Don't forget that Thursday's game vs the LA Lakers has a start time of 8:30 pm, not the 6:30 pm start time listed on most tickets and schedules. The game is being broadcast on TNT. And as a special treat, Jon Secada will be singing the national anthem. New Orleans (41-33) at Dallas (55-18) (April 1) Michael Finley again sat out with his strained left hamstring and likely will not play Thursday (he had a bad practice Wednesday and quit after 10 minutes). Dallas held small leads early on and led 19-15 with 4:15 left. New Orleans scored the next 7 points to go up 22-19 with 2 minutes remaining. A layup by Eduardo Najera was the only points scored the rest of the quarter. New Orleans led 22-21 after 1. Baron Davis had 11 points and Jamaal Magloire had 9 rebounds. Neither team was shooting well (Dallas 41% FG, New Orleans 45% FG), but New Orleans out-rebounded Dallas 15-9 (but their 5 turnovers negated that advantage). The teams traded leads early in the 2nd quarter. Dallas led 35-33 with 6:30 remaining and Dirk Nowitzki scored the next 7 points and Steve Nash hit a jumper to put Dallas up 42-33 with 5:15 to go. Dallas held a high single-digit lead the rest of the quarter and led 52-45 at the half. Nowitzki had 17 points. Both teams had upped their shoot percentage to around 50% FG. In the 2nd quarter, Dallas won the rebounding war 12-6 and New Orleans committed 5 more turnovers. Dallas scored the first 4 points of the 3rd quarter. Jamal Mashburn, who only had 5 points in the 1st half, Hit a bucket, was fouled, missed the free throw, but got the rebound and drained the quick 3-pointer to pull New Orleans within 50-56 with 10:20 left. [I was afraid that Mash had finally got on track, but those would be his last points of the game.] Dallas scored the next 4 points and their lead fluctuated between 7 and 12 points. Nowitzki nailed a 3-pointer near the end of the quarter to give Dallas a 75-62 lead after 3. New Orleans only shot 25% FG in the 3rd quarter. Dallas continued to play well in the 4th quarter and a 3-point play and layup by Raef LaFrentz gave Dallas an 82-64 lead with 8:50 lead. Dallas took their largest lead at 91-70 with 4:30 to go and coasted to the finish. Dallas won 95-86. Dallas played fairly decent most of the game (except for the last 4 minutes of the game where the garbage players couldn't score) and the final score did not reflect the easy win. Dallas' offense wasn't fully clicking, but New Orleans went through stretches where they had no offense. New Orleans only shot 31.8% FG in the 2nd half. For one stretch, they had a lineup of Kenny Anderson, Jerome Moiso, Stacey Augmon, P.J. Brown, and Jamal Mashburn. You would think that with that lineup, Mashburn would be looking to score each time down, but every time down, the ball would start in Mash's hands and he would pass it and it would never find its way back to Mash. For the game, Dallas shot 45.8% FG including a mere 1-5 3-pointers and New Orleans shot 40.2% FG including 4-8 3-pointers. The free throws were fairly even with Dallas shooting 18-21 FT and New Orleans shot 16-24 FT. New Orleans did win the rebounding battle by out-rebounding Dallas 53-42 including 21-11 offensive, but lost any advantage that gave them by committing 22 turnovers while Dallas had just 10 turnovers. Dirk Nowitzki led the way for Dallas with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Steve Nash had his circus shots going with 17 points and 6 assists. Eduardo Najera had 11 points and 7 rebounds. Raef LaFrentz was the 4th Mav in double-digits with 11 points and 5 rebounds in 15 minutes. And Dallas got something from both centers as Shawn Bradley had 8 points on a perfect 3-3 FG and 2-2 FT and 4 rebounds before fouling out in 23 minutes. Adrian Griffin had 6 points on 3-9 FG, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals, but it was his defense (along with help) on Jamal Mashburn that deserves some praise. Nick Van Exel had one of his off nights with 4 points including 1-10 FG and 6 assists. Baron Davis had 18 points including a number of very impressive buckets and 5 assists. Dallas' defense did a good job of containing Jamal Mashburn as Mash only had 10 points including 4-13 FG and 7 rebounds. George Lynch had 13 points and Jerome Moiso had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Jamaal Magloire had 8 points and 12 rebounds, but only 3 rebounds after the 1st quarter. Of course, the big news from the game was not the game but what happened during a timeout about 4 minutes into the 2nd quarter. The refs had some questionable calls/non-calls and Don Nelson picked up a technical a minute and a half into the quarter. During the next timeout, my attention was brought back to the court (I think I was looking at the stats board) by my dad's comment of, "What the heck is he doing???" There on the court was Mavs owner Mark Cuban going toe-to-toe with the ref. As the thought was going through my mind that the ref should walk away, Cuban gave a 2-handed shove at the ref's