Avery Johnson will coach the Western Conference team in the All-Star game as Dallas has clinched having the best or 2nd best record in the Western Conference for February 5 - Gregg Popovich (SA) is ineligible to coach this season as he coached the Western Conference team last season. The All-Star game is February 19 in Houston. The NBA named Avery Johnson and Flip Saunders (Det) as Coaches of the Month for January. Both teams went 13-2 in January. It is the 3rd time (out of the 4 months he's coached) that Johnson has been named as Coach of the Month for the Western Conference. The NBA selected Devin Harris as a member of the Sophomore Team for the annual Rookie-Sophomore game that will take place February 17 in Houston. Del Harris was named as coach for the Sophomore team as the NBA selected the lead assistants of the All-Star coaches to coach the teams (Sidney Lowe (Det) will coach the Rookies). Dallas at Golden State (January 25) Dallas scored the first 4 points of the game over 2 minutes as Golden State was putting up some ugly shots. The Warriors finally found the basket 2:20 in and then went on a 15-4 run to go up 15-8 with 6 minutes remaining. A jumper by Mike Dunleavy gave Golden State their largest lead at 22-11 with 3 minutes to go. Golden State led 27-18 after 1. Troy Murphy had 11 points. Andris Biedrins was on the court to open the 2nd quarter, but only lasted 36 seconds as he collected 3 fouls and sat the rest of the game. Devin Harris connected on consecutive layups and Adrian Griffin got a bucket to pull Dallas within 30-32 with 7:40 left, but the Mavs could not pull even or take the lead. Golden State led 41-39 with 3:40 to go and the Warriors scored the next 9 points to go up 50-39 with 1:30 remaining. A 3-point play by Baron Davis gave Golden State their largest lead at 55-43 with 10 seconds left. Jerry Stackhouse nailed a 3-pointer. As Harris was being hammered by a pick, Davis stepped out of bounds bring the ball up court. After a pause in action while Harris was helped off the court (he would not return due to a strained right shoulder), Dallas got the ball inbounds with less than 3 seconds left and Jason Terry drained a 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer. Golden State led 55-49 at the half. A slam dunk by Jason Richardson gave Golden State a 61-53 lead with 10 minutes to go. Dallas then went on an 11-3 run to tie the game at 64-64 on a dunk by DeSagana Diop with 6:35 remaining. The teams traded buckets and Murphy scored 5 straight points. Golden State held a small lead the rest of the quarter. Golden State led 78-74 after 3. Golden State completely lost their shooting touch (and they stuck mostly to the outside) and laid an egg to open the 4th quarter. Dallas went on a 17-1 run to go up 91-79 with 5:25 to go as Golden State missed their first 16 shots of the quarter. Richardson strained his back with 6:30 remaining (and Dallas up by 8) and did not return. Derek Fisher hit 3 free throws (fouled on a 3-point attempt) with 4 minutes left to pull Golden State within 9 points, but Terry answered with a 3-pointer. A dunk by Stackhouse gave Dallas their largest lead at 96-82 with 2 minutes remaining. Mickael Pietrus got a layup with 1:50 left to end Golden States' 10 1/2 minute field goal drought. Dallas' lead stayed in double-digits until Davis' 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining. Dallas won 102-93. It wasn't an easy win, but the Mavs managed to pull it out by dominating the 4th quarter in out-scoring Golden State 28-15 - okay, Golden State helped by going ice cold in the quarter (4-21 FG), but Dallas also out-rebounded Golden State 21-10 including 6-4 offensive in the quarter. Golden State had shot 50% FG through 3 quarters, but the 4th quarter dropped them down to 41.6% (32-77) including 6-18 3-pointers for the game. Dallas didn't shoot great for 3 of the 4 quarters (55% FG in the 2nd quarter) and shot 42.5% (37-87) FG including 6-16 3-pointers for the game. Dallas shot 22-28 FT and Golden State shot 23-35 FT. Despite dominating the boards in the 4th quarter, Dallas only had a slight rebounding edge for the game and out-rebounded Golden State 50-47 including 16-15 offensive. Both teams were fairly clean with the ball as Dallas had 9 turnovers (converted into 6 Golden State points) and Golden State had 12 turnovers (converted into 13 Dallas points). It was Dallas' 6th straight win. 11 of Jerry Stackhouse's team high 23 points came in the 4th quarter. He also had 4 rebounds. 9 of Jason Terry's 16 points came in the 4th quarter as the 2 combined to out-score Golden State 20-15 in the 4th quarter. Terry only shot 6-18 FG for the game, but did hit 3-6 FG in the 4th. He also had 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Dirk Nowitzki had 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Josh Howard had 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals. Adrian Griffin had a team high 10 rebounds to go with 8 points. Devin Harris had 11 points including 4-5 FG in 13 minutes before leaving with his sprained right shoulder. Erick Dampier had a nice outing against his former team with 7 points and 9 rebounds including 5 offensive. DeSagana Diop had 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Keith Van Horn returned to action after missing the previous 3 games with a sprained left ankle and had 2 points on 1-4 FG, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in 16 minutes. Marquis Daniels, out since January 4 with a strained neck, left the team to attend to a family emergency and also missed the next game. Baron Davis had a double-double with 26 points and 10 assists. Troy Murphy also had a double-double with 22 points including 9-15 FG and 14 rebounds. Jason Richardson had 17 points and 6 rebounds before his injury. Adonal Foyle had 6 points and 9 rebounds. Mike Dunleavy had 8 points including 2-8 FG and 6 rebounds. Derek Fisher had 6 points including 1-6 FG and Mickael Pietrus had 8 points including 3-9 FG for Golden State's only bench points as Dallas' bench outscored Golden State's bench 43-14. Quotes Avery Johnson: "To start the game we were a step slow. They had a lot more juice in the tank and a lot more energy. We weren't very good defensively in the 1st half. We were able to play a little better in the 3rd quarter, but we got some stops and fortunately they missed some shots. I thought we contested their shots more in the 4th quarter than we had all game long. We got some ball movement. Stackhouse gave us a big lift off the bench. Dampier gave us another solid game tonight. Adrian Griffin did a lot of intangible things for us. We were really fortunate enough to get out of here with a victory." Johnson: "We look like a team that had been relaxing for 2 or 3 days, we were a step slow. But give them some credit, the Warriors are a team that hurt us the first time that we played them and we had that in the back of our minds. But we thought we had made a step forward as a team, but it just didn't look like it in the 1st half." Johnson: "Fortunately there are 2 halves. At the half, I gave them 3 or 4 points to think about because I knew they could play better. Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, and Troy Murphy are a handful for everybody in the league, not just us." Johnson on being the Western coach for the All-Star game: "It's nothing about me. If we're fortunate enough to be a part of that situation, it just shows that the guys that play for the Mavericks won some games and we're in the heat of the race. It's no goal of ours. It's a nice honor if something like that were to happen." Dirk Nowitzki on Johnson coaching in the All-Star game: "I'm really happy for him. It should be a fun All-Star game - if I'm there." Josh Howard: "You can't always turn it on and off like that. You need to always have it. We were sleep walking for 3 quarters, but did turn it on in time." Jason Terry: "The 3 at the end of the 1st half sure got me going. I was in quicksand for all the 1st half until that play. I got a little bounce in my step after I hit that one. We had a great 4th quarter defensively and that's what propelled us to the win. Golden State is a tough team despite their record." Jerry Stackhouse: "We are just trying to take it 1 game at a time, we can only control our destiny. The Warriors are a dangerous team and had it going in the 1st half. We seemed to be sleep walking, and finally got it together in the 2nd half. The key in the 2nd half was our rebounding and our ability to defend their penetration better than we did in the 1st half." Stackhouse: "This team is a dangerous team and they got off to a pretty good start. We were pretty much sleep walking through the 1st half, finally got ourselves together and had a good 2nd half." Stackhouse on the 4th quarter run: "We started to rebound and get some 2nd chance opportunities, holding them to 1 shot and got out in transition. They sent so many guys to the boards, we were able to push it and make some open baskets and got away from them." Stackhouse: "We don't have