New York at Dallas (November 19) The Mavs were playing short handed as Jason Terry (sprained right ankle), Erick Dampier (strained left hip flexor), and Dan Dickau (food poisoning) [in addition to Michael Finley, who is still on IR] were out and New York had played the night before in a tight game in Houston. As a result, neither team looked sharp - Dallas with poor defense and New York with extremely sloppy turnovers (including twice throwing the ball to wide open players who were not looking for a pass and the ball bouncing off the players' head and shoulder). As a result, the game stayed close and neither team led by more than 4 points and there were 7 ties and 4 lead changes in the quarter. New York led 28-25 after 1. Jamal Crawford had 11 points and Stephon Marbury had 7 assists and 4 turnovers. New York shot 60% FG but turned the ball over 9 times. New York went up 34-29 with 9:15 left on a dunk by Mike Sweetney, but Dallas then scored the next 12 points to go up 41-34 with 3:50 remaining. The run was ended when Crawford hit on consecutive 3-pointers (his only points in the quarter). Dallas led 50-47 at the half. Dallas led 60-53 with 7:40 to go and New York scored the next 7 points to again tie the game. The game stayed close over the next 5 minutes with either Dallas holding a small lead or the game tied. Dallas scored 7 straight points over the last 1:15 of the quarter, but Kurt Thomas hit a jumper as the quarter ended. Dallas led 75-69 after 3. Dallas scored the first 4 points of the 4th quarter to go up 79-69 with 10 minutes remaining, but the Mavs could not pull away. New York went on a 10-2 run to pull within 83-85 with 6 minutes to go. Dallas continued to hold a small lead. Dallas went up 95-87 with 3 minutes left on 4 straight free throws by Jerry Stackhouse. Marbury then took over as he went on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 97-97 with 1:45 remaining. Marquis Daniels hit a jumper to put Dallas back up with 1:30 left. Anfernee Hardaway hit 1-2 free throws and Stackhouse drove for 2 to give Dallas a 3 point lead with a minute to go. New York missed on 2 attempts and Dirk Nowitzki was fouled on the rebound (with New York in the penalty). He hit both free throws with 40 seconds to go to give Dallas a 103-98 lead. Marbury missed inside, but got his own rebound and headed outside. Daniels made the mistake of leaving his feet and Marbury drew the foul for 3 free throws. He hit all 3 to make it a 2 point game with 21 seconds remaining. Stackhouse was intentionally fouled, but he missed both free throws. New York was passing the ball around and not looking to get a quick shot off. Marbury passed to Tim Thomas in the corner, but he missed the long attempt, but possession was given to New York under their basket with 1.1 seconds left. The long inbounds pass was made to Crawford near half court and he heaved it, but his prayer was not answered this night as the shot was wide right as time expired [he banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the game winner the night before]. Dallas won 103-101. It wasn't the prettiest of games and Dallas struggled more than I thought they should have. I'm still trying to figure out how they shot 48% FG as they seemed to be missing so many shots. They also made the night longer by missing 8 free throws (including the 2 by Jerry Stackhouse near the end of the game). After shooting so well in the 1st half (48% FG), New York only shot 39% FG in the 2nd half. The zone did bother New York some when Dallas played it, but Dallas also went with small ball some and were not effective defensively with the smaller lineup. New York played with a smaller lineup most of the night as their only semblance of a true center played just 12 minutes. As a result, Dallas scored 52 points in the paint. New York did get control of their early turnover problems and only had 3 turnovers in the 2nd half. Due to injuries, Dallas went with a short rotation and 7 players played all but 6 minutes [and Alan Henderson only played 12 minutes]. With as many mistakes as Dallas made and leaving the door open, the Mavs were lucky to get away with a win. Josh Howard had a wonderful night. He had a career high 22 points including 10-13 FG and 13 rebounds (1 shy of his career high), including 6 offensive. Dirk Nowitzki continues to play well (though he did get yelled out for not making a defensive switch that resulted in an open 3-pointer for Jamal Crawford) and had 30 points including 12-21 FG and 12 rebounds. He did turn the ball over 5 times, though. Jerry Stackhouse's shot was not falling well, but he was a presence on the floor with 6 rebounds and a team high 6 assists. He had 19 points including 6-18 FG. Devin Harris had a poor outing and got yelled at a lot for both defensive lapses and shots he took. He shot a poor 4-14 FG and had 12 points and 3 assists in 35 minutes. Marquis Daniels was the 5th Mav in double-digits with 11 points and had 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Shawn Bradley was the cornerstone of the zone defense and had 3 points and 8 rebounds in his 25 minutes. Alan Henderson started, but only played 12 minutes due to the Mavs opting to matchup and go small. Stephon Marbury was an assist man early and a scorer late and kind of quiet in between. He had 24 points, including 18 in the 4th quarter, and 8 assists - all in the 1st half and 7 in the 1st quarter. Jamal Crawford was really hot in the 1st half and Dallas kept leaving him open. He finished with 26 points including 6-14 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocks. Kurt