." Adelman on if Sacramento has a mental advantage over Dallas: "I don't know. I look at that series last year, we beat them 4 out of 5 games and except for the 5th game, those games could have gone either direction. I know there's not a huge margin between these 2 teams. It's a matter of who executes the best." Predrag Stojakovic on Dallas' last play: "He played me well, but I thought I had a good look. He's a great shooter, so you can't just say it was good defense. We got lucky, especially since I bounced off of him. This year he's made those shots, but tonight he didn't." Stojakovic on his strong start: "I was hitting, but then my teammates also started getting hot. It was a great team effort. We all had to step up and do the little things to win." Stojakovic: "We feel confident. You can't rely on confidence. You have to come out and bring it and play. We have experience and that matters in close games. But it's still the regular season and we have 2 more games against them." Mike Bibby: "We haven't been playing good lately and we didn't want to go into the break like that. When you play as hard as you can, good things happen. ... We knew they were going to come back, we just had to withstand it." Bibby: "Everyone stepped up for us tonight. We came out with energy and everything turned out great." Bibby: "We came out and had an all-round game. We've got to have faith in each other, and it's all good." Vlade Divac on Dallas slow start: "We took advantage of the schedule. We didn't focus on that. We knew that if we played our game, like we used too, we will be in a position to win. It happens. Obviously with the schedule, they played last night and we took advantage of it." Keon Clark: "Our pride had been tested individually. We got this win with our hearts. The last few games we'd been playing without talent or heart. Tonight we put some heart with that talent and we came out smiling." Jim Jackson: "When you are playing at home, you expect those shots to go down. But if we can come in and establish, on the road or even at home, a defensive presence where it makes it tough to make those kinds of shots. Where you are just not in your comfort zone, we will always have a chance to win games." Jackson on defeating Dallas without Webber: "It says a lot. There is a lot of heart and a lot of pride. We know that the last few games we haven't been playing defense the way we need to and it was very important. If we didn't play defense today, we were going to get blown out of the gym. I think that was in the back of everybodys mind." Don Nelson: "We lost the ballgame. I enjoy coaching more when we win than when we lose, but it was still an exciting game. It was an exciting game and I was really proud the way we battled back. We just dug a hole in the 1st quarter and couldn't get anything going. We talked before the game about how important starts are. Bottom line is we shot ourselves in the foot, battled back, had a chance to win, and they made more big shots than we did. We made some too, but they got the big rebounds and we covered the play well. When we have to help on people, it opens up the middle a little bit and Clark gets the big tip-in. No regrets, we knew it was going to be a tough game for us after an emotional victory last night in a back-to-back situation. We got a dead team. I'm real proud of them." Nelson on the final play: "They had a foul to give and we assumed they would give it, but I suppose we should have forced the issue more. Turkoglu [actually, Stojakovic] played him extremely well, got into him and didn't give him much room. He ended up getting the bad shot. He was defended well. Bottom line is they were without Webber and Jackson, 2 great players. We were in a back-to-back situation and it was a great basketball game. They beat us." Nelson when asked about beating Sacramento: "All you have to do is look to last year when we beat them 3 out of 4 times. That didn't mean anything. You make what you make out of these games. They are really a good team and they play us well. They defend us and match up great with us and we have a hard time matching up with them." Nelson when asked if changes are needed: "You people are talking world championships here and all were trying to do is get through the season and do the best we can with what we have. You can talk about anything you want, but were not in the playoffs yet. I think that's when you start discussing those things. We're trying to win our division and do the best we can do. I think we've done a great job. Don't criticize us for the great start we've had and the overachieving we've done. There are a lot of teams I think that are better than we are and yet we have the best record. People are always saying that they're no good, they can't win a championship. We don't know that, we're