Note that tonight's game at Milwaukee is being broadcast on 820 AM instead of the normal 103.3 FM. Evan Eschmeyer announced his retirement. As a retired player, Dallas will still pay the remaining 3 years of his contract, but it will not count against the team's salary cap (or luxury cap). New York at Dallas (October 21) New York scored 6 straight points to go up 12-11 with 7:45 left and that was their main offensive thrust. Dallas scored the last 8 points of the quarter, capped by a 3-pointer by Jason Terry with a couple of seconds left, and led 33-23 after 3. Terry had 10 points. Dallas shot 52% FG and New York shot 41% FG. Things got worse for New York as Dallas used a 13-0 run to go up 49-27 with 6 minutes to go. New York did score the next 5 points, but Dallas then scored the next 4 points and Dallas' lead remained above 20 points for the rest of the game. Dallas led 59-37 at the half. Dallas shot 52% FG and had 13 assists while New York shot 31% FG and only had 2 assists. Dallas took their first 30 point lead at 79-48 with 5 minutes remaining and led 87-55 after 3. The 4th quarter remained more of the same as Dallas led in the 30s the entire quarter. Dallas won 112-74. The blowout was a combination of New York's extremely poor play and Dallas playing very well. New York only shot 30.9% (25-81) FG including 0-9 3-pointers and Dallas shot 54.4% (43-79) FG including 7-12 3-pointers. I knew New York's assist total was poor (only 8), but I didn't realize all 8 came from just 1 player. And Dallas was good with sharing the ball and had 26 assists. The only poor stat for Dallas was that they did commit a high number of turnovers (21 - but they weren't sloppy as watching the game you didn't realize that many were occurring). The story of the game for this night was the play of the centers. Erick Dampier played very well in scoring inside and getting rebounds and not turning the ball over (as he did in the previous game) or picking up fouls. Dampier had 14 points and 8 rebounds in 24 minutes. DJ Mbenga excited the crowd with his blocks (more than the 1 credited to him) and even showed some offensive touch with a couple of dunks off of nice feeds and even drove baseline for a bucket. He finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds in his 24 minutes. And even Shawn Bradley contributed when he came in for the last 7 minutes of the game and scored 7 points including 3-4 FG - mostly 15-footers. Of course, New York's middle men didn't put up much of a fight and Nazr Mohammed was the closest thing they had to a true center. Jason Terry and Josh Howard were the high men with 17 points each. Terry shot 6-9 FG and 3-4 3-pointers, had 6 assists, 2 steals, and no turnovers in his 25 minutes. Howard had 7 rebounds in his 34 minutes. Michael Finley was looking to get his teammates involved (especially when the "defense" would focus on him) and had 11 points and 7 assists. in 25 minutes. Devin Harris continues to look good for a rookie (and didn't get yelled at quite as much) and played a good all around game. He is a good little pick-pocket and should gather a couple of steals each game. He had 10 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. He did turn the ball over 4 times, though. Alan Henderson and Calvin Booth did a nice job at power forward. Henderson had 6 points and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes and Booth had 8 points and 6 rebounds in 23 minutes. Derek Hood had 8 points on 4-5 FG and 5 rebounds and Jason Sasser had 6 points in 11 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki (death in family), Jerry Stackhouse (thigh contusion), Marquis Daniels (sprained ankle), and Dan Dickau (sprained ankle) did not play. New York really didn't look like much of a team and didn't have much talent out there. Jamal Crawford had 14 points including 4-12 FG and Mike Sweetney had 10 points including 3-9 FG. No other player was in double digits. Stephon Marbury had just 7 points including 3-9 FG and had 8 assists - the only assists New York had. Vin Baker looked very poor. Tim Thomas sprained an ankle during the 1st quarter and did not play the rest of the game. Allan Houston and Anfernee Hardaway did not play. Quotes Avery Johnson [addressing the press instead of coach Nelson]: "It was a great win for us tonight. It all started with our defense. Our transition defense was really good tonight. Nellie talked about getting back into transition defense before the game. Our centers were really good tonight. Dampier and Mbenga were really good tonight. Jason Terry had a hot start for us. Josh had a big 3rd quarter. I'm really proud of our defense. It was a great win for us tonight." Johnson on Dallas' defense in 02-03 and now: "I think that year, that defense was middle of the pack. Last year they fell off. We have to get back to the middle of the pack, at least. Then we can build from there. The preseason numbers aren't good. We had a terrific practice yesterday and a great shootaround today. The main thing coach talked about today was carry over. We've had too many good practices, but when we get into the game we let people go where they want to go. I think Coach Nelson did a great job of challenging the guys in that area." Johnson on Dampier: "Damp finished last season at Golden State with an injury and didn't play an ounce of basketball this summer. Plus this is probably his 8th coach in 6 seasons. We're taking