Game 7: Sacramento at Dallas (May 17) Game 7 was again here in Dallas and the Mavs came out strong early and put the Kings away without much trouble. No, that wasn't what happened, but what I was hoping would happen as game 7s kill me - I'm normally wound up for games and game 7s take that up several notches. Dallas did score the first 5 points of the game as Sacramento struggled shooting. But Vlade Divac got a layup and Hedo Turkoglu converted a 3-point play to give Sacramento an 8-7 lead with 8:15 left. Dallas then scored the next 10 points, with 6 coming from Dirk Nowitzki, to go up 17-8 with 5:30 left. A 3-pointer by Peja Stojakovic ended Dallas' run and the Mavs held a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 23-19 after 1. Nowitzki had 10 points and Stojakovic had 10 points. Dallas shot 11-22 FG while Sacramento shot a mere 6-23 FT, but was able to stay in the game due to shooting 5-5 FT while Dallas did not get to the line once. A 3-pointer by Michael Finley gave Dallas their first double-digit lead at 34-24 with 7:15 to go. Dallas led 39-27 with 5:30 remaining on a 3-pointer by Nick Van Exel, but Sacramento then scored the next 15 points, including 9 by Jim Jackson, to go up 42-39 with 2:30 left as Dallas missed 6 consecutive shots. But Dallas scored the last 9 points of the quarter, started by a 3-pointer by Van Exel and ended by a layup at the quarter buzzer by Van Exel, to go up 48-43 at the half. Van Exel had 13 points in the 2nd quarter and JJackson had 12 points. Dallas shot 10-24 FG including 3-6 3-pointers and Sacramento shot 9-22 FG in the 2nd quarter. The lopsided officiating continued [they weren't calling it the same way at the 2 ends of the court] and Sacramento shot 5-8 FT and Dallas shot 2-4 FT. In a stark contrast from game 6 where the Kings had 38 points in the paint in the 1st half, Sacramento only had 12 points in the paint while Dallas was being the aggressor with 22 points in the paint. In the 3rd quarter, Dallas went on a 6-1 mini-run to go up 63-54 with 6:15 left, but Turkoglu converted the 3-point play [and that and the 3-point play mentioned above were all the points he scored in the game] and JJackson hit a 3-pointer to pull the Kings within 60-63 with 4:30 remaining. Dallas scored the next 4 points on layups to retain their single-digit lead. A recently inserted Walt Williams drained a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to give Dallas an 11 point lead, but Mike Bibby rebounded his own miss and got the layup near the quarter's end. Dallas led 76-67 after 3. Nowitzki had 7 points and 9 rebounds and Bibby had 11 points in the quarter. Dallas shot an impressive 12-21 FG and Sacramento shot 9-22 FG in the 3rd quarter. For the first 3 1/2 minutes of the 4th quarter, Dallas' lead hovered between 11 and 6 points (and getting within 6 points was on a 3-pointer and was answered with a 3-pointer). Sacramento pulled within 82-87 with 8:30 to go on a layup by Bibby, but Dallas attacked right back as Steve Nash treated the inbounded ball as a fast break and got the layup at the other end and was foul. He converted the 3-point play and 2 free throws and a 3-pointer by Finley gave Dallas their largest lead at 95-82 with 7:30 remaining. It wasn't smooth sailing for Dallas as on the next play, following a timeout, Divac drove through the lane and Raja Bell came down hard on his arms and was called for the flagrant foul. Divac hit both free throws and Stojakovic nailed a 3-pointer to give Sacramento 5 points on 1 possession. But Nowitzki answered with a 3-pointer of his own and that kicked off a 14-2 run to give Dallas a commanding 109-89 lead with 4 minutes left. Dallas started running the clock down on their possessions and the Mavs led 110-93 with 2 minutes to go. After trading misses, Dallas let the Kings drive to the basket uncontested 3 times as the Mavs did not want to risk a foul. Dallas won 112-99!!! Here it is 20 hours later and I'm still pumped. With the win, Dallas took the series 4-3 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals. It's been a long, long [repeat at least 20 times] road for the hard core Mavs fans since the Mavs were last (and only) in the Western Conference Finals in 1988. Percentage wise, the Mavs were the worst team in any sport during the 90s. Thank you Don Nelson for building a contender! Thank you Donnie Nelson for finding our superstar! Thank you Mark Cuban for putting out the money needed to build a contender! Thank you Mavs players for doing it on the court! No, I'm not satisfied with just getting this far - I want them to win it all. But now is an appropriate time to reflect on just how far this team has come. Just 6 years ago, Dallas had a record of 20-62. They almost reversed that record this season with 60-22 and now have a chance to prove themselves in the playoffs. Who cares what the media pundits say - GO FOR IT ALL!!! Game 1 is Monday in San Antonio at 8:30 