to depend on Dirk in every game. We have guys on this team who can do a lot of things." Stackhouse: "All wins are huge. We are just trying to take it 1 game at a time. We can only control our own destiny. We can't worry about what the Spurs are doing, but this was a big win for us." Devin Harris on his shoulder injury: "I didn't see him coming. I just ran into him. It's the same shoulder I hurt this summer. I just hit him awkwardly." Mike Montgomery: "We played again very well in the 1st half. We're up by 12. We're having a hard time sustaining a high level. Part of it is we're having a hard time rebounding the ball - we're giving up a lot of offensive rebounds. Part of it is missing free throws, which takes a lot of steam out of you." Montgomery on the 4th quarter: "All of a sudden, we went stone cold. We just can't sustain the level. When we learn to play - sustain a level like we're capable of - and play for some point in time, then we'll be able to beat these teams." Montgomery on the 4th quarter drought: "Most of them were good shots. But when we needed a bucket, the questions you've got to ask is where to go to get a basket? Where do you go to get a basket when you need one? That's the tough part." Dunleavy: "The last couple of games we've kind of shot ourselves in the foot with the free throw situation. That's a lot of points. It's not like we're not taking the ball to the basket - we are. We're certainly taking some jump shots that are open. We're taking good shots and they're not going down." Dunleavy: "We're better than we've been since I've been here, but we're also more disappointed, because we have the talent to be over .500. You just have to stick with it and fight through it. However we come out is how good we are. Who knows how good this team can be or where we'll finish up? I think we've shown at stretches we could compete with anybody in the league. It's just over a 48 minute span we have to maintain it." Troy Murphy: "What deflated us a little bit at the end of the half were those 2 3s. We worked really hard to get a lead. And then they banged 2 3s and cut it in half. Those were big momentum builders. Then we came out and played well at the beginning of the 2nd half and in the 4th quarter we couldn't get anything going." Murphy: "We weren't rebounding defensively. They were getting 2nd opportunities after we played [defense] and that's deflating for us. Defensively to work and not come up with the ball, that in turn had an effect on the offense." Murphy: "We're not good enough to take plays off. We have to come out every night and we have to be at our maximum effort for every play. And you can tell when we're not because stuff happens like it did tonight." Murphy on the 4th quarter: "We just couldn't make a shot." Dallas Mavericks 102, Golden State Warriors 93 at Golden State (January 25) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 18 31 25 28 - 102 .437 .375 .425 .786 Golden State 27 28 23 15 - 93 .441 .333 .416 .657 Halftime: Golden State 55-49 3rd Q: Golden State 78-74 Technicals: Jerry Stackhouse 2:44 3rd Refs: Jim Clark, Bennie Adams, Tommy Nunez Jr Attendance: 16,842 (cap 19,596) Did not play due to injury: Chris Taft (back spasms) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 37 6-18 2-6 2-2 16 1-6 5 1 4 1 0 Adrian Griffin 32 3-5 0-0 2-2 8 4-10 2 2 4 2 0 Josh Howard 38 6-16 0-0 1-3 13 1-8 2 2 3 3 0 Dirk Nowitzki 36 7-18 1-1 3-4 18 0-6 4 1 2 0 1 DeSagana Diop 21 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 2-3 0 0 2 0 3 Jerry Stackhouse 25 7-13 3-6 6-6 23 1-4 1 1 1 0 0 Erick Dampier 20 2-5 0-0 3-5 7 5-9 1 2 5 0 1 Keith Van_Horn 16 1-4 0-2 0-0 2 2-3 3 0 3 0 0 Devin Harris 13 4-5 0-0 3-4 11 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 3 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 37-87 6-16 22-28 102 16-50 20 9 24 6 5 Golden State Warriors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Baron Davis 41 8-19 2-4 8-9 26 2-4 10 4 4 2 0 Jason Richardson 36 6-14 2-5 3-8 17 2-6 4 1 3 0 0 Troy Murphy 40 9-15 1-2 3-4 22 3-14 1 2 3 0 0 Mike Dunleavy 38 2-8 0-1 4-6 8 1-6 0 0 1 0 1 Adonal Foyle 34 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 3-9 1 1 4 1 1 Derek Fisher 27 1-6 0-4 4-4 6 0-2 2 2 2 3 0 Mickael Pietrus 19 3-9 1-2 1-4 8 3-5 0 0 3 0 0 Ike Diogu 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 2 1 0 1 Andris Biedrins 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 3 0 0 Zarko Cabarkapa 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 32-77 6-18 23-35 93 15-47 18 12 24 6 3 Dallas at Seattle (January 26) Dallas was playing without Devin Harris (strained right shoulder) and Seattle was without Luke Ridnour (sprained left knee) and Vladimir Radmanovic (sprained right foot). It was the 2nd night of a back-to-back for Dallas and the Mavs were sleep walking to open the game. A 3-pointer by Rashard Lewis capped a Seattle 16-6 run to give the Sonics a 30-14 lead with 3 minutes remaining. A bucket by Flip Murray with a minute left gave Seattle their largest lead at 34-17. Dallas did score the last 4 points of the quarter. Seattle led 34-21 after 1. Seattle shot 13-21 FG while Dallas shot 9-22 FG. Lewis had 12 points. And in a blink of an eye, Seattle's huge lead vanished as Dallas opened the 2nd quarter by scoring 14 straight points to take their first lead at 35-34 with 8 minutes to go. The teams traded leads a couple of times and the game stayed close with neither team leading by more than 4 points. The game was tied at 53-53 at the half. Seattle shot 8-23 FG and Dallas shot 12-21 FG in the 2nd quarter. Jerry Stackhouse had 11 points in the 2nd quarter. Dallas scored the first 7 points of the 3rd quarter to go up 60-53 with 9:30 remaining. 2 free throws by Dirk Nowitzki gave Dallas their largest lead at 69-58 with 7:30 to go. Dallas led 76-66 with 2:30 left and Seattle closed the quarter with a 10-4 run. Dallas led 80-76 after 3. There were a lot of free throws in the 3rd quarter as both teams shot 13-14 FT (and Seattle whining about a lot of the (legit) calls against them). Nowitzki had 10 points in the 3rd quarter. Dallas continued to hold a single-digit lead in the 4th quarter. Darrell Armstrong dove to save the ball and hit his head on a courtside seat and left the game and did not return - leaving Dallas without a backup point guard and Jason Terry played the rest of the game. Lewis scored 7 straight points, capped by a 3-pointer, to pull Seattle within 87-88 with 5:30 left. The teams traded buckets, Nowitzki converted a 3-point play, and Jason Terry got a dunk to put Dallas up 95-89 with 3:40 left. The teams traded buckets, Mikki Moore got a layup, and Stackhouse converted a 3-point play to give Dallas a 5 point lead with 2:20 to go. A jumper by Lewis pulled Seattle within 95-98 with 2 minutes remaining and Dallas then scored the next 6 points to go up 103-95 with a minute left. Ray Allen got a layup after a timeout. Dallas ran the clock down and Nowitzki missed a 3-point attempt with 24 seconds left. Johan Petro was fouled with 18 seconds to go, but missed both free throws. A free throw by Terry capped the scoring. Dallas won 104-97. Despite such a miserable start, Dallas recovered nicely and managed to pull out a perfect 5 game road trip (7th win overall). It is the first time Dallas has ever won 5 games on a road trip. Both teams had one hot quarter (Seattle 62% FG 1st quarter, Dallas 57% FG 2nd quarter) and shot poorly the other 3 quarters (less than 41.5% each quarter). For the game, Dallas shot 43.2% (35-81) FG including 9-25 3-pointers and Seattle shot 42.9% (33-77) FG including 6-21 3-pointers. Despite Seattle's whining, the free throws were near even as Dallas shot 25-30 FT and Seattle shot 25-29 FT. Dallas had a slight edge on the boards in out-rebounding Seattle 44-42 including 17-13 offensive. The teams were clean with the ball as Dallas had 9 turnovers (which Seattle converted into 10 points) and Seattle had 10 turnovers (which Dallas converted into 17 points). Dirk Nowitzki had a double-double with 29 points on 8-22 FG and 10-11 FT and 12 rebounds. Jason Terry had 20 points and 4 assists. Jerry Stackhouse had 21 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. No other Mav was in double-digits. Josh Howard had just 6 points on 3-9 FG and 3 rebounds (all offensive) in 31 minutes. He also had 3 assists. Keith Van Horn had 9 points including 3-4 FG and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes as the team continues to monitor his minutes. Adrian Griffin had 4 points on 2-3 FG and 7 rebounds. DeSagana Diop had 4 points including 1-4 FG and 5 rebounds including 4 offensive. Erick Dampier had 7 points, 9 rebounds including 4 offensive, and 4 blocks. Darrell Armstrong had 4 points on 2-2 FG and 3 assists in 13 minutes before his injury. As usual, it was the Lewis and Allen show for Seattle. Rashard Lewis had 36 points on 10-15 FG, 4-4 3-pointers, and 12-12 FT. He also had 10 rebounds. Ray Allen had 25 points including 2-11 3-pointers (and he shot 2-2 3-pointers in the 1st quarter) and 6 rebounds. Flip Murray had 10 points on 5-18 FG including 0-5 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. Damien Wilkins had 11 points including 3-9 FG. