Indiana at Dallas (January 8) Indiana came to town and Dallas surprisingly did the same thing it has been doing over the previous 3 games - got off to a strong start. A 3-pointer by Jason Terry gave Dallas a 15-7 lead with 7 minutes left. Indiana then scored the next 6 points to pull within 2 points, but Dallas then rattled off the next 10 points to go up 25-13 with 3 minutes remaining. Dallas' lead remained between 9 and 12 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 34-22 after 1. Michael Finley had 15 points. Dallas shot 12-21 (67%) FG and Indiana shot 10-18 FG (48%). Jerry Stackhouse opened the 2nd quarter with a jumper to give Dallas a 14 point lead. A 3-pointer by Dirk Nowitzki and then a rare 4-point play by Nowitzki gave Dallas their largest lead of the quarter at 53-30 with 8:30 to go. Indiana did whittle down Dallas' lead to 14 points twice, but after the 2nd time Dallas then scored the next 6 points to go up 69-49 with 2 minutes remaining. Finley hit a jumper at the quarter buzzer to give Dallas a 77-55 lead at the half. Nowitzki had 15 points and Jermaine O'Neal had 13 points (but still hadn't grabbed a rebound) in the 2nd quarter. It was a long 2nd quarter as lots of free throws were shot - Dallas shot 13-14 FT and Indiana shot 12-16 FT. For the half, Dallas shot a team record 74.3% (26-35) FG. Normally Indiana would have been happy with shooting 50% (20-40) FG in the half, but not this game with Dallas' torrid shooting. Dallas did cool off some in the 3rd quarter, but so did Indiana and the Pacers never got closer than 19 points in the quarter. Indiana hit 4 straight free throws to close the quarter. Dallas led 106-86 after 3. Neither team scored over the first 2 minutes of the 4th quarter. But it was garbage time through and through as Indiana never got closer than 18 points, with Dallas leading in the 20s most of the quarter. Dallas won 121-101. It was a strong offensive showing against a team that prides itself in defense. But Indiana's defense was off this night and Dallas was simply white hot in the 1st half. Both teams' offense did slip during garbage time as Dallas out-scored Indiana 16-15 in the 4th quarter, which made the final score not quite as stunning as it was after 3 quarters (106-86). For the game, Dallas shot 54.8% (40-73) including 4-9 3-pointers and Indiana shot 42.1% (32-76) including 4-18 3-pointers. Dallas also out-rebounded Indiana 40-34 including 8-11 offensive. There were lots of whistles blown as the teams combined to shoot 82 free throws - Dallas shot 37-40 FT and Indiana shot 33-42 FT. Dallas did a good job pushing the ball as the Mavs had 20 fast break points while Indiana had just 2 fast break points (but they aren't known as a running team). Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley stepped up big for the Mavs. 15 of Nowitzki's game high 34 points came in the 2nd quarter. He shot 12-20 FG and 8-8 FT and had a game high 13 rebounds. Finley also had 30+ points. 15 of his 33 points came in the 1st quarter. He shot 10-18 FG and 12-13 FT and had 5 rebounds - Dallas is 52-5 over the last 4 seasons when Finley attempts 5 or more free throws. Jerry Stackhouse chipped in 18 points off the bench. Alan Henderson was the only other Mav in double-digits with 11 points to go with his 5 rebounds. Jason Terry had 7 points and 8 assists. Erick Dampier banged his knee during the game and was noticeably limping at times, but continued to play. He had 6 points and 6 rebounds including 3 offensive in 27 minutes. Josh Howard's minutes were very limited due to the flu - he played 8 minutes in the 1st quarter and 3 minutes in the 2nd quarter before sitting the rest of the game. Shawn Bradley was limited by his strained right hip flexor, which is why he did not play during the garbage time 4th quarter. Jermaine O'Neal tried to carry the Pacers offensively, but he didn't give much else. He had 32 points on 11-19 FG and 10-13 FT, but had just 3 rebounds (all in the 3rd quarter - he averaged 9.9 rebounds going into the game) and committed 5 turnovers during his 36 minutes. Jamaal Tinsley had 20 points including 5-14 FG and 6 assists, but committed 4 turnovers - besides those 2, no other Pacers had more than 1 turnover. David Harrison was the only other Pacer in double-digits with 11 points. Jeff Foster had 9 points and 8 rebounds including 4 offensive. Reggie Miller had 5 points including 1-6 FG. Quotes Don Nelson: "That was unexpected to say the least. We had a terrific 1st half and we made just about every shot. We did go cold, but we had a big enough lead so it didn't matter. I was surprised that we were able to do that. I think that this is one of the best teams in the