it slow, but he's coming along." Johnson on Mbenga: "We are somewhat surprised in certain situations. We knew he had a high talent level. He has some raw skills that you can't teach. He's strong, athletic and can run like a gazelle. He's moving up the charts. We've talked about him possibly being our 4th center and that didn't sit well with him and I like that attitude." Michael Finley on Mbenga: "He's still raw, but has a knack for the game. He has a knack for doing things defensively and he gives us energy." Calvin Booth: "Defensively we had some real good stretches and it's showing that our hard work is paying off." Booth: "You're not seeing as many turnovers as you did 3 games ago when we started the preseason and that's definitely a good thing." Booth: "Jason is really starting to settle in and get his groove going shooting the ball. He's not making as many mistakes and really playing the way he is capable of. He's going to make this engine go along with Mike and Dirk." Booth on if it is getting more like Nellie basketball: "It's getting more similar, but we're throwing the ball away a little too much early on to look like Nellie basketball. His style is really getting up and down and taking care of it and trying to have fun. This style is great for me, a perfect fit for me." DJ Mbenga: "That's my game - run, run, run. My favorite players are Hakeem Olajuwon for offense and Dikembe Mutombo for defense. I try to play like both of them." Mbenga: "I'm not scared of anybody. If I get to play, I play my game. If [my game] is nice, okay. If not, I try my best." Mbenga: "Everything is new for me. It's not easy for me. I'm trying to learn the plays and work every day in practice. For me, it's getting better." Lenny Wilkens: "The breakdowns come because we don't talk on the defense. We talk in practice, then you have to take it from the practice court to the game. I don't see us doing that yet. We need to talk, we need to block out, and we need to be really unselfish just like we are in practice. Don't feel like whenever the ball comes to you, you have to be the guy to make it happen. If you are missing shots, you have to slow the game down because you are not getting back on defense." Wilkens: "I want them to take some pride in who they are and where they need to get to. There's no excuse. We play hard in practice; we have to play hard in games. You can't drop your head whenever something goes wrong." Wilkens on few assists: "Some of it is holding the ball too long and the clock goes down. Some of it is because we don't set people up to make good cuts." Stephon Marbury: "We didn't put in any effort tonight. That's our last night playing how we played tonight. There has to be a sense of urgency now, leading up to the first game we need some momentum. We're taking steps back as a team. We're playing harder in practice." Marbury: "It doesn't count. That's the best thing we got going. The thing that's bad is we're going backwards." Tim Thomas: "It's preseason and we have to correct that. This is basically what these games are for. You have to see where mistakes are made and try to go in and correct them. We know we can score the basketball. It is just a matter of going out and playing defense." Dallas Mavericks 112, New York Knicks 74 at Dallas (October 21) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 33 26 28 25 - 112 .537 .583 .544 .760 New York 23 14 18 19 - 74 .347 .000 .309 .686 Halftime: Dallas 59-37 3rd Q: Dallas 87-55 Technicals: none Refs: Danny Crawford, Phil Robinson, Robbie Robinson Attendance: 19,503 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Dirk Nowitzki (death in family), Dan Dickau (sprained ankle), Marquis Daniels (sprained ankle), Jerry Stackhouse (thigh contusion), Allan Houston, Anfernee Hardaway Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 25 6-9 3-4 2-3 17 0-1 6 0 0 2 0 Michael Finley 25 4-10 1-3 2-2 11 0-0 7 2 3 0 0 Josh Howard 34 5-11 1-2 6-7 17 3-7 3 1 3 1 1 Alan Henderson 18 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 1-5 1 0 1 0 1 Erick Dampier 24 6-10 0-0 2-4 14 2-8 1 2 1 0 1 Devin Harris 26 3-6 2-3 2-4 10 0-5 7 4 2 3 2 DJ Mbenga 24 4-7 0-0 0-0 8 1-5 0 2 3 1 1 Derek Hood 23 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 1-5 1 2 5 0 0 Calvin Booth 23 4-9 0-0 0-0 8 1-6 0 2 3 0 2 Jason Sasser 11 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 2-2 0 2 4 1 1 Shawn Bradley 7 3-4 0-0 1-1 7 1-1 0 1 1 1 0 Totals 48 43-79 7-12 19-25 112 12-45 26 21 26 9 9 New York Knicks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jamal Crawford 36 4-12 0-3 6-7 14 0-2 0 4 2 2 0 Stephon Marbury 29 3-9 0-2 1-2 7 0-0 8 3 1 0 0 Kurt Thomas 28 2-9 0-0 2-2 6 1-3 0 0 1 1 1 Tim Thomas 10 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 1-2 0 0 1 0 0 Vin Baker 20 3-5 0-0 0-2 6 0-2 0 1 4 0 0 Trevor Ariza 29 3-9 0-1 1-3 7 5-9 0 1 4 2 0 Mike Sweetney 22 3-9 0-0 4-5 10 0-3 0 2 3 2 0 Nazr Mohammed 21 1-8 0-0 5-8 7 5-9 0 1 3 1 1 Jerome Williams 14 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 Tracy Murray 7 1-6 0-2 2-2 4 1-1 0 0 0 1 0 Andre Barrett 7 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 0-1 0 1 1 0 0 Jamison Brewer 7 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 0 1 0 0 0 Moochie Norris 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 2 0 0 Shandon Anderson 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 25-81 0-9 24-35 74 14-34 8 20 25 10 2 patricia