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Tonight we didn't have a great start to the game. Give them some credit, they came out and they really tried to throw a knockout punch in the 1st quarter. Fortunately we were able to withstand it, get back, and get our defense set. We played some pretty good defense against a high scoring team in the 2nd, 3rd, and the 4th quarter. Obviously they had some players out tonight in Ridnour and Radmanovic, but we were without 2 of our players also in Devin Harris and Marquis Daniels. Josh Howard basically played on 1 ankle. He gutted out 30 minutes for us. I thought Damp had another outstanding game." Johnson: "We had to slow them down and get boards so we could get our defense set. We struggled to get our defense set. They were advancing the ball up the sidelines and getting into their offense really quick. We wanted to just slow them down and put more full court pressure on them. Once we did that and got our defense set, our centers had 7 blocks between them tonight. We were really physical in the post but we haven't arrived yet defensively." Johnson: "Dirk is playing tough. We had a stretch there where we kind of reverted back to our old selves and got jump shot happy for 6 or 7 possessions and I really got on them about that. But I will take this win any way we can get it." Johnson on the road trip: "We were fortunate to get stops. We played some hard nosed defense but this is the 5th win on a 5 game road trip and we have been on the road 11 or 12 days, so to play some pretty good defense against a team that has put up 150, 120, and 115 points. I am awfully proud of our guys. I don't say it enough about how proud I am, probably. That's the kind of coaches I played for, but I am proud of them tonight for their intensity and their concentration. It has been a long road trip and we are ready to get back home and see our families." Dirk Nowitzki on the road trip: "Going west in this league is tough. To come out 5-0 is pretty special. We got lucky on a couple of occasions, but we played well together and played well defensively." Jason Terry: "I thought we got off to a slow start. In the timeout Coach challenged each and every one of us to step it up individually and get back in transition so as not to allow easy 3-point shots. Give credit to the bench. They came to play tonight and got us back in the game with their energy." Terry: "I think Avery is very underrated as a coach and so is the whole staff as a whole. Avery is #1, but the wizard himself is Del Harris. He's a great x's and o's guy. There is not one situation that we aren't prepared for. They have us prepared. We work tremendously in film and just breaking everything down." Terry: "It was a gutsy performance all trip long. It's a testament to our will and the confidence in our system." Terry on the road trip: "Our mindset was just 1 game at a time. We've got to get better as a team. We didn't look at it as a trip, just one game at a time. They were all winnable games." Jerry Stackhouse: "This is a huge game. They will really cap off this trip so we can get back home and take care of business. They made all their shots. It's not like they were getting point blank layups. They were taking long 3s. We just had to congratulate them and run down and try to run down and start our offense. Our offensive flow started coming better and we knew that we were never out of the game. We have too many weapons and power on this team to ever be out of games." Stackhouse: "Defense is great, but if you don't put some points on the board, you're not going to win games." Bob Hill: "I thought under the circumstances with so many guys out we did a terrific job of keeping ourselves in the game with a chance to win. I thought Rashard was great and I thought the 2 big kids did a nice job. They had too many points off their boards in the 1st half. Their centers are big and strong." Hill: "We got off to such a great start, and I was scared to death of that because when you score that easy, you're not going to score that easy the whole game. We shot the ball so well early so what could happen, did. We cooled off, they pressed us, and then we got tentative against the press. They took us out of our offense and got back in the game. We got back in it again late and actually had a chance to get it." Hill: "I thought that Flip [Murray] played a great, great, great 1st quarter. Then he struggled a little bit beyond that. It is a tough position for him to be in to have to play that position the whole game. I think if anything, this game shows how much we miss Luke [Ridnour]. Especially with how he's playing now. He's just playing great. We really missed him." Hill on Nowitzki: "It's hard to guard him. But we just had a hard time scoring. I was going crazy trying to think of something." Hill on Swift in the 2nd half: "I didn't think he was going after the ball often enough. And with those 2 guys right now [Petro], if 1 guy's not going like they're capable I have another one to put in. I came real close to putting them both in at the same time. I didn't realize Nowitzki had that much respect from the officials. I thought Mikki Moore did as good of job as you could against him. And I thought our defense did a good job overall. We contested a lot of shots and held them to 43% shooting. We couldn't keep them on the foul line. Rashard Lewis is unbelievable. He gets beat up night in and night out and doesn't get the calls and I don't understand it. He's an all-star. How many free throws did he shoot? Well I think he should have shot 20. I thought he was terrific. We just had a tough time getting Ray [Allen] open. He played a great game." Ray Allen: "It was a see-saw. It seems like it's been a see-saw for us all year. They didn't want us to run and they tried to keep us from pushing the ball up the court in transition and they did a good job of it. They started pressuring us and slowing us down a little bit and we kind of let them do it." Flip Murray: "It was tough. I wasn't accustomed to playing that many minutes. We made a couple of minor mistakes toward the end and missed a couple of shots." Mikki Moore on fouling Nowitzki: "They need to put a Pamper on that kid because they be babying him. It's hard to guard somebody when you can't breath on them." Dallas Mavericks 104, Seattle Sonics 97 at Seattle (January 26) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 21 32 27 24 - 104 .464 .360 .432 .833 Seattle 34 19 23 21 - 97 .482 .286 .429 .862 Halftime: 53-53 3rd Q: Dallas 80-72 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 7:26 2nd, Bob Hill 6:21 3rd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 1:55 3rd Refs: Joe Derosa, Matt Boland, Ron Olesiak Attendance: 15,891 (cap 17,072) Did not play due to injury: Devin Harris (strained right shoulder), Rick Brunson (plantar fasciitis left foot), Vladimir Radmanovic (sprained right foot), Luke Ridnour (sprained left knee) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 31 3-9 0-1 0-0 6 3-3 3 1 3 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 8-22 3-8 10-11 29 4-12 3 2 3 0 0 DeSagana Diop 19 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 4-5 0 0 4 1 3 Adrian Griffin 29 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-7 1 0 2 1 0 Jason Terry 37 8-18 3-8 1-2 20 0-0 4 1 1 2 0 Keith Van_Horn 14 3-4 1-2 2-2 9 0-3 1 1 2 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 29 6-15 2-6 7-8 21 1-3 3 1 1 0 1 Erick Dampier 27 2-4 0-0 3-5 7 4-9 2 1 3 1 4 Darrell Armstrong 13 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 1-2 3 1 2 0 0 Totals 48 35-81 9-25 25-30 104 17-44 20 9 21 6 8 Seattle Sonics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Rashard Lewis 44 10-15 4-4 12-12 36 2-10 2 1 4 1 1 Mikki Moore 36 3-5 0-0 1-2 7 2-5 1 4 6 0 0 Robert Swift 23 3-7 0-0 0-1 6 3-6 1 1 0 0 1 Ray Allen 41 9-21 2-11 5-5 25 0-6 3 0 4 2 0 Ronald Murray 45 5-18 0-5 0-0 10 1-5 7 2 1 1 0 Damien Wilkins 25 3-9 0-1 5-5 11 1-2 2 1 2 0 1 Johan Petro 20 0-1 0-0 2-4 2 2-5 0 0 3 0 1 Nick Collison 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2-3 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-77 6-21 25-29 97 13-42 16 10 20 4 4 Utah at Dallas (January 28) Returning to Dallas for the first time in 11 days, Dallas hosted the Jazz and welcomed the return of Marquis Daniels to action (out since January 4), but Devin Harris remained out. Consecutive buckets by Mehmet Okur gave Utah an 8-6 lead with 8:30 remaining and Dallas then scored the next 8 points to go up 14-8 with 6:10 left. Dirk Nowitzki sprained his ankle coming up the court with 4 minutes left and left the game to go to the locker room. A big sigh of relief came when he returned early in the 2nd quarter. Dallas led 25-18 after 1. Jerry Stackhouse opened the 2nd quarter with a 3-point play to give Dallas a 10 point lead, but Utah hung around as that would be the largest lead of the