The NBA named Dirk Nowitzki and Vince Carter (NJ) as Players of the Month for December. Nowitzki averaged 27.2 points and 9.3 rebounds as Dallas went 12-4. Carter averaged 28.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.9 assists as New Jersey went 10-4. Dallas assigned Rawle Marshall to NBADL on December 29. Dallas activated Marquis Daniels and placed Josh Powell on IL on December 30. The game against Golden State was the first game all season for Dallas with a full healthy team. Assistant Rolando Blackman has been out for a while with pneumonia. Golden State at Dallas (December 30) Both teams held small leads early in the game. Dallas scored 7 straight points to go up 20-14 with 5:45 remaining, but that would be the largest lead of the quarter. A 3-pointer by Baron Davis tied the game at 26-26 with 2:30 left. A bucket by Jerry Stackhouse with 15 seconds to go gave Dallas a 32-31 lead after 1. Troy Murphy had 10 points. Dallas went on an 11-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Jerry Stackhouse, to take their first double-digit lead at 47-37 with 6 minutes to go. 6 straight points by Dallas gave the Mavs their largest lead at 53-39 with 4:50 remaining. After the teams traded buckets, Jason Richardson hit a 3-pointer and got a dunk and Davis hit 2 free throws to pull the Warriors within 48-55 with 2:35 left. Dallas' lead hovered around 10 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 62-52 at the half. Dallas shot 51% FG and Golden State shot 42% FG in the half. Dirk Nowitzki opened the 3rd quarter with a 3-pointer, but Golden State then went on an 11-2 run to pull within 63-67 with 8:20 to go. Dallas was able to rebuild a double-digit lead at 74-64 with 5 minutes remaining, but the Warriors then went on a 14-4 run to tie the game at 78-78 with a minute left. A 3-pointer by Davis gave Golden State a 1 point lead, but Dallas shot 3-4 FT to close the quarter. Dallas led 83-81 after 3. Dallas twice pushed their lead back to 10 points in the 4th quarter, but could not substain it. Dallas led 103-93 with 5:55 to go and Davis hit consecutive 3-pointers, Marquis Daniels hit a jumper, and Richardson hit a 3-pointer to pull the Warriors within 102-105 with 4:15 left. The teams traded misses, then traded buckets, then traded 2 misses and there was 1:30 remaining. Terry hit a pull up jumper on the break, but Davis found an open Foyle underneath for the easy dunk to pull Golden State within 106-109 with 1:05 to go. Terry drove and Foyle was got a block [looked like a foul to me] and Richardson drained a 3-pointer early in the shot clock to tie the game with 40 seconds left. After a timeout, Nowitzki drove and Foyle got another block [looked clean to me] and there was a 4 second difference between the game clock and shot clock. Golden State ran some time off the clock and as Davis made his move, Daniels committed the intentional foul - Dallas had one to give [don't even get me started on this planned foul]. So Golden State called timeout with 9.1 seconds left. So the Warriors ran the clock down and Davis faked a move and Daniels backed off a hair expecting the drive and Davis rose and swished the long jumper (a foot inside the arc) with .5 seconds left. Dallas used their last timeout to advance the ball. Daniels made a long lob to Terry on the baseline, but his catch-and-shoot fade away was long and that was game. Golden State won 111-109. A week later and it still ticks me off when I think about them taking that foul to give late in the game. Without using the foul to give, the worst that would have happened would be that Golden State scored and you would have 4 seconds to retaliate; the best would have been that Golden State didn't score and you had the chance to win the game in regulation. Instead using the foul to give took the game out of Dallas' hands. Avery Johnson said in his post game comments that they wanted to use the foul and hoped Golden State would call a timeout so Johnson could set up the defense. Where my thought was that you have to trust your team in that situation instead of being a control freak. Okay, I won't rant on that play any more (at least not right now). But that play wasn't what got Dallas in trouble. The Mavs played poor defense throughout and allowed Golden State to hang around and never put them away. Golden State is a team that lives by the 3 and can get hot - and they did in the 4th quarter. If Dallas had stayed focused and played better defense earlier in the game, it wouldn't have mattered if Golden State hit a string of 3s or the refs didn't call some fouls inside [I thought Jason Terry got fouled on his 2 drives, but Adonal Foyle's block on Dirk Nowitzki looked clean to me]. But the Mavs didn't and they gave the game away and got an L they shouldn't have. As for the numbers, they were fairly even between the 2 teams - no surprise with a 2-point game. Golden State shot 47.1% (40-85) FG including 9-19 3-pointers and Dallas shot 49.4% (40-81) FG including 6-9 3-points. Golden State shot 22-26 FT and Dallas shot 23-29 FT. Golden State out-rebounded Dallas 43-37 including 15-12 offensive. Golden State had 19 assists and Dallas had 20 assists. It was the first game this season Dallas had a full, healthy roster. Baron Davis and Jason Richardson led their team to victory as each scored 8 points in the last 6 minutes of the game. Davis had the game winner and 8 of his 34 points came in the 4th quarter. He shot 11-18 FG, 5-8 3-pointers, and 7-9 FT and had 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Richardson scored 16 of his 32 points in the 4th quarter. He also had 8 rebounds. Troy Murphy had a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds including 5 offensive. No other Warrior was in double-digits, and none was needed. Adonal Foyle hurt the Mavs in the 4th quarter with his defense. Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points and 9 rebounds. Erick Dampier was very active and had 7 points, 11 rebounds including 5 offensive and 4 blocks. Jerry Stackhouse had 19 points on 5-7 FG and 8-10 FT in his 3rd game of the season - they were still monitoring his minutes and he played 21 minutes. Jason Terry had 14 points, but just 1 assist. Josh Howard had 13 points including 6-17 FG and just 2 rebounds, but did have 4 assists. Marquis Daniels was the high assist man with 7. He also had 12 points on 6-8 FG. Devin Harris had 12 points and Keith Van Horn had 8 points. Quotes Mike Montgomery: "We got some good play from our back court. It was good to see. Obviously Dallas shot the ball well; they shot 50%. In the 1st half their bench hurt us. We got into foul trouble and had to come in with our bench while their bench came in and out-scored us big time. But when we were able to get it to our starters, down the stretch they played well and shot the ball really well." Montgomery on the last play: "Tie game, Davis is the decision maker. If he gets to the rim they didn't have a shot blocker so maybe they foul and if not he finishes, and if they bring a 2nd guy he finds the open guy and we get and open look. Worst thing that happens is we get overtime, a pretty good situation to be in." Montgomery: "I was struggling substitution-wise because our key guys were playing so well. It was a tough decision not to play Baron to start the 4th quarter, but guys hung in there. I thought I may have made a mistake in the 1st half, but we had foul trouble so our