Dallas at Sacramento (February 11) It is normally a tight, entertaining game when these 2 teams face up and this game certainly fell into the norm. Dallas did start out sluggish as Sacramento jumped out to an 11-2 lead with 8:30 left. Dallas then started clicking in scoring the next 7 points to pull within 9-11 with 7:35 to go and the game stayed close the rest of the way. There were 6 lead changes and 4 ties the rest of the quarter. Jerry Stackhouse, who was not 100% due to his strained groin, nailed a jumper at the quarter buzzer to tie the game at 30-30. Both teams shot above 50% FG in the quarter. Dallas scored 6 straight points to go up 40-39 with 8:35 remaining. The Kings then scored the next 7 points and continued to hold a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Sacramento led by 7 points 3 times during the 2nd quarter, but could not get their lead any larger. Sacramento led 64-61 at the half. Sacramento shot 54% FG and Dallas shot 60% FG in the half (the Kings attempted 13 more shots). The 3rd quarter continued to be a tight game with both teams shooting well and Sacramento mostly holding small leads, none larger than 6 points. Dallas did lead twice during the quarter by 1 point and by 2 points. Mike Bibby drained a 3-pointer near the quarter's end to give the Kings a 93-90 lead after 3. The game remained tight in the 4th quarter with Sacramento holding a 1 to 4 point lead over the first 7 1/2 minutes of the quarter. On a nice pick-and-roll, Dirk Nowitzki found an open Alan Henderson for a layup to tie the game at 106-106 with 4:25 to go. Peja Stojakovic, who had been struggling all night, drained a 3-pointer on the Kings' next possession to put them back up. Dallas connected on 4 straight free throws to go back up 110-109 with 3:05 left. And Chris Webber answered with a jump hook to give the Kings a 1 point lead with 2:55 remaining. The teams traded misses and Nowitzki was fouled and hit both free throws to give Dallas a 1 point lead. And then Brad Miller was fouled and he hit both free throws to put Sacramento up 113-112 with 1:50 left. Michael Finley missed a jumper. Webber was fouled driving, but he missed both free throws with 1:18 remaining. Nowitzki missed a jumper. Bibby missed a jumper but Miller got the long rebound and the Kings set a play up again. Cuttino Mobley drove for a layup, but Erick Dampier came over and blocked the shot - Dampier got to the ball after it hit the glass and a goaltending should have been called, but the refs didn't blow their whistles and the block stood. Dallas ran the other way and set up their play. Dallas ran the pick-and-pop with Jason Terry and Nowitzki and the 2 defenders stuck with Nowitzki so he passed to Terry who drove baseline, rose, got the contact as the wake side defender came late to help, and launched the floater high off the glass and it went in. Terry hit the extra free throw to give Dallas a 115-113 lead with 12 seconds to go. Sacramento got the ball in to Webber and the Mavs played good defense and he could not get a look so he passed to Stojakovic and he passed back to Webber and as time was running out, Webber passed to an open Bibby behind the arc and he launched the 3-point attempt, which bounced off the back corner of the rim as the buzzer sounded. Dallas won 115-113. Man, I really hate to see such a bad non-call detract from an exciting game, even though Dallas benefited from the non-call. There is no question that Erick Dampier's block of Cuttino Mobley's layup attempt should have been called a goaltend, which would have given Sacramento a 3 point lead with 30 seconds left. The correct call wouldn't have necessarily meant Sacramento would have won, but it would have changed how the last 30 seconds were played. But unfortunately bad calls do occur even in critical points of the game and the Kings fans get to lament how they were robbed and Dallas takes the win and goes "Phew" and "Thank you, refs". The game stayed close throughout and neither team went through a long shooting slump as the teams stayed hot most of the game. There were 12 ties and 17 lead changes in the game, including 5 in the last 3 minutes of the game. Neither team held a double-digit lead in the game. The loss doesn't purely reflect on the refs as the Kings did miss 8 free throws during the game, including 4 in the 4th quarter. Sacramento shot 18-26 FT and Dallas shot 28-31 FT. From the field, Dallas shot 53.8% (42-78) FG including 3-6 3-pointers and Sacramento shot 50.6% (43-85) FG including 9-19 3-pointers. Like the game, the rest of the stat numbers are fairly even. Sacramento out-rebounded Dallas 38-37 including 13-10 offensive. Dallas had 22 assists and Sacramento had 24 assists. Dallas had 8 steals and Sacramento had 9 steals. Dallas committed 15 turnovers and Sacramento committed 12 turnovers. Dallas had 3 blocks and Sacramento had 2 blocks. Dallas