quarter. Utah pulled with 4 points twice in the quarter, but could get no closer. Dallas scored the last 4 points of the quarter to lead 51-42 at the half. The Jazz were sticking to the outside as the Mavs out-scored them 20-2 in the paint in the half. Coach Sloan pointed that out during halftime and the Jazz did take it inside more in the 3rd quarter (with 8 points in the paint). Nowitzki opened the 3rd quarter with a jumper to kick off a 9-4 run to go up 60-46 with 7:50 remaining. Dallas led in the low teens over the next 3 minutes, but the Jazz would not go away as Gordan Giricek hit a 3-pointer to pull Utah within 56-65 with 4 minutes to go. 4 straight points by Devin Brown pulled Utah within 6 points near the quarter's end, but Adrian Griffin got a bucket near the quarter buzzer to give Dallas a 73-65 lead after 3. Keith Van Horn opened the 4th quarter with a 3-pointer and then hit another 3-pointer 80 seconds later (with neither team scoring in between) to give Dallas a 79-65 lead with 10:20 remaining. Utah was still hanging around, though, as they scored the next 5 points to pull within 70-79 with 8:40 to go. Giricek hit a 3-pointer to pull Utah within 77-85 with 7 minutes left, but Dallas then scored the next 7 points to go up 77-85 with 5 minutes remaining. Utah was not able to mount another rally and Dallas led in the teens the rest of the game. Dallas won 103-89. Utah always plays tough and Dallas wasn't able to pull away until late in the game, though Utah only led once in the game. Dallas won by dominating inside, which helped the team in shooting a high percentage. Dallas out-scored Utah 44-18 in the paint. Dallas shot 55.4% (36-65) FG including 7-13 3-pointers and Utah shot 39.1% (27-69) FG including 5-15 3-pointers. Dallas shot 24-32 FT and Utah shot 30-38 FT. Both teams had 33 rebounds and Utah out-rebounded Dallas 16-10 on offensive rebounds (but they missed many more shots). The win was Dallas' 8th straight and gave Avery Johnson his 50th win as head coach [his fill-in stints before Don Nelson retired do not count against Johnson's record]. Josh Howard was the high man 24 points on 8-13 FG and 8-13 FT and he had 4 rebounds (no Mav dominated the boards as DeSagana Diop was the high rebounder with 6). Dirk Nowitzki had 21 points including 6-8 FG and 5 rebounds in 32 minutes - he said his ankle didn't bother him after he got it re-taped. Jason Terry had 18 points on 8-12 FG, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Keith Van Horn had another nice game with 15 pints including 3-5 3-pointers. Jerry Stackhouse was the 5th Mav in double-digits (though 4 of his points came late in the game) with 11 points. He also had 4 assists. Marquis Daniels had 5 points and 3 rebounds in 13 monitored minutes in his return to action. Devin Brown was the high man for Utah with 18 points including 9-10 FT. Andrei Kirilenko had a double-double with 17 points including 9-12 FT and 10 rebounds including 6 offensive. He also had 3 steals. Mehmet Okur had 16 points, but shot 6-17 FG, and had 5 rebounds. Gordan Giricek had 15 points and Jarron Collins had 10 points and 6 rebounds before fouling out with 4 minutes left in the game. Matt Harpring did not play due to a sore right knee. Quotes Avery Johnson: "We were really concerned about this game for a lot of different reasons especially since we were coming off of a long road trip and having success on that trip. I thought overall the guys had a high level of concentration. We had a little slippage in the 2nd quarter, but give Utah credit. They are one of the most well-coached, disciplined teams in the league. Coach Sloan always has them ready to play." Johnson: "We were fortunate enough to get away from them in the 2nd half and get our offense in gear. We had some solid individual contributions. Van Horn was back to his self off the bench being aggressive. Josh and those guys really competed against Giricek and Kirilenko. We didn't win the rebound game, so we will watch those on film to see how we can get better in those areas. Overall, we thought we had to be physical against this team, which I thought we were, and we had to take away their points in the paint." Johnson on his 50th coaching win: "I didn't realize that. We're just worried about this game for a lot of different reasons. Coming off a road trip when we had some success, people were saying we're ready to play in the playoffs. And we're not ready for anything yet, except to play the next game." Dirk Nowitzki: "Defensively we're really working well with each other. "We trust in Avery's system. We're really contesting shots. We've got to keep it going." Nowitzki on spraining his ankle: "It was a freak play. He crossed in front of me and I stepped on his foot. I walked it off, got it retaped, and it felt great." Josh Howard on the win: "It was a real important game after the long [road] stretch. It was the perfect setup game for them to come in here and knock us off. We had a great morning session going over their plays and we followed the game plan." Howard: "A lot of my shots were in the break, just getting out running. I just fed off my defensive end." Howard: "A lot of people still don't think we play great defense. We let that go in one ear and out the other." Jason Terry on Dallas not being complacent: "Not at all, we had a very focused shoot around this morning. And then to hear our crowd cheering us on and going crazy 15 minutes before tip off is a great feeling so the only thing we could do was go out there and play our hardest. I thought we gave a great effort and our game plan was to win the points in the paint and we were able to do that." Terry: "Our game plan was to win the points in the paint and we did that. Utah's a good team. They're physical, they're aggressive, but we stood our ground tonight." Terry on Utah: "They're aggressive, they're physical, but we stood our ground tonight." Terry: "We're playing well together. The chemistry is there. We're trying to get better on defense every night. You can see the effort and it's fun. We're having a lot of fun out there playing basketball." Terry: "There's always room to get better in all areas. We'll watch the film, let the coaches break it down, and we'll come back ready and willing to work." Keith Van Horn: "One of the keys to the victory tonight was we didn't get too frazzled when we got down early. We played a team tonight that plays very hard and is a very capable team. We came in with that mind set and stuck with it throughout the game and that really benefited us." Van Horn on holding teams under 100 points: "We have been playing some great defense. We've been preaching that since the beginning of training camp and hopefully we won't just settle for the way we've been playing on defense and hope to continue to improve. And by the time the playoffs roll around it will be a strength as much as our offense." Van Horn: "They are a very good passing team and they play within the team concept very well. Jerry Sloan's teams have always played within the team concept really well. You really have to play defense the whole 24 seconds in order to beat these guys. I thought we did a good job of that for the most part tonight." Van Horn on his ankle: "I'm feeling pretty good. My ankle is probably at 80% so I'll keep working really hard on my jumper until my ankle gets all the way back and I'm able to get to the paint a little more." Adrian Griffin: "It starts with the coach. He gets us ready. We're very prepared. You look at our 2nd unit, even our 3rd unit. Guys come in and they are play with energy. We're so deep. Everybody is real excited about this team." Jerry Sloan on having only 2 points in the paint in the 1st half: "We told them that at halftime, but we have a tendency to think that if the play breaks and we come out wide and come out to get an outside jump shot, that will get us open, which it does, but it's for a reason because we never get to the free throw line like we should. If you execute on offense, you get to the free throw line and get on top of the basket and get some of those opportunities. Then your outside shot becomes a little easier for you because they know that you can do that, but we can't get inside easily. We have to get inside if we want to compete for 48 minutes." Sloan: "They executed, they got on top of the basket. If you made a mistake defensively, they took care of it. They made us turn the ball over if we messed up our spacing on the floor. They used us on the pin down. Guys couldn't get up and get over screens. It was kind of a revealing experience for our players. You see those things and talk about those things, but we aren't able to get to that point where we can stop that sort of thing." Sloan: "We played against a very good basketball team that shows you how to play basketball. They executed, they got on top of the basket. If you make a mistake defensively, they took care of it and did what they were supposed to do. They used us on the pin-downs. Guys couldn't get up and over screens. It was kind of a revealing experience for our players." Sloan: "I thought our guys were playing hard tonight. I really thought we were playing hard. Dallas gets to it and they get whatever they want and go inside and really take it to you. They've got guys that can put it on the floor, they got a lot guys that can pass, and they got guys that can shoot it out on the floor. You have to be really good to try to stop them." Sloan: "We did a terrible job trying to keep them out of the middle because we didn't help each other. I'm going through a stage here, with all the stuff we've had happen in the last few days, [where] everybody wants to point a finger. ... But we'll get it straightened out." Sloan: "They think that you play basketball, you blame it on somebody else. 