An MRI showed that Jerry Stackhouse has a slight tear of his right groin muscle. He'll likely be out at least 4 more weeks. Minnesota at Dallas (March 15) Minnesota had 3 players back - Sam Cassell returned after missing 7 games and Michael Olowokandi and Eddie Griffin returned after missing 9 games. Dallas had their coach back as Don Nelson returned after missing 3 games to be with his wife while she recovered from surgery. Dallas came out lacking energy and focus and spotted Minnesota 7 points and Dallas played catchup the rest of the game. Minnesota went up 11-2 on a jumper by Troy Hudson with 8:35 remaining. A jumper by Kevin Garnett gave Minnesota a 25-13 lead with 2:30 remaining. Dallas did score the next 5 points, and another jumper by Garnett capped the quarter scoring. Minnesota led 27-18 after 1. Hudson had 10 points. Minnesota shot 10-21 FG and Dallas shot 6-17 FG. Dallas continued to struggle and Minnesota opened the 2nd quarter with an 11-1 run to go up 38-19 with 8:30 to go. Dallas finally make a bucket in the quarter when Marquis Daniels got a layup with 8:15 left, which kicked off an 11-2 run to pull Dallas within 30-40 with 4:20 remaining. But Minnesota kept their lead in double-digits and led 48-35 at the half. Minnesota shot 44% FG and 7-11 FT and Dallas shot 31% FG and 11-18 FT. Minnesota was out-rebounding Dallas 30-18 including 5-1 offensive. Dallas tried to open the 3rd quarter aggressive in quickly scoring the first 5 points of the quarter, but Minnesota came storming back to score the next 8 points to go up 56-40 with 9:40 to go. Dallas scored the next 9 points to pull within 56-49 with 7:10 left. Minnesota was unable to get their lead larger than 10 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas scored the last 4 points of the quarter. Minnesota led 65-60 after 3. Minnesota only shot 6-25 FG in the 3rd quarter. 2 free throws by Keith Van Horn opened the 4th quarter, but Wally Szczerbiak answered with a 3-pointers. Another 3-pointer by Szczerbiak gave Minnesota a 73-64 lead with 10:20 remaining. A 3-point play by Jason Terry pulled Dallas within 73-77 with 7:50 to go, but Garnett then scored the next 6 points to put Minnesota up 83-73 with 6 minutes left. Minnesota took their largest lead of the quarter at 91-79 with 4:05 remaining and Dallas then scored the next 8 points to pull within 87-91 with 2:35 to go. But Sam Cassell ended the run with a 3-pointer as the shot clock was running out. The teams traded misses and Josh Howard got a dunk with 1:10 left to cut Minnesota's lead down to 5 points. But Dallas would get no closer as Garnett was able to tip in his own miss and then got a steal. Minnesota won 100-91. It was yet another poor home game by Dallas and they got the loss they deserved. The team looked terrible in the 1st half and found themselves trying to dig out of a big hole the rest of the game. And though Dallas got close a couple of times, Minnesota always had the answer to keep the Mavs at bay. Minnesota led the entire game. Neither team ended up shooting well. Minnesota only shot 41.4% (36-87) FG for the game, but shot 10-17 FG in the 4th quarter. They also shot 4-8 3-pointers and 24-30 FT. Dallas shot lousy throughout and finished shooting 38.8% (31-80) FG including 3-13 3-pointers. They also hurt their cause by missing lots of free throws in shooting 26-35 FT. Add poor rebounding to poor shooting and you have a good recipe for a loss. Minnesota out-rebounded Dallas 54-41 including 17-12 offensive. It wasn't much of a team game for either team as there was lots of isolation and one-on-one play. Minnesota had 16 assists and Dallas had 12 assists. The road team won each of the 4 games these 2 teams played against each other. Kevin Garnett did not have an MVP performance, but he got lots of help in the game. Garnett was fairly quiet through 3 quarters, but did score 11 points in the 4th quarter. He finished with 25 points on 8-23 FG and 9-10 FT, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 turnovers. Garnett played 40 minutes and no other Wolf played more than 28 minutes (it was the first game of a back-to-back for Minnesota). Sam Cassell enjoyed his return to action as he had 15 points and 5 assists in 24 minutes off the bench. He played most of the 4th quarter and scored 9 points in the quarter. 