league. Of course they still have 2 players out. They will be getting 1 back and I still think they will be an outstanding team in the East. I thought they would play us down to the wire, so I am surprised but happy." Nelson on the hot shooting: "I didn't expect it to go on the whole game, and of course it didn't." Nelson: "I'm kind of surprised we were able to do that. Sometimes it's not the shots you make but the shots you get. Well, we took high percentage shots for us and made them, and some of the contested shots we made too." Nelson on the 4 game win streak: "This says a little something. I think it says time well spent on the practice court. I think Avery has done a great job there. The team is following our game plans. We are pretty solid right now." Nelson on Finley: "We have to have someone besides Dirk set the pace for the team. Finley was the hot man through most of the game. They seemed to go cold together. At one stretch everyone was the hot man. It didn't matter who I put in, they made shots. You have games where that happens and you have games where the opposite happens." Dirk Nowitzki: "We're really moving the ball well on offense and finding the open guy. We're pushing the ball a lot more and that's a credit to [Terry]. He's figuring out how he's got to run this team." Nowitzki on Finley: "I think he's been playing extremely well since he got back from his injury. He's aggressive on both ends of the floor. It's fun to watch. He's making tough shots. Taking a lot of pressure off our offense. It's been great." Michael Finley: "We came out and were aggressive from the jump. I wanted to show guys the importance of this game and lead by example. We really wanted this game." Finley: "We didn't want to make it a close ballgame." Finley: "Our offense has really been looking good lately. Indiana is one of the better defensive teams and we put up 120 again. We're pushing the ball more. [Terry] is figuring out how he's going to run this team. He's getting in the middle and hitting the open guys. That's something that Nash was so good at over the last couple of years. JT has really picked that up." Finley: "We didn't want to come out lackluster, because we knew that despite their record that the Indiana team is the type of team that can beat most teams in this league." Finley: "I just got good looks at the basket. My teammates where setting good screens for me and I was making the best of my opportunities. I got to the line tonight for a change, which is always helpful. Everything just seemed to open up for me." Finley: "I just wanted to be aggressive. I knew Josh was a little bit under the weather, so we needed somebody to have a little bit more energy, and I just took it upon myself to do that by driving a little bit more and getting other guys involved." Finley: "I just wanted to show the guys the importance of this game. I just wanted to lead by example, so to speak, and let the guys know that it was a game that we needed; we couldn't take a night off, and they followed suit and we got the win." Jerry Stackhouse: "That's a team that's known for playing great team defense and we just did a good job of executing and doing the things that we wanted to do. Defensively we were good. Our initial game plan was to try to double [O'Neal] every time he caught it, but he was going so quick that we were just trying to sag in and help when he made his move." Stackhouse on his earlier prediction that Dallas was capable of scoring 80 points in a half: "I was dead on with it. There were plenty of opportunities to get those 3 [points]. That's a team that's known for playing great team defense. We just did a good job of executing and doing the things we wanted to do." Stackhouse on he, Finley, and Nowitzki: "I think that will bode well for us whenever we're able to get it going. Not every night will all 3 of us be able to get in a rhythm early, but fortunately tonight all of us were in a rhythm and when that happens things seem to fall in place for us. We're a team that when things are going great offensively it picks up for us defensively. We've got to become a team were the defense is a constant." Alan Henderson: "It was a good win for the team. We had some good energy out there. I wish we could have held them to a few less points than we gave up. It was a good team win against an excellent team and we're just going to keep trying to get better." Henderson: "We came out and had a good start. Michael Finley really had another good start for us and that's 2 games in a row he's been coming out and really getting us off to good starts. I think when we get off to a good start like that it kind of sets the tone for us and we