'I don't get enough help.' Well, you know this old world's kind of strange - you don't get much if you don't help yourself. [Dallas] showed us, if you don't do that, how embarrassing it is. They scored 44 points in the paint. And we couldn't get far enough away from the basket to start the game because they stroked us a little bit, and we didn't show the willingness to stay in there." Sloan: "It looks like we're running in mud to go set a screen. ... We're very soft. That happens on young teams. Look at [the Mavericks] - their younger players have gotten tougher and stronger and willing to set screens. Some of that is maturity, some of it is wanting to win." Sloan on Dallas: "They are playing a lot like playoff basketball now because they execute. They know each possession what they are going to do. They know what they are doing defensively and it's a veteran team. They've got 8, 9 guys that are very, very good and they know how to do things." Sloan on if Nowitzki is an MVP candidate: "Well, without a doubt. His team is good and he's having a terrific year. He's doesn't force it as much as he did sometimes earlier in his career and he's gotten more mature and more relaxed. He's very comfortable in everything he does. He's just a wonderful player. He'd be MVP on my team." Sloan on all the Mavs' (even non-Americans) placing their hands on their hearts for the national anthem: "It was interesting just to see them line up for the national anthem. It's very impressive. I don't mean that facetiously. I think that's a terrific start when you have a team and you have control of it. The way [Johnson] coaches that team, I think it's terrific." Andrei Kirilenko on the end of the 3rd quarter getting within 6 points: "We kind of stopped playing. We felt like, 'Yes, it's going good, everything will be fine, now we're going to play.' [But] no, Dallas is good team." Mehmet Okur: "We were taking outside shots, but we couldn't make them and it was tough getting offensive rebounds. They're really rolling right now. They're a better defensive team and they play unselfish basketball." Milt Palacio: "You can't ever beat a team like this with outside shots. As much as they switch, and the gimmick defense they have, you've got to go right at them. That's how you beat a team like that." Dallas Mavericks 103, Utah Jazz 89 at Dallas (January 28) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 25 26 22 30 - 103 .558 .538 .554 .750 Utah 18 24 23 24 - 89 .407 .333 .391 .789 Halftime: Dallas 51-42 3rd Q: Dallas 73-65 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 3:16 3rd Refs: Luis Grillo, Leroy Richardson, Ed F. Rush Attendance: 20,394 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Robert Whaley (right knee surgery), Matt Harpring (right knee inflammation) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 38 8-12 2-3 0-0 18 1-4 4 3 4 1 0 Adrian Griffin 23 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 3-4 2 2 4 3 0 Josh Howard 36 8-13 0-0 8-13 24 0-4 2 0 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 32 6-8 1-2 8-8 21 1-5 0 0 3 1 2 DeSagana Diop 28 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 2-6 1 2 5 1 2 Jerry Stackhouse 22 4-8 1-2 2-3 11 0-0 4 3 3 0 0 Keith Van_Horn 16 6-12 3-5 0-0 15 0-3 1 0 1 0 0 Eric Dampier 16 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 2-4 1 3 2 1 1 Marquis Daniels 13 1-3 0-0 3-4 5 1-3 2 0 0 1 1 Darrell Armstrong 13 0-1 0-1 2-2 2 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Josh Powell 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 DJ Mbenga 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 48 36-65 7-13 24-32 103 10-33 17 15 26 9 7 Utah Jazz REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Gordan Giricek 38 6-14 3-3 0-0 15 0-2 1 2 5 0 0 Keith McLeod 22 3-5 0-1 0-0 6 1-3 6 1 1 0 0 Mehmet Okur 40 6-17 1-4 3-3 16 3-5 2 0 5 0 0 Andrei Kirilenko 39 4-8 0-1 9-12 17 6-10 1 4 4 3 1 Jarron Collins 30 2-5 0-0 6-7 10 2-6 2 2 6 0 0 Devin Brown 30 4-9 1-3 9-10 18 1-3 1 4 3 1 1 Deron Williams 21 2-6 0-1 3-4 7 0-0 0 1 0 2 1 Milt Palacio 13 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 1-2 1 2 3 0 0 Kris Humphries 6 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 1 0 0 0 1 Andre Owens 1 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 27-69 5-15 30-38 89 16-33 15 17 27 6 4 Chicago at Dallas (January 31) Devin Harris was able to play and Dallas, for one of the few times this season, had a full healthy roster. The game was tied at 8-8 with 8 minutes remaining and Dallas went on a 14-4 run to go up 22-12 with 3:50 to go. Dallas scored 7 straight points to go up 32-16 with 30 seconds left. James Thomas got a layup near the quarter's end. Dallas led 32-18 after 1. Josh Howard had 10 points. Dallas shot 63% FG and Chicago shot 36% FG in the quarter. Dallas continued to roll in the 2nd quarter and used a 10-2 run to take their first 20+ point lead at 42-22 with 7 minutes to go. Chicago got no closer than 18 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 58-34 at the half. For the half, Dallas shot 53% FG and 15-18 FT and Chicago shot 29% FG and 9-17 FT. A jumper by Howard gave Dallas their largest lead at 69-39 with 8:15 left. But there was a lot of time left. Dallas led 73-45 with 5:50 to go and Chicago mounted a furious comeback as the Bulls started hitting shots and the Mavs acted like they'd never seen a zone before. Chicago went on a 22-2 run, including 11 points from Kirk Hinrich, to pull within 66-75 with 1:50 remaining as Dallas missed 8 straight shots. A 3-pointer by Keith Van Horn with 70 seconds left finally ended Dallas' 4 1/2 minute field goal drought. Hinrich got a layup 15 seconds later to cap the quarter scoring. Dallas led 78-68 after 3. Hinrich had 15 points in the 3rd quarter as Chicago out-scored Dallas 34-20 in the quarter. Dallas shot 4-14 FG and Chicago shot 13-19 FG in the quarter. Chicago had 0 fast break points in the 1st half and had 17 in the 3rd quarter. So Dallas had a tighter game on their hands than they should have thanks to their 3rd quarter offensive and defensive lapses. Chicago pulled within 6 points twice early in the 4th quarter, but Dallas answered with a bucket on their next possession. A 3-point play by Hinrich pulled Chicago within 79-85 with 7:45 to go, but after the teams traded misses DeSagana Diop tipped in a miss and Jason Terry drove for 2 to give Dallas a 10 point lead with 6:25 remaining. Chris Duhon answered with a layup and Andres Nocioni nailed a 3-pointer to pull Chicago within 84-89 with 5:30 left. Howard hit a jumper late in the shot clock and Nowitzki nailed a 3-pointer with 4:30 to go to again give Dallas a 10 point lead. The teams traded misses over the next few minutes and Chicago hit 4 straight free throws to pull within 88-94 with 1:50 remaining. Dallas missed, but Adrian Griffin stole the ball off the rebound. Terry hit 2 free throws with a little over a minute left and Hinrich answered with a quick layup with 55 seconds to go. Jerry Stackhouse drove and was called for an offensive foul with 33 seconds left (bad call by Ed Malloy - the defensive player did not get to the spot in time and was not squared up). Nocioni missed a 3-point attempt, Chicago rebounded, Hinrich missed a 3-point attempt, Chicago rebounded, Nocioni missed a 3-point attempt, Chicago rebounded, Hinrich missed a 3-point attempt, and Adrian Griffin finally got the rebound and was fouled with 12 seconds left. He hit both free throws to give Dallas an 8 point lead. Hinrich got a quick layup as Dallas conceded the shot. Griffin was again fouled with 8 seconds left, but he missed both free throws. Chicago was out of timeouts and that cost them a few seconds bringing the ball up and Hinrich missed a 3-point attempt with a little over a second left and Nocioni got a layup at the final buzzer. Dallas won 98-94. Well, it wasn't a good win for Dallas, but at least it's a win and in the long run it won't mean anything more than a W. But a team should not give up most of a 30-point lead in 9 1/2 minutes (down to 6 points). Dallas was out-scored 60-40 in the 2nd half. Neither team shot well in the 4th quarter - Dallas 6-23 FG, Chicago 8-24 FG - but the Mavs had just enough of a cushion to hang on for the win. For the game, Dallas shot 40.8% (30-75) FG including 8-18 3-pointers. Chicago shot 