No surprise that Dirk Nowitzki was named as an All-Star reserve. The All-Star game takes place this Sunday at 6 pm on TNT. It is the 6th straight season that he has been named to the team. Also note that the East and West practices will be broadcast on NBATV (and also NBATV HD) on Saturday at 11 am - it's a free preview weekend, so you can watch even if your package usually doesn't include NBATV. Nowitzki and Jason Terry were also named to compete in the 3-point shooting contest. The event will take place sometime on Saturday night - coverage on TNT starts at 7 pm. [And NBATV has lots of All-Star coverage of practices, interviews, and other things through out the weekend.] Seattle at Dallas (February 4) It was the 2nd night of a back-to-back for Seattle. The teams traded leads early on and the game was tied at 12-12 with 7:10 remaining. Dallas then went on a 20-2 monster run to go up 32-14 with 1:20 to go. Seattle scored the last 6 points of the quarter, capped by a bucket by Luke Ridnour near the quarter's end. Dallas led 32-20 after 1. Jason Terry had 10 points. Dallas shot 58% FG and Seattle shot 41% FG. Dallas came back to Earth and Seattle kept chipping at their lead. 6 straight points by the Sonics pulled them within 28-34 with 9:45 remaining. Dallas was able to push their lead back up to 10 points 4 times, but Seattle kept hanging around. Dallas led 50-41 with 2:55 to go and Seattle went on a 7-2 run to pull within 48-52 with a minute left. Dallas led 54-51 at the half. Dallas shot 35% FG and Seattle shot 57% FG in the 2nd quarter as Seattle out-scored Dallas 31-22. A 3-pointer by Vladimir Radmanovic pulled Seattle within 55-56 with 11 minutes remaining, but Dallas then scored the next 9 points to go up 65-55 with 7:45 left. Ray Allen ended Dallas' run with a 3-pointer - and that kicked off 8 straight points scored by Seattle to pull the Sonics within 63-65 with 6 minutes to go. Dallas held a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. A jumper by Devin Harris near the end of the quarter gave Dallas a 82-74 lead after 3. Dallas opened the 4th quarter strong (with Dirk Nowitzki on the bench) and scored the first 8 points of the quarter to go up 90-74 with 10 minutes to go. A 3-pointer by Allen pulled Seattle within 84-96 with 7:30 left, but Dallas then scored the next 4 points and Seattle would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the game. Consecutive buckets by Josh Howard and a jumper by Terry gave Dallas their largest lead at 110-89 with a minute left. Dallas won 110-91. Dallas out-shot Seattle, out-rebounded Seattle, and out-assisted Seattle to get their 11th straight win. By far the most eye-popping stat was that Dallas had 25 assists and Seattle had just 9 assists. Dallas shot 47.3% (43-91) FG including 6-17 3-pointers and Seattle shot 44.3% (35-79) FG including 4-13 3-pointers. Dallas shot 18-21 FT and Seattle shot 17-20 FT. The Mavs out-rebounded the Sonics 50-37 including 17-8 offensive. Dallas out-scored Seattle 58-40 in the 2nd half as Seattle shot just 39% FG in the 2nd half. Dallas got good performances from a number of players. Josh Howard was the high man with 23 points including 10-18 FG and 8 rebounds. Jason Terry had 22 points including 4-9 3-pointers and 5 assists. Dirk Nowitzki had 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. Jerry Stackhouse had 17 points and a game high 7 assists. Erick Dampier had a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds including 8 offensive. Starters DeSagana Diop had 2 points and 6 rebounds and Adrian Griffin had 3 points and 6 rebounds and helped contain Rashard Lewis. Devin Harris was the 6th Mav in double-digits with 11 points. Keith Van Horn was the only Mav to struggle with 4 points on 2-7 FG. Neither Ray Allen nor Rashard Lewis got hot, thus Seattle's struggles in this game. Lewis had a night to forget in missing his first 9 shots and only shot 1-11 FG. He had 9 points (7-8 FT) and 4 rebounds in 37 minutes. Allen shot better, but was still a poor 6-18 FG. He had 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. Robert Swift had 12 points and 9 rebounds including 5 offensive and Luke Ridnour had 12 points and 7 rebounds. Damien Wilkins had 14 points on 7-9 FG. Nick Collison had 10 points on a perfect 4-4 FG and 2-2 FT. Quotes Avery Johnson: "We were very disappointed with our 1st half defense. We knew they would come out and be aggressive. We knew that they would make more shots than they did in Houston. They beat us down the floor and kept the pressure on us in the 2nd quarter. We couldn't get to their shooters during that stretch and gave up a couple offensive rebounds that landed 3s." Johnson: "In the 2nd half I thought we played more Maverick like defense. We were fortunate to hold them to 40 points in the 2nd half." Johnson: "What can you say about what Damp is doing right now? Griff played some really tough defense on Rashard Lewis. Stackhouse got some assists and made his teammates better. Terry got us off to a good start and Devin played one of his better games." Dirk Nowitzki: "We're really playing well offensively as a team. We're moving the ball, we're looking for the open guys, guys are making shots. Josh was really aggressive early, Jason's really been on fire, and Stack coming off the bench has really been aggressive." Nowitzki on Dampier: "When he plays like that we're a different animal." Josh Howard: "I'm in a good groove, my teammates are finding me, and I feel confident. We're playing as a team and we wanted to keep this streak alive." Howard: "We've had guys who've been sacrificing minutes and whenever they get in they do whatever they can do for that time. Everybody else has just been playing great ball." Jason Terry: "We got a lot of depth, a lot of guys can put the ball in the hole. Dirk's still #1, but if he isn't scoring, we've got other guys that can pick up the slack." Terry: "We've got a lot of depth, a lot of guys that can put the ball in the hole. If [Nowitzki's] not particularly scoring all the buckets, we've got guys who can score on this team. It's definitely an asset to have." Jerry Stackhouse: "We did a good job of moving the ball and we came out and got off to a good start. We had a little bit of a let down at the end of the half, but I thought we responded and in the 2nd half we kept it steady." Stackhouse on transition defense: "[Seattle] runs and if you have a missed shot they get out and try to get some easy opportunities - not just for layups, but for open 3s. So you're not only just trying to run back and get back to the paint, but you've got to fan out and get guys on the perimeter because they have some deadly 3-point shooters. We did a good job of that and we ran back at them and were able to get the ball off the boards and push it on them." Stackhouse on defense: "We're doing pretty good. Their field goal percentage is a little higher than we would like, but for the most part we did a pretty good job." Stackhouse: "If they see somebody as old as me out there playing defense, everybody knows they can go out there and do it." Stackhouse: "Damp did a great job. He's playing real well for us right now. It's just about picking guys up. When guys get into foul trouble, it's good to have guys step up off the bench and I thought Damp did a great job of stepping up for DeSagana." Stackhouse on Nowitzki not being the high scorer in the game: "It speaks to the depth of our team. Guys are going to have off nights. Dirk's going to deliver more often than not, but it's good that he doesn't feel pressure every night to score 25 or 30 points." Erick Dampier: "I just come in and do whatever it takes for us to win. Coming in and play defense, get rebounds, and whenever I get the opportunity, I try to make the most of it." Dampier on the start of the 4th quarter: "I think we wanted to come out defensively active and show those guys that it was going to be a long night. We came out and played good defensively and were able to get stops and were able to convert and get easy baskets. We just need to come out and play like that each and every night and come out with intensity." Dampier on if Dallas is happy with their defense: "We're not happy - we can always improve. It's a long season and we have a long journey ahead of us so we just have to come out and work every day to get better on defense. We're not really worried about the offense because that will take care of itself. We have guys that can put the ball in the basket." Dampier: "It's always good to get a win. When I come off the bench I just try to bring that energy, get my hands on rebounds, and play good defense. I know the guys are looking for me when I roll to the basket so I just try to convert whenever I get an opportunity." Bob Hill on if Seattle ran out of gas late in the 3rd: "I thought that we just couldn't keep them off the boards. We talked about finishing our defensive sets and we'd get them to miss and then they'd get the rebound. I thought Dampier was a major battle, and then Rashard [Lewis] has a bad night. But in spite of that we were still close after 3. We might have gotten tired, but that's the NBA - you have to play. We hung in there for