pm. Sacramento was missing their best player in Chris Webber for the last 5 games of the series (game 2 was already over when he left). I would have rather played the series with him available and seen what the outcome would have been (the teams split the 2 games with him), but fate did not deal that hand. As for game 7, it wasn't the prettiest of game 7s as Sacramento struggled throughout and some of their main players never got it going, and Dallas had great performances from their stars and they stepped it up in the 4th quarter. Dallas was simply the more aggressive and attacking team in this game. Dallas shot 49.5% (45-91) FG including 11-20 3-pointers and Sacramento shot 41.9% (36-86) FG including 8-25 3-pointers. Dallas also out-rebounded Sacramento 48-43 and despite their poor shooting, Sacramento only had 9 offensive rebounds. Sacramento was able to stay in the game due to the free throw line as they shot 17-22 FT while Dallas shot 9-12 FT through 41 minutes. And the stat with the biggest indication of how the game was played was that Dallas out-scored Sacramento 50-38 in the paint - a vast difference from game 6 where Sacramento out-scored Dallas 58-32 in the paint. I said that the Mavs need a stellar performances from their superstar and he came shining through in this game. Dirk Nowitzki nearly had a 20-20 with 30 points including 12-20 FG and 3-4 3-pointers and 19 rebounds. He attacked the basket and hit the outside shots and didn't let the refs get to him [too much] (he would have at least got a technical a month ago complaining about the physical play that was being allowed). Nick Van Exel again played very well and was the Mavs' MVP for the series. He finished with 23 points including 4-7 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Steve Nash had an all around game with 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 13 assists (4th most in Mavs playoff history). Michael Finley also played well and continued attacking the basket [all cheer]. His stats don't accurately reflect his strong performance. He had 18 points including 11 in the 4th quarter, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Raja Bell again came in and gave an offensive bonus in addition to his usual defense. He had 12 points on 6-9 FG and played 33 minutes. The big men also didn't have the numbers, but gave key performances. Raef LaFrentz was plagued with foul trouble, but had a couple of good plays and key blocks in disrupting Sacramento. He had 2 points on 1-4 FG, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 15 minutes. Shawn Bradley also disrupted Sacramento and was able to somewhat contain Vlade Divac. He had 4 points and 7 rebounds in 18 minutes. Walt Williams only played 5 minutes, but his 3-pointer was nice and he also had a layup for 5 points. Eduardo Najera was the only other Mav who played and he had just 2 rebounds and 1 assist in 1 minute. After being MIA for several games, the Kings finally got a strong performance by Mike Bibby. But another player went MIA in his place as Doug Christie, who had been the MVP for Sacramento through the first 6 games, couldn't buy a bucket. Bibby had a team high 25 points and 5 assists. He missed his first 5 shots, but then shot 10-15 FG the rest of the way. Christie had just 4 points including 0-6 FG and 7 rebounds in 33 minutes. Being their star, Peja Stojakovic had a quieter night than I expected. He had 17 points on 7-15 FG and 9 rebounds in playing all but 2 minutes - for a game 7, his team needed more from him. Bobby Jackson and Vlade Divac were also MIA. Divac only shot 3-12 FG as part of his 11 points and he had 6 rebounds in 33 minutes. BJackson had 12 points including 4-13 FG and 1-7 3-pointers. He did have 5 rebounds and 5 assists in his 31 minutes. Jim Jackson was Sacramento's 2nd best player in this game with 24 points including 10-12 FG and 3-3 3-pointers and 3 rebounds in 30 minutes. Keon Clark was the only other King to see court time and he played just 6 minutes and had 3 rebounds and 2 blocks. Quotes Don Nelson: "7th games are the most exciting part of what we do. We've been fortunate to win twice in the same year. I am really proud of my team and the way they've played and competed and made adjustments as we went along. Things weren't always smooth. We're very fortunate to beat a fantastic Sacramento Kings team, which suffered something that we always hope won't happen around playoff time and that's an injury to one of your best players. I thought both teams were very even. After Webber went down, I thought it was anybody's series. Anybody who played the best in the 7th game probably would win the series and we played the best tonight. I think we owe the series to Nick Van Exel who, when things were looking bleak, got us thinking the right way and taking the next step that we really needed to hear from a teammate and not a coach. I always encourage the team to be the leaders. It's