Josh Howard has a strained right groin and is listed as day-to-day for Saturday's game. San Antonio at Dallas (February 26) Though it wasn't pretty, the game stayed close throughout the first quarter with neither team holding more than a 4 point lead and there were 9 lead changes and 4 ties. It was still tied up at 23-23 after 1. Tim Duncan looked to be headed towards a monster game with 9 points and 9 rebounds already. Dallas had a number of sloppy turnovers (and most were just dumb turnovers, not a result of the opponent's defense) and had an extremely high for them 6 turnovers in the quarter. The Mavs were shooting decent at 45% FG while San Antonio was struggling at 36% FG. Both teams picked up their play a little bit (and Dallas stopped throwing the ball away), but the game remained close in the 2nd quarter as neither team led by more than 5 points in the quarter and there were 5 lead changes and 7 ties. 3 free throws over the last minute of the quarter gave Dallas a 48-44 lead at the half. Duncan was up to an astounding 16 points and 16 rebounds for the half (but the Spurs were only out-rebounding Dallas 26-24) and Michael Finley had 18 points. Dallas came out of halftime strong and the Spurs did not. But even so, Dallas was not able to pull away early. After Finley forced the second San Antonio backcourt turnover of the quarter, the Mavs found Finley for a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 62-53 lead with 9 minutes remaining. Starter Tony Parker was pulled for the turnover and then Bruce Bowen was pulled for his lack of defense on Finley's 3-pointer. After Steve Nash drove for 2 to again give Dallas a 9 point lead at 66-57 with 7:30 to go, San Antonio called their 3rd timeout of the quarter (a full, a 20, and a full). Unfortunately, this was also when Tim Duncan left the game with either a knee or thigh injury and did not return. After the timeout, Dallas continued to roll in scoring the next 6 points to complete a 10-0 run and go up 72-57 with 5:50 left. Though San Antonio was unable to get closer than 11 points, Dallas never got their lead larger than 16 points until the end of the quarter when Finley swished the halfcourt shot to give Dallas a 94-76 lead after 3. Finley had 12 points and Antoine Walker had 11 points in the 3rd quarter. Dallas shot 15-22 FG including 5-5 3-pointers as part of their 46 3rd quarter points - the most points Dallas has scored in the 3rd quarter ever (the team record for any quarter is 51 points). While the Spurs shot 13-29 FG (their best shooting quarter of the game) as part of their 32 points. The Spurs really struggled to open the 4th quarter as they missed their first 11 shots of the quarter and didn't score in the quarter until 5 minutes had passed. Dallas took full advantage in scoring 11 straight points to make it a blowout at 105-76 with 6:50 left. Dallas won 115-91. Wow! I certainly didn't expect this. To win is one thing (and wouldn't have been surprising), but to win by scoring so many points and shooting so well against one of the best defensive teams in the league is shocking. Only 4 previous times this season as a Spurs opponent broke 100 points (100 twice, 103, and 120 in 2 overtimes). San Antonio had only been allowing 83.7 points and 40.3% FG. Dallas shattered those numbers in this game (including when Duncan was still available). Dallas shot 52.6% (41-78) FG including 10-19 3-pointers while San Antonio never got their shot going with 42.9% (36-84) FG including 4-16 3-pointers. And though the Spurs were simply missing some shots, the Mavs were playing good defense themselves and deserve some credit for the Spurs' poor shooting. Add to that Dallas keeping up with the rebounds and you have a blowout. Dallas ended up out-rebounding San Antonio 46-41 - San Antonio had a slight edge in offensive rebounds at 14-12, but they missed more shots. The Mavs got their 1st quarter turnover problem under control and had 2 in the 2nd and 3rd quarters after having 6 in the 1st quarter (they had 8 in the 4th quarter, but most of those came in garbage time). Dallas is now 3-0 vs San Antonio this season, which would give Dallas the advantage if a tiebreaker is needed. Michael Finley was really on this night. That is obvious when a player shoots 10-14 FG including 5-7 3-pointers and swished a half court shot. He had 30 points and 6 rebounds in his team high 34 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki played well with 23 