substitution patterns kind of broke down and I had my 3 best scorers out. But, as I said, their bench played very well." Montgomery on Davis and Richardson: "They were very, very good. "Baron, in particular, was really economical with his game. That's the best he's been this year where he's had confidence with what he was doing. He felt like the ball would go down, and if you look at his shots and you see it rotating the way it was rotating, he's pretty good." Montgomery on Richardson: "I thought that he got himself going with the dunk. Sometimes he settles. If he attacks the basket, get to the foul line, and gets some baskets inside, it gets him going a bit and I thought that's what he did. He hung in there. He got that foul trouble and I had to rest him for a while. But he kept his head in the game." Montgomery on Foyle: "Adonal was huge around the basket late - that's exactly what we need him to do. 1st half, he wasn't quite as effective, but then when it got late, we could see that Ike [Diogu] was not going to be able to make the plays at the basket that [Foyle] could make. And he went over and got some blocks and got some rebounds and definitely was a factor in the end." Baron Davis on his game winner: "Everybody in the gym knew I was going to drive the ball. Once I got [Daniels] on his heels, I was able to rock him. I was then able to get my feet up under me and get good lift on my shot." Davis: "I was in a good groove tonight and I was more aggressive. A lot of those shots that I was making before the game I was able to get to go down during the game." Davis on the win: "I think it gives us some confidence. In the 1st half we didn't have the hunger or drive we needed but I think in the 2nd half we came out and forced the issue, dictated the tempo, and kept battling. On the road we just have to stay close and make plays and tonight that's what we did and what we must continue to do." Davis: "I felt at the beginning of the season, and I still do, that we have one of the top backcourts in the league and we just have to continue to play like it. I'm not saying we're playing the best basketball right now but we have to continue to improve. We just have to continue working together and gel." Jason Richardson: "It's a great way to start [the road trip] by getting a win against one of the top teams in the Western Conference. We haven't had a lot of success in the past against them, so a win against them is big. Going into tonight they had the best record in the Western Conference, so any time you get a win against a team like Dallas you take it." Richardson: "There have been many times when we came in here and lost by 2 or 3, and other times when we lost by 20. Any time we can win on them, we'll take it." Richardson on Davis: "Baron is a superstar and I am an up-and-coming star and there will be games where we will have to step our game up and carry the team like that. Tonight was just one of those nights where he had it going and I had it going, so it just ended up being us that stepped up to help us win this game." Avery Johnson: "This was a very disappointing loss, but you have to give Golden State credit. They hung in there the whole game. They were down by 10 in the 1st half, but they battled and battled. They got into the bonus very quickly and that changed the momentum of the game. They made some big shots at the end; they got some offensive rebounds at critical times." Johnson on committing the foul-to-give despite the 4 seconds clock to game clock difference: "We wanted to foul. We like to foul in that situation. We were hoping they'd call a timeout so we could get organized." Johnson: "Richardson and Davis were very good tonight and it was hard for us to control them. Whenever we score 109 points in a game we feel we should win, but we were very lethargic defensively and that's why we had one of our poorest defensive performances of the year." Johnson on Nowitzki not getting a foul called on his last drive: "Dirk Nowitzki is one of the least respected superstars in the NBA that I've ever seen." Johnson on Terry: "Jason has been picking up some cheap fouls and he got quite a number of them tonight which changed the momentum. He got back in and tried to get it going for us in the 4th quarter, but us getting going in the 4th quarter or our game wasn't our problem. The problem was our defense, so we need to go back and see where we are defensively." Dirk Nowitzki: "It's hard to win a game in this league when you give up 111 point even though I felt like we scored enough points to win the game. We had too many turnovers down the stretch and they got a couple long rebounds there at the end and made some big 3s down the stretch." Nowitzki on his last drive where Foyle blocked his shot: "On that last drive, I did get hit and I talked to the ref about it, but he didn't make the call so what can you do. I will just have to go to the basket harder next time and maybe I will get the call then, but that play wasn't what caused us to lose the game. They just made more big plays than us down the stretch." Nowitzki on his last drive: "I thought I got hit and I told the ref. He said it was a no-call. He thought I didn't get hit hard enough to be a foul. That's fair enough. We didn't lose the game on that play." Nowitzki on his drive: "I thought I did [get hit]. I told the ref, but he was standing there and said I didn't get hit enough for the foul. I don't think we lost the game on that play. We should have been up way more than that and put the game away." Nowitzki on his drive: "I blew past Murphy pretty quickly. I went up for a dunk. Maybe I should have gone for a layup and tried to get contact, but you've got to make a decision in a quarter of a second." Nowitzki on not getting the foul called: "I'm not getting into all that. I'm going to keep on working on my game and trying to get better, maybe try to get to the basket harder next time. That's really all I can do." Josh Howard: "We didn't execute well. [Davis and Richardson] really hurt us in the 4th quarter. We just didn't communicate." Howard: "We should have put them away when we had the chance. But we let them hang around and they got hot at the end, and it ended up biting us in the butt." Howard on his minutes being down: "Yeah, I knew that would happen when we got everyone back healthy, which is a good thing. It gives us all a little more time to rest. Avery's been harping on defense and it seemed to break down tonight. We didn't execute well. Baron and Richardson got off to a great game and really hurt us in the 4th quarter. We just didn't communicate. I had 2 bad plays where I felt if I did the right thing that they wouldn't have scored. We've just got to turn the page and get ready for tomorrow." Jerry Stackhouse: "It was a tough loss. We allowed them to hang around and whenever you let team hang around you stand a chance of something like that happening. But they made shots, they made plays. You have to give them credit. We couldn't stop them. They stepped up and made huge 3s all night. They answered every play we made." Stackhouse on Davis and Richardson: "They are 2 of the toughest covers for anyone in the league and once they got hot we couldn't stop them. I think both of those guys had over 30 points tonight and it's hard to beat a team when you give up that many points." Stackhouse: "It's hard for us to put this one on the refs. There were so many other