was called for 23 fouls and Sacramento was called for 24 fouls. Dirk Nowitzki had a solid all-around game with 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists. Jason Terry had the sweetest shot with the game winner. He had 17 points including 6-9 FG (and didn't attempt a 3-pointer - only the 2nd time in the last 22 games that he has not attempted a 3-pointer) and 6 assists. Michael Finley took his lectures well and had a nice outing with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Erick Dampier collect 3 fouls in the 1st quarter and, thus, his time was limited to 28 minutes. He snapped his streak of double-doubles (had 6 straight) with 16 points and 8 rebounds including 4 offensive. Josh Howard had 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals and did a good job of defending Peja Stojakovic. Jerry Stackhouse did not play a high number of minutes, probably due to his injury, and had 14 points and 2 rebounds in 18 minutes. Darrell Armstrong surprisingly played 18 minutes and did a nice job with his hustle, though he picked up a number of fouls (a couple questionable). He had 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 6 assists. Alan Henderson chipped in 4 points and 6 rebounds including 4 offensive. Mike Bibby was the high man for the Kings with 25 points on 9-16 FG, 4-6 3-pointers, and 3-6 FT. He also had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers. Chris Webber had a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds including 4 offensive. Brad Miller also had a double-double and was the 3rd King with 20+ points. He had 22 points and 10 rebounds including 5 offensive. Cuttino Mobley had 17 points including 3-4 3-pointers. Peja Stojakovic was hardly noticed during the game. He had just 9 points including 3-10 FG and 1-6 3-pointers. Maurice Evans provided most of the bench production with 12 points including 4-6 FG. The other 3 bench players combined for 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists in 36 minutes. Quotes Don Nelson: "What a game huh fellas? Win or lose I would have been real proud of our team. By playing and competing and finding away to stay in that game. I know they had a tough back-to-back, so both teams I thought they really sucked it up and made it a good basketball game. I thought we were fortunate that we just dodged a bullet. Bibby, for whatever reason, got wide open on that last play. I thought the shot was good. When it left his hands it looked good and we were just fortunate that it didn't go in. We call that dodging a bullet and we did it today." Nelson: "I can't say enough about the shot that that little point guard [Terry] made. That was a play we ran a time before and we went back to it and turned it into a pick-and-roll. They're not leaving Nowitzki of course so he got open, but what a shot he had to make. To finish it up and make the free throw. It was a fantastic play by Terry and well executed by our team. It was also Avery Johnson's call on the play that we ran." Nelson: "It makes me feel good tonight and after tonight we will move on and forget about it. It's not going to mean all that much whether we won or lost this game. It was anybody's game, but I'm glad we won it" Dirk Nowitzki: "It was just a great win for us. We're having to grind games out on the road now and this was just what we needed." Nowitzki on Terry game winner: "He just made stuff happen off the dribble, and he's getting better and getting in the lane to make plays for us. The kid can score. He showed in Atlanta for his first 6 years in the league that he can flat out score. Down the stretch we were just a little bit luckier than them." Nowitzki on Howard containing Stojakovic: "It was great. They still score so many points. They're so skilled and their offense is so good and they have so many good passers. It's tough to shut them down, but I think down the stretch Dampier did a really nice job on Webber. We had Stojakovic pretty much under control all night. It was a big key for us down the stretch." Nowitzki: "They're so great offensively they have to get something up. Obviously they're not the best defensive team, but they are still right up there with everybody else." Erick Dampier: "It's a great win for us. Our next 3 games are on the road. We've been playing good on the road the whole season. We have a chance to do something real special on this road trip. If we get these next 3 games it will be really big for us." Dampier on the goaltending non-call: "I thought it was a good block myself. I think he left it up there lying high. Some of the guys said he put it on the board. Hey it was a good block as far as I'm concerned." Dampier on the goaltending non-call: "I thought I blocked it and pinned it up against the backboard. Some people said it was already on the board. I don't think it was." Dampier on the goaltending non-call: "It