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Steve Nash had 15 points and 9 assists, but did have 6 turnovers (including 3 in the sloppy 1st quarter). Antoine Walker played well, but didn't put up many shots. He had 11 points including 4-9 FG (and hit both free throws!) and 6 rebounds. Shawn Bradley came off the bench and had a good affect during his limited minutes. He had 7 points including 2-2 FG and 4 rebounds (and 4 fouls) in 12 minutes. Antawn Jamison was again quiet with 13 points (he scored 6 points during garbage time) and had 8 rebounds (6 in non-garbage time). Josh Howard hustled, made a number of mistakes, used his energy to get the ball, and couldn't shoot worth a darn. He had 6 points including 2-9 FG and 7 rebounds including 5 offensive in his 32 minutes. Tony Delk returned to action during garbage time (and was the only Mavs who played not to score) after being out since January 12th with a sprained ankle. The story for San Antonio is the injury to Tim Duncan. He was having a monster game when he left with 22 points and 17 rebounds in 24 minutes. The injury was not caused by contact. Test today showed that Duncan has an irritation of the patellofemoral joint (where the thigh bone mets the kneecap). He will miss Saturday's game and be reevaluated next week. The Spurs did not get much of a performance out of anyone besides Duncan. Besides Dallas' shooting numbers, the next stat that blew me a way was that Tony Parker had just 1 assist to go with 5 turnovers. He had 9 points in his 24 minutes. Hedo Turkoglu had 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists (tying the team high for assists in the game). Malik Rose was the only other Spur in double-digits with 12 points. He also had 5 rebounds (highest behind Duncan). It was simply not a good game by the Spurs. Quotes Don Nelson: "Well, I didn't see that coming. I was worried about the game after watching San Antonio play the last 3 or 4 ballgames. They've been playing at a really high level and I thought we would have our hands full. It was nice to have another game like that. Everybody that we had on the offensive and defensive end played pretty well. Antoine Walker's line doesn't look very good, but I thought he was really good. We thought Nowitzki would make shots tonight. Finley was terrific. My rookie [Howard] struggled, but always made up for it in hustle plays. Even though he had an up and down ball game, I thought Josh Howard overall played an inspirational game. He was there for us." Nelson on the 3rd quarter: "We got on a roll and got into the open court some and made shots. It didn't hurt when they took Duncan out because he was limping." Nelson on defense: "We followed our game plan, whether we were man-to-man or zone. I thought the guys made the adjustments that we needed to make. We had to attack them differently defensively. They picked it up well the more we play together. We are covering the holes better." Dirk Nowitzki: "I guess it helped that Tim Duncan was out for a while. But I think we really did the job. We got some easy baskets on some easy looks and we were able to do the things we wanted." Michael Finley: "I told the team before the game it was going to be a playoff atmosphere, so let's have a playoff attitude." Finley: "Every game right now is a crunch game for us. I'm telling the guys before every game that it's a playoff type atmosphere. I'm just trying to lead by example." Finley: "It's a big win for us, not only within the division but also within the conference overall because they are ahead of us. To get a win against them gets us closer to a higher seed and, more importantly, it gave us the advantage if it comes down to a series against the 2 teams." Finley on his pose after making the halfcourt 3-pointer: "That's not really me. But I thought that was a good time to do it. The crowd deserved it, so I did it." Steve Nash: "It's always nice to beat a good team, especially when it's a division rival. I don't know how long Mike has been playing this well, but it seems like a long time." Nash: "Great 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, Duncan got hurt, but I thought either way we were playing really well." Nash: "We feel confident against them. It started in the playoffs last year. We had a pretty good level of confidence to take that team where we did. ... Our confidence is growing against every team, but we feel good against the Spurs." Antoine Walker: "Obviously, we're