plays in the course of the game. We could have put some distance between us and them." Stackhouse: "They live and die by the 3-pointer. It's a tough way to live. But they got away with it tonight." Golden State Warriors 111, Dallas Mavericks 109 at Dallas (December 30) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Golden State 31 21 29 30 - 111 .470 .474 .471 .846 Dallas 32 30 21 26 - 109 .472 .667 .494 .793 Halftime: Dallas 62-52 3rd Q: Dallas 83-81 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 11:28 1st Refs: Ken Mauer, Leon Wood, Tommy Nunez Attendance: 20,348 (sellout) Golden State Warriors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Troy Murphy 41 7-12 0-1 4-6 18 5-14 1 3 4 1 0 Mike Dunleavy 22 2-8 0-1 2-2 6 2-3 0 1 3 0 1 Ike Diogu 25 3-5 0-0 2-2 8 3-4 3 2 4 0 1 Baron Davis 41 11-18 5-8 7-9 34 2-7 5 4 3 3 2 Jason Richardson 39 12-26 3-7 5-5 32 1-8 3 0 4 0 1 Derek Fisher 31 2-8 1-2 2-2 7 1-1 6 2 2 1 0 Adonal Foyle 19 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-3 0 0 3 1 4 Calbert Cheaney 14 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 1 1 0 0 0 Zarko Cabarkapa 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 1 2 0 0 Andris Biedrins 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-85 9-19 22-26 111 15-43 19 14 25 6 9 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 31 6-17 1-2 0-0 13 0-2 4 0 4 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 35 8-14 2-3 6-6 24 1-9 2 5 2 1 0 Erick Dampier 31 3-8 0-0 1-1 7 5-11 2 0 2 1 4 Marquis Daniels 33 6-8 0-0 0-0 12 0-4 7 0 3 2 1 Jason Terry 22 6-9 2-2 0-0 14 1-1 1 0 4 0 0 Devin Harris 24 4-9 0-0 4-8 12 0-1 2 1 1 2 0 DeSagana Diop 15 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 0 1 1 Jerry Stackhouse 21 5-7 1-2 8-10 19 1-2 1 0 2 1 0 Keith Van_Horn 14 2-6 0-0 4-4 8 0-2 1 3 1 1 1 Adrian Griffin 11 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 3-4 0 0 0 1 0 Darrell Armstrong 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 40-81 6-9 23-29 109 12-37 20 10 21 10 7 Dallas vs New Orleans at Oklahoma City (December 31) Dallas' first game ever on New Year's Eve found the Mavs (and me) in Oklahoma City facing the Hornets. It was also the 2nd night of a back-to-back for Dallas. The game stayed close in the first quarter as neither team led by more than 3 points. Rasual Butler hit a jumper at the quarter buzzer to give the Hornets a 25-22 lead after 1. After the Hornets hit a 3-pointer a minute into the 2nd quarter, Dallas scored the next 6 points to tie the game at 28-28 with 9 minutes remaining. A 3-pointer by Jason Terry gave Dallas a 33-31 lead with 7 minutes to go, but New Orleans then scored the next 7 points to go up 38-33 with 4:45 left. Dallas answered with a 7-2 mini-run to tie the game again at 40-40 with 2 minutes to go. Dirk Nowitzki hit a fade away jumper as the quarter ended. The game was tied at 44-44 at the half. Dallas looked to Nowitzki early in the 3rd quarter and he scored 6 of Dallas' first 8 points of the quarter. A 3-pointer by Nowitzki gave Dallas a 63-57 lead with 6 minutes remaining. The Hornets pulled within 63-66 with 3:15 remaining, but Dallas scored the last 7 points of the quarter to go up 73-63 after 3. Nowitzki had 14 points in the quarter. Dallas' lead ranged between 13 and 8 points over the first 7 minutes of the 4th quarter. The Hornets pulled within 78-84 with 5 minutes left, but Dallas then went on a 10-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Jason Terry with the clock running down and a leaning-in 3-pointer by Jerry Stackhouse as the clock was running out, to go up 94-80 with 2:45 to go. Dallas then slacked off on defense and played stall ball on offense in using their lead to coast to the finish. The Hornets took advantage by scoring the next 10 points, capped by a dunk by Desmond Mason, to pull within 90-94 with 18 seconds left. The Hornets wasted time before fouling Josh Howard and he hit 1-2 FT with 10 seconds remaining. Butler missed with 5 seconds and that was game. Dallas won 95-90. It wasn't a pretty win for Dallas, but it was a win. Dallas' defense looked poor for much of the game and really slacked off in the last 2 minutes of the game - but fortunately (or because of) they had built a 14 point lead prior to the lapse. Dallas shot 46.1% (35-76) FG including 5-16 3-pointers. The Hornets shot 45.8% (33-72) FG including 4-8 3-pointers. Dallas shot 20-26 FT and the Hornets shot 20-29 FT - with most of their misses coming in the 1st half where it was looking ugly (including an airball free throw by Chris Andersen). The Hornets had a slight rebound edge at 39-37, but only had 1 more offensive rebound. But the Mavs got the win and got to fly home and land in time to celebrate the new year in Dallas. After only shooting 2-11 FG in the 1st half, Dirk Nowitzki improved in the 2nd half in shooting 5-9 FG. Nowitzki finished with 24 points including 7-20 FG. He had a good all-around game with 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and no turnovers. Josh Howard had 20 points and 7 rebounds. 10 of Jason Terry's 20 points came in the 4th quarter. He only had 1 assist, though. Jerry Stackhouse chipped in 14 points off of the bench. Erick Dampier had 4 points on 2-2 FG and 6 rebounds and DeSagana Diop had 2 points on 1-1 FG and 2 rebounds (both offensive). Marquis Daniels had 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. Keith Van Horn had 4 points including 1-4 FG and 5 rebounds. Devin Harris had his worst game of the season with 1 point including 0-2 FG, no rebounds, 1 assist, and 6 fouls in 14 minutes. Chris Paul and Speedy Claxton again had nice games against the Mavs, but not as stellar as the previous meeting. Paul had 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 10 assists. Claxton had 17 points including 7-10 FT and 2 assists before spraining his ankle in the final seconds of the game. David West also had a nice outing with a double-double. He had 18 points and 10 rebounds including 5 offensive. Desmond Mason had 13 points including a couple of highlight dunks and 5 rebounds. P.J. Brown had 10 points and 6 rebounds. J.R. Smith continued his sophomore slump [and found himself further in Byron Scott's doghouse as he even DNP-CD'ed Wednesday night] and had just 3 points on 1-4 FG and 2 rebounds in 25 minutes. Quotes Avery Johnson: "I thought our 3rd quarter, unlike last night, was very good. We didn't get into the bonus early, we swung the ball, Dirk got going for us, Stack was a big contributor, Jet played well, Damp anchored our defense, and we were able to get some distance and get a lead going into the 4th quarter." Johnson on Dallas' run spanning the 3rd and 4th quarters: "That was huge. We had a chance to get away from them at that point and we stayed on the attack and were fortunate enough to do a good job on their small guards." Johnson: "This team, I want to say, Byron is doing a heck of a job. This is one of the tougher places to play in all of the NBA, with this crowd here." Johnson on Dallas not having lost to the Hornets since 1999: "It's just one of those things. We haven't won a championship. Winning 16 straight over a team - we will take it but we have some other things in mind." Dirk Nowitzki: "It just seemed that in the 1st half I couldn't get anything going. I had layups miss and everything rolled out. I just got out early in the 2nd half and got some shots and was able to knock them down." Nowitzki on Terry: "It's amazing how he always responds in the 4th quarter, whether he's 0-20 or he's hot. He's money." Jason Terry on the start of the 4th quarter: "Any time a team is trying to make a run on you and you're able to score points yourself and then hold them on the other end, you're going to make a run and that's what we were able to do." Terry: "We just wanted to come out aggressive. Dirk got us going early in that 3rd quarter and Stackhouse came off the bench with his energy and then I was able to knock down some shots. 