a long time but just couldn't get it done in the 4th quarter." Hill on Dallas: "They're well coached, they're deep, they're big, they can shoot - those are all positive ingredients to having a good basketball team. Tonight, I was pleased with our guys for a long time, but we just couldn't keep them off the boards. Dallas had 17 offensive rebounds." Hill: I think everyone when they look at our team are going to go really hard at Rashard and really hard at Ray and try to shut them down. ... They don't think we have anyone else who can beat them. So they're very physical with Rashard off the ball. He had a tough night. Ray Allen on Swift's learning experience: "These moments that are happening for him now, they're being ingrained in his memory bank so as the years go by, he can go back to this situation or go back to that play. Hopefully, in his bed tonight, he'll think about the small little plays that he missed or messed up on. When he missed that layup, I'm pretty sure he's thinking about that because when I was young and I wanted to be great, those are the plays I thought about." Rashard Lewis: "I thought we stayed in the game pretty well. The only time they really had a really big lead on us was in the 1st quarter. In the 2nd quarter we kept it close and we were only down 3 at halftime. We kept it close but the rebounds were what killed us toward the end of the game. When we would get back into the game and get it close they would get an offensive rebound and put it back in. Dampier had a great 2nd half." Lewis on if Dallas is better defensively: "Definitely. Avery Johnson has done a good job of coaching those guys and making them play defense. They have a pretty good offensive team with Dirk Nowitzki leading the charge and all they have to do is play defense and they're in the game. They're helping each other a lot more; talking a lot out there, which you never heard before." Lewis: They pretty much took me out of the game every time down the court. ... We just couldn't get it rolling tonight. Lewis on Dallas: "You can tell they're a better defensive team. They took me out. I couldn't get anything rolling." Lewis on Seattle's record: "It's getting to that point where this season may be about developing the young guys. In a way, I don't like that and it's frustrating, but that's how it is. We got so many young guys on this team. Not just Robert, but Damien, Johan, Luke, and Nick. ... There's 35 games left. There's still time, but there's only 35 games left." Robert Swift on Dampier's game: "That was my man and my responsibility to get him off the boards. I feel like I let the team down in not being able to keep him off the boards. ... That's the frustrating thing coming out of tonight, that feeling that I should have done better. He took full advantage of me being young. ... It took me until about the end of the 3rd quarter to figure out what to do, to not even stop him, but at the [least] contain him. And by that time, it's too late." Damien Wilkins on Swift's comments: "Robert didn't lose this game. That's humble of him to say something like that, but winning and losing is a team thing. He didn't get out-rebounded by himself - we did that." Dallas Mavericks 110, Seattle Sonics 91 at Dallas (February 4) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 32 22 28 28 - 110 .500 .353 .473 .857 Seattle 20 31 23 17 - 91 .470 .308 .443 .850 Halftime: Dallas 54-51 3rd Q: Dallas 82-74 Technicals: Dirk Nowitzki 2:54 2nd Refs: Kevin Fehr, Steve Javie, Tom Washington Attendance: 20,369 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 38 8-18 4-9 2-2 22 1-2 5 2 3 3 0 Adrian Griffin 22 1-2 0-0 1-1 3 1-6 2 1 2 0 1 Josh Howard 39 10-18 1-2 2-3 23 2-8 2 2 1 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 37 8-19 0-0 1-2 17 2-8 4 3 2 0 0 DeSagana Diop 13 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 3-6 0 0 4 1 0 Erick Dampier 27 4-8 0-0 3-3 11 8-14 1 0 4 1 0 Jerry Stackhouse 26 6-12 1-3 4-5 17 0-2 7 2 2 0 0 Devin Harris 19 3-5 0-0 5-5 11 0-1 3 1 2 0 0 Keith Van_Horn 18 2-7 0-3 0-0 4 0-2 1 1 1 2 0 DJ Mbenga 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 43-91 6-17 18-21 110 17-50 25 12 21 7 2 Seattle Sonics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Ray Allen 41 6-18 2-6 3-3 17 0-4 1 4 3 3 0 Luke Ridnour 36 5-11 1-1 1-2 12 0-7 2 3 1 2 3 Rashard Lewis 37 1-11 0-3 7-8 9 0-4 2 1 3 1 0 Vladimir Radmanovic 15 3-8 1-3 0-0 7 0-2 1 1 2 1 0 Robert Swift 38 5-7 0-0 2-2 12 5-9 1 0 2 1 3 Nick Collison 20 4-4 0-0 2-2 10 2-3 0 2 2 1 0 Damien Wilkins 19 7-9 0-0 0-0 14 1-2 1 1 5 0 0 Ronald Murray 18 3-8 0-0 2-3 8 0-4 1 3 2 1 0 Johan Petro 10 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 0 3 0 2 Mikki Moore 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Mateen Cleaves 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 35-79 4-13 17-20 91 8-37 9 15 24 10 8 LA Lakers at Dallas (February 7) Lamar Odom returned after missing the previous 2 games, but the Lakers were again without Chris Mihm due to a sore right shoulder. The Lakers struggled to open the game with only 1 bucket (a 3-pointer) in the first 7 minutes and Dallas took advantage by going up 14-3 with 6:55 to go. Kobe Bryant hit a 3-pointer with 6:10 remaining, but Dirk Nowitzki answered with a 3-pointer late in the shot clock to kick off 10 straight points by the Mavs and Dallas led 24-6 with a minute left. Bryant did score the next 4 points, but Jerry Stackhouse nailed a 3-pointer from the corner at the quarter buzzer. Dallas led 27-10 after 1. 10 points tied the opponent low for fewest points in a 1st quarter. The Lakers only shot 3-17 FG in the quarter while Dallas shot 11-19 FG. Dallas' lead stayed in the high teens early in the 2nd quarter and a bucket by Nowitzki gave Dallas their first 20 point lead at 40-20 with 6 minutes to go. Dallas led 46-28 with 3:15 remaining and the Lakers closed the quarter with a 10-3 run, capped by a putback dunk by Devean George (as no Mav blocked out after Bryant's miss) near the quarter's end. Dallas led 49-38 at the half. Brian Cook had 12 points on 6-7 FG in the 2nd quarter. After such a dismal 1st quarter shooting, the Lakers were white hot in shooting 14-20 FG in the 2nd quarter. George hit a 3-pointer to open the 3rd quarter and cut Dallas' lead down to single-digits. A dunk by DeSagana Diop gave Dallas a 56-45 lead with 9 minutes remaining, but the Lakers then scored the next 10 points to pull within 55-56 with 6:50 left. A bucket by Cook and 2 free throws by Odom gave the Lakers their first (and only) lead at 66-64 with 2:55 to go. Dallas closed the quarter with a 12-2 run, capped by a fast break dunk by Stackhouse near the end of the quarter, to go up 76-68 after 3. Bryant had 12 points (but only shot 2-8 FG) in the 3rd quarter. Dallas scored the first 7 points of the 4th quarter, capped by a 3-pointer by Keith Van Horn, to go up 83-68 with 9:45 remaining. A 3-pointer by Cook did pull the Lakers within 78-88 with 5:55 to go, but Dallas connected on 4 straight free throws to keep their lead in double-digits and the Lakers would get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way. The only excitement the rest of the way was when Phil Jackson played one of his little tricks and decided to protest the officiating by not breaking up the huddle after a timeout, resulting in 2 delay of games with the 2nd one being a technical. Dallas won 102-87. Never a dull (or pleasant) moment when the Mavs face the Lakers. The Mavs did manage to win this one despite blowing a 20 point lead - they made it a lot harder on themselves than need be. Dallas out-scored the Lakers in the 1st and 4th quarter. The Lakers shot just 6-20 FG in the 4th quarter. Phil Jackson's whining about the officiating was due to Dallas shooting 13-22 FT in the 4th quarter and the Lakers shooting 4-4 FT as well as 2 technicals late in the game with less than 2 minutes left - only the T on Devean George was a bad one and the league later rescinded it (and it had no impact on the game). The free throw difference was due to the style of play between the 2 teams as Dallas continued to attack the basket while the Lakers were jacking up outside shots (including 3 by Kobe Bryant from 5 feet beyond the arc) to try to get back in to the game. For the game, Dallas shot 30-44 FT and the Lakers shot 18-22 FT. Dallas shot 49.3% (34-69) FG including 4-11 3-pointers and the Lakers shot 38.8% (31-80) FG including 7-29 3-pointers. Dallas out-scored the Lakers 46-24 in the paint. Dallas out-rebounded the Lakers 47-35 including 13-11 offensive. It was the 12th straight win for Dallas, setting the 2nd longest in team history. It was the Lakers' 4th straight loss. Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard had double-doubles. Nowitzki had 26 points including 9-10 FT and 12 rebounds. Howard had 22 points on 9-13 FG and (wince) 4-8 FT, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists. Jason Terry had a quiet outing with 10 points and just 1 assist. Devin Harris had 10 points on 1-4 FG and 8-10 FT and 4 assists. Jerry Stackhouse had 14 points and 5 rebounds. Erick Dampier had 5 points on 1-4 FG and (ouch) 3-9 FT and 10 rebounds. DeSagana Diop had 2 points and 1 rebound. Adrian Griffin had 4 points on 2-2 FG. Keith Van Horn had 7 points and 5 rebounds. The high man for the Lakers was not who you would expect. Brian Cook took off against the Mavs and had a career high 28 points including 12-16 FG. Kobe Bryant had 24 points on 5-22 FG and 11-13 FT, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 4 turnovers. Lamar Odom had 14 points, 6 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 7 assists. Devean George had 10 points including 4-12 FG and 1-6 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. Quotes Avery Johnson: "We had to get this game behind us for a lot of different reasons. We hadn't played particularly well this year against this team and we were fortunate to come out with a great start. Adrian Griffin's defense and the team defense as a whole was good. The 2nd quarter has been our bad quarters recently and we followed through with that tonight. We stepped up big defensively in the 4th and were fortunate enough to get away from them. It was a hard fought game with a playoff atmosphere." Johnson: "I thought Damp's effort defensively has been huge for us. We put Marquis in for a 6 minute stretch and was able to give us a rest for Stack and Josh. Devin also came out and gave us some minutes. We had 6 guys in double figures and shoot close to 50% from the field and we held them to 38% so that is moving in the right direction." Johnson on Bryant: "We tried to bother him and make it hard on him. He's been averaging 50 points on us and we didn't want that to happen." Dirk Nowitzki: "They embarrassed us in the last meeting, and I thought we took the challenge." Nowitzki: "It was a different game plan than the first 2 times [vs the Lakers]." Nowitzki on Howard: "Josh was great," Nowitzki said. "He got some ball movement and some drives to get to the line some. I thought we had another great team effort on both ends of the floor." Nowitzki: "I don't think our reputation will change any time soon. I think you build your reputation in the playoffs and ultimately that's where we've got to make a stand. I think we could go ... 35-0 and I don't really think anybody would talk about us. Ultimately, we are already looking ahead and working on stuff that we'll hopefully use in the playoffs and to really build our reputation there." Josh Howard on Bryant: "We wanted to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible. Through this whole winning streak, we've been playing great team defense. The last 2 times we played the Lakers, we didn't play great defense and let them take advantage of it. We got tired of it." Jerry Stackhouse on Dallas' run occurring with Nowitzki out: "That's their problem because they rely so much on one guy." Devin Harris on defending Bryant: "We just tried to make other guys beat us. We tried to take away a lot of his penetration and his splits on the pick-and-roll and just trap him and see if he could find other people. I think we picked it up a lot. The 2nd quarter wasn't as good as the 2nd half, but made sure we kept it up and were persistent." Harris on Dallas' defense on Bryant: "We just tried to make every catch tough. We tried to fight him in the post, try to make them throw him a lob and try to squeeze him from the back side. He was struggling to get the ball and having to step out and take some poor shots. To me, that [Bryant yelling at his teammates] just let us know we did our job." Harris on Griffin defending Bryant: "He did a great job. Everybody on the first 5 got us off to a good start. We struggled in the 2nd quarter, but we picked it up in the 2nd half." Harris on the 3rd-4th quarter run without Nowitzki on the court: "We're a deep team. We have 6 or 7 players who can go off besides Dirk." Adrian Griffin: "We were focused tonight. We know what we need to do and we have a lot of respect for Kobe. I think that is why we came out with a lot of energy. We know he is capable of putting up big numbers. As a team, we have been playing some good ball and we just wanted to continue that." Griffin: "My assignment was to make Kobe work for each shot. The team did a great job of having my back, and whoever guarded him played with a lot of energy. ... Fortunately, he didn't get going like he usually can." Griffin: "If you leave Kobe open, or give him a step, he's going to burn you. He's like one of those Michael Jordan type of players. In LA, he didn't miss anything. We just tried to make him work and get the ball out of his hands when we could." Griffin on Cook: "We knew that he could shoot the ball. He really shot the ball well tonight. He is the reason why the Lakers stayed in it the way they did." Phil Jackson on Dallas' 3rd-4th quarter run: "It just was strategically a bad move on my part with the substitutions. Guys went into the ball game and didn't give us any help. So we made 4 mistakes in a row, a couple fouls, and then suddenly set ourselves for a bad finish in that quarter." Jackson on changing the slow start: "Change the lineup - that's what you do so we came back in the 2nd half with a different lineup. The lineup had a little more offense, a little less defense, a little more outside game, a little less rebounding power." Jackson: "I thought they made Kobe work really hard. Griff is a physical defender. That befuddled our first unit, and gave them a little jump start in the game." Jackson: "It was really a poorly refereed ballgame. I know there's a lot of pressure on the refs when they come here because Mark [Cuban] has them review the tapes and send them in to the league. These guys are nervous nellies when they referee in this building. But they have to do a better job than they are doing. That's not acceptable." Jackson on Cook: "Brian was terrific tonight from the field. I wish we could have had another guy step up along with him." Jackson on Kwame Brown's 0 points and 4 rebounds: "That's awful. He gave us a terrible game tonight. I had a short meeting with him the other day and told him I really valued the opportunity he was getting and he just didn't give us any productive minutes at all." Kobe Bryant on Dallas' defense: "Tonight what they did is that they made a concerted effort to send 2 guys over at me. They just trapped me all over the court. This is the type of defense we've been seeing this entire trip. We've been struggling on this trip and we've got to figure out how to combat that." Bryant on his poor production: "It was a combination of things. What they did is, they made a concerted effort to send 2 guys over, 3 guys, 4 guys or whatever, at me. They just trapped me all over the court." Bryant: "We got ourselves back in the game, and then the roof caved in on us. We got away from what got us back in the game." Bryant on Cook: "He did a great job tonight spotting up and hitting those open shots. He was the one guy for us that was consistent the whole night long." Bryant on Howard: "I think he is a hell of a player. I like his game a lot, what he provides for his team and what they ask him to do, and he comes in and does it extremely well and consistently too." Bryant: "That's the defense we've been seeing this whole trip. We've been struggling. We've got to find a way to combat that." Brian Cook: "They were stacking that side with Kobe. He had 62 against them last time and they didn't want that to happen again. I was just waiting over there on the weak side. They had Dirk and Van Horn roaming over there and I was just open on the weak side a lot for jump shots. That's what I do, I just shoot." Dallas Mavericks 102, Los Angeles Lakers 87 at Dallas (February 7) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 27 22 27 26 - 102 .517 .364 .493 .682 LA Lakers 10 28 30 19 - 87 .471 .241 .388 .818 Halftime: Dallas 49-38 3rd Q: Dallas 76-68 Technicals: LA Lakers defensive 3 seconds 9:05 1st, Kobe Bryant 10:33 3rd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 7:51 3rd, Lamar Odom 1:59 4th, Devean George 1:08 4th, LA Lakers delay of game (2nd) 1:08 4th Flagrant fouls: Kwame Brown (level 1) 1:06 1st, Andrew Bynum (level 1) 9:05 2nd Refs: Ken Mauer, Rodney Mott, Scott Wall Attendance: 20,379 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Chris Mihm (sprained right shoulder) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 33 3-8 1-2 3-4 10 0-1 1 2 1 0 0 Adrian Griffin 18 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-1 0 1 3 0 0 Josh Howard 39 9-13 0-0 4-8 22 4-10 4 1 3 1 1 Dirk Nowitzki 37 8-16 1-3 9-10 26 2-12 2 3 2 0 0 DeSagana Diop 14 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 1 3 1 2 Jerry Stackhouse 25 5-13 1-4 3-3 14 0-5 2 2 2 1 1 Devin Harris 23 1-4 0-0 8-10 10 0-2 4 0 0 1 0 Keith Van_Horn 23 3-5 1-2 0-0 7 3-5 1 1 3 2 1 Erick Dampier 21 1-4 0-0 3-9 5 4-10 0 0 1 0 1 Marquis Daniels 7 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 1 2 0 1 0 DJ Mbenga 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 48 34-69 4-11 30-44 102 13-47 15 14 18 7 7 Los Angeles Lakers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kobe Bryant 42 5-22 3-11 11-13 24 0-4 4 4 4 3 0 Smush Parker 28 1-6 1-2 0-0 3 1-4 3 0 4 2 0 Lamar Odom 39 5-13 0-3 4-4 14 5-6 7 3 2 0 1 Brian Cook 33 12-16 2-3 2-2 28 1-3 0 0 4 2 0 Kwame Brown 