chest. And looking on with disbelief thinking that now the ref should really walk away, Cuban's lost it, and Cuban has always wanted to be ejected from a game; Cuban shoved the ref again. The 2nd shove didn't seem quite right as I couldn't see Cuban lossing it that completely, but it was happening in front of my eyes. And the ref shoved him back. And then the 2 went at each other and then the assistant equipment manager and Evan Eschmeyer cames out and separated the 2. And as Cuban made another lunge at the ref, PA announcer Billy Hayes said, "Now you all know that today is April 1st, right?" And everyone burst out laughing. The ref was an actor (one of the give aways was that his uniform didn't have a number on it). I fell for it. My dad really fell for it (you should have heard the things he said). A number of the players and Del Harris fell for it (if you've seen the replay, the look on Harris' face is classic). The prank worked really well as the refs were making questionable calls and the actor looked like one of the refs. Quotes Don Nelson: "I guess everything went fine. We are real happy that we were able to sustain a lead long enough to coast in. I had quite a few guys banged up tonight. I thought it was a very physical game tonight. They are a good rebounding team and crashed the boards. As a result, we got a lot of nicks and bruises. We had enough left to finish the game and go on." Nelson: "You think you have some consistency going and then everyone surprises you. I mean look at Nick. He plays 2 great games and then comes out 1-10. It drives you nuts." Nelson: "All I know is we played well enough to win. I didn't think it was going to be an easy game. It was like pulling teeth, but I'd look up and we would have leads. I didn't think we were playing all that well, but I guess they can make you look that way. But we will take it. Defensively our zone was very good and when we played man-to-man, I thought that group did really good. At halftime they shot 50% from the field and in the 2nd half they shot 30%, so we were very effective with our defense and we were able to sustain our lead." Nelson: "Dirk fell on his knee a couple of times and had some hard fouls. Nash got nicked up a little bit. Van Exel was limping out there. Najera, you have to be a little careful with. I played him 37 minutes and as long as we have a day off, I guess it's okay. I can tell when he's not 100%. And Griff is always banged up." Nelson on Finley: "Mike is going to work out tomorrow. I don't know if I will have enough players to scrimmage against him, but we will have some out there. Those who aren't injured, nicked up, or banged up will practice tomorrow. Mike will have one of his first practices, he will probably need more than one, before he plays. This will be the start and we will go from there, so maybe we will have some news tomorrow on how he feels." Nelson: "Basically, we have [8 games] left and we just have to keep the pedal to the metal. We're playing good teams leading into the playoffs, which should be good for us. Our team is going to do the best it can." Dirk Nowitzki: "It was a good effort. It wasn't one of our best games, but the zone really worked well for us." Nowitzki on the race with San Antonio: "I'd rather be up 5 or 6 games, but we're not. We have to let it all out there and put the pedal to the metal for the last 8 games." Steve Nash: "Overall we did a good job tonight. We let them get close a few times, but we really buckled down and got stops and rebounds when we needed them. We were up 20 in the 4th quarter, so it wasn't a bad performance by any means." Nash: "The strategy against us is to try to beat us up on the boards and get some easy buckets that way, and we have to combat that every game. We have to go out every night and not take for granted our rebounding and not take for granted the fact that we have to go out there and actually do it." Nash on LaFrentz and Najera: "Someone's got to pick up the slack for Mike. The most important thing for those guys is that they were on the boards. Those guys really have a big impact on our team." Nash on Mashburn: "He was our main priority coming into the game. Everyone was focused and everyone did a good job of giving help and trying to take away his strengths." Eduardo Najera: "Our main priority was [containing] Mashburn, and I thought we did a heck of a job with him. We kind of let down in the 4th quarter a little bit down the stretch, but the good thing is we got the victory." Adrian Griffin: "In the 1st half they were out-rebounding us, really beating us up on the boards. In the 2nd half we made an effort to contain them and Eddie always gives that effort and really makes a difference." Griffin: "At this time of the year you just take the win and go to the next game. These games are so important that any way you can get them, you take them. We will have our hands full on Thursday. The Lakers are always capable of playing well and we always take them seriously even