Thomas had 16 points and 8 rebounds before fouling out late in the game. Mike Sweetney was the 4th Knick in double-digits with 11 points and 7 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson: "We'll take it and move on." Nelson: "We dodged a bullet tonight. I was concerned because they got a little lucky in Houston last night. I thought they played a really good game on tough back-to-back." Nelson: "Josh Howard stepped up and had his best game of the season. He really carried our ball club in both rebounding and defensively, and he scored the ball." Nelson on Harris: "He played like a rookie. He played 35 minutes too many. I'm just glad we didn't lose a game because of it." Josh Howard: "I just went out there and just played ball. I just stayed calm with my shot and tried to stay focused with all the situations I was put in." Marquis Daniels: "This is the NBA and guys are going to get good looks at the basket and find a way to get open. We had a good defense set up on their last play and we got them far away from the basket." Lenny Wilkens: "It was tough. We had a tough 1st quarter, 9 turnovers in that quarter. If you can really push past a team early, you can make them struggle, but we couldn't seem to do that. Offensive rebounds hurt us a little bit in the 2nd quarter ... but I'm still very proud of this team for never quitting. We came back, but it's tough to have to make big shots every night. We had some good looks and some good opportunities." Wilkens on Marbury: "He was terrific. He just put the team on his back and we milked a situation where he had chances to get to the basket. I thought he got fouled twice and they weren't called. You can't expect to get all the calls. He kept us in this game. He played great." Wilkens on Marbury passing to TThomas at the end: "He was being unselfish, and he made a play for the guy that was wide open. Yeah, you'd like to have him take that shot, but I thought he made a good decision." Wilkens on the road trip: "We're much better now than when we left. We've come together on the road and guys are very supportive of one another. We're starting to play harder and smarter. I think that's just going to help is improve later on." Stephon Marbury: "At the end of the game, everyone plays different. I'm just trying to make sure everyone is in the groove because it's hard when you're the one that's going from the beginning of the game." Marbury on his pass to TThomas: "You have to pass the ball to the open guy. He was open. Tim was wide open. That's why I passed him the ball. I have confidence in him." Jamal Crawford on the last play: "We were moving it around and I got it with like 17 seconds left, but I didn't want to shoot too early. I got in the lane and some guys collapsed, so I got it back to Steph. He passed up a good shot for a great shot. Tim had a real good look, it just didn't go down. We've got a lot of confidence in our teammates." Crawford on his last shot: "I still feel I should have made that shot. I think I had a good feel for those shots and I missed. I take that as my fault." Crawford on the road trip: "We leave with a lot of confidence. We could of quit late in the game, but Steph kept us in it and we played relatively good D on Dirk. We only lost by 2 points to a good team on their home court. We're going to be better going home." Kurt Thomas: "It was a hard fought game, a difficult loss. But Dallas hit their free throws down the stretch. Dirk is a tough cover for anyone in this league, he's got a great shot and it's hard to even contest it. He's got a great feel for the game and a lot of confidence. We've got to put this behind this and focus on Sunday." Thomas on the road trip: "I hope we're better. We're in ball games now and we're competing. We're right there down the stretch and we have to find a way to get more wins." Dallas Mavericks 103, New York Knicks 101 at Dallas (November 19) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 25 25 25 28 - 103 .542 .154 .482 .704 New York 28 19 22 32 - 101 .469 .320 .427 .850 Halftime: Dallas 50-47 3rd Q: Dallas 75-69 Technicals: none Refs: Gary Benson, Sean Corbin, Greg Willard Attendance: 19,658 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Jason Terry (sprained right ankle), Erick Dampier (strained left hip flexor), Dan Dickau (food poisoning) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Marquis Daniels 39 5-10 0-1 1-2 11 1-4 4 1 4 0 0 Devin Harris 35 4-14 2-6 2-2 12 0-2 3 0 1 0 0 Josh Howard 43 10-13 0-2 2-4 22 6-13 1 3 3 2 2 Alan Henderson 12 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 0 1 0 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 40 12-21 0-0 6-8 30 3-12 0 5 3 2 1 Jerry Stackhouse 40 6-18 0-4 7-9 19 0-6 6 2 2 2 0 Shawn Bradley 25 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 3-8 1 1 1 0 1 Calvin Booth 6 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 41-85 2-13 19-27 103 14-46 15 13 16 7 4 New York Knicks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jamal Crawford 43 10-21 6-14 0-0 26 1-5 6 4 2 1 3 Stephon Marbury 39 8-18 2-2 6-6 24 1-3 8 4 1 2 0 Kurt Thomas 39 8-14 0-0 0-0 16 1-8 1 1 6 1 1 Tim Thomas 26 2-10 0-4 0-0 4 1-9 0 1 0 1 2 Nazr Mohammed 12 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 2-4 0 0 2 0 0 Jerome Williams 24 3-3 0-0 3-5 9 3-5 2 0 5 1 0 Anfernee Hardaway 24 3-11 0-4 1-2 7 0-1 1 1 5 0 0 Mike Sweetney 19 3-5 0-0 5-5 11 2-7 0 1 2 0 0 Trevor Ariza 9 0-4 0-0 2-2 2 0-0 1 0 0 1 0 Moochie Norris 5 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-89 8-25 17-20 101 11-42 20 13 23 7 6 patricia