10 of Troy Hudson's 14 points came in the 1st quarter. He also had 5 rebounds and 3 assists in his 23 minutes. Fred Hoiberg was perfect in shooting 3-3 FG, 1-1 3-pointers, and 4-4 FT for his 11 points. He also had 4 rebounds. Wally Szczerbiak had 9 points and 6 rebounds and Trenton Hassell had 8 points and 3 rebounds. Latrell Sprewell had another poor outing with 5 points on 2-8 FG and 1-3 FT in 20 minutes. Michael Olowokandi had 8 points including 3-9 FG and 9 rebounds including 4 offensive. Eddie Griffin had 3 points including 1-4 FG and 8 rebounds before fouling out in 15 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki never found his shot as he struggled all game long. He had 21 points on 6-19 FG and 9-10 FT, 15 rebounds, and 4 assists in 46 minutes. Jason Terry had 18 points and 7 assists, but also had 5 turnovers. Michael Finley continued to be the invisible man with just 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist in 33 minutes. No other Mav had an assist. Josh Howard had 10 points and 4 rebounds and Marquis Daniels had 11 points including 3-9 FG and 5 rebounds. Alan Henderson was the only Mav to shoot 50% or better. He had 8 points on 4-5 FG and 6 rebounds including 4 offensive. Keith Van Horn had 14 points and 5 rebounds. Devin Harris had 1 point in 4 minutes and Shawn Bradley had 1 rebound in 3 minutes as Dallas basically played 7 players. Quotes Kevin McHale: "We got off to a good start and hit some shots. Our big guys played big in there. Eddie [Griffin] and Mike [Olowokandi] challenged shots and did a nice job. Kevin [Garnett] played inside-out down the stretch and Sam [Cassell] made some big shots down the stretch. I probably played Sam too many minutes, but he said he felt fine. It was a good overall game." McHale: "We had to keep playing hard. There were some times we took some early shots and got too anxious, but we had to keep running our sets and trying to keep pressure on them. We also had to keep our defense consistent and not give them lanes to the hole." McHale on the difference between the last 2 games: "Having 7-footers around the basket always helps. We did a lot of things better, but having our full lineup was the biggest difference." McHale on the return of injured players: "It's nice to have some different people you can go to. All 3 of them did a tremendous job, especially for not playing in a while." McHale on Cassell: "Sam's not afraid to shoot the ball and he did a nice job running the offense. When you have a guy like Kevin Garnett, he's so multi-dimensional, you can run so many things through him. Dallas is able to do that a lot with Dirk Nowitzki. If we can run our stuff and stay consistent with our defense, we should have a chance to win every night." Kevin Garnett: "The 4th quarter was just simplified. We were just trying to find spots, trying to find where they were trapping from and stuff like that. At the end of the game, we kept the pressure on, we hit shots and we won the game." Garnett on the return of injured players: "It's good to see Sam back in motion. It's good to see Kandi and Eddie. Those guys definitely gave us a lot of energy." Garnett on Olowokandi: "It's a lot more simplified when Kandi's in there because he clogs up the middle. Him and I communicate really well. ... The Kandi Man makes a presence in the middle on our team like no other." Garnett on the playoff push: "We don't have a lot of time. Every game is a desperate game. That has to be our mindset." Sam Cassell: "Playing game basketball and practice basketball is totally different. You might think you're ready, but when you get out there like I did tonight, it hits you. I had some discomfort, but I gutted it out. This is a game we had to have and we got it. Hamstring problems take a lot of time to recover. I need to rest it and recover, but I don't have time for that right now." Cassell: "Injuries happen, it's a part of the sport. We play at a high level for 82 games a year, injuries happen. We're in a desperate situation right now and we need to find ways to win. I know for a fact that if I was healthy, we wouldn't be in this predicament right now. I know what I mean to this ball club and when I'm out there, it's a relief that I'll make the right decisions and get the ball where it needs to be." Michael Olowokandi: "I knew when I got in, I wouldn't be in for long, so whatever time I had I was really trying to assert myself. And I wanted to make it known to those out there that you will have to battle to do anything in the interior." Mark Madsen: "Both Eddie [Griffin] and Michael [Olowokandi] are so talented that it's no surprise they were able to come into such a big game and perform at such a high level. They are 2 players with very unique skills. Michael is 7-feet and does many things on the floor. Eddie is one of the most dynamic players in the NBA. It's huge, we have many more bodies and can score 20 points in a hurry." Madsen: "People are so unselfish, you'll never hear anyone complain. There are a lot of big men in this room, where you might play 30 minutes one night and 0 the next night. It's all about matchups and we understand the rotation. Whatever it takes to win, we're all on the same page." Don Nelson: "Tonight wasn't a very good performance by us. We needed to play better. We shot under 40% and missed tons of free throws. We didn't have a lot of energy. I thought the biggest factor was their 3 guys that came back from injury made good contributions and were fresh and lively bodies. Almost everyone else out there wasn't. I think both teams have played a lot of games in the last 4 days. It was