a sad state of affairs when the coach has to be the leader of the team. I would like to congratulate the Kings organization for being such a classy organization. I think Adelman and his staff did a marvelous job of keeping us from what we like to do best. It was a very difficult series. Last season after the Kings beat us, the Maloof brothers wrote me a letter congratulating me on a fine season. I'll never forget that and they will be receiving the same thing as well as their coaching staff." Nelson: "The reason these times in our sport are so special is because it's so hard to move on. The reason these series are so important and so enjoyable is because they're hard to win." Nelson on Bradley: "I really needed him in Game 6 and he didn't show up. Both he and Eddie did not have good games and as a result I had to make adjustments that I didn't want to make. I told them both tonight that they both had to step forward and they played much better. Shawn did a great job of being ready to play and following the game plan. It was a hard series for him because he hasn't been able to guard Vlade very well." Nelson on Bradley: "It was a hard series for him because he hasn't been known to deal with Vlade very well. But I did think that when Vlade played more minutes, the fatigue factor would play in our favor. And that was in fact the case." Nelson on Bradley: "I thought Shawn did a good job of being ready to play and following the game plan. When they put him in tough circumstances where he didn't have anybody to guard, we made a substitution and got him out of there." Nelson: "I was hired to turn around the franchise, and we've done a pretty good job - not that we're in the championship - but we still have some work to do. When the crowd was going crazy, I thought about us being in a 7th game and how much things have turned around in Dallas for the positive and I'm proud of that." Nelson on Nowitzki: "Yes, and I thought that the onus fell on me to make sure I got Dirk his - you know he's used to getting 20, 21 or 2 shots a game and we asked him to be more of a passer for periods of this time when they were keying on him and ball movement was a high priority. And tonight I just thought that I really needed to run more things for him to get more shots up. I didn't think 12 shots would be enought. I thought his normal 20 shot performance would be enough to really get him off to having a good game and it was. He was active on both ends of the floor and really into the game. But he did his thing - 30 points and 20 shots. That's pretty good. That's what the big boys do." Dirk Nowitzki on having his trainer in town (Holger): "I haven't really played well in the whole series. I was kind of sleep walking out there. My shot wasn't really going. He always helps me out, especially mentally. He comes in and tells me to focus a little bit. We worked out a little bit, the shooting part of the game. He's big for me the whole career. I was glad he came." Nowitzki on if playing game 7 vs Portland helped: "I think so. That really helped. We don't really have playoff experience. But the first shot against Portland was great. We knew what we had to do in game 7 - come out strong and play good defense and move the ball - and that's what we did today." Nowitzki on Van Exel: "He was unbelievable. I think he really won the series for us. It started even in the Portland series, in game 7, when he took over at the end of the game, really won the game for us. Hopefully he keeps playing like that and we'll be in good shape." Nowitzki: "The last 2 years, we kind of stopped in the 2nd round, and if you want to develop, you always want to go further and reach different goals. That's why it's great that we finally got out of the 2nd round and now we'll see what happens there." Nowitzki: "You've got to feel bad for them a little bit because to have such a great team and then you miss a team leader in a very important series, it's tough." Nowitzki on Van Exel: "I knew he was a heck of a player, but I didn't know he was that good. He played phenomenal the whole series. Bobby Jackson is probably one of the best defenders in the league at the point guard spot and sometimes he just made him look silly. He got a lot more vocal and showed a lot more leadership. I didn't know he had that extra level in him." Nowitzki on if Portland game 7 helped: "I think we're not really a playoff experience team, so every chance we get is great. For me, it was the first time playing game 7 against Portland and I think that really helped us, just experience-wise. We knew what to expect. It was a physical game out there and not much calls and we knew what's going to happen. So I think that it was 2 very long series, but I think it really helped our playoff experience-wise." Nowitzki on being aggressive: "I wasn't really a big factor the whole series. I couldn't find my rhythm the whole time. They really did a nice job on