39.3% (33-84) FG including 6-18 3-pointers. All 24 Chicago fast break points came in the 2nd half. Dallas shot 30-35 FT (4 intentional) and Chicago shot 23-31 FT. Dallas gave up way too many offensive rebounds in the game as Chicago had 21 offensive boards. Chicago out-rebounded Dallas 50-41 including 21-10 offensive. Both teams had 14 turnovers. It was Dallas' 9th straight win and snapped Chicago's 4 game winning streak. Thank goodness for Adrian Griffin. His stat line won't tell you much (4 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists), but Dallas would not have won this game without him as he had some key plays late in the game. Josh Howard led the way with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki had 21 points and 7 rebounds. All of Jason Terry's 13 points came in the 2nd half. He only shot 2-13 FG, but shot 8-8 FT and had 5 assists and 3 steals. Keith Van Horn chipped in 12 points and 5 rebounds off the bench. Jerry Stackhouse struggled with 9 points including 3-13 FG and just 1 rebound in 24 minutes. DeSagana Diop had 6 points and 2 rebounds (both offensive) and Erick Dampier had 4 points and 6 rebounds including 3 offensive. Devin Harris only played 11 minutes and had 3 points and 3 assists. Marquis Daniels only played 9 minutes and had 4 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. All but 2 of Kirk Hinrich's 28 points came in the 2nd half. He also had 7 assists. Tyson Chandler had a double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds including 10 offensive. He shot 3-4 FG and 6-10 FT. Ben Gordon had 14 points and 4 rebounds and Andres Nocioni had 14 points and 8 rebounds. Luol Deng only had 2 points on 1-8 FG, but did have 7 rebounds. Will someone please tell Joey Crawford to retire? He used to be a really good ref, but that was well over 5 years ago. Combine his questionable officiating with his grudges against players and teams and he has no business being an NBA ref any more. Not that he was the only ref in this game I had a problem with (Ed Malloy also made some bogus calls/non-calls). There were questionable calls and non-calls for both teams - I had no idea what they were actually going to call a foul in the 4th quarter. A player would get hammered on one play and the next time down the court a touch foul would be called [the touch foul would be a correct call, but why not call the hard foul too?]. The only good thing I can say about them was that they didn't hand out technicals like they could have. And as I've said a thousand times: if it's a foul, call it when it occurs; don't wait to see if the basket is made (and that was for a foul against Dallas). [And if you want another ref rant from me, ask me my opinion about the way they've called offensive fouls the past 2 years.] Quotes Avery Johnson: "Tonight was a tale of 2 halves. We had a solid start to the game, which we've been purposely trying to get to. We were aggressive, we moved the ball, solid defense, we did a decent job in getting some stops. We ended up having a really good 1st half. Came back in the 3rd quarter and probably played one of our worst quarters defensively this year. They pummeled us on the boards and it was just a terrible 2nd half for us in terms of execution and defensive intensity." Johnson: "Our guys held them off and got some stops where we needed too, but again we got pummeled on the offensive glass. We'll take the win, but it shows you that we are a work in progress." Johnson: "Give the Bulls some credit. I would expect if we were down at the half that we would come back and make a game of it. This is a team that has won 4 in a row. We wanted to try and put them away. We came out of the 3rd quarter and shot 3 straight jump shots and that showed me we weren't in it. We didn't do the things that gave us the lead. They threw a little zone on us and that handled us for a minute and didn't execute as well as we wanted to. We stood around the perimeter and held the ball around our heads. We'll keep working on it and hopefully if we are in another situation like this we will be able to hold a lead and finish a team off." Johnson: "We're not arrogant enough [to be unhappy with a win]. You've got a lot of teams in this league that wish that #1 that they'd ever be up 24 points and 2, if they were up and a team out-scored you 18-2 or 16-0, that they could hold a team off." Johnson on Griffin: "He got some big stops and rebounds for us and stopped them from getting some rebounds and that is what he's here for. We had a tough shooting night in the 2nd half and we got some stops at the end when we needed to." Dirk Nowitzki: "I thought we relaxed a little bit and you can't do that against good teams. They started to make shots all of the sudden from anywhere and we just let them stick around. We were up by 30 points and really should have had an easy win. We failed to keep executing on offense and the next thing you know it turns out to be a tough ballgame. It feels tough right now, almost just like a loss, but at least it's a win." Nowitzki on Chicago's comeback: "They mixed it up with zones, we stopped executing, took long shots and that really put them in a transition game. Then all of a sudden they got hot. You've got to give them credit. They made shots from all over the floor and came back in that game. Obviously, we were lucky to still come away with the win." Nowitzki on if the zone hurt the Mavs: "Yeah, I thought they mixed it up with a zone a little bit in the 2nd half and we really didn't make shots against it. Obviously if you're not making shots against it then it's effective. We really couldn't get into the teeth of their defense and they did a pretty good job of clogging the paint and really that was their only chance of getting back into the game. They forced us to take long shots and when we didn't make them that got them going on the fast break. They got a lot of points in transition and that really got them back in the game." Josh Howard: "We were really ready to play tonight. We had that big lead and probably let our guard down a little bit, and Chicago's a good team and they came back on us." Howard: "We can feel good because we got the win. But we know we messed up in the 3rd quarter." Howard on Chicago's zone: "They were just making us take the quick jump shot. That's what I could see from the bench when I was out of the game. We worked against the zone in practice the last week and a half so we knew what to do and that's to drive at the zone. We didn't do that and we had a mental let down." Howard: "We're going to take the win no matter what. It was a good win for us and it kept the streak alive and we'll just move on to the next game at Memphis." Jerry Stackhouse: "We don't feel great about it. The important thing is we held on and didn't have a disaster by letting them come back and win this game." Adrian Griffin: "I just try to contribute to the team. I know my roll. I'm not in there to score 30 points. I feel like I've got to play defense. A lot of attention is always on Dirk, JT [Terry], Josh, and all of them, so that just leaves me to kind of roam and get a lot of loose balls." Scott Skiles: "We just waited too long to start playing. We just kind of sleep walked through 2 1/2 quarters. Then near the end of the 3rd quarter we finally started getting aggressive. We started driving the ball and our defense picked up. We just became much more aggressive and clawed our way back in the game and had our chances. We just couldn't make enough shots at the end." Skiles: "I'm disappointed that when the ball went up we just didn't get after it. Anybody watching the game could tell that when we really showed up, we could play with them. You could tell we were off from the beginning. Skiles: "What I take from it is we could have won the game if we had shown up when the ball was thrown up. We just didn't." Skiles: "We're not in this for moral victories. But anybody watching this game could tell when we really showed up we could play with this team." Skiles on the 3 offensive rebounds and 4 3-point attempts at the end of the game: "I don't know if I've ever seen that. It was strange we got all of them. We kicked those balls out and none of them were really close." Kirk Hinrich on the comeback: "We were able to get some stops and get out and run and for whatever reason we just started playing. I don't know if we were playing not to be embarrassed, but something went off in our heads and we played with no fear. The 1st half we played a little tentative and a little scared." Hinrich on spurring the comeback: "I just wanted to get out and run to push the issue because really that's the only way we had a chance to get back in the game. We don't have anything to lose at that point so I was just trying to make plays and make shots." Hinrich: "It shows if we play consistently like that for 48 minutes the rest of the season, we'll have a shot at winning a lot of games. I guess you can take that from it. On the other hand, you have to realize if we don't, just how bad we can be." Tyson