a tough night and we got a well deserved loss out of it." Nelson: "I didn't like anything to be quite honest. I didn't like the way the game started. I thought we battled in the 3rd quarter. I called on them at halftime and they gave me what they had, but it wasn't enough and we couldn't sustain it." Nelson: "It didn't look like Bradley was going to give us a game, so as a staff we decided not to use him tonight. It was pretty awful when I did try to use him. We are at best a small team. They didn't have to play us small ball like they did up there because they had some guys coming back from the injured list. They could go bigger and dominate. That makes the physical game in their favor." Nelson on Nowitzki: "It was typical of the whole team. He wants to shoot 25-footers instead of taking it to the hoop." Dirk Nowitzki: "We're not good enough to just coast. It took a lot of energy for us to get the lead down and get back in the game." Jason Terry: "I thought the biggest key was Troy Hudson's start to the game. He got some open looks on me and got them off to a good start. That kind of set the tempo for them for the night. He was just a little more aggressive, looked for his shot, hit a couple of tough shots, and that got them going." Terry on the 1st half deficit: "It was a big hole, but we still had a chance to win it. At home, we just have got to come out with much more energy than we showed tonight." Terry: "We've got to come out with more energy than we had tonight. We gave them 2nd and 3rd opportunities at the basket. That's going to get you every night." Terry: "We've got to correct our problems at home. We've just got to get in done. It's that time of the season where we have to get better. We can't go backwards, we have to go forward. That's everybody, but it starts with me defensively. I've got to get a whole lot better. We've got to get this thing right at home. It's very important that we do turn it around." Josh Howard on the difference from the 1st half to the 2nd half: "We were a lot more aggressive. We couldn't finish plays in the 1st half. We just have to go back to the drawing board again." Howard on the team's problems: "A low post presence, trying to score some reasonable buckets close to the basket, but that didn't work out and we lost this one." Howard on Garnett: "He only had 14 points at the start of the 4th quarter. He just stepped up and showed how an MVP is suppose to win a game." Howard on the rebounding woes: "It's not something that we want to continue. We just have to be more aggressive on the defensive end and just try to stay positive." Howard: "We got 19 games left and we're trying to win them. We want to keep 4th place. But if we keep losing, we're not going to. We're going to be 6th or 7th. And we don't want to be 6th or 7th." Alan Henderson on Olowokandi: "He's a 7-footer, that's what he's supposed to do. He's supposed to get rebounds. He got some key offensive rebounds and had a few of them in a row. He kind of stopped a run that we were making. He played well for them. I'm sure they are happy to have him back." Shawn Bradley: "We didn't have it upstairs. We didn't make the free throws we normally make. That's mental. We weren't passing, had no continuity. That's mental. This league is what it is. The schedule is what it is. We're not the only team playing 82 games." Minnesota Timberwolves 100, Dallas Mavericks 91 at Dallas (March 15) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Minnesota 27 21 17 35 - 100 .405 .500 .414 .800 Dallas 18 17 25 31 - 91 .418 .231 .388 .743 Halftime: Minnesota 48-35 3rd Q: Minnesota 65-60 Technicals: Kevin Garnett 7:37 4th, Dirk Nowitzki 7:37 4th Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Derek Richardson, Marc Davis Attendance: 20,434 (sellout) Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Latrell Sprewell 20 2-8 0-0 1-3 5 0-2 0 1 3 0 1 Kevin Garnett 40 8-23 0-0 9-10 25 3-12 7 4 2 2 2 Mark Madsen 23 0-2 0-0 2-4 2 3-4 0 1 3 0 0 Troy Hudson 23 6-9 1-2 1-1 14 2-5 3 2 2 0 0 Trenton Hassell 28 4-7 0-0 0-0 8 1-3 1 2 2 1 0 Michael Olowokandi 18 3-9 0-0 2-2 8 4-9 0 0 2 0 1 Wally Szczerbiak 28 4-9 1-1 0-0 9 1-6 1 2 1 0 0 Sam Cassell 24 5-13 1-3 4-4 15 0-1 3 1 5 0 2 Fred Hoiberg 21 3-3 1-1 4-4 11 1-4 0 1 2 1 0 Eddie Griffin 15 1-4 0-1 1-2 3 2-8 1 2 6 0 0 Totals 48 36-87 4-8 24-30 100 17-54 16 16 28 4 6 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 38 4-10 0-2 2-4 10 0-4 0 2 2 1 6 Dirk Nowitzki 46 6-19 0-1 9-10 21 4-15 4 2 5 1 2 Alan Henderson 27 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 4-6 0 0 5 2 1 Michael Finley 33 3-7 1-3 1-2 8 0-4 1 1 1 1 0 Jason Terry 37 7-18 1-4 3-3 18 1-1 7 5 5 0 0 Shawn Bradley 3 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 1-1 0 0 1 0 0 Keith Van_Horn 27 4-10 1-3 5-6 14 1-5 0 0 4 2 1 Marquis Daniels 25 3-9 0-0 5-6 11 1-5 0 3 2 1 0 Devin Harris 4 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 1 0 1 Totals 48 31-80 3-13 26-35 91 12-41 12 13 26 8 11 patricia