San Antonio at Dallas (November 30) Dallas opened the game playing the same crap ball they have been playing over the last several games and San Antonio responded by hitting a couple of outside jumpers and hitting 5 of their first 7 shots to go up 12-4 with 8 minutes left. Dallas continued to struggle, but San Antonio was unable to make their lead much larger as their shooting percentage dropped. Over a 3 1/2 minute period, only 4 points were scored - all by the Spurs as Dallas missed 6 straight shots - and San Antonio went up 21-10 with 1:30 to go. Rookie Beno Udrih got a jumper at the quarter buzzer to give San Antonio a 26-14 lead after 1 - and Dallas had to be glad that their deficit was only 12 points. San Antonio shot 50% FG and Dallas shot a mere 30% FG and committed 6 turnovers. Tony Parker had 10 points. San Antonio scored 6 straight points to take their largest lead at 36-20 with 8:30 remaining, but that would be their largest lead in the quarter. San Antonio led 43-30 with 4:45 to go and Dallas went on an 8-1 run to pull within 38-44 with 2 minutes left. The Spurs scored the last 4 points of the quarter and led 50-40 at the half. San Antonio scored the first 3 points of the 3rd quarter and held a low double-digit lead for the next 6 minutes. San Antonio led 63-48 with 6:30 remaining and Dallas scored the next 6 points to pull within 54-63 with 5:15 left. The Spurs led 69-58 with 2:20 to go and Dallas scored the last 7 points of the quarter to pull within 65-69 after 3. But any momentum Dallas had was lost when the Spurs scored 7 points in the first minute of the 4th quarter to go up 76-65 with 11 minutes to go. The Mavs pulled within 71-78 with 9:50 left on a putback by Erick Dampier, but San Antonio scored the next 10 points to go up 88-71 with 7:20 remaining as Dallas went through another shooting drought. Dallas would get no closer than 14 points the rest of the game. San Antonio won 107-89. Dallas continued to play poor basketball and got the pounding they deserved. The Mavs only had 8 assists through 3 quarters and 1 of the 2 they got in the 4th was a generously credited assist (and it occurred 8 minutes into the quarter) and the other came late in the quarter (surprisingly from Jerry Stackhouse, whose tendency towards pure one-on-one play is getting to be annoying). Many of the far too many 22 turnovers were just sloppy, not forced. It was just a poor, disappointing performance by Dallas against one of the best teams in the league. San Antonio scores 38 points in the 4th quarter alone. 22 turnovers and just 10 assists won't cut it against most teams, much less one of the best. Just a lot of dumb and/or selfish plays this night and Dallas deserved to get thumped. Even more disappointing is that Dallas did not take advantage of a mediocre performance by Tim Duncan. His numbers look okay, but Duncan's presence on the the court was not as dominate as it usually is. He did have a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds and also had 5 blocks. But it was the Spurs' guards that hurt Dallas the most. Tony Parker had 17 points and 3 steals and his backup Beno Udrih had 16 points and 4 assists. Bench player Devin Brown chipped in 16 points and 4 rebounds in 19 minutes. Manu Ginobili had an off night with 11 points including 2-7 FG, but he also had 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Dirk Nowitzki was subpar and not aggressive enough. The Spurs were focusing on him defensively, but he settled for too many outside shots instead of taking it inside as soon as he got the ball. He only shot 1-7 FG in the 4th quarter with his one make coming with 3 minutes left in the game. Nowitzki had 21 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 assists but also turned the ball over 5 times. It was frustrating to watch Tony Parker get switched on to Nowitzki defensively and the Mavs not able to get the ball to Nowitzki and even swing the ball to the other side of the court. Marquis Daniels had 15 points and 6 rebounds and Josh Howard had 17 points and 4 rebounds. Jason Terry had 10 points, but his defense and passing was lacking - he was often part of the pick-and-roll with Nowitzki and unable to get him the ball. He had 3 assists and 3 turnovers in his 26 minutes. Devin Harris played poor and, thus, sat a lot of the game as acting coach Avery Johnson had the quick hook. Harris had 4 points including 1-5 FG, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers in 18 minutes. Erick Dampier had just 6 points including 3-4 FG, 5 rebounds, and 5 turnovers in 27 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse had 6 points including 1-8 FG (the make coming with 5:35 left in the game) and 6 rebounds. Quotes Gregg Popovich: "This was a really fine win for us, especially on the road against a fine team. I feel good that we made some shots and did some things offensively. Scoring points is tough for us