not talking about it, other people are talking about it. We're not even in the playoffs yet. We're just trying to be as good as we can be and I think were doing a pretty good job." [with that, end of press conference] Dirk Nowitzki: "It's a tough loss. I don't think we lost that game at the end. We lost it in the 1st quarter. Nobody was ready to play at the beginning." Nowitzki on his last shot: "I had a pretty good look at it. He played me extremely well. I went for the up-and-under. I left it a little long. When it left my hand, actually it looked pretty good. But no question, he forced me to a tough shot and he did his job." Nowitzki: "We have the best record. But I wouldn't say we're the best team right now. We seem to take a step back in these games." Steve Nash on losing twice to Sacramento: "Keep saying it, it's fine by us. That's pundits and experts. Let them make us the underdog. That's fine. We're just going to have to continue to improve and worry about ourselves and not worry about what other people think about us. We're right there, we feel positive, and we feel confident. We're not going to roll over and say it's over because they've beaten us twice." Nick Van Exel on the loss: "It was really tough. It's really disappointing because tonight was a game that we really wanted to win. We just came out kind of flat and they got a big jump on us, but we finally started playing but it was too late." Van Exel on the comeback: "It takes something out of you, but I think more than that, it's tough to fight back. You can't spot good teams that many points, especially the Kings. We didn't have a lot of juice early and we didn't make the plays when they counted." Raef LaFrentz: "We need to just keep playing hard. They are a damn good team. Tonight they shot a great percentage. I think that they were at 60% at the half and we were at around 30%. We were only down by 6 at halftime so we were encouraged by that. The 2nd half was a battle between 2 high scoring teams that like to get up and down, but right now their defense might be a touch better." LaFrentz on the comeback: "We just had some guys that got hot. Dirk got real aggressive and starting knocking down some shots. When he's doing that, he can really carry this team." LaFrentz: "We knew it was going to be a tough game tonight. Both of these last 2 games were tough tests before the all-star break and we ended 1-1 with both of the them being close games. We feel good about the 1st half of the season, but we have dropped 2 to Sacramento and that's disappointing." LaFrentz: "We feel good about the 1st half of our season. But we have dropped the first 2 to Sacramento, and that burns more than anything." LaFrentz: "We can beat the big ones. There's no question about that in this locker room. As far as the naysayers, people have to talk about something. Right now, that is probably what they're going to talk about until we're able to get over the hump." Raja Bell: "We needed to win this game to convince everybody that we could beat them. And we didn't do it. We have to find a way to win those games." Sacramento Kings 110, Dallas Mavericks 109 at Dallas (February 4) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Sacramento 37 27 24 22 - 110 .500 .667 .518 .696 Dallas 24 34 27 24 - 109 .431 .448 .437 .833 Halftime: Sacramento 64-58 3rd Q: Sacramento 88-85 Technicals: Steve Nash 3:31 3rd Flagrant fouls: Jim Jackson 4:22 2nd, Raef LaFrentz 9:34 3rd Refs: Bob Delaney, Rodney Mott, Sean Corbin Attendance: 20,102 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Chris Webber (sprained left ankle), Scot Pollard (fractured right hand), Adrian Griffin (sore right knee) Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Hidayet Turkoglu 38 7-15 1-3 2-4 17 1-3 4 2 4 1 0 Predrag Stojakovic 44 9-20 4-5 2-4 24 1-14 2 3 4 0 0 Vlade Divac 28 4-11 0-0 3-6 11 1-6 2 1 1 1 0 Mike Bibby 39 10-16 1-1 6-6 27 0-3 4 2 4 1 0 Doug Christie 36 3-3 0-0 2-2 8 0-8 6 4 1 0 1 Keon Clark 25 8-11 0-0 1-1 17 2-8 2 0 3 0 1 Jim Jackson 25 3-9 0-0 0-0 6 2-6 5 2 3 0 0 Damon Jones 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 44-85 6-9 16-23 110 7-50 25 14 21 3 2 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Raja Bell 17 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 1 1 1 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 43 9-22 0-2 10-11 28 2-16 5 1 2 1 2 Raef LaFrentz 22 4-9 1-3 0-0 9 0-3 0 2 5 1 1 Michael Finley 38 10-18 4-8 4-4 28 0-3 0 0 2 0 0 Steve Nash 37 5-9 3-3 0-0 13 0-2 14 1 3 1 0 Nick Van_Exel 36 6-17 3-8 2-4 17 3-7 4 2 0 0 0 Walt Williams 25 2-6 2-5 2-3 8 0-4 2 0 1 2 0 Antoine Rigaudeau 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 1 0 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 17 1-3 0-0 2-2 4 1-4 0 0 1 1 2 Totals 48 38-87 13-29 20-24 109 7-41 27 8 15 7 5 patricia