me, on finding me in transition early. They've always played me with a smaller guy and kind of took my jump shot away. You got to give them credit. I just had to get to the foul line some, be aggressive, and I'm glad that my jump shot went a little better than the other days." Michael Finley: "Well, we never looked at the series as individual matchups - Bibby against Nash or myself against Christie or Dirk against Webber or anything like that. We just went into the series wanting to win and no matter what it took, we wanted to win. Bibby last year, he had a great playoff run, not only against us, but all the teams that they faced. So this year he was a major priority on our list and we didn't want him to have big numbers and do the things that he been doing to other teams, so defensively we made it a point to not let him get off like he's been doing in the past and I think that was one of the main reasons we ended up winning this series because he didn't have a pretty good one." Finley on the team's turnaround: "It was a great feeling. I was here in the dog days where 20 wins was considered a successful season. I've been where we were considered the doormat of the league and for us to come that far in such a short time is very gratifying for me. I'm just happy for the fans who stuck with us through the tough times and hopefully they can feel as gratifying as I feel right now because although we're here, it just felt like this would never come. Not in Dallas, but it did and I'm just happy." Finley: "For us, we're still trying just to win. We want to go into this series with the same mindset we had the previous 2 series that we can win it. It's going to be a little tougher being that we don't have home court advantage, but it's still possible. And everybody in the locker room and coaching staff in particular know that if we come out and play defense with the intensity in the games that we won against Sacramento, the series is very winnable for us." Finley: "We've matured from this point last year all the way up to the final horn tonight. We've learned how to come back from deficits. We've learned how to take the big wins and refocus and try to get another win. We've learned how to refocus after terrible losses and regroup and find ways to win ball games. Through it all, through the wins, through the losses, we've matured and we've learned and because of it, we're moving on in the playoffs." Finley on if the Portland game 7 helped: "Oh yeah. I think that it definitely helped. We knew what to expect from their perspective. We knew what to expect from our perspective. We knew what we needed to do in order to win a game 7. We had to come in with energy. We had to come in with a defensive mindset that we had to get them out of their comfort zone. We did that against Portland and we did it tonight and the results were the same." Finley on Nowitzki: "Well, he wanted to be aggressive. Every time Dirk comes off a sub-par game or a loss, the next game I expect big things out of him. He's been doing that his whole career and tonight was nothing different. He came into the game with an aggressive mindset where he wanted to aggressively attack the basket, get others involved if he got double-teamed, and more importantly, be a force on the boards. And he did both of those things for us tonight in one of the biggest games of the franchise and he came through for us." Finley: "In the 4th quarter, we looked at it as we were 12 minutes away from advancing. And we didn't want this opportunity to slip from our hands. So we had to do whatever it took to secure the victory. And with that, we made key stops and made big shots. And when you do that, especially at home, it's demoralizing to any team that comes into this building. When you get key stops and then come back and hit big 3s, you can see their heads start to sink down a little bit and then they made a crucial turnover and we came back and hit another 3 and they continue to sink down. So as their head is sinking down, we're fighting and grabbing, trying to put the nails in the coffin, so to speak. And we did that tonight and I was proud of the team." Steve Nash: "It feels great. I think that nothing is set in stone in this league. Although the future looks bright here, I don't think that anyone is going to take for granted the fact that you never know how many chances you get to go on and keep playing. And for us to get to this new level is, I think, something that we've worked hard for but something that is exciting and something that is kind of leading us to our goal." Nash: "I think we were aggressive and confident. And it's so important, especially in game 7 at home, to really take advantage of that. We played all year for that - to have home court - to come out and be really aggressive at both ends of the floor. I thought that we didn't play great for 48 minutes, but kept a foot down and I think if you keep that frame