goes down in the book as a good block. He left it up there high and I just went and got it. It's a great win for us." Jason Terry on the win: "We finally got one to go our way. This is a rivalry right here. And this is a big lift for us." Terry on his game winner: "I was just looking for contact. Just trying to get to the free throw line in that situation, knowing the time and the score. I was just very fortunate that I got it high off the glass and it went in. It didn't hurt to get fouled." Terry on his game winner: "I was just looking for contact. I knew the time and score and wanted to draw a foul. Fortunately I got it high enough off the backboard and it went in." Terry on Bibby's missed 3-pointer at the buzzer: "He probably makes that shot 9 out of 10 times. The way he was going tonight, I thought he would make it. Thank god he didn't." Terry on Bibby's missed 3-pointer: "I thought he might make that shot at the end. He makes that 9 out of 10 times, and the way he was playing I thought it was going in, and it would have been my fault because I lost him on a back pick." Josh Howard on the goaltending non-call: "[bleep] happens. It's gone against us before." Rick Adelman on the goaltending non-call: "It's not a very good call based on the replay. Have you seen the replay? I haven't seen the replay. Did it hit the board first? What am I going to say. I am going to say that they blew it and then get fined? They fine our guys $15,000 the other night and these guys [the refs] get fined what's going to be $100. It doesn't matter it cost us the game. A 3-point lead with 20 seconds to go. It's mind boggling how you can miss that when the ball clearly hits the board first. It's a shame that there is nothing we can do about it. What amazes me is the 3 of them acted like they didn't even know what we were talking about." Adelman: "We have no say in any of that stuff, so it's useless for me to even talk about it. I can have an opinion but it has no bearing on it cause they never ask us our opinion anyways. They usually wait until a lot of things happen and then they change it. It doesn't do me any good to comment on what they should or shouldn't do. They should just make the calls right." Cuttino Mobley on the last 4 games: "Those are crucial games. Those were tight games. I'm not upset for that. They were good games, but right now we're on the short end of the stick." Mobley on the goaltending non-call: "Everybody saw it. The tape don't lie. I am upset that it comes down to the refs having that power. We shouldn't let it get to that situation but sometimes it's like that." Mobley: "If you fail to make a crucial play 2 nights in a row should you get fired for that?" Maurice Evans: "It was a tough play at the end [on the goaltending non-call], but still we've got to make plays. It was just a tough loss. It's always tough to lose at home." Evans: "We've got to stick together and we've got to rebuild a rapport with the refs. We don't want to have this label. We shouldn't feel like we've been taken advantage after the games. We shouldn't feel like that after games. We should feel like we left it all out there on the floor, and we won or lost it." Dallas Mavericks 115, Sacramento 113 at Sacramento (February 11) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 30 31 29 25 - 115 .542 .500 .538 .903 Sacramento 30 34 29 20 - 113 .515 .474 .506 .692 Halftime: Sacramento 64-61 3rd Q: Sacramento 93-90 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 7:17 1st, Dirk Nowitzki 5:09 3rd Refs: Derek Richardson, Jack Nies, Marc Davis Attendance: 17,317 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Marquis Daniels (appendectomy) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 41 3-8 1-1 5-5 12 1-5 1 2 3 4 0 Dirk Nowitzki 40 10-20 1-2 6-6 27 0-7 7 3 1 0 2 Erick Dampier 28 6-10 0-0 4-6 16 4-8 0 1 4 1 1 Michael Finley 42 8-15 1-2 2-3 19 1-6 2 1 2 2 0 Jason Terry 31 6-9 0-0 5-5 17 0-0 6 2 3 1 0 Darrell Armstrong 18 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 0-3 6 2 5 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 18 6-12 0-1 2-2 14 0-2 0 1 1 0 0 Alan Henderson 15 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 4-6 0 1 3 0 0 Devin Harris 6 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 42-78 3-6 28-31 115 10-37 22 15 23 8 3 Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Predrag Stojakovic 34 3-10 1-6 2-2 9 0-4 3 1 2 0 0 Chris Webber 38 10-23 0-2 3-5 23 4-11 4 2 3 0 0 Brad Miller 36 8-14 0-0 6-8 22 5-10 4 1 5 1 0 Cuttino Mobley 36 7-14 3-4 0-0 17 2-3 4 2 4 1 2 Mike Bibby 40 9-16 4-6 3-6 25 1-6 4 4 4 2 0 Maurice Evans 20 4-6 1-1 3-3 12 1-1 0 0 2 1 0 Darius Songaila 17 1-1 0-0 1-2 3 0-1 1 0 2 1 0 Matt Barnes 14 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 4 1 2 3 0 Eddie House 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 43-85 9-19 18-26 113 13-38 24 12 24 9 2 patricia