3rd quarters have been our slow quarters this year, but not tonight." Terry on not letting New Orleans comeback: "Tonight we made it a point in the huddle that we weren't going to let that happen again. We're a pretty good team when we play defense for 4 quarters." Jerry Stackhouse: "I felt good. It was in good rhythm. I think I still had a nice breathing to it. I never felt winded. Didn't feel fatigued." Stackhouse: "We're just focused on achieving our goals and that's to continue to get better for the playoffs." Stackhouse on the end of the game: "I think we stopped playing a little bit in the 4th quarter. We stopped attacking and trying to protect the lead and that's just not who we are." Stackhouse on the lingering thoughts from the Golden State game: "When a game like last night was as close as it was, it's still a little bit in the back of your head. We had some mental toughness and we were able to get through it." Stackhouse: "It would have been tough to go into the new year on a sour note, losing a couple of games. But you're only as good as your last game, so right now we must be pretty good." Byron Scott: "I am a little disappointed. I thought we could have played a little bit harder, and obviously we could have played a little bit smarter. But like I told the guys, that's a good basketball team. We hung in there, we kept fighting, but that is no consolation. We still have to learn how to get over the hump." Scott: "Those guys are good. You can't take anything away from the Dallas Mavericks. When you're playing a great team, you can't have some of the lapses that we had, and you can't miss on opportunities." Scott: "Our plan was to contest everything and not concede anything to them on the offensive end. We kept fighting, but I thought we could have played a little harder." Scott : "They've got so much talent. I said earlier that we've got 4 or 5 guys who are playing good and we need 8. They've got 8 or 9, and I think 7 or 8 of them played pretty well tonight. And that's the difference." Scott: "We feel good about the next 3 games. We just have to stop the skid at 2. We have got to stop the streak now and get a win against Charlotte." Chris Paul: "They keep sending guys at you and not just Dirk but Josh Howard. You always got to allow for Dirk jump shot he has a great pump fake so he gets to line a lot. Jason Terry shoots the three extremely well." Paul on defending Dallas: "It's extremely tough. You always got to honor Dirk's jump shot. And Jason Terry shoots the 3 extremely well. And Josh Howard is just all over the boards for 48 minutes. I think that's a real plus for those guys. Coming off a back-to-back, they've still got guys with fresh legs that allow them to be a lot more diverse on the offensive end and the defensive end." Paul: "We have to pick it up. I think if we can win the rest of our games on this home stand it will put us in a great situation." David West: "In any given time with the lineup they had on the court, they had 5 guys who could shoot the 3 and 5 guys who could get to the basket. It's hard to take away 1 or 2 things from guys who are that talented. It's not just effort. You almost have to play a perfect game." West: "It's just a tribute to how versatile they are and how many weapons they have. Some teams in this league, if you stop one guy you have a chance. With them, you've got to stop more than one guy." West: "They've got a lot of weapons. They've got a lot of different guys they can go to. If [Nowitzki] is not making shots, they've got Jason Terry, who can hit open shots as well as anyone in the league. Stackhouse is probably a starter on most other teams in this league. It's one of those teams where you've got to play almost a perfect game. You've got to have not just one guy missing shots but a few guys missing shots to give yourself a chance to win.'' West on Nowitzki: "We knew he was going to come out and play tough. I think the way he shot the ball in the 3rd quarter, he gave his team a lot of confidence. He really gave them a lot of energy, and they were able to carry it over and they took control in the 4th." West: "Don't want to open this thing up where it starts to snowball we have got to take care of our games at home we have the next 3 in a row." P.J. Brown: "They have so many options, so many weapons. Every guy they have who touches the ball is a triple threat - either to dribble, pass, or shoot. It puts a lot of pressure on the defense. If we want to move to the next level, we have to look at what these guys are doing, look at their personnel and how they play on both ends. There is no question Dallas is one of the top 5 teams in the league." Rasual Butler on Nowitzki: "The guy just gives you matchup problems, he is a 7-footer who shoots 3-pointers. He's one of the best 3-point shooters in the league, and that makes it extremely tough to defend." Dallas Mavericks 95, New Orleans Hornets 90 at Oklahoma City (December 31) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 22 22 29 22 - 95 .500 .313 .461 .769 New Orleans 25 19 19 27 - 90 .453 .500 .458 .690 Halftime: 44-44 3rd Q: Dallas 73-63 Technicals: New Orleans defensive 3 seconds 2:58 3rd Refs: Courtney Kirkland, Scott Foster, Sean Corbin Attendance: 19,170 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 36 8-16 0-1 4-7 20 2-7 0 3 4 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 45 7-20 1-4 9-9 24 2-10 5 0 0 1 1 Erick Dampier 27 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 2-6 1 1 5 2 1 Jason Terry 39 8-15 3-8 1-2 20 1-1 1 0 3 1 0 Marquis Daniels 26 3-8 0-0 0-0 6 2-3 4 1 2 1 0 Jerry Stackhouse 27 5-8 1-3 3-4 14 0-3 2 4 0 3 1 Devin Harris 14 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 1 2 6 0 0 DeSagana Diop 11 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 2-2 0 1 2 0 0 Keith Van_Horn 16 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 1-5 1 1 2 1 0 Totals 48 35-76 5-16 20-26 95 12-37 15 13 24 9 4 New Orleans Hornets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Desmond Mason 40 5-12 0-0 3-5 13 1-5 2 0 3 2 0 David West 31 8-13 0-0 2-2 18 5-10 1 2 4 0 0 P.J. Brown 37 5-10 0-0 0-0 10 2-6 1 3 1 0 1 Chris Paul 33 5-9 1-1 5-6 16 1-7 10 2 5 2 0 J.R. Smith 25 1-4 1-3 0-0 3 0-2 1 0 0 0 0 Rasual Butler 26 3-7 2-3 0-0 8 0-0 0 1 3 0 0 Speedy Claxton 30 5-13 0-0 7-10 17 1-2 2 4 4 2 0 Kirk Snyder 14 1-4 0-1 2-2 4 2-6 1 1 2 0 0 Chris Andersen 5 0-0 0-0 1-4 1 1-1 0 2 1 0 1 Totals 48 33-72 4-8 20-29 90 13-39 18 15 23 6 2 Portland at Dallas (January 3) Dallas held a single-digit lead throughout the 1st quarter, the largest at 17-9 with 5:30 left. Dallas led 24-20 after 1. Dallas only shot 42% FG in the quarter, but Portland was much worse at 29% FG (but shot 6-7 FT). Devin Harris sprained his right thumb early in the 2nd quarter on a great block and left the game a minute later and did not return. Viktor Khryapa also injured a finger early in the quarter, but was able to return later. 