of mind, you stay aggressive like our team did tonight, and in the end, it's going to work out for you." Nash: "I think we all felt really confident going into the game. I think we were really disappointed not to win it in 6. Coming back here, I think that everyone had a really positive attitude. I think we all visualized winning and I think that is really important when you go into a game and feel like you've already won it in your mind, it makes it a lot easier to go out there and execute." Nash on playing 2 game 7s wearing them out: "I don't know, we'll see. Obviously, it'd be nice sitting on the beach for a few days, but I think we've learned a lot playing 2 game 7s. So whether it's going to be a fatigue situation or whether it's going to leave us in good stead experience-wise, we're going to have to wait and see. But obviously we're going to try to use it as a positive." Nash: "I think it was big. Any time you get a chance to play in a game 7 you really grow and you learn. We've won 2 now and we really learned a lot." Nash: "We're very explosive offensively, especially in the open court. We were able to push the ball and keep the pressure on them." Nick Van Exel: "First off, I just want to take my hat off to Sacramento. Taking us to 7 games without CWebb, those guys played with a lot of heart, a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of courage. Me personally, I was trying to be aggressive. I knew that I had a lot of success against Sacramento before, especially when i was in Denver. So I looked at a lot of those tapes when I played against those guys and when I had success against them, I was just aggressive. I was always able to get into the paint, make my little flip shots. Throughout this series, I really worked on my 3-point shot. I figured if I could get into the lane and make my flip shot, it would open up my outside game. And It came on after that 1st game." Van Exel on the 4th quarter: "The main thing we did was said that we weren't going to let up. We weren't going to play to hold onto the lead, we were going to play to extend the lead and that was the biggest key for us. When we got the lead, maybe if it was 5 or 7 or whatever, we kept being aggressive. We kept putting the pressure on those guys and that was a big key for us." Van Exel: "I think this year, we really believed we could beat those guys. Last year we had so much confidence going into that series, but some how they just took it away from us. I don't know what happened, but they just took it away from us. But this year, we really believed that we could hang with those guys and we could beat those guys and that was the biggest key. Just believing in our hearts that we could play with them." Van Exel: "Well, coming into this series, I knew that Sacramento wasn't that great of a defensive team as far as all 5 of their guys were concerned. Doug Christie, definitely a great defender, Bobby Jackson. But I knew there were a lot of holes in that defense and I knew we had to attack and get into their paint and make things happen." Van Exel: "Actually, I don't think we ever were in the driver seat because Sacramento is a good team. Last year they had injuries and they came up with wins against us. But I thought this year we stayed a little bit more focused when Chris Webber went down. Each game was a battle, back and forth. So I don't think we ever were in the driver seat. I just think we had to stay confident and positive." Van Exel on advancing: "It really doesn't mean anything as far as the overall scheme of things, but I think as a team, we should feel confident about ourself and we should feel, have enough confidence to feel that we can win it all - no matter what people say, what people think. When you get this far into the NBA playoffs, anything is possible and now we really, really have to start believing that we can get it done. It's not just 1 or 2 or 3 guys believing that, it's 12 guys believing that we can win a championship." Van Exel on his improvement: "I don't know. I guess you just get better with age. And now I just see the game so much clear now than I did when I was younger - as far as making flip shots, getting into the paint, creating easy opportunities for myself. I just see the game so much better than back in the day when I was in LA." Van Exel on stepping up and leadership: "I really don't really buy into all that. 