14 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 0-4 0 1 4 0 1 Devean George 30 4-12 1-6 1-1 10 2-6 2 0 1 0 0 Sasha Vujacic 22 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-2 2 0 3 1 0 Luke Walton 13 3-4 0-1 0-0 6 0-3 0 1 5 0 1 Devin Green 9 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 0 1 0 0 0 Andrew Bynum 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 1 0 2 Von Wafer 1 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 31-80 7-29 18-22 87 11-35 18 11 28 8 5 Miami at Dallas (February 9) Dallas jumped out to a 14-4 lead, capped by a 3-pointer by Jason Terry with 6:30 remaining. Miami did scored the next 5 points and Dallas' lead remained in single-digits the rest of the quarter. Jerry Stackhouse nailed a 3-pointer near the quarter's end to give Dallas a 29-21 lead after 1. Miami had 6 turnovers which Dallas converted into 14 points. Dallas scored the first 6 points of the 2nd quarter to go up 35-21 with 8:40 to go. Dallas led 43-29 with 4:45 left and Miami scored the next 7 points to pull within 36-43 with 2:40 to go. Dallas closed the quarter with an 8-2 run, capped by another 3-pointer by Stackhouse near the quarter buzzer, to go up 51-38 at the half. Jason Terry nailed a 3-pointer to open the 3rd quarter. Dallas led 60-45 with 9:30 remaining and the Mavs scored the next 10 points to go up 70-45 with 7:45 to go. Consecutive buckets by Dirk Nowitzki gave Dallas their largest lead at 79-50 with 4:30 left. Stackhouse again scored at the quarter's end, this time with 2 free throws. Dallas led 89-63 after 3. Nowitzki had 14 points including 5-6 FG, Terry had 11 points on 4-5 FG and 3-3 3-pointers, and Dwyane Wade had 11 points including 5-6 FG in the 3rd quarter. Dallas shot 13-17 FG including 6-7 3-pointers and Miami shot 9-14 FG in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter was pure garbage time as Miami got no closer than 26 points. Dallas scored the last 4 points of the game to take their largest lead. Dallas won 112-76. It was a surprising thumping for the Mavs and it was Dallas' 13th straight win. The stunning number from this game was Dallas' points off of turnovers - the Mavs scored 33 points off of Miami's 19 turnovers. Miami scored just 4 points off of Dallas' 14 turnovers. The other big number was that Dallas shot 11-16 3-pointers. Dallas shot 56.3% (45-80) FG and Miami shot 47% (31-66) FG including 2-9 3-pointers. Dallas shot 11-13 FT and Miami shot 12-19 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Miami 36-28 including 8-4 offensive - having just 4 offensive rebounds tells you how poorly Miami played. Dallas even out-scored Miami 44-38 in the paint. The 36 point loss doubled Miami's worse loss of the season. It was another good team performance by the Mavs. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 27 points including 11-16 FG. He only had 4 rebounds, though. Jason Terry had 16 points including 4-6 3-pointers and 7 assists. Josh Howard had 14 points, 3 offensive rebounds, and 3 assists. Jerry Stackhouse had 14 points and Keith Van Horn had 14 points. Erick Dampier had 7 points including 3-4 FG and 11 rebounds. DeSagana Diop had 4 points on 2-3 FG and 5 rebounds. Adrian Griffin had 2 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals and helped contain Dwyane Wade. Devin Harris had a poor outing (but was playing with an injury that kept him out of the next game) in missing his 3 shots and had 2 assists in 9 minutes. Dwyane Wade struggled in the 1st half in shooting just 1-7 FG, but did find his touch during halftime and he shot 5-6 FG in the 3rd quarter. For the game, Wade had 16 points and 8 assists. Shaquille O'Neal had 23 points including 9-12 FG and 9 rebounds. The only time he feasted on the Mavs was when Keith Van Horn tried to defend him, and that lasted just 2 times down the court before a substitution was made. No other Heat player was in double-digits. Alonzo Mourning did not play due to the flu. Quotes Avery Johnson: "This was a solid performance by the Mavs. We came out with a lot of focus and had good carry over from practice yesterday. We came out and tried to make it as difficult as possible on them, tried to get back in transition, we wanted to be aggressive on the offensive end and tried to get as many points in the paint as we could. They out-scored us in the paint 26-22 at the half and we wanted to come back in the 2nd half and try to get some more points in the paint and stop them." Johnson: "Wade got hot on us there in the 3rd quarter and we had a hard time guarding him. Shaq is a handful. He finished with 23 points. We felt we tried to get some steals, blocks, and turnovers in there." Johnson: "Overall it was a good team effort and we were fortunate enough to be able to rest some guys in the 4th quarter." Johnson on Dampier and Diop defending O'Neal: "I thought they battled. Those guys slipped around and got some steals. They gave him different looks. We double-teamed him some and sometimes we couldn't get there. We just tried to make it work and that's all you can do, but you can see he is still a dominant player." Johnson: "I thought we played longer stretches than we've ever played. We didn't play a flawless game, but I'm not going to nitpick. We have some things to work on because of where we are trying to go. The guys are doing a lot of positive things on the court." Johnson: "I've never really gotten excited about games too much in February. But at the same time, obviously the guys are doing a lot of positive things on the court. You'd be crazy not to think so." Josh Howard: "This is the best job in the world right now. We're playing great team basketball right now." Howard: "Besides the Detroit game, that's the best 2nd half we've had in a long time. It's a lot of fun." Jason Terry: "I think everybody believes in our system and we've just got to continue to work. There's still a long way to go, but I like the way we're playing. Tonight we were good on both sides of the ball. It was an overall great win for us. We're sharing the ball and playing together. Defensively, look what Dampier's doing off the bench. He's clogging up the middle and Diop's playing well in the middle also. We've just got to keep it going." Terry: "We're very active on defense right now. We're getting our hands on a lot of balls as you saw tonight and we're all getting in the passing lanes and we had very active hands tonight. It lead to a lot of easy baskets for us tonight." Terry: "We have tremendous talent coming in off that bench. Guys have accepted their roles and they're just coming out and playing hard and aggressive." Terry on his 3rd quarter scoring: "Guys were making the extra pass. I was open and knocked them down. We wanted to stay aggressive." Jerry Stackhouse: "We were really focused tonight. Even after the game we were all businesslike. We did what we set out to do tonight and now were just trying to move forward." Stackhouse: "We had a good number of pick-n-rolls in the 1st half and we decided to continue to do that in the 2nd half. We penetrated their defense very well tonight and then kicked it out for open 3s, and guys were just knocking down shots tonight." Stackhouse: "Whenever we get the ball in transition, we usually have success and we've got guys that can finish and convert in open court. It bodes well for us when we get turnovers. We're always looking to make that long pass and put pressure on the defense to get back." Stackhouse: "We just focused on coming out in the 2nd half and not letting up. We wanted to try extend our lead as opposed to just exchanging baskets." Pat Riley: "I coached an absolutely awful game; terrible game plan, pick-and-roll schemes; everything. I am not going to take full responsibility. It was a total breakdown." Riley on the game: "That was painful, absolutely painful." Riley: "That sense of urgency is a Dallas Mavericks team, San Antonio Spurs, or Detroit Pistons, or any good team. We have been up and down with that all season long." Riley on his team: "I'm in complete faith. With me, you're either in or out; that's it. It's very simple and I'm with them. I picked them. I'm with them. I'm going to try to keep coaching them. It's not going to shake me. I've been around this [bleep] game too long. I've got my ass kicked a lot of times. I've kicked a lot of other people's asses and we've got a good team." Shaquille O'Neal: "This isn't going to shake our confidence; it is just a little old fashioned Texas beat down. They were 3 steps ahead of us, they had more energy. We just have to pick it up, especially against the top teams." O'Neal: "It's very frustrating. They played with a lot more energy than we did. We knew what we had to do, and they just played a lot better than we did." O'Neal: "They shot the ball very well. We were trying to keep the paint closed. They had a lot of good drivers out there and they are a very unselfish team. They were just draw-kicking us and they shot very well, especially from behind the arc." Dwyane Wade: "Any time you lose a ball game it's painful, but when you get blown out, when you get embarrassed - especially on [national] TV - it's terrible. You put a hat on and walk out of here, because