3 straight buckets by Dallas gave the Mavs another 8 point lead at 34-26 with 9:30 to go. Portland then went on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 36-36 with 5 minutes remaining. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter with neither team holding more than a 3 point lead. Jerry Stackhouse hit 2 free throws as the quarter ended to give Dallas a 47-44 lead at the half. Dallas drove me nuts in the 1st half as Dirk Nowitzki was clearly feeling it as his shots were so clean (6-6 FG), yet the Mavs would go long stretches where he simply did not touch the ball - and it had nothing to do with Portland's defense. Erick Dampier got a layup and Josh Howard scored 4 straight points to give Dallas a 55-48 lead with 9 minutes to go. Dallas led between 3 and 8 points the rest of the quarter. Jerry Stackhouse hit a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 68-60 lead with 3:20 remaining and that was the last field goal of the quarter as the teams combined to miss 12 shots. 3 free throws by Ruben Patterson in the last minute of the quarter was all the points that were scored after Stackhouse's 3-pointer. Dallas led 68-63 after 3. Both teams were hovering around 40% FG for the game. Stackhouse hit consecutive jumpers to open the 4th quarter, but Portland then scored the next 6 points, capped by a dunk by Patterson (but he also collected a T for taunting - trash talking while Stackhouse was on the ground), to pull within 69-72 with 9:45 to go. Dallas then went on a 9-1 run, capped by 3-pointers by Jason Terry and Nowitzki, to go up 81-70 with 8 minutes remaining. Portland was unable to recover from Dallas' burst of offense and got no closer than 9 points the rest of the way. A 3-pointer by Terry gave Dallas their largest lead at 91-76 with 3:40 left. Dallas won 95-81. Well, it wasn't a pretty game and should have been a much easier win for Dallas as Portland is a poor team. But both teams struggled to find the bucket in the 1st 3 quarters. Dallas was really hot in the 4th quarter in shooting 10-13 FG (and 2 of the misses came after Dallas was up by 15) while Portland continued to throw up bricks at 6-20 FG. For the game, Dallas shot 46.8% (37-79) FG including 5-13 3-pointers (3-4 in the 4th) and Portland shot just 36.9% (31-84) including missing all 7 3-pointers they attempted. Dallas shot 16-20 FT and Portland shot 19-29 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Portland 52-40, though Portland had a slight 14-13 advantage on the offensive rebounds. Portland was really clean with the ball with just 7 turnovers, but they weren't passing much and only had 11 assists. Dallas had a season high 12 blocks. I'm still grumbling about Dirk Nowitzki only getting 14 shots in this game. Portland was not double-teaming him and it was simply the Mavs not getting the obviously hot player the ball enough. Nowitzki had 22 points on 10-14 FG and 1-1 FT to go with 8 rebounds. Making the free throw set the team record for most consecutive free throws made at 50 [old: 49]. Jason Terry also had 22 points including 4-8 3-pointers and had a game high 7 assists. Josh Howard was the 3rd Mav with 20+ points with 21 points. He also had 10 rebounds [collecting his 10th late in the game right after I ask, 'Why is he still in there?']. Jerry Stackhouse was the only other Mav in double-digits with 10 points. He also had 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers in his 26 minutes. Marquis Daniels had a miserable outing with 4 points including 1-10 FG and a verbal lashing from the coach in a timeout shortly after Daniels failed to drop down for the double-team on Zach Randolph that Avery Johnson was calling for. Erick Dampier had 5 points and 9 rebounds and 3 blocks. DeSagana Diop also earned the coach's ire early in the game with consecutive defensive lapses that prompted Dampier's return a minute after subbing out in the 1st quarter. Diop did play better later on and had 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Keith Van Horn's struggles continued and he had 6 points including 2-9 FG, 4 rebounds, and 4 turnovers in 18 minutes. Devin Harris only played 4 minutes due to his injury. Joel Przybilla (3-6) and Theo Ratliff (2-4) were the only Blazers to shoot 50% FG (none shot better). Zach Randolph had a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds including 7 offensive. Juan Dixon had 13 points including 5-14 FG and 9 rebounds. Ruben Patterson contributed 19 points including 7-11 FT off the bench. Przybilla had 10 points and 3 rebounds. Steve Blake had 9 points including 4-11 FG and just 1 assist. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Our defense was pretty good overall. Its something we have been harping on pretty much all year. We set some goals for tonights game and we reached most of them. This was a young team that came in and played some pretty good basketball. Nate's done a really good job with them under the circumstances. They hung in there, but we got away from them fortunately at the end of the game. We did a lot of nice things offensively and defensively. It was not a flawless game, but we made stronger drives. Even though we didn't finish some of our drives in the 2nd half, I thought we were a little bit more aggressive and the aggression paid off." Johnson: "I thought Damp really shut down a lot of their penetrations in the 4th quarter. He got a couple of blocks, rebounds, and I thought he was the reason we won the game. Hopefully, I can say that tomorrow night, Friday, Saturday. I like to mention his name more on a consistent basis." Dirk Nowitzki: "Damp had a couple of big blocks and really anchored our defense down the stretch. We had to get a couple of stops down the stretch and that's what we did. We're at our best when everybody is moving because they keep swinging the ball around but nothing's there." Nowitzki on 50 straight free throws: "Its obviously a nice accomplishment and there have been a lot of great players that have played for this franchise like Ro [Blackman] and Steve [Nash]. I wasn't really happy with my overall game tonight. I felt really good with my shot, but my all around game really wasn't there and I wasn't rebounding very much, but at least we got the win." Nowitzki on going to the line for his 50th straight free throw: "Actually, that was on my mind. After the New Orleans game they told me that I tied the record. When I went up to the line, I thought about that and tried to take some extra time, really concentrate hard and I got it. We never really play for individual records, but with this franchise there were a lot of great shooters and it's an honor to have that record and hopefully I can keep going." Nowitzki on how his game is progressing: "Well for me, it was a little bit of a set back for me tonight. Defensively I'm still a work in progress, but the team is working hard at it every night and we're on the right track. We've got to be solid defensively as a team especially down the stretch." Nowitzki on being named as Player of the Month: "That's obviously a great honor. You don't go into the month thinking about something like that, but as a team we had a good month. We fought through some injuries and found some ways to stay in games and win. At one point we had 3 starters out and we still found a way to battle on the road and still win some of those games. To be recognized as one of the best