'Cause I look at it as a team being a team. I don't like to say 'me', I don't like to say 'I', or things like that. Nellie, he really hasn't talked to me much about really being a leader. But one thing he has told me was to be aggressive when I stepped out on to the court. So I kind of took that as maybe he wants me to say a few more things in the locker room to the guys 'cause a couple of years older than some of the guys. But other than that, he always just gives me the confidence to go out there and play my game. And I really respect that." Van Exel: "It's good for us, but I think that we're hungry and we want a championship. That's what you play for. I don't think you play for just advancing and saving peoples' jobs and things like that. I think we really want to win a championship. I think we're starting to believe it. You know, we're in the final 4 right now. And that says something about, you know, we can do it, we can get it done. But we have to keep believing it. We have to go out and play every game like it's a game 7. Sometimes in the past 2 series, it was unbelievable the way that we played, when we played without a lot of passion - that we're in the playoffs and we still not playing with passion. So this next series is going to be tough and we got to realize that every game is really a game 7 and we got to take it to the next level." Raef LaFrentz: "It's great. It's great. Each game 7 gets better. It was a great feeling against Portland. A great feeling tonight. And we can enjoy it tonight and get ready to go to San Antonio tomorrow." LaFrentz on if Portland game 7 helped: "I think it taught ourselves what it was going to take in a game 7 and in a long series. There is a lot of ups and downs in the course of 7 games. And this team had done a good job of staying strong, having confidence in one another. Nick's been sensational. Nick's really done a great job being strong, being vocal, and leading this team." LaFrentz: "Nellie made a big point before the game that we couldn't afford to have any non-producers. Some guys produced more than others, but everybody did something positive." LaFrentz: "When you're pressed, when you're tired, and a 7-game series is as close as it can be contested, it makes you better. You grow." Raja Bell: "We've got a lot of people - even when we were running the table, winning 60 games - didn't give us any credit. Said we were soft. Said we couldn't play basketball in the playoffs. It feels kind of great going out there 2 tough series, 2 game 7s, and winning." Bell: "They fought for a while. Then Dirk hit the 3, Mike got the layup, and I didn't see it in their eyes anymore." Rick Adelman: "Give them all the credit in the world. They came at us and offensively they were terrific. I was surprised we were as close as we were. We couldn't make a shot. We had a lot of good looks, but we couldn't get anything down. We had a nice streak in the 1st half that kept it at 5 in the 1st half, but they were relentless tonight. Their big 4 were all good and give them all the credit in the world. I think they're a very, very good team. I just can't believe the credit they haven't gotten all year long. I think they are going to give San Antonio all they can handle the next round. If Finley hadn't gotten hurt, they probably would have the best record in the league. It seems like people are always doubting them, but if you play or coach against them they give you so many headaches when they are on offense. I give them credit. I think they are going to give San Antonio all they can handle the next round." Adelman on Webber's injury: "Any time you have an injury, especially you lose Chris Webber, it's like them losing Nowitzki, Duncan going down for San Antonio. But there is nothing a team can do about it. You still have to come out as a team and believe you can win. I give our guys - I give Dallas credit - I give our guys tremendous amount of credit. They didn't back away from anything. They truly believed they could win this series, even with Chris out. They played their tails off the whole series and they did everything they could. Sometimes you get beat and we got beat. You can't use the fact that Chris was hurt. It's part of what happens. Last year we had Peja down and we have to keep playing. So I just think that's something that happened. Yeah, would I rather have Chris Webber tonight? Yeah, I'd rather have Chris Webber tonight. But he wasn't there for the last 5 1/2 games, so that's the way it goes." Adelman: "We wanted to control the tempo, and we never controlled the tempo. A lot of that I think had to do with the 1st half, not making shots. We were missing a lot of shots. That's what was frustrating, we were making runs and finally putting it in the basket, and they were getting some easy ones at the other end." Adelman on Nowitzki: "When he got the ball, he was a little more aggressive in taking the shot. We left him a few times when we shouldn't have. We hadn't left him the whole series. We gave him 3 or 4 really good looks at 3s, and he knocked them down. He took advantage of everything we gave him, and that's what good players do." Mike Bibby: "We still thought we could do it. With still 6 or 7 minutes left, everybody was saying the game's not over, there's still a lot of time left, then little things started happening - the loose balls and offensive rebounds. And when they get that, they make a 3. We wouldn't get back and they would get an easy layup. Little