sometimes, but tonight, the ball seemed to drop." Popovich on Brown and Udrih: "Devin and Beno were really important off the bench for us. They played aggressively, they played smart and gave us an opportunity to rest some guys." Popovich on coaching against Johnson: "That's not what the game was about. I didn't coach against Avery, I just coached my team. It wasn't about that. We happened to play better than Dallas did, but it can be different next time just as easily." Tim Duncan: "We're getting there. But we still have some learning and growing to do." Duncan on Johnson coaching: "Avery was pretty into the game. He knew what we like to do and I thought he did a real good job." Manu Ginobili: "We were running really well tonight, but we can do it even better. We started running in the 2nd half, but I think we can be more steady with that. We've got a great defense, among the top 2 or 3 in the league. We've got 2 7-footers who get a lot of rebounds, we should be able to run even more." Ginobili: "The bench guys did a great job. Beno and Devin give us a lot of options, running the fast break and making big shots. They were a big key of the game." Ginobili: "After losing a really bad game against Toronto and then in a back-to-back against Memphis, we started playing better, being more solid. Now we're getting some tough wins." Malik Rose on San Antonio's defense: "They bring all those crazy things on offense, so we did some things unconventionally. I think it confused them a little bit." Devin Brown on the bench: "That's part of what we do. When the 2nd unit comes in, we throw it ahead and attack the rim. We did a great job. I'm real pleased with how our bench played. We were trying to limit the starter's minutes so they could be ready for tomorrow. We did a pretty good job of that." Brown on back-to-backs: "You've got to come out strong and play tough the first night. Then, you have to come back after a tough game like this and be ready tomorrow. It was nice to get the first win and now we can set our sights on the Sixers." Beno Udrih: "I'm ready for every minute I get on the court. Devin and I were really big off the bench." Don Nelson on Johnson coaching: "I hated to put him in that position, but I thought we'd win the game. But the Spurs were so good, they made us look bad. We're not that bad, but they may be that good. On a scale of 1-to-10, I'd give Avery a 7. And he'll get better and better." Avery Johnson: "It was a tough night for us. They are a terrific defensive team. They took us out of our pick-and-roll game and because of that we couldn't get Dirk going like we wanted to. We didn't have many assists and 22 turnovers. You can't win on most nights like that and especially against a terrific team like the Spurs. We've played better games than what we played tonight. We got on our heels a little bit and never really could get it in gear. We got it down to 4 once or twice in the 3rd, but they went back on the attack." Johnson on the 4th quarter: "They got in the bonus really quick. When you are on the road, and I preach this to our team all the time, you have to get in the bonus first with your penetration and deep posts. They did that and we couldn't do that. We had Dampier out of the game for a stretch so we didn't have much of a low post game. They tied him up quite a bit underneath the rim." Johnson: "I don't know how many statement games there are in November. But we're down 0-2 to those guys. We have a very good basketball team here. But you didn't see that tonight." Johnson on San Antonio: "We're hoping we play them about 8 more times. Twice more this season and then 6 or 7 more in the playoffs. Like I said a million times, I love our team. We play the right way, we can beat anybody." Johnson: "Winning is fun. Losing is not fun. People made a big deal out of it because it was the Spurs, but I don't care who we played tonight. I'm not feeling really good right now." Johnson on coaching: "It felt great. You are just mad that you lose. It doesn't sit well with me. You get back, work hard again tomorrow. We will bounce back and watch some film. We have a very good basketball team here, but you didn't see that tonight. Stackhouse didn't have a great shooting night, but he sure did battle." Johnson on coaching and Don Nelson: "This a great opportunity, and I can't thank him enough for allowing me just to have this opportunity. He's a special man and he gave me a lot of suggestions - some I used and some I didn't use." Dirk Nowitzki: "It wasn't a very good game we played. We couldn't make any shots. We turned the ball over, it felt like 50 times. It's hard to win a game like that." Nowitzki on if San Antonio is better: "They've proved it 2 times in a row. We've lost 2 by something like 20 points, with one on our home court. They're playing better than we are. For some reason, whatever they do defensively seems to work against