no one has a reason to walk out of here with their head up." Dallas Mavericks 112, Miami Heat 76 at Dallas (February 9) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 29 22 38 23 - 112 .531 .688 .563 .846 Miami 21 17 25 13 - 76 .509 .222 .470 .632 Halftime: Dallas 51-38 3rd Q: Dallas 89-63 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 8:25 2nd Refs: Bill Kennedy, Greg Willard, mark Wunderlich Attendance: 20,273 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 29 5-10 1-1 3-3 14 3-3 3 3 2 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 31 11-16 2-3 3-4 27 0-4 1 0 2 0 2 DeSagana Diop 12 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-5 0 1 4 2 1 Jason Terry 29 6-10 4-5 0-0 16 0-1 7 0 0 0 0 Adrian Griffin 24 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 3 0 0 3 0 Jerry Stackhouse 25 5-10 2-4 2-2 14 0-1 3 2 0 1 1 Keith Van_Horn 23 5-9 2-3 2-2 14 0-4 1 1 2 0 0 Erick Dampier 25 3-4 0-0 1-2 7 4-11 1 1 3 0 2 Devin Harris 9 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 2 1 0 1 0 Marquis Daniels 16 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 0-2 1 1 1 1 0 Darrell Armstrong 9 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 2 1 1 1 0 DJ Mbenga 5 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 45-80 11-16 11-13 112 8-36 24 14 15 9 6 Miami Heat REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Udonis Haslem 31 4-7 0-0 0-0 8 1-4 1 2 3 0 0 James Posey 15 0-2 0-2 0-1 0 0-1 0 0 3 0 0 Shaquille O'Neal 27 9-12 0-0 5-6 23 1-8 1 3 2 0 1 Dwyane Wade 33 6-13 0-0 4-6 16 0-1 8 4 1 2 2 Jason Williams 18 1-2 1-2 1-2 4 0-1 2 2 0 0 0 Shandon Anderson 22 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 0 2 1 0 2 Antoine Walker 21 2-6 0-3 1-2 5 1-2 1 1 2 0 0 Gary Payton 24 2-4 1-1 0-0 5 0-2 3 3 1 0 1 Michael Doleac 18 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-6 1 0 2 2 1 Jason Kapono 12 0-4 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 Wayne Simien 10 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Gerald Fitch 9 2-3 0-0 1-2 5 0-1 1 1 2 1 1 Totals 48 31-66 2-9 12-19 76 4-28 19 19 18 6 8 Dallas at Denver (February 10) Dallas was without Devin Harris due to a strained left quad and Denver was missing Marcus Camby due to a strained lower back. It was the 2nd night of a back-to-back for the Mavs and they came out looking sluggish and Denver hopped out to a 19-6 lead with 7:10 to go. The Nuggets continued to roll and took their largest lead of the quarter at 29-10 with 3:45 left. Dallas finally started to score and made a slight dent into the large hole they had dug in scoring 11 points in the last 3 1/2 minutes of the quarter. Denver led 34-21 after 1. Carmelo Anthony had 10 points. Denver shot 12-21 FG and 10-12 FT and Dallas shot 9-20 FG and 2-2 FT. The Mavs had an extremely high 10 turnovers in the 1st quarter. Dallas opened the 2nd quarter with a 14-4 run to pull within 36-38 with 9 minutes to go. Denver did score the next 6 points to go up 44-36 with 7:30 remaining and their lead ranged between 6 and 11 points over the next 6 minutes. 4 straight Denver points put them up 61-48 with 1:25 left. Denver led 62-52 at the half. Kenyon Martin had 10 points in the 2nd quarter. Both teams shot above 60% FG in 2nd quarter. Denver led 70-59 with 7:50 to go and the Nuggets went on a 10-2 run to go up 80-61 with 4:55 remaining. Dallas would get no closer than 15 points the rest of the quarter. Denver led 92-73 after 3. Martin had 16 points in the 3rd quarter. Denver led 94-77 with 10:30 left and Jason Terry hit a 3-pointer and Keith Van Horn had a jumper and 3-pointer to pull the Mavs within 85-94 with 8:30 to go. Earl Boykins answered with a 3-pointer and bucket, but Dallas still wouldn't roll over. Denver led 109-94 with 3:30 remaining and Dallas scored the next 7 points to pull within 101-109 with 1:20 left, but they were running out of time. Andre Miller got a bucket with a minute remaining and Dirk Nowitzki answered with a quick 3-pointer. Anthony hit 1-2 FT and Dallas missed with 35 seconds left and Avery Johnson pulled the plug in pulling Nowitzki and Terry with 30 seconds left. Denver won 113-104. It was a poor outing by the Mavs and they got the loss they deserved. Between poor defense and sloppy turnovers, it was obvious early that this game was going to be a struggle for Dallas. Dallas had a season high 24 turnovers and allowed Denver to shoot 55.6% FG (just shy of the high 55.7% FG given up to New Orleans). Dallas' transition defense was atrocious as Denver had 31 fast break points. For the game, Dallas shot 51.3% (41-80) FG including 8-23 3-pointers and 14-17 FT. Denver shot 55.6% (45-81) FG including 1-10 3-pointers and 22-29 FT. Dallas did out-rebound Denver 36-31 including 9-7 offensive. The loss ended Dallas' 13 game winning streak. It also ended Dallas' 13 game streak of holding an opponent under 100 points. Keynon Martin had a field day against Dallas and had 34 points including 14-18 FG. He also had 9 rebounds. Both Carmelo Anthony and Andre Miller had double-doubles with assists. Anthony had 24 points including 10-14 FT and 10 assists. Miller had 17 points and 10 assists. He also had 4 steals. Earl Boykins chipped in 13 points off the bench. Eduardo Najera had 6 points and 7 rebounds and Francisco Elson had 4 points and 7 rebounds. Greg Buckner did the dirty work and had 8 points including 3-9 FG and a career high 7 steals. Dallas' high scorers came from the bench. Keith Van Horn had 21 points including 9-15 FG. Jerry Stackhouse had 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Dirk Nowitzki had 19 points and attempted just 13 shoots. He also had 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 6 turnovers. Jason Terry had 16 points and 10 assists. Josh Howard had just 9 points and 4 rebounds. DeSagana Diop didn't do much with just 2 points and 2 rebounds in 13 minutes. Erick Dampier had 7 points including 3-3 FG and 5 rebounds. Adrian Griffin had 4 points and Marquis Daniels had 6 points. Quotes George Karl on Martin: "It might be the best game he's played since I've been here. He took our team on his back in many ways. He was fantastic. The great thing is you can go on the court and compete and play hard with intensity and focus and some of those [off the court] things go away. Unfortunately, they come back." Karl on Anthony: "Melo got us the lead. We ran some pick-and-rolls to get some big guys on him and instead of pulling up for a jump shot, he penetrated the ball and got some fouls. I thought that was key." Carmelo Anthony: "It seems like we always pull a trick out of our bag when we play a top team in the NBA. If we could do that against the lower teams, then we would be in pretty good shape." Anthony: "I took what they were giving me. I got a chance to get to the basket and get fouled." Anthony: "Hopefully, we can build off our win against Dallas. We're just looking for confidence right now." Anthony on his assists: "They was hitting shots, my teammates. K-Mart was spectacular. Other than that, we jumped on them from the get-go." Kenyon Martin: "We wanted to run. They traveled last night, played yesterday. So we just wanted to come out in this altitude. It's not the easiest place to play." Martin: "I'm trying to be aggressive. We needed a win. I just came out and tried to play as hard as I could." Martin: "I know I can play basketball, my teammates know I can play, and that's the only thing that matters at the end of the day." Avery Johnson: "We were lethargic physically and mentally. We were still stuck at the hotel." Johnson: "We were lethargic physically and mentally. We didn't show up. We didn't have that juice that we normally have off the bench." Johnson: "You think a streak is never going to come to an end. When it does, it doesn't feel good." Johnson on Martin: "He was making his jumper. We weren't physical with him. We were just a step slow." Dirk Nowitzki: "This was probably one of our worst performances of the season. But we had a good run. This is kind of weird. If you're not used to losing, it feels like you just lost a playoff series. It stings." Josh Howard: "We played right into their game." Jason Terry on the end of the winning streak: "We didn't even buy into the whole streak thing. It was fun while it lasted. Now, let's start another one." Jerry Stackhouse: "We got beat. We've been handing out a lot of beatings over the last 29 days. We came out on the bad end of it tonight." Denver Nuggets 113, Dallas Mavericks 104 at Denver (February 10) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Denver 34 28 30 21 - 113 .618 .100 .556 .759 Dallas 21 31 21 31 - 104 .579 .348 .513 .824 Halftime: Denver 62-52 3rd Q: Denver 92-73 Technicals: Denver defensive 3 seconds 7:19 2nd Refs: Ron Garretson, Marc Davis, Matt Boland Attendance: 18,853 (19,099) Did not play due to injury: Marcus Camby (strained lower back) Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Greg Buckner 37 3-9 0-3 2-5 8 0-1 2 1 3 7 1 Andre Miller 37 8-12 0-1 1-1 17 0-3 10 4 1 4 0 Carmelo Anthony 39 7-16 0-1 10-14 24 0-1 10 4 3 1 1 Kenyon Martin 37 14-18 0-0 6-6 34 3-9 2 0 3 2 0 Francisco Elson 31 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-7 0 1 3 0 0 