carried it out and got the win." Henderson: "We're just trying to get better each night and get the win. You can't really look too much into it. We're working real hard in practice and just trying to become a better team." Rick Carlisle: "It was an awesome shooting display in the 1st half. They played great and we needed to play a lot better and we obviously didn't. They're a top-notch team, without question, and they put you in a lot of tough matchup situations. For us to have a chance to win, we're going to have to play a lot better. Allowing 74% shooting in a half is unheard of, even against great teams like this. We needed to play better, our effort needed to be exceptional. It wasn't and there and the result was a game where we really never challenged them." Carlisle on the back-to-back with Phoenix: "We've got to put this behind us. Phoenix is playing tonight too, so we have to get ready to play. This is a situation where we have a chance to get this out of our system and play a better game. We don't have a lot of time to lament this loss because of the schedule. We're going to have to bounce back very quickly tomorrow night. The good news is Jermaine played well again and we're going to need other players to step up and play better." Reggie Miller:"Our defense wasn't there at all. They hit some shots, and when a couple of them got going, they all got going. Any time you give a good shooting team good looks like they had tonight - I don't care who you're playing - it's going to be tough to dig yourself out of that hole." Miller: "They just shot well. It's tough to defend when everyone's shooting that well. We could have done better contesting shots though." Miller: "We have to move on, we have a game tomorrow. We have the players we have right now and we have to play better." Jermaine O'Neal: "We're not at full strength, but we still have enough to play at a high level. They got out and played extremely well in the transition game. I don't take anything away from them. They have a lot of talented players." Jamaal Tinsley: "They came out aggressively and they were just hitting shots. We were contesting them with all kinds of different matchups that we weren't used to. It took us a while to get used to some things, but they did a great job of just making their shots." Tinsley: "I think we're struggling on defense with a lack of communication. We're not helping each other out, not talking and having each other's backs. It was hard for us to stop them tonight." Tinsley: "This loss is behind us, there's nothing we can do about it now. We just need to bounce back and play better." Dallas Mavericks 121, Indiana Pacers 101 at Dallas (January 9) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 34 43 28 16 - 121 .563 .444 .548 .925 Indiana 22 33 31 15 - 101 .483 .222 .421 .786 Halftime: Dallas 77-55 3rd Q: Dallas 105-86 Technicals: Indiana defensive 3 seconds 1:21 1st, Josh Howard 4:25 2nd Refs: Anthony Jordan, Scott Foster, Tony Brothers Attendance: 20,385 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Marquis Daniels (sore left ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 11 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 1 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 38 12-20 2-3 8-8 34 0-13 3 1 2 1 0 Erick Dampier 27 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 3-6 0 1 4 0 1 Michael Finley 41 10-18 1-4 12-13 33 1-5 2 0 2 1 0 Jason Terry 32 3-6 1-1 0-0 7 0-1 8 2 3 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 26 5-10 0-1 8-8 18 1-3 3 4 4 0 0 Alan Henderson 29 3-6 0-0 5-7 11 3-5 0 1 5 1 1 Devin Harris 16 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 0-0 2 2 3 1 0 Shawn Bradley 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Calvin Booth 15 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 0-4 0 1 4 0 2 Darrell Armstrong 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-73 4-9 37-40 121 8-40 19 14 31 4 4 Indiana Pacers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jermaine O'Neal 36 11-19 0-1 10-13 32 1-3 2 5 5 1 0 Michael Curry 14 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 2-4 0 0 1 0 0 Jeff Foster 25 3-5 0-0 3-5 9 4-8 0 0 2 0 0 Jamaal Tinsley 29 5-14 2-7 8-9 20 1-2 6 4 4 0 0 Reggie Miller 28 1-6 0-2 3-3 5 1-1 2 0 3 0 0 Anthony Johnson 20 1-5 0-2 0-0 2 0-1 6 0 2 0 0 Fred Jones 33 3-8 1-3 0-0 7 0-4 2 1 2 1 1 David Harrison 19 5-10 0-0 1-2 11 2-4 1 1 5 0 1 Austin Croshere 16 1-2 1-1 5-6 8 0-2 1 0 1 0 0 Eddie Gill 8 0-3 0-2 2-2 2 0-4 0 1 1 0 0 John Edwards 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 1 0 0 James Jones 6 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 32-76 4-18 33-42 101 11-34 20 13 28 2 2 patricia