players in this conference, that's special. That means you really helped your team every night to win ballgames. It's nice and we move on." Josh Howard on Dallas' defense: "We're just trying to hold teams under a certain percentage. It's a challenge for us and we take it out there every game. We study film, we have goals we set before every game and we try to reach those goals. We do reach those goals. As a team, we go out there and play hard every night on the defensive end." Howard on having 10 points in the 3rd quarter: "It was just me being a little more aggressive. I was in a little foul trouble in the 1st half and really didn't get to play like I really wanted to so I came out there in the 2nd half just trying to do what I wanted to do in the 1st half." Jerry Stackhouse on Portland shooting 37% FG: "That was a goal we had coming into the new year, holding teams to right around 40%. This is a great start to that goal." Stackhouse: "There were some botched plays and missed dunks. ... You have to win like that sometimes." Stackhouse on the centers: "The game ball goes to those guys. If they keep playing like that - all I can do is keep shaking my head." Stackhouse on his minutes: "I'm not really focused on the minutes, but I want to stay fresh because we know the most important part of the season is the post season and we're going to try to make sure everything goes well until then." Stackhouse on Nowitzki: "He's played great and he's been steady for us all season long and this last month, he's just been on a tear. He's been really focused and any time you can go to the free throw line and hit 50 straight, he's got to be focused on his game. He's trying to take his game to another level, which in turn is going to take our team to another level." Erick Dampier: "The rebounding enabled us to get out for some easy buckets. We have to focus on that every night." DeSagana Diop on Dallas' season high 12 blocks: "Damp had some big ones at the end of the game. I try to block every shot and when Damp does that, it helps us a lot. I think with one of us big men in there, the guards know that even if they get beat we're there and that helps a lot." Nate McMillan on Dallas' consecutive 3-pointers in the 4th: "I thought those were shots that we dropped our heads. It's funny you bring that up because that's the first thing I said in the lockeroom, that those were 2 big 3s. But it was 8 minutes to go in the ballgame. I thought that took the wind out of our sails. We couldn't respond after that. I saw heads drop as if the game were over, but I think we were only down by 10. There was 8 minutes to go in the ballgame, and that's part of what we've got to do. We've got to learn to continue to play when a team makes a run or a play like that. You don't give in to it, you tighten up and figure you've got to get a few defensive stops and you're still in the ballgame. And I saw about 3 heads out on that floor just drop, and we walked to our offensive positions. So that said a lot, I thought." McMillan: "Dallas has always been good. I think defensively they double-teamed our post. I didn't think our spacing was that good. When we got to our spots on those double-teams, we had open looks and didn't knock down some shots. And when we got single coverage, Zach and Ruben were able to score. I think the strength of that team is still scoring. And defensively they scramble it up with goals and zoning." McMillan on playing the veterans: "I think you lose the team if you play guys for the sake of playing guys and not for the sake of trying to win the game. And if you look at Viktor, Martell, Travis, we are looking at what they are doing, but if you are talking about doing things on the floor, we have to see that from them." Ruben Patterson: "They executed their offense real well. We were in the game into the 4th quarter, but they hit some big shots at the end of the game." Steve Blake: "They executed really well. They got the ball where they wanted it to be. We didn't make some shots down the end and they made some big 3s with Dirk and Jason Terry. We just had trouble getting back into it after that." Blake on the 2 3s deflating the team: "It looked like it did. Those were really big shots, and gave them a lot of momentum. Next time we've just got to fight back and make our own good plays to get back in it." Dallas Mavericks 95, Portland Trailblazers 81 at Dallas (January 3) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 24 23 21 27 - 95 .485 .385 .468 .800 Portland 20 24 19 18 - 81 .403 .000 .369 .655 Halftime: Dallas 47-44 3rd Q: Dallas 68-63 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 9:21 2nd, Ruben Patterson (taunting) 9:44 4th Refs: Danny Crawford, Marc Davis, Sean Wright Attendance: 20,018 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 44 9-17 4-8 0-0 22 0-0 7 2 2 0 1 Marquis Daniels 38 1-10 0-0 2-2 4 1-5 2 2 1 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 37 10-14 1-2 1-1 22 0-8 2 0 2 0 1 Josh Howard 30 7-15 0-0 7-8 21 3-10 1 0 4 0 0 Erick Dampier 27 2-2 0-0 1-2 5 2-9 0 2 4 0 3 Jerry Stackhouse 26 4-8 0-1 2-2 10 0-4 4 4 2 2 0 Keith Van_Horn 18 2-9 0-2 2-2 6 2-4 2 4 4 0 1 DeSagana Diop 12 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 3-8 0 0 2 0 2 Devin Harris 4 1-1 0-0 0-1 2 0-0 1 0 0 0 2 DJ Mbenga 3 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 2-4 0 0 0 0 1 Adrian Griffin 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 37-79 5-13 16-20 95 13-52 19 15 22 2 12 Portland Trailblazers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Steve Blake 38 4-11 0-2 1-2 9 0-3 1 2 2 2 0 Juan Dixon 37 5-14 0-2 3-5 13 2-9 4 1 4 1 0 Zach Randolph 39 9-22 0-0 1-2 19 7-11 1 0 2 1 0 Viktor Khryapa 19 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 1-2 1 0 2 0 1 Joel Przybilla 20 3-6 0-0 4-5 10 2-3 0 0 3 0 4 Theo Ratliff 28 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-5 0 1 1 0 0 Ruben Patterson 24 6-13 0-0 7-11 19 1-3 2 1 1 1 0 Jarrett Jack 16 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 1 1 1 1 0 Martell Webster 12 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 0-2 1 0 0 0 1 Charles Smith 6 0-3 0-1 2-2 2 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 Travis Outlaw 1 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 31-84 0-7 19-29 81 14-40 11 7 17 8 6 Dallas at Minnesota (January 4) The 2nd night of a back-to-back found Dallas in Minnesota for their only visit of the season. The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with both teams holding small leads, none larger than 5 points. Minnesota led 18-17 after 1. The game stayed close in the 2nd quarter and this time the largest lead was just 4 points. After Eddie Griffin hit a jumper with under a second left, Dirk Nowitzki nailed the running 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer to give Dallas a 41-38 lead at halftime. Both teams were shooting around 40% FG. Minnesota found their shooting touch in the 3rd quarter and scored 7 straight points to go up 59-51 with 4:30 remaining. 