trying to move up as far as we can right now [in the standings]. We just want to take it one game at a time and this was a good stepping stone. This is an important home stand for us because we know next month is a big test for us on the road. We've got 2 games left at home and we'll try to run the table." Walker on the 3rd quarter: "It was fun. We got out and ran and we were the aggressors tonight - very aggressive on the defensive end. We had active hands and rebounded the ball well in that quarter. We got out and ran and got ourselves easy opportunity baskets." Walker on winning the season series vs the Spurs: "It's big in a lot of ways. We just have to constantly keep up with this team and make sure to stay in this race and keep it tight because we are fighting for home court advantage." Antawn Jamison on 46 points in the 3rd quarter: "Most teams don't score that in a half. It just shows you how well we executed tonight - guys moving without the ball, guys trying to do whatever it takes to get teammates involved, and it was just more of a team effort and guys playing really unselfish. We just went out there and doing what it takes to win the game. 46 points against a great defensive team like San Antonio is definitely impressive." Jamison: "When we're playing the elite teams in the league, we've found a way to get it done and that really says a lot." Jamison on Finley: "He's in a groove. He's leading us." Gregg Popovich: "Dallas played a great game. They beat us at every opportunity tonight and they deserve a lot of credit. They did a great job. I thought we were sloppy and soft defensively in the 2nd quarter. We had 25 points and 10 of them were free throws because we didn't move our feet and play defense the way we are used to playing it. I thought the sloppiness and softness continued at the start of the 3rd quarter. As far as I am concerned, that was the ball game. You can't to play a team like this and be sloppy and soft defensively and expect to hang in there." Popovich: "I thought we were sloppy and soft defensively in the 2nd quarter. Some of the softness continued in the 3rd quarter with 3 of our starters." Popovich on Duncan: "Tim has some sort of thigh contusion, but he'll probably miss a little bit of time." Popovich, who wouldn't speculate about the injury, on Duncan: "Our team is built around him. We're not a team of superstars. We're a team of Tim Duncan and some role players. He's much more important to us than other people's stars, because they usually have more than one." Tony Parker: "We missed Tim, but that's no excuse for the way we played." Dallas Mavericks 115, Antonio Spurs 91 at Dallas (February 26) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 23 25 46 21 - 115 .525 .526 .526 .885 San Antonio 23 21 32 15 - 91 .471 .250 .429 .714 Halftime: Dallas 48-44 3rd Q: Dallas 94-76 Technicals: None Refs: Blane Reichelt, Dick Bavetta, Sean Corbin Attendance: 20,458 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Antoine Walker 29 4-9 1-2 2-2 11 2-6 3 1 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 35 8-15 3-5 4-4 23 0-6 5 0 2 1 0 Scott Williams 15 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 2 3 1 1 Michael Finley 34 10-14 5-7 5-6 30 0-6 4 0 0 1 2 Steve Nash 30 4-7 1-2 6-6 15 0-3 9 6 2 0 0 Antawn Jamison 30 6-11 0-0 1-2 13 3-8 0 2 3 0 0 Josh Howard 32 2-9 0-1 2-2 6 5-7 1 1 3 0 1 Shawn Bradley 11 2-2 0-0 3-4 7 1-4 0 0 4 0 1 Eduardo Najera 9 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-3 1 1 2 2 0 Marquis Daniels 9 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 1-1 0 2 0 1 0 Tony Delk 6 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 41-78 10-19 23-26 115 12-46 24 16 21 7 5 San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bruce Bowen 16 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 2 0 0 0 Tim Duncan 24 8-15 0-0 6-7 22 3-17 0 2 0 0 1 Radoslav Nesterovic 22 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2-2 2 0 3 0 0 Tony Parker 23 4-8 0-1 1-3 9 0-0 1 5 4 0 0 Hidoyet Turkoglu 29 5-8 2-4 4-4 16 0-4 4 0 3 1 1 Emanuel Ginobili 22 3-10 1-5 0-0 7 3-3 3 1 1 1 0 Charlie Ward 25 2-7 0-4 0-0 4 0-3 4 0 4 1 0 Robert Horry 16 2-4 1-2 1-2 6 0-1 2 0 1 0 0 Ron Mercer 14 1-6 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 1 0 2 0 0 Malik Rose 22 5-8 0-0 2-3 12 3-5 1 2 2 1 0 Devin Brown 15 3-7 0-0 0-0 6 1-2 1 1 1 2 0 Kevin Willis 12 2-6 0-0 1-2 5 2-3 0 3 1 1 2 Totals 48 36-84 4-16 15-21 91 14-41 19 16 22 7 4 patricia