Chandler on the poor 1st half: "I wasn't expecting that especially after 4 great games and a great defensive effort out there. We laid down in the 1st half." Chandler on the comeback: "I'm thinking we've got a chance. I'm thinking, get it within 10. That's the only thing I'm saying on the bench: 'Get it within 10.'" Chandler on defending Nowitzki: "I went for way too many of his shot fakes and a lot of them that made plays. But we just really stunk it up the 1st half." Dallas Mavericks 98, Chicago Bulls 94 at Dallas (January 31) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 32 26 20 20 - 98 .397 .412 .400 .861 Chicago 18 16 34 26 - 94 .409 .333 .393 .710 Halftime: Dallas 58-34 3rd Q: Dallas 78-68 Technicals: Chicago defensive 3 seconds 1:40 1st, Jerry Stackhouse 9:15 2nd Refs: Tony Brothers, Joey Crawford, Ed Malloy Attendance: 19,567 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 38 2-13 1-4 8-8 13 0-3 5 1 4 3 0 Adrian Griffin 26 1-1 0-0 2-4 4 2-6 4 1 2 1 0 Josh Howard 39 7-14 2-2 6-8 22 2-9 3 2 4 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 37 7-13 2-4 5-5 21 0-7 1 3 2 0 0 DeSagana Diop 20 2-4 0-1 2-2 6 2-2 0 0 3 0 1 Jerry Stackhouse 24 3-13 1-3 2-2 9 0-1 0 2 1 2 0 Keith Van_Horn 22 3-5 1-3 5-6 12 0-5 1 1 2 0 0 Erick Dampier 14 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 3-6 0 1 4 1 1 Devin Harris 11 1-4 0-0 1-1 3 0-0 3 2 1 1 1 Marquis Daniels 9 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-2 2 0 0 2 0 Totals 48 30-75 7-17 31-36 98 10-41 19 14 23 11 3 Chicago Bulls REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kirk Hinrich 41 10-24 2-5 6-7 28 1-3 7 2 3 0 0 Ben Gordon 33 5-12 2-5 2-4 14 0-4 3 1 5 2 0 Tyson Chandler 43 3-4 0-0 6-10 12 10-16 1 3 2 1 1 Luol Deng 27 1-8 0-0 0-0 2 2-7 0 2 4 2 0 Othella Harrington 18 4-6 0-0 1-2 9 2-3 0 1 3 0 0 Andres Nocioni 29 5-13 2-3 2-2 14 4-8 1 2 3 0 1 Chris Duhon 24 1-5 0-3 3-4 5 0-1 4 2 3 1 0 Jannero Pargo 12 1-6 0-2 0-0 2 0-2 0 1 1 0 1 Malik Allen 5 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 0 1 0 0 Darius Songaila 4 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 1-1 0 0 3 0 0 James Thomas 4 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-84 6-18 22-31 94 21-50 16 14 28 6 3 Dallas at Memphis (February 1) It was the 2nd night of a back-to-back for Dallas. Dallas scored 6 straight points to go up 14-9 with 5:20 remaining. Dallas led 23-19 with a minute to go and Keith Van Horn hit a jumper with 50 seconds left, Mike Miller missed, Jerry Stackhouse hit a fade away jumper with 6 seconds left, Josh Howard stole the ball, and Stackhouse hit a 3-pointer with a little over a second remaining as Dallas scored the last 7 points of the quarter. Dallas led 30-19 after 1. Howard had 13 points and Pau Gasol had 12 points. Devin Harris picked up his 3rd foul 3 minutes into the 2nd quarter and sat the rest of the half. Memphis opened the quarter with a 9-1 run to pull within 28-31 with 7 minutes to go as Dallas went through a major shooting slump. A bucket by Adrian Griffin 6 minutes into the quarter was Dallas' first field goal of the quarter as the Mavs missed their first 8 shots. But the Mavs continued to hold a single-digit lead. Dallas went on an 8-1 run to go up 43-35 with 2:30 left. Brian Cardinal hit a 3-pointer and Chucky Atkins was fouled with a fraction of a second left in the quarter and hit both free throws to pull Memphis within 45-47 at the half. Memphis scored the first 4 points of the 3rd quarter to tie the game at 49-49 with 10 minutes remaining. The teams traded leads a couple of times and Dallas led 55-54 with 6:30 to go. Dallas again went through a drought and Memphis went on an 11-2 run to go up 65-57 with 2:15 left. A layup by Van Horn with 1:15 to go ended Dallas' 5:15 field goal slump. Memphis led 67-59 after 3. Memphis out-scored Dallas 22-12 in the 3rd quarter. Shane Battier opened the 4th quarter scoring with a jumper to give Memphis their first 10 point lead. The teams traded buckets and Dallas scored the next 5 points to pull within 66-71 with 8:15 remaining. Both teams struggled offensively and Memphis scored the next 4 points over 2 1/2 minutes to go up 75-66 with 5:45 left. Memphis then went through a shooting slump and Jason Terry came alive as he had 6 points in Dallas' 8-0 run to help pull the Mavs within 74-75 with 3:15 remaining. Miller was fouled a minute later and hit both free throws. Terry drained a 3-pointer with 2 minutes left to tie the game at 77-77. Terry stole the ball, but Dallas missed on 2 attempts and there was a minute remaining. Atkins nailed a 3-pointer with 40 seconds to go to put Memphis back up and end Memphis' 5 minute field goal drought. After a Dallas timeout, the Mavs got the ball into Dirk Nowitzki at the free throw line and as the double-team came, he passed to a wide open Erick Dampier who dunked it with 35 seconds left to pull Dallas within 79-80. Off the ball, Atkins made a baseline move under the basket and then suddenly stopped and Terry ran over him and was called for the foul, sending Atkins to the line as Dallas was in the penalty. But Atkins missed both free throws with 24 seconds left. After a timeout, Dallas took their time setting up a play and Eddie Jones got switched on to Nowitzki and Jones fouled Nowitzki on the arm and body as he attempted a 8-footer. Nowitzki hit both free throws to give Dallas a 1 point lead with 7.2 seconds remaining. After a Memphis timeout, the Grizzlies got the ball to Miller up top and he drove, but the ball slipped out of his hand as he was attempting a floater over Dampier and the shot was short and Nowitzki grabbed the rebound and time expired before Memphis could foul him. Dallas won 81-80. It was an ugly game and Dallas really stole the win as Memphis was the better team for much of the game. The Mavs defense picked up in the 4th quarter and they found a little more offense than the Grizzlies in the quarter to get them back in to the game and sneak out with a win. Dallas out-scored Memphis 22-13 in the 4th as Dallas shot 8-18 FG and Memphis shot 5-18 FG and the Mavs out-rebounded the Grizz 16-6 in the quarter. For the game, Dallas shot 42.3% (30-71) FG including 2-11 3-pointers and Memphis shot 38.9% (28-72) FG including 5-17 3-pointers. Dallas shot 19-23 FT and Memphis shot 19-25 FT. The Mavs out-rebounded Memphis 45-40 including 10-9 offensive. Dallas only had 13 assists and Memphis had 18 assists. It was Dallas' 10th straight win and the Mavs' 6th straight road win. The Mavs have a comfty rest of February schedule as only 1 of their next 10 games is on the road. Got to start with mentioning the strong 4th quarter by Erick Dampier. Damp played very good defense in the 4th quarter in helping get Pau Gasol undercontrol as Gasol shot 1-7 FG in the 4th with his only bucket coming with 7 minutes to go. 4 of Dampier's 6 rebounds came in the final quarter. Dirk Nowitzki made the game winning free throws and had the nice assist to Dampier with 35 seconds left to pull the Mavs within 1 - Nowitzki's only assist of the game. For the game, Nowitzki had a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds (though he did have a team high 4 turnovers). Jason Terry was having a poor outing up until 5:15 left in the game. He only shot 3-9 FG and had 6 points up to that point, but shot 4-6 FG including his only 3-pointer and had 9 points in the last 5:15 of the game. Adrian Griffin again had some key plays in the 4th, but as usual his stat line looks like he hardly did anything. Griff had 2 points, no rebounds, and 2 assists in 29 minutes. Memphis focused on Josh Howard in the 2nd half after his strong 1st half and he only scored 4 points in the 2nd half - but he scored 15 in the 1st half. Howard also had 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals for the game. DeSagana Diop had 9 rebounds and 4 points. Devin Harris had a forgettable night as he was plagued with foul trouble and only played 12 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse also had a poor outing with 9 points on 4-13 FG and 2 rebounds. Keith Van Horn had 6 points and 6 rebounds in 16 minutes. Marquis Daniels played just 4 minutes in his 2nd game back in action. As mentioned above, Pau Gasol was shut down in the 4th quarter and he missed his last 5 shots of the game. He did have a game high 26 points, but only 2 of them came in the 4th quarter. Gasol had a team high 10 rebounds including 4 offensive. Chucky Atkins had 18 points and 4 assists in starting for Memphis, who he joined just 9 days prior to this game. Shane Battier had 10 points and 7 rebounds. Mike Miller had 10 points including a poor 3-12 FG and 6 rebounds off the bench. The rest of the Grizzlies combined to score just 16 points. Eddie Jones and Bobby Jackson had poor outings as Jones shot 2-10 FG and Jackson shot 1-8 FG. Quotes Avery Johnson: Well, this game was about 2 division foes who laid it all out on the court. What can you say, they gave a gutsy performance; they played a very physical game. This was a playoff caliber game and we came out with a victory over an excellent