2 free throws by Wally Szczerbiak gave Minnesota their first double-digit lead at 65-55 with 2 minutes to go, but Jason Terry answered with a 3-pointer. Minnesota led 69-60 after 3. Minnesota shot 73% (11-15) FG in out-scoring Dallas 31-19 in the 3rd quarter (Dallas shot 6-16 FG in the quarter). Kevin Garnett had 10 points in the quarter. Minnesota opened the 4th quarter with a 9-2 run to go up 78-62 with 8:30 left. Dallas answered with a 10-4 run to pull within 72-82 with 4:15 remaining. But Minnesota scored the next 5 points to go up 87-72 with 3 minutes to go and Dallas didn't have another run in them. Minnesota won 91-78. Dallas played poorly on both offense and defense and looked sluggish while Minnesota was hustling and playing with energy and the Mavs got the loss they deserved. Dallas never looked sharp while Minnesota finally got clicking in the 3rd quarter. Dallas only shot 37.2% (29-78) FG - their 2nd lowest shooting percentage of the season - including 2-11 3-pointers. Minnesota shot 47.1% (33-70) FG including 1-7 3-pointers. Minnesota shot 24-29 FT and Dallas shot 18-24 FT. 78 points is Dallas' lowest point total of the season. Also a sign of how poorly Dallas played was that they had just 8 assists, also a season low. Minnesota out-scored Dallas 53-37 in the 2nd half. The surprise hero of this game was Marko Jaric. After only scoring 4 points on 2-8 FG in the 1st half, Jaric turned it on in the 2nd half and had 18 points including 7-11 FG. In addition to his 22 game points, he also had 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Kevin Garnett had a double-double with 23 points on 7-11 FG and 9-10 FT and 10 rebounds. He also had 5 assists and 3 steals. Wally Szczerbiak was the 3rd T'wolf with 20+ points with 20 points to go with 5 rebounds. Trenton Hassell had 14 points. Eddie Griffin had 5 points and 8 rebounds. Troy Hudson (7 points, 2-10 FG) was the only other T'wolf to score. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man for Dallas with 23 points and also had 7 rebounds. Nowitzki did hit all 6 free throws he attempted to continue his team record of most consecutive free throws made at 56 [old: 49]. Marquis Daniels finally found the basket after a dismal outing against Portland (joking after the game that he was on fire) and had 16 points. But he only had 2 rebounds and no assists. Josh Howard had 14 points and 7 rebounds as only 3 Mavs were in double-digits. Erick Dampier had 8 points and 10 rebounds including 6 offensive. Jason Terry was the cold man this night with just 7 points on 3-14 FG and 1-5 3-pointers. Jerry Stackhouse joined Terry in throwing up bricks with 5 points including 1-9 FG. Keith Van Horn's struggles continued as he had 2 points on 1-6 FG. DeSagana Diop had 2 points and 8 rebounds including 5 offensive. Devin Harris only played 10 minutes as his sprained thumb was bothering him. Quotes Dwane Casey: "I thought tonight was an excellent effort by everyone. Our 3rd scorer stepped up - really 4, with Trenton [Hassell] and Marko [Jaric]. Both of them did an excellent job, especially Marko. I thought he needed it. He had been in a little slump the last couple of games. Tonight he stepped up, not only offensively but defensively. He did an excellent job containing Jason Terry, staying in front of him and using his size." Casey: "We need more points off the bench, but I will take what I can get. What we did get was the 3rd scorer. Marko had 22 and Trenton gave us 14. That will be a luxury. In the bench's defense tonight, other than Michael [Olowokandi] and Troy [Hudson], that's about as deep as we went. I wanted to put it on the veterans, and they responded." Casey: "I thought Michael Olowokandi did an excellent job in relief of Eddie Griffin. He caused some problems with his size and length in the paint. Overall, it was a good team effort and a good way to get our mojo back off the 0-for-Florida trip. I thought we played with an edge that we did not have in Florida. If we don't play with that edge or chip on our shoulders, there's no team in the NBA that can win. We got that back. We need to have that swagger back." Casey: "On defense, we established ourselves early. We sustained it. That was the key. We have had spurts every game this season of solid play and tough physical defense, but for some reason or another we have lulls. We were able to combat that tonight." Kevin Garnett: "We needed a game - having this monkey on our back - for our moral, and everything else comes from us working hard. We needed this game desperately. Myself, I told my teammates, 'Just follow my lead. I'm going to come out and be aggressive.' I watched the Miami game and I wasn't aggressive like I wanted to be, so tonight I really wanted to get into the flow of things and become a star. I didn't want to be on my heels. Coming into these games, I'm going to put that forth in my mind to come out aggressive at halftime and try to set the tone - not just for my teammates, but to let the other team know, hey, we've come here to win this game. Everything starts with me, and it's just got to be a mindset with me." Garnett: "[During halftime] I told my teammates to follow my lead. Come out and be aggressive." Garnett: "We watched the first game [against Dallas] and saw that they had 27 fastbreak points on us, so we wanted to take that away. A lot of baskets, whatever they shot, we wanted to make it difficult for them. We stayed consistent for 4 quarters. Usually we have 3 quarter, 2 quarter games where we do real, real well on the defensive end and then for some reason we let down. But we stayed consistent throughout the 4 quarters." Garnett on Jaric: "Marko was aggressive tonight. It was the first night when we didn't have to say too much to him. I think he came here with a little chip on his shoulder, some kind of edge within him. Yesterday in practice, we really got after each other and we wanted to carry that same energy over, so maybe he just carried it over from practice. We'll probably get after it tomorrow also, and hopefully we carry that over to the road." Wally Szczerbiak: "You're going to have some bad games in this league. You've just got to come back the next night and do what the team needs to win, and we need [Jaric] to play well and he knows that. So I think sometimes he puts a little too much pressure on himself, but tonight he was great. He's been great for us, and I think he enjoys playing on this team and hopefully we'll see more games like tonight." Szczerbiak: "We played aggressively against [Nowitzki]. Even though we switched a lot and he had some mismatches and some post-ups, I think we made him work for everything and we made him take tough shots over our hands. Any time you do that on a consistent basis, you're going to wear him out a little bit. KG was great on him, too. He did a great job and caused him a lot of problems." Szczerbiak: "It was more about guys stepping up tonight. Our defense was good and then we got nice contributions from Marko and Trenton, and Troy - even though he didn't have a great shooting night - he came in and gave us some stuff, and Kandi was huge on the boards. So we just got good effort out of everyone on the court. Hopefully we can carry over some of the things we did and get some more contributions like we did tonight." Szczerbiak: "We take a lot of pride in our defense. Having Kandi in the paint as an anchor was huge and we kept them off the 3-point line. That was big." Szczerbiak: Jaric was tremendous. When he focuses and doesn't let things affect him and continues to play aggressively throughout the whole game, he makes our team so much better. He just needs to relax. He's a high strung guy. He's got to channel that energy in a positive way and can't get down on himself. You're going to have bad games in this league, you just got to come back the