Eduardo Najera 25 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 2-7 0 1 1 2 0 Earl Boykins 20 6-13 1-4 0-0 13 0-1 1 3 1 2 0 Linus Kleiza 11 1-2 0-0 3-3 5 1-2 1 1 4 0 0 Earl Watson 3 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 45-81 1-10 22-29 113 7-31 26 15 19 18 2 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 35 7-15 2-7 0-0 16 0-4 10 4 4 2 1 Adrian Griffin 14 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 1 0 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 37 6-13 1-4 6-7 19 1-8 5 6 1 0 0 Josh Howard 28 4-9 0-1 1-2 9 0-4 3 4 3 1 0 DeSagana Diop 13 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 1-2 0 2 2 0 1 Jerry Stackhouse 32 8-17 2-5 2-2 20 4-5 4 3 1 0 0 Keith Van_Horn 31 9-15 3-5 0-0 21 1-7 2 0 2 1 0 Erick Dampier 21 3-3 0-0 1-2 7 1-5 1 0 1 0 2 Marquis Daniels 18 2-3 0-0 2-2 6 0-0 1 2 2 2 0 Darrell Armstrong 11 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 1 3 3 0 0 Totals 48 41-80 8-23 14-17 104 9-36 28 24 21 7 4 New York at Dallas (February 13) Dallas welcomed back Devin Harris after he had missed one game with a strained quad. New York was playing the 2nd night of a back-to-back and was without Stephon Marbury (bruised left shoulder) and Jamal Crawford (sore lower back). Using 2 3-pointers, Dallas jumped out to an 8-3 lead with 10:15 to go. 3 points by Jalen Rose gave New York their only lead of the game at 19-18 with 4:55 left. Josh Howard then scored the next 5 points to put Dallas back up. 3-pointers by Keith Van Horn surrounded a New York free throw to close the quarter and Dallas led 35-25 after 1. Howard had 10 points in the quarter. Dallas shot 6-9 3-pointers in the quarter. Dallas scored the first 6 points of the 2nd quarter to go up 41-25 with 10 minutes remaining. Dallas scored 5 straight points to take their first 20+ point lead at 51-31 with 4:50 left. A jumper by Channing Frye and consecutive buckets by Quentin Richardson pulled New York within 40-53 with 1:40 to go, but the Knicks would get no closer. Dallas led 59-44 at the half. DeSagana Diop got cut under his left eye early in the 3rd quarter and had to go to the locker room to get 5 stitches - he did return later in the game. A 3-pointer by Jalen Rose and 3-point play by Eddy Curry pulled New York within 51-63 with 7:25 left, but Dallas then went on a 16-4 run to go up 79-55 with 1:45 remaining. Dallas led 82-59 after 3. New York had 9 turnovers in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter was pure garbage time - and it got really ugly in the last few minutes - as Dallas led in the 20s the entire quarter. Dallas won 100-72. It was an easy win, but it wasn't a pretty win. After Dallas shot 50% FG and New York shot 46% FG in the 1st half, Dallas only shot 30% FG and New York shot 24% FG in the 2nd half. As I said, it got ugly out there. New York was called for 5 24 second violations - and 2 of them were simply the Knicks not realizing the clock was running out. The Knicks sorely missed their 2 pseudo-point guards in Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford as New York only had 10 assists for the game, while Dallas did a very good job of sharing the ball with 22 assists - only 7 Dallas made shots were not assisted. New York had 24 turnovers (some of them unforced) and Dallas had 13 turnovers (7 in the sloppy 4th). For the game, Dallas shot 39.7% (29-73) FG including 8-19 3-pointers and New York shot 35.7% (25-70) FG including 3-5 3-pointers. Dallas shot 34-37 FT and New York shot 19-29 FT. New York did out-rebound Dallas 44-38 including 19-11 offensive. It was Dallas 10th straight home win. Dallas had balance scoring as 6 players were in double-digits and no one player dominated. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 21 points including 11-11 FT and also had 7 rebounds in 29 minutes. Jason Terry hit 3 3-pointers in the 1st quarter and finished with 15 points including 4-5 3-pointers and a team high 5 assists in 22 minutes. Josh Howard didn't have a great outing with 14 points including 4-12 FG and just 3 rebounds in 20 minutes. DeSagana Diop had a poor outing in missing his 2 attempts and had just 1 rebound in 11 minutes. Adrian Griffin had 2 points and 3 rebounds in 16 minutes. The Mavs got nice production from the bench. DJ Mbenga surprisingly got some 1st quarter minutes and played well. He had 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 5 blocks in 15 minutes. Erick Dampier continues to produce off the bench and had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse had 10 points and 4 rebounds and Keith Van Horn had 11 points. Devin Harris numbers don't say much (4 points and 3 assists), but he was on the court during Dallas' pull away run in the 3rd quarter. New York did have 4 player in double-digits, but 13 points, 12 points, and 2 10 points rarely will get you a win. Jalen Rose had 13 points and played the point a lot during the game. Quentin Richardson had 12 points and 5 rebounds. Channing Frye did have a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds including 6 offensive, but only shot 3-14 FG. Eddy Curry had 10 points and 5 rebounds. Nate Robinson had 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. Quotes Avery Johnson: "We thought we put together a pretty good game tonight. The defense was pretty consistent. We had a little lapse with about 2 minutes left in the 2nd quarter where they scored about 13 points in 2 minutes. We were disappointed with that going into halftime. The players challenged themselves to pick it up defensively. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well tonight. We had a good team effort. We had a lot of contribution from a lot of different people. Damp and Mbenga played well off the bench for us. We didn't turn the ball over as much as we did in Denver, which is a good thing. We still got out-rebounded, but overall it was a good team effort and our bench really contributed to our win." Johnson on Mbenga playing early: "DeSagana wasn't particularly well. He didn't have as much energy as he normally has and I didn't want to go to Damp too early and I didn't want to go to Keith too early either. DJ has been practicing and playing hard and I've been looking for different spots where I can put him in. He normally plays in blowouts. He got in tonight, competed well, got 5 block shots for us. He still has to continue to rebound better, but overall I liked what I saw. He's physical, has energy, and is a good finisher inside. You really have to guard him. He's been anxious to play." Dirk Nowitzki on the last Dal-NY game: "It's hard to play in [Madison Square] Garden. They have a good home team and good home fans. Obviously they were a little different team with Marbury out there and Crawford was playing back then. We still feel we should have won that game. We were right there and had our chances in regulation and overtime." Nowitzki on the last Dal-NY game: "Obviously, that kick started a nice little streak for us after that and we played some good basketball. With the Denver loss, maybe we needed another loss to get refocused." Nowitzki: "We had to respond after the Denver loss. We had a great practice yesterday and a great shootaround and I think it carried over to the game. We did all of the little things defensively. Other than giving up nearly 20 offensive rebounds, we did everything great defensively and that led to a lot of fast breaks. We were moving the ball and whoever was open made a play." Josh Howard: "We had some good looks. Guys are finding each other and we are playing great Mavericks' basketball. We jumped out and had a good lead and we just kept the lead going." Howard: "It's big when you hit free throws. That's a free opportunity to get points so you want to take that opportunity and run with it. That's a good job for us to make that high a percent." Howard on the Denver game: "You want to use that game as a learning process game. I think we picked up on some things that we did wrong and corrected them tonight." Jason Terry if they were thinking about the New York loss: "We definitely were. Any time you get a good performance against the team that previously beat you, it vindicates things. We're just trying to stay focused, keep grinding it out and get better." Keith Van Horn: "We're always successful when we get the ball moving from side to side. When we focus on doing that, our offense really flows well, everybody really gets a feel for the ball, everybody scores and we have a great offensive night." Devin Harris: "They haven't been playing good and we wanted to keep them down. We came out aggressive." Erick Dampier: "We played good defense tonight. We've just got to be consistent with it every night. We give ourselves a chance to win a lot of games with our defense." DJ Mbenga: "I have been ready for a long time. I talked to coach and he told me just to be ready because I never know; I could call you at any time. The only thing I can do is wait and be ready when he calls." Mbenga: "Defense is very important; that is the key for the game. So when they put me on the court, I have to do a good job because if DeSagana is hurt or Dampier is hurt, I can not just be active; I have to help the