things like that were killing us." Bibby on Van Exel: "He's always looking to score. You have to be ready to play defense. He's always trying to come at you no matter when he gets the ball. He's quick and tough to guard." Bibby on the difference between this Dal-Sac series and last season's: "I think the biggest thing was me. In a lot of these games, I didn't show up. In a do-or-die situation, I don't know why I shouldn't have been playing like this the whole time." Vlade Divac: "We had a couple of stops, hit some big shots and we were back in the game. But every time we did that, they made big shots and put us away." Divac: "It's frustrating when you make a run and then they come back and make shots, big shots, sometimes over tough defense." Doug Christie: "They did a good job guarding me, so you have to give them credit. ... I tried to do other things, like rebound, but my shot just wasn't there when we needed it. But I wasn't tired. I felt great. You can't even worry about fatigue at this time of year." Bobby Jackson: "They were the better team tonight. They came out and played hard. It's a tough situation. You know, we've been through a lot this year, you know, to lose like this. All of us went out and played hard. They're the better team and you have to give it to them. It's been a great year for us. I mean, our main guy going down and a lot of people not giving us a chance and we still had a chance to win this game. Everybody's down because we know we could've played better." BJackson on Van Exel: "It's just losing him. Couple of times I lost him and I snuck in when they were driving Nash, I got to him, and losing sight of him and him knocking down the open J. When you got a guy like that's shooting the ball like that, you just got to stay attached to him. He came ready to play tonight and their whole team did." BJackson on he and Christie: "For Doug and me, it was real frustrating. The ball is not always going to fall, but in game 7, of all games, for our shots not to be falling. It sucks, man. It really does. We tried to make things happen. We played well in the first 6 games, but we weren't there tonight. There was nothing left." Jim Jackson on missing Webber: "You take Dirk Nowitzki away and then you figure out how hard it is. You're taking a guy that is going to draw a double-team consistently, that's going to give you 20+ points, double-figure rebounds, 4 or 5 assists, and is a leader on the court. That's something you can't replace with a lot of heart. We did a great job of trying to replace that and we didn't use it for any excuses because we still had our chances. I think we gave 2 games away - game 3 and game 5 - where we didn't control the tempo when we had the lead. When you play against a team like Dallas, if you give them an inch, they're going to take a mile and that is what happened in this series." JJackson on Nowitzki: "They been playing like this all year, last couple of years. He's tough to stop. He's 7-foot. If you got a mismatch at that position like he has, it's tough to stop. In this offense, he's constantly getting touches, you're always going to be involved in the game, no matter if you're missing shots or whatever. And that's what kind of game he has. He's a great player." Dallas Mavericks 112, Sacramento Kings 99 at Dallas (May 17) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 23 25 28 36 - 112 .479 .550 .495 .688 Sacramento 19 24 24 32 - 99 .459 .320 .419 .792 Halftime: Dallas 48-43 3rd Q: Dallas 76-67 Technicals: None Flagrants: Raja Bell 7:18 4th Refs: Bernie Fryer, Ed F. Rush, Steve Javie Attendance: 20,595 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Adrian Griffin (sprained right ankle), Chris Webber (torn meniscus left knee) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 46 7-16 2-4 2-3 18 0-3 3 2 2 3 1 Dirk Nowitzki 45 12-20 3-4 3-4 30 1-19 2 0 4 1 1 Raef LaFrentz 15 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 1-3 0 0 4 0 2 Raja Bell 33 6-9 0-0 0-0 12 1-2 2 0 3 0 0 Steve Nash 39 7-15 1-3 3-3 18 1-7 13 3 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 18 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 2-7 2 1 3 1 1 Nick Van_Exel 35 8-18 4-7 3-6 23 2-5 4 1 2 1 0 Eduardo Najera 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 1 0 0 0 0 Walt Williams 5 2-3 1-1 0-0 5 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 45-91 11-20 11-16 112 8-48 27 9 19 6 5 Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Hidayet Turkoglu 19 2-7 0-1 2-2 6 2-5 2 1 3 1 3 Predrag Stojakovic 46 7-15 3-6 0-0 17 1-9 2 2 3 1 1 Vlade Divac 33 3-12 0-0 5-8 11 2-6 3 2 1 0 1 Mike Bibby 42 10-20 1-5 4-4 25 2-3 5 1 1 1 2 Doug Christie 33 0-6 0-3 4-4 4 0-7 3 1 1 0 0 Bobby Jackson 31 4-13 1-7 3-4 12 0-5 5 1 3 0 0 Jim Jackson 30 10-12 3-3 1-2 24 1-5 0 1 3 0 1 Keon Clark 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 0 0 2 1 2 Totals 48 36-86 8-25 19-24 99 9-43 20 10 17 4 10 patricia Go Mavs!