next night and do what the team needs to win." Troy Hudson: "This is the first time this year that we attacked for 48 minutes, everybody. Both ends of the court. I'm so happy because we did it the way we need to do it. We took it to them. That's why I'm so proud of this win." Marko Jaric: "Knowing that we lost 8 of the last 10, this was a big game for us - especially with the mini-road trip we go on now with 2 tough games back-to-back. So this was a must win for us. It doesn't take any pressure off us. We know we are a much better team than where we are right now. We just need to show it, and hopefully this win will start a winning streak. It's just one win and tomorrow is a new day. We have to get ready to play San Antonio." Jaric: "Important win, knowing that we lost 8 of that last 10 games we played. We've got a couple of tough games on the road coming up, so definitely this was a must win." Jaric: "I was just angered [in the 2nd quarter]. I was not ready to lose the game. I knew it would be very tough on us to lose that game and I came out strong - all of us did. It was me talking to myself, saying, 'Marko, this team needs a point guard out there.' So I stepped up and tried to play very hard and give a boost to the guys, and everybody responded very well. I take big pride in defense and I really focus myself on playing good defense on the opposing point guard." Jaric: "We have great scorers like KG, like Wally. When we play tough defense, aggressive defense, we're going to be able to play attractive basketball. When we play like that, we can beat anybody." Avery Johnson: "They had a high level of concentration. They took it to us in the 3rd quarter, but obviously we didn't get the message. So again, they looked like a rested team, an energized team, a concentrated team. They did a great job in the 3rd quarter. Give their defense some credit. They have a lot of pride over there in that locker room." Johnson: "I don't ever use energy as an excuse. Detroit's won how many games this year? 24-4? So we don't use tired as an excuse. If you want to go somewhere, you are going to have to be able to play back-to-back games, 4 in 5 nights. If the commissioner changed the schedule and you had to play 3 games in a row or 4 games in a row, championship teams find a way to win. We don't use tired as an excuse. We didn't deserve to win. We weren't very efficient offensively. We did a lot of the stuff we normally do, but the ball just didn't go into the basket tonight." Johnson: "We turned it over. We drove the ball to the basket but couldn't get to the line. But again, they deserved to win. They played harder than us. We didn't get much out of our point guards tonight, and that really bothers me." Johnson: "I'm trying to stress to our team, we're on the radar now. There is no hiding now. People know who Marquis Daniels and Josh Howard are, they know who you are now. There is no secrecy, so we have to come out and be ready to play now. Jason Terry is a hot player now, so they are going to guard you. You have to find ways to still come out and get the job done. We are on the radar. That means we always have to be on top of our game. We have been doing pretty good on the road, so teams aren't just going to come into their building and just roll over because we are the big, bad Mavericks." Dirk Nowitzki: "Nobody had a lot of energy out there and we were going through the motions. That's not good enough to win on the road." Josh Howard: "They're paying attention to the whole team. They're scouting every single play we've carved out. You can hear their bench yelling out the play and what's going to happen. Not really much we can say about that. We've just got to continue to show up every night and be ready to play." Howard on Minnesota's defense: "To be honest, I wasn't really even paying attention to the D. I was just worried about our team and what we were doing. A lot of our shots didn't fall in the 3rd and 4th quarter and we didn't play well on the defensive end and they hit a lot of big shots." Jason Terry: "We'll see them again Saturday, but we've got Denver first. We've just got to bounce back." Terry on his play: "You see the numbers. I got embarrassed defensively by Jaric." Jerry Stackhouse: "What was their motivation tonight? They just lost 2 games on the road. They're playing back at home. They had a lot of things, and on top of that we just didn't play well. We didn't play well offensively and we couldn't get into a good posture on defense either, so that was cause for a bad night. Especially when they got that confidence. Once they got their confidence, their effort [improved]. And on the flip side of that, once we started missing shots, we started pressing a little bit - so their's started to escalate and our's kind of went on a downslide. It's one game." Stackhouse: "I think we got the shots that we wanted. I know I did. I got the shots that I make. A lot of our guys had point blank shots. I'd hate to say that it wasn't any of their defensive effort and some of the things they were doing, but really, in this locker room we feel it was a lot of us. Just a bad night." Stackhouse: "Once we started missing, we started pressing. Just a bad night. Won't be the last one either." Stackhouse: "In the 2nd half, we didn't play well offensively and couldn't get into a good posture defensively either. They got their confidence and we started pressing a bit. They escalated and we went on a downslide." Minnesota Timberwolves 91, Dallas Mavericks 78 at Minnesota (January 4) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Minnesota 18 20 31 22 - 91 .508 .143 .471 .828 Dallas 17 24 19 18 - 78 .403 .182 .372 .750 Halftime: Dallas 41-38 3rd Q: Minnesota 69-60 Technicals: Minnesota defensive 3 seconds 9:23 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 11:05 4th Refs: Ron Garretson, Tom Washington, David Guthrie Attendance: 15,702 (cap 19,356) Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Marko Jaric 42 9-19 0-2 4-6 22 1-6 4 2 3 2 2 Trenton Hassell 37 5-9 1-2 3-4 14 2-3 1 2 1 1 0 Wally Szczerbiak 44 8-14 0-2 4-4 20 0-5 2 3 3 0 1 Kevin Garnett 38 7-11 0-0 9-10 23 2-10 5 0 2 3 2 Eddie Griffin 22 2-5 0-0 1-2 5 3-8 1 0 1 0 2 Troy Hudson 22 2-10 0-1 3-3 7 1-2 2 0 2 2 0 Michael Olowokandi 21 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-4 1 2 5 0 0 Rashad McCants 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 1 0 Richie Frahm 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 1 0 2 0 0 Ronald Dupree 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Nikoloz Tskitishvili 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Anthony Carter 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-70 1-7 24-29 91 11-39 18 11 20 9 7 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Marquis Daniels 38 6-12 0-0 4-6 16 2-2 0 1 3 1 0 Jason Terry 36 3-14 1-5 0-0 7 1-1 2 2 5 0 1 Josh Howard 38 6-10 0-1 2-5 14 1-7 0 1 1 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 38 8-19 1-3 6-6 23 1-7 2 5 4 1 0 Erick Dampier 28 3-5 0-0 2-2 8 6-10 0 1 2 0 1 Jerry Stackhouse 21 1-9 0-1 3-3 5 0-1 2 2 0 1 0 Keith Van_Horn 18 1-6 0-1 0-0 2 1-2 2 1 2 1 0 DeSagana Diop 12 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 5-8 0 0 4 0 1 Devin Harris 10 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 1-2 0 0 1 1 0 Adrian Griffin 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 29-78 2-11 18-24 78 18-40 8 15 22 5 4 patricia