team." Larry Brown on playing without Marbury and Crawford: "It's tough, absolutely. We had 1 assist in the 2nd half. It's pretty painful. They [Dallas] are great. They are so much better defensively than they have been. They have unbelievable depth. They are so well coached. It was tough." Brown on multiple substitutions during the game: "We have young kids who all want to play and they realize how difficult this league is. I don't ever worry about that. That is why you have a lot of people on your team. You hope that they have a chance to play and that they benefit by it. I looked out there and Channing was battling like crazy with 14 rebounds. His effort was great. You hope kids benefit in situations like that. It is just unfortunate that we are not defensive in the back court. When you have those guys get hurt and Nate is not a point guard right now it makes it tough. We have to learn from it and just keep trying to get better." Brown: "I don't enjoy this feeling. I feel for those guys in the dressing room. We have to figure out a way to get one." Quentin Richardson on playing without Marbury and Crawford: "Just compete. It's tough, but not 28 points tough. That's defeat. I know we had a lot of turnovers, we have a lot of young players. Other than that, we just have to compete and listen to what coach says." Richardson: "I've lost before, but it's the way we're losing now that hurts." Richardson: "We had 10 assists for the game? I never heard of that on any level, I don't think." Jalen Rose: "You just have to give Dallas the credit. They have a good team; they have been playing well this season. The guys understand their roles and they are well coached. They have been playing good basketball, especially at home. They ran into a team that has not been playing well, and trying to learn all the things that they are doing. At this point, it didn't show." Rose: "We've got a lot of guys in here that are learning how to win. And when you're learning that on the fly over an 82-game schedule, you're going to have some tough times." Malik Rose: "One of our problems is we're always pointing a finger, be it coaches or players. I was told a long time ago, you point one finger, you get 3 pointed back at you. We have to look at the mirror and see where we can make this team better, everyone from top to bottom. Everyone is looking at the problem instead of looking at the mirror." Dallas Mavericks 100, New York Knicks 72 at Dallas (February 13) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 35 24 23 18 - 100 .389 .421 .397 .919 New York 25 19 15 13 - 72 .338 .600 .357 .655 Halftime: Dallas 59-44 3rd Q: Dallas 82-59 Technicals: New York delay of game (2nd) 6:15 3rd Refs: Jack Nies, Jess Kersey, David Guthrie Attendance: 19,749 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Jamal Crawford (sore lower back) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 22 4-8 4-5 3-4 15 0-1 5 2 0 2 1 Adrian Griffin 16 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 2-3 2 1 3 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 29 5-12 0-3 11-11 21 1-7 2 0 1 1 0 Josh Howard 20 4-12 1-2 5-5 14 2-3 2 0 2 0 0 DeSagana Diop 11 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 3 0 1 Marquis Daniels 31 2-5 0-0 3-3 7 0-3 4 2 2 3 0 Erick Dampier 25 4-7 0-0 3-5 11 6-12 0 2 3 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 24 2-5 0-0 6-6 10 0-1 4 1 3 0 0 Keith Van_Horn 20 4-10 2-5 1-1 11 0-2 0 1 2 2 2 Devin Harris 18 2-4 0-1 0-0 4 0-2 3 0 1 0 0 DJ Mbenga 15 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 1 1 1 5 Darrell Armstrong 8 1-6 1-3 0-0 3 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 29-73 8-19 34-37 100 11-38 22 13 21 10 9 New York Knicks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Nate Robinson 35 4-10 1-2 0-0 9 2-6 3 3 4 1 0 Quentin Richardson 33 5-13 0-0 2-2 12 3-5 3 2 5 0 1 Jalen Rose 32 4-10 1-1 4-7 13 1-2 2 3 4 0 0 Malik Rose 18 2-3 0-0 3-5 7 0-2 1 0 2 1 0 Eddy Curry 20 3-5 0-0 4-7 10 3-5 0 4 4 1 0 Channing Frye 28 3-14 0-0 4-4 10 6-14 1 2 3 1 1 Qyntel Woods 21 1-4 1-2 0-0 3 0-2 0 2 2 0 0 Trevor Ariza 16 0-4 0-0 1-2 1 2-3 0 0 2 0 0 Jackie Butler 15 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 0 1 3 0 0 Maurice Taylor 14 2-3 0-0 1-2 5 1-2 0 1 1 0 0 David Lee 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 25-70 3-5 19-29 72 19-44 10 24 31 4 2 Washington at Dallas (February 15) Dallas held small leads early on and led 18-13 with 7 minutes remaining. Washington then scored the next 8 points to go up 21-18 with 4:30 left. Washington held small leads most of the rest of the quarter. A bucket by Marquis Daniels tied the game at 29-29 with 15 seconds left. Caron Butler had 11 points. After Michael Ruffin got a putback early in the 2nd quarter, Dallas then scored the next 7 points to go up 36-31 with 10:10 remaining. There were a lot of missed shots over the next couple of minutes and 5 straight points by Washington tied the game at 36-36 with 7:50 left Dallas scored the next 10 points to go up 46-36 with 4:50 to go. Washington scored the next 4 points and Dallas held a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 56-49 at the half. Dallas shot 44% FG and Washington shot 42% FG. A layup by DeSagana Diop and bucket by Josh Howard gave Dallas a 64-54 lead with 9:30 remaining. An alley-oop from Daniels to Howard and layup by Jason Terry gave Dallas their largest lead at 72-60 with 4:50 to go. Washington then went on an 11-2 run to pull within 71-74 with 45 seconds left. Dallas led 76-72 after 3. The 4th quarter saw Dallas clinging to a single-digit lead as Washington pulled within 1 point 4 times. 6 straight points by the Mavs put them up 92-85 with 4:30 remaining, but Antawn Jamison ended Dallas' spurt with a 3-pointer and Dallas was not able to create any distance from the Wizards. Butler hit 2 free throws to pull Washington within 94-97 with 2:20 left. Dallas missed, Gilbert Arenas was called for an offensive foul for throwing an elbow, and Dallas missed again with 1:30 to go. Butler got a bucket with 1:15 remaining to make it a 1 point game. Not liking Dallas' offensive setup, Avery Johnson called timeout with 9 seconds left on the shot clock. The ball was inbounded to Dirk Nowitzki and as the defense collapsed on him, Nowitzki found a wide open Erick Dampier under the basket and Damp got the easy layup to give Dallas a 99-96 lead with 50 seconds left. Arenas missed another jumper and Dallas ran some time off the clock. Terry drove and his floater went in with 17 seconds left. After a Washington timeout, Jamison missed, but Adrian Griffin was called for a foul going for the loose ball (Dallas had 1 to give) and it was still Washington ball with 8.5 seconds. Surprisingly, Eddie Jordan used his last timeout to set up a play (surprising to me as I thought being down by 5 you needed the timeout to advance the ball with such little time left). But his designed play didn't work as Washington struggled to inbound the ball and Howard picked off the inbounds pass and took the ball the other way for the breakaway slam dunk. Howard did get called for a T for hanging on the rim and the technical free throw capped the scoring. Dallas won 103-97. It wasn't a great game by Dallas, but it was a win. The Mavs were able to contain Gilbert Arenas (some of it was him missing shots and some of it was Dallas' defense) and that helped them get this win. Dallas never put enough distance between themselves in Washington to feel comfortable, but they made the plays - both offensively and defensively - at the end of the game. Dallas shot 47.6% FG (39-82) FG including 7-19 3-pointers and Washington shot 43.4% (36-83) FG including 4-11 3-pointers. Dallas shot 18-24 FT and Washington shot 21-27 FT. [Since the Wiz complained about the officiating, let me point out that the refs didn't call a lot of things both ways, as is common in nationally televised games. The players may have not liked it, but they needed to adjust.] Washington did out-rebound Dallas 47-41 including 18-13 offensive. It was the last game for both teams prior to the All-Star break. In case you didn't notice, this was Dallas' 41st win - meaning they are guaranteed a .500 season. Josh Howard, as usual, enjoyed the home court and had a game high 26 points including 10-17 FG and also had 6 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki wasn't great defensively, but did have 25 points including 8-10 FT, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. He did defend well on Washington's inbound play near the end of the game where Washington turned the ball over. It was a while before Jason Terry hit a 2-pointer, but he hit 3 3-pointers early in the game and did hit some 2s later in the game. He had 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. He and Devin Harris mostly shared the duties of keeping track of Gilbert Arenas. Both Jerry Stackhouse and Keith Van Horn struggled. Stackhouse had 2 points on 1-7 FG to go with 5 rebounds. Van Horn had 7 points including 2-6 FG and no boards or assists. Marquis Daniels played well in the 1st half (and not so well in the 2nd half) and had 10 points including 4-5 FG, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. Harris