us." Nowitzki: "You have to give them credit. They play Stackhouse well, contest all his shots. The play a small on me. They pretty much don't give us anything easy. You can say we didn't play well because it was in San Antonio last week, but they came into our home court and beat us. Right now, they are a better squad." Nowitzki: "We have to protect our home court. We really need a win Thursday." Jerry Stackhouse: "I think we've got to go back and find out how we really need to try to attack that team. Obviously, they do some unconventional things. They switch everything and make us play out of double teams and fun rotations, but you've just got to play it. They can get away with a lot of that stuff because at the end of the day they still have Tim Duncan at the basket and he makes it tough for everybody." Stackhouse on San Antonio: "I don't really think that team is that good. It might not say that much for us. ... We have to solve how to attack them." Stackhouse: "We started off in one-on-one sets. We were playing off the elbow and they were double teaming off the elbow and we just don't have right now a lot of the good action on our weak side. I think that's where we've got to try to get better. A lot of times teams try to play us straight up on those post elbows and we're able to have success with it. Tonight, they double teamed it from there and we were out of sync." Stackhouse: "We made some mistakes and had a lot of unforced turnovers and missed some easy opportunities on our side. Then, obviously when you play a good team like them and do those things, they convert and all of a sudden it's a 12 or 13 point game again. Obviously we could have played better and did some things differently, but we have to give them credit too. They came out early and made shots and got us back on our heals and from there it was an uphill battle all night." Jason Terry: "This is probably the toughest loss of the season. They took us out of what we wanted to do. We couldn't get into a rhythm offensively." Terry on San Antonio: "They've played together a lot longer. They know what they're going to do better than we do. But they're definitely not unbeatable." Josh Howard on what San Antonio did defensively in the 1st half: "It's kind of hard to put a finger on it. Some went their way, some went our way, but for the most part they just played a better game than we did. We had a lot of turnovers and they scored a lot of points off of our turnovers and that was a big swing. I just think that we need to take care of the ball a little bit better." Howard: "A lot of shots when in and out. We have to stay focused and positive as a team. We've got another hard game coming up against Houston and we've got to be ready." Howard: "That's all they kept doing was double teaming Dirk. We stressed hitting the slot and getting a dunk. Sometimes games don't go the way you want them to go." Howard on Johnson coaching: "He did everything like Nellie. He was aggressive and told us where to be on offense and defense. It comes down to the players. It was on us tonight, and we didn't respond." San Antonio Spurs 107, Dallas Mavericks 89 at Dallas (November 30) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% San Antonio 26 24 19 38 - 107 .536 .091 .475 .769 Dallas 14 26 25 24 - 89 .462 .286 .444 .767 Halftime: San Antonio 50-40 3rd Q: San Antonio 69-65 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 2:58 2nd Refs: James Capers, Danny Crawford, Phil Robinson Attendance: 19,455 (sellout) San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Tony Parker 29 7-16 0-1 3-4 17 0-2 2 3 2 3 0 Manu Ginobili 26 2-7 0-2 7-9 11 1-5 4 2 5 3 0 Tim Duncan 36 8-15 0-0 4-6 20 5-13 2 2 4 1 5 Bruce Bowen 29 1-5 0-2 1-2 3 0-3 3 0 3 1 0 Radoslav Nesterovic 30 4-8 0-0 1-2 9 3-6 0 0 1 1 1 Beno Udrih 20 4-7 1-2 7-8 16 0-0 4 1 2 0 0 Devin Brown 19 5-9 0-0 6-6 16 0-4 2 0 1 1 0 Brent Barry 18 2-5 0-3 0-0 4 0-2 1 0 0 1 0 Robert Horry 18 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-1 4 0 2 1 0 Malik Rose 12 2-5 0-1 1-2 5 2-2 0 2 4 0 0 Mike Wilks 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 38-80 1-11 30-39 107 11-38 22 10 25 12 6 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Marquis Daniels 30 6-10 0-0 3-4 15 3-6 1 2 5 0 0 Devin Harris 18 1-5 0-0 2-2 4 0-0 1 2 3 0 0 Josh Howard 42 7-15 0-1 3-5 17 0-4 0 3 2 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 40 7-17 1-1 6-6 21 0-13 4 5 4 1 0 Erick Dampier 27 3-4 0-0 0-2 6 2-5 0 5 4 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 35 1-8 0-0 4-4 6 2-6 1 1 2 1 1 Jason Terry 26 4-8 0-3 2-2 10 0-2 3 3 2 1 0 Calvin Booth 9 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 1-2 0 0 3 0 3 Alan Henderson 9 2-3 0-1 0-0 4 2-4 0 0 1 0 0 Dan Dickau 3 1-1 1-1 2-3 5 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 DJ Mbenga 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 32-72 2-7 23-30 89 10-43 10 22 27 3 5 patricia