if their record doesn't show it right now. We know that they are still the world champs and they are going to come ready to play." Griffin on stopping Mashburn: "I didn't do anything extraordinary except try to make him work for the ball every trip down. You are never going to stop him one-on-one, but you can eliminate his touches. The whole team did a good job knowing where he was out on the court. Every time he drove there was someone there. It was a collective effort, a team effort tonight and we just got the job done." Raef LaFrentz on stopping Mashburn: "The guys guarding him were great on him tonight. Both times around we had a good game plan. Nellie really knows him as a player. We executed the game plan and that's what it boils down to." Evan Eschmeyer on the practical joke: "It was hilarious. At first, I just saw Cuban arguing. But he's always arguing with the refs so I didn't think anything of it. Then Shawn said somebody better get him and that's when I went out to get the ref. I wasn't worried about the ref getting hurt. I was worried about the guy who signs my paycheck." Paul Silas: "We were short. The first game we had a chance to win with David [Wesley], who could make shots. They were on Mash all night with 2 people. And while we were swinging, we just didn't have all our people out there. It's not a true indication of what we're about, but they still, never the less, played well and did what they had to do to win the x ball game. I'd still like to see us against them when we're not shorthanded." Silas on his 4th quarter lineup: "I just didn't think we had that much of a chance, and we have a game on Wednesday night that we just have to win. I wanted to give the guys as much rest as I possibly could." Jamal Mashburn on Dallas' play in the 2nd half: "They played a zone. They have 7-6 in the middle with Bradley and a 7-footer in Nowitzki on the other side, and that is a part of their defense. Their zone is like their man-to-man and they are a good offensive team, so they are tough to cover, especially Nowitzki at the power forward spot. They are a tough match-up, but if you can get them out of that zone, there may be some different things that happen." Mashburn: "When they play that zone, it's tough. Everywhere I went, someone was there." Mashburn: "They did that in the first game, too. When they're playing that zone, it's tough. Everywhere I went, it seemed there was a big there. They game-planned extremely well. But in the playoffs, I figure that's the way a lot of teams are going to play, so we've got to step up and execute against it. Everybody has to recognize that. Playoff time is all about matchups. Sometimes they're not going to let you have one-on-one opportunities." Mashburn on if they could have done anything to stop Dallas playing a zone: "They were going to stay in their zone anyway. I think that was their game plan. Some things you have to give up in the NBA, and I think regardless of us making shots, they were going to stay in that zone." Dallas Mavericks 95, New Orleans Hornets 86 at Dallas (April 1) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 21 31 23 20 - 95 .474 .200 .458 .857 New Orleans 22 23 17 24 - 86 .392 .500 .402 .667 Halftime: Dallas 52-45 3rd Q: Dallas 75-62 Technicals: Don Nelson 10:21 2nd, Baron Davis 4:31 4th Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Courtney Kirkland, James Capers Attendance: 19,859 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Michael Finley (strained left hamstring), David Wesley (bruised left foot) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Eduardo Najera 36 4-6 0-0 3-4 11 1-7 1 0 1 1 1 Dirk Nowitzki 34 11-23 1-3 7-7 30 0-11 1 0 2 3 0 Shawn Bradley 23 3-3 0-0 2-2 8 3-4 1 1 6 1 1 Adrian Griffin 28 3-9 0-0 0-0 6 1-4 3 1 3 3 0 Steve Nash 32 8-12 0-1 1-1 17 0-2 6 1 0 3 1 Raef LaFrentz 16 5-10 0-0 1-1 11 3-5 0 0 4 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 23 1-10 0-1 2-4 4 0-2 6 3 1 0 1 Tariq Abdul-Wahad 21 2-5 0-0 2-2 6 3-5 0 0 1 1 1 Evan Eschmeyer 16 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 1 0 3 1 2 Avery Johnson 7 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 1 2 0 1 0 Raja Bell 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-83 1-5 18-21 95 11-42 20 10 21 14 7 New Orleans Hornets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jamal Mashburn 35 4-13 1-2 1-2 10 1-7 4 3 1 1 0 P.J. Brown 27 3-11 0-0 1-2 7 3-7 1 2 4 0 0 Jamaal Magloire 26 3-6 0-0 2-3 8 4-12 2 3 5 0 2 Baron Davis 35 7-12 1-3 3-4 18 0-4 5 3 1 1 0 George Lynch 26 5-9 1-1 2-3 13 2-4 2 1 4 0 0 Kenny Anderson 10 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 1 3 2 0 0 Robert Traylor 15 1-3 0-0 2-2 4 1-1 1 1 2 1 0 Jerome Moiso 24 5-9 0-0 2-4 12 6-11 0 4 1 0 1 Stacey Augmon 16 0-5 0-0 1-2 1 0-2 1 0 1 0 0 Courtney Alexander 14 3-7 1-1 0-0 7 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 Robert Pack 12 2-5 0-1 2-2 6 3-4 0 2 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-82 4-8 16-24 86 21-53 18 22 22 4 3 patricia