had 6 points and 3 assists in 16 minutes. Adrian Griffin missed his only attempt and had 4 assists in 17 minutes. DeSagana Diop had 4 points and 4 rebounds. Erick Dampier was the high rebounder with 9 boards to go with 2 points on 1-4 FG - and the only bucket being a key one late in the game. As mentioned above, Gilbert Arenas struggled mightily. The 4th highest scorer in the league came in averaging 28.5 points. He only had 12 points including 4-22 FG in this game. He also had 6 turnovers. Caron Butler had a nice performance with his quick release. He had a double-double with 27 points including 10-18 FG and 11 rebounds. Antawn Jamison also had a double-double with 24 points including 9-16 FG and 11 rebounds. Jared Jeffries had 14 points. Michael Ruffin chipped in 5 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Quotes Avery Johnson: "I was really concerned about this game. This was a tough game for us, playing against a really hot team. They put a lot of stress on our defense. We were fortunate to get some stops when we did. It was a pretty steady game for us. We knew that we would have to out-score them. We were hoping that we could score 100 points because that is what it would take at a minimum to beat them." Johnson: "We had a lot of contributions tonight. Marquis Daniels was great in the 1st half. Dampier had another great catch and finish for us. We were really aggressive in the 4th quarter, trying to get to the basket. These guys are really tough minded and they fight through a lot of adversity through the course of a game. We haven't arrived yet. We need to get some rest, but we look forward to getting back to work next week." Johnson on having the best record in the Western Conference: "We're really striving to be the top dog in June, not February." Josh Howard: "We hit some big shots at the end of the game, and played some good team defense. Dirk hit a couple of big shots towards the end, and that's what we needed." Howard on the defense on Arenas: "We just wanted to keep a guy in his face at all times. We wanted to frustrate him, especially when he came off pick-and-rolls, and make sure our big guys were up on him so he couldn't get a good look at the basket." Howard on the play where Nowitzki found Dampier alone under the basket late in the game: "It was a great play. It was something Coach drew up. We used it in Memphis too. That's 2 for 2 for us." Howard on Washington: "They have great players on their team and they don't quit. We had them up by 10 twice and just couldn't put them away. It's hard like that when you have a great team like that you're playing against. We finished it out when we needed to at the end." Howard on Dallas: "I'd say we are at about 80% right now. I still think there's a level or 2 that we can still reach, especially on the defensive end. Our offense has already been clicking and doing a great job. We showed that during the win streak. Our defense is improved. We just have to continue to grow and learn each other and do what coach asks us to do." Howard on what he needs to improve on in the 2nd half of the season: "I want to take my game to another level. There's always room for improvement. During this break I'm going to get a lot of rest and try to rest my ankle. I want to try to come back healthier than what I am now." Jason Terry on the defense on Arenas: We're definitely pleased with the way we contained him. We're half way through the season and we like where we're at, but we've got a long way to go. We're very humble and we just want to continue to work hard and achieve our goals. Tonight was another great effort. Guys had a high level of concentration and defensively, for the most part, we contained their big gun and we got the win." Terry on Arenas: "He's similar to Iverson, McGrady, and Kobe as where if they get in a rhythm by going to the free throw line, then they start to hit jump shots. We were able to contain him and keep him off the line. It was a long night for him." Terry: We've had great practices for late-game situations. We're very confident down the stretch." Terry: "The defining character of a championship team is getting stops when you need to and that's something we've been working towards all year long. This was another game that was evident of us getting stops when we needed to and we did that tonight." Terry: "We hit some big shots at the end of the game and played some good team defense. Dirk hit a couple of big shots towards the end, and that's what we needed." Terry: "We stopped them when we had to. That's the sign of a good team." Terry: "I love the 4th quarter. Dirk draws so much attention and they kind of play off me and that gives me some open shots. Give some credit to Dampier tonight. He came out to play and got that basket when we needed it and he finished strong." Terry on having the best record in the Western Conference: "That doesn't mean anything right now. That's where we want to be in April. We're going to come back hungry. We know what we're playing for. ... We have to get home court." Adrian Griffin: "We just followed the game plan. Defending those guys is just a total team effort." Eddie Jordan: "I really thought we competed very well. We didn't let them get away from us. We were hanging around. Gilbert didn't have a very good game shooting the basketball, but otherwise he played very well. Our 2 forwards, Antawn and Caron, really played well and stepped it up. Jared [Jeffries] had a good 2nd half. Michael Ruffin again was great for us. But they put you in those situations where you're either going to get in the rotations with those pick-and-rolls with Nowitzki and Terry and you're going to leave people open or you decide to switch and keep a body on people and give Nowitzki a mismatch where ever he goes. We just tried to switch and keep a body on them and we just didn't come down with a good offensive play. We missed on 2 offensive possessions that were critical for us, and that was it." Gilbert Arenas: "It was kind of frustrating driving in and getting hit, and you don't hear any whistle. You're fighting in an uphill battle especially playing a team that could possibly win a championship in their home place before the All-Star break so you're not going to get those easy calls you usually get everywhere else." Arenas: "That was difficult. I just tried to play my game and go inside. It was kind of frustrating driving in and getting hit. I didn't hear any whistle." Arenas: "It's just hard beating a team like that on the road. If we were at home I'd probably be at the free throw line 25 times. It's just one of those games." Caron Butler: "Playing one of the hottest teams in the league - they're excellent at home - and just to play down to the wire shows a lot about our team and is a big confidence boost on where we can be if we continue to play at that level how we played tonight." Butler: "I really wanted to just spark the team tonight and bounce back. I think I did that, but we still fell a little short collectively. Hopefully we bounce back after the All-Star break." Jared Jeffries: "All you can really say is we're improving. We're definitely a better team than we were a few weeks ago. If we keep building on that, we'll be fine." Dallas Mavericks 103, Washington Wizards 97 at Dallas (February 15) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 29 27 20 27 - 103 .508 .368 .476 .750 Washington 29 20 23 25 - 97 .444 .364 .434 .778 Halftime: Dallas 56-49 3rd Q: Dallas 76-72 Technicals: Washington defensive 3 seconds 10:04 1st, Eddie Jordan 6:54 4th, Josh Howard (hanging on the rim) 0:05 4th Refs: Bob Delaney, Ron Olesiak, Courtney Kirkland Attendance: 19,714 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 32 7-18 3-7 2-4 19 0-3 3 1 1 1 1 Adrian Griffin 17 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 4 1 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 37 8-14 1-3 8-10 25 2-7 4 3 1 0 0 Josh Howard 36 10-17 2-2 4-4 26 3-6 0 0 2 2 2 DeSagana Diop 12 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 2-4 0 0 4 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 24 1-7 0-2 0-0 2 0-5 1 2 2 1 0 Erick Dampier 23 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 3-9 0 1 2 0 1 Marquis Daniels 20 4-5 0-1 2-4 10 2-4 5 2 1 0 0 Keith Van_Horn 18 2-6 1-4 2-2 7 0-0 0 1 2 0 0 Devin Harris 16 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 1-2 3 2 1 0 1 DJ Mbenga 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 39-82 7-19 18-24 103 13-41 20 14 22 4 5 Washington Wizards REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Gilbert Arenas 45 4-22 0-2 4-6 12 0-2 3 6 5 0 2 Jared Jeffries 37 6-10 0-0 2-5 14 2-3 4 1 1 0 0 Antawn Jamison 42 9-16 3-5 3-3 24 1-11 3 4 2 0 1 Caron Butler 41 10-18 1-2 6-6 27 4-11 1 1 2 1 0 Brendan Haywood 22 2-6 0-0 4-4 8 2-5 1 0 0 0 1 Michael Ruffin 23 2-2 0-0 1-2 5 6-10 0 0 5 0 3 Donell Taylor 12 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 2-3 1 2 5 3 2 Antonio Daniels 10 0-2 0-2 1-1 1 0-1 1 1 0 0 0 Calvin Booth 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 1 0 1 1 0 Etan Thomas 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 36-83 4-11 21-27 97 18-47 15 16 21 5 9 patricia