team. This was an excellent representation of what Coach Fratello has done with this team." Johnson: "We played great in the 4th quarter defensively and we played great the way we defended that last shot. We do not win this game tonight without Erick Dampier. He played great defense on Gasol and made it tough on an All-Star caliber player. If you look at the stat sheet, it says he only had 6 rebounds, but it looked like he had 12. Damp played tremendous 4th quarter defense." Johnson: "Griff also had a great 4th quarter. This was a total team effort. Van Horn carried us through this game. Jason Terry woke up in the 4th quarter like he's historically done, and he was right on time. Gasol came out strong early, but we were able to keep their role players in check. Chucky [Atkins] was a great pick up for this team. To win by 1 point against one of the toughest teams in the NBA is great. Johnson on accidentally hitting Terry on his injured thumb during a timeout: "I think if the coach stops hitting his thumb when he's being demonstrative during timeouts, maybe his shooting hand will heal some. I'm going to try to talk to the team standing on the court so I can keep some distance. "I whacked him on the right thumb. Not a smart thing to do. It shows I'm a rookie coach." Dirk Nowitzki: Obviously they were going to go to Pau, but it was a nice job for us defensively on him. He got hot early and put up a jump shot and knocked down a 15- to 16-footer. We kept the game close and came out in the 2nd half and did a better job. Damp had a great block on him and really stepped it up." Nowitzki: "It was a great comeback for us. The last 10 games, I think we're really trying to buy into [Johnson's] system on both ends of the floor. We're moving the ball on offense and trying to be as tough as we can be on defense. I think it's going well." Nowitzki on a timeout during the 4th: "Coach yelled at us real good and [Terry] came out firing. He really played aggressive. He's done it so many times for us." Nowitzki on his game winning free throws: "I wasn't having a good 4th quarter. I said if I was going to get another shot, I'd get as close to the basket as I could. I did that little spin move and got fouled." Josh Howard: "I have been doing this for a while; this was just another game to me. We just strap it on and take on the task at hand. You know one team is going to lose. We saw it through, but it was a great game for both teams." Howard on the 10 game winning streak: "We have been playing great basketball. We have been though a lot. We have a lot of people who have said bad things about us; we just don't listen. We just have to stay together, keep moving and keep growing." Jason Terry on his 4th quarter points: "Coach put the ball in my hands and said, 'Get aggressive.' That's what I did. It's just something about the 4th quarter." Terry on his 4th quarter performances: "I'll put it this way. God has blessed me in clutch situations to have the confidence to knock down shots. If it comes to me, I'll take it." Terry on Johnson slamming a clipboard and accidentally hitting Terry with it during a timeout (the 2nd time Johnson has hit him): "We're 2-0 when he throws the clipboard at me." Terry on Johnson in the timeout: "Hey, I felt his intensity. At the time, we were all trying to get a spark. And that sparked us. When the coach is into the game like he's out there with a uniform on, you can't help but to get riled up. I love it." Terry: "We've been relying on our defense a lot more. That's starting to be our motto and it's becoming our reputation. We're working hard and trying to rely on defense first for wins. Defensively, during this stretch that we've been playing well, we've been pretty much putting the lockdown on teams." Terry on Dallas' reputation of not playing defense: "I still believe they think we're the Mavericks that just run and gun. Hopefully, we'll just keep letting them think that. We're trying to shake that identity. Our identity now is to win games with defense because your offense isn't going to carry you every night." Erick Dampier: "I went out and did what I could. I got my head on and got some offensive rebounds and try and get us to the free throw line, and we got to the line and made some free throws." Dampier: "It is not how you start; it's how you finish. We did not play the way we wanted to in the 1st half, but came out in the 2nd half ready to play." Dampier on his 2nd half defense on Gasol: "Down the stretch, that's what we needed, someone to be physical with him and to contest his shot. We needed someone to come out and stop him. I knew what moves he was going to make. We wanted him to shoot the jumper and contest it." Mike Fratello: "We played a hard game against a dangerous team. They made some hard plays down the stretch and we just couldn't execute in the 4th. Jason [Terry] made some big shots for them in one stretch and that was pretty much it. It's a tough loss. I feel bad for the guys that we couldn't pull it out." Fratello: "We missed some looks we had at the basket that we'd make most of the time. It's just another tough loss for us." Fratello on Cardinal: "I thought Brian played with spirit and energy. He hasn't been able to contribute like we know he can because he's been injured. He did a good job for us tonight off the bench, so maybe it's starting to come back to him." Pau Gasol: "We keep losing these close games. It makes a big difference, especially when it means a much higher stop going into the playoffs. Hopefully we will go on the road trip and be successful. It's not going to be easy, but we have a very, very good road record. That will help." Gasol: "We've lost so many close games. It's frustrating. We had this game and we let it get away again." Gasol: "There's not a lot of pressure, but there is a sense of urgency to play well. We've got to put a couple of good games together. We should have won the game." Gasol on his 4th quarter struggles: "I rushed a little bit at the end. I knew they were coming [with double-teams] right away and I didn't follow through with my shot. I should have been more patient." Mike Miller: "As long as we are rebounding, we're effective. We've got 4 or 5 guys we can put on the floor that can make things happen. Rebounding makes things happen." Miller on his last shot: "It slipped a little. I should have made it. I got where I wanted. How did I miss that?" Shane Battier: "We have guys who can put it on the floor, but we don't have guys who that's their forte. You can try to force the dribble drive, but we need to practice and then increase our open looks." Battier: "We play top teams tough. We played San Antonio down to the wire and then Detroit. It's not like we're getting wiped to the floor by these guys." Battier: "It's been the story of our season against the top teams. We have not been able to close it out in the 4th quarter against them. It comes down to execution and we haven't been sharp." Battier: "Hubie [Brown] told us in one of his famous charts that you will get most of your high percentage shots to go down. We continue to try to get the best shot available. We try to shoot after 1 to 2 passes. As Hubie would say, you have to know when to shoot and when to pass - which were not doing a great job at right now." Chucky Atkins: "I just blew it. In the 2nd half, we played better defense. We got out and ran, but we only did it for 45 minutes. We needed to have done it for 48. I just blew the free throws." Atkins on his missed free throws near the end of the game: "I just blew it. I didn't perform like I should have late in the game." Atkins: "We just have to step up on games. We've got tough road games ahead." Eddie Jones on the 2nd half: "Our intensity level went up. You see Josh Howard only had 4 points in the 2nd half. Our defense has done well for us." Dallas Mavericks 81, Memphis Grizzlies 80 at Memphis (February 1) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 30 17 12 22 - 81 .467 .182 .423 .826 Memphis 19 26 22 13 - 80 .418 .294 .389 .760 Halftime: Dallas 47-45 3rd Q: Memphis 67-59 Technicals: none Refs: Bob Delaney, David Jones, Michael Henderson Attendance: 15,187 (cap 18,119) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 38 7-15 1-4 0-0 15 0-2 3 0 4 2 0 Adrian Griffin 29 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 2 1 4 0 1 Josh Howard 35 6-10 0-1 7-8 19 1-6 3 3 4 3 1 Dirk Nowitzki 37 7-18 0-1 4-4 18 1-12 1 4 1 0 1 DeSagana Diop 23 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 2-9 0 0 1 0 0 Devin Harris 12 0-2 0-0 2-2 2 0-1 1 2 5 1 0 Erick Dampier 20 1-1 0-0 4-6 6 4-6 0 0 3 0 2 Keith Van_Horn 16 3-6 0-1 0-0 6 2-6 1 2 1 1 0 Marquis Daniels 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 1 0 Jerry Stackhouse 24 4-13 1-4 0-1 9 0-2 2 2 2 1 1 Darrell Armstrong 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 30-71 2-11 19-23 81 10-45 13 14 26 9 6 Memphis Grizzlies REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Eddie Jones 32 2-10 0-3 0-0 4 1-3 2 3 4 1 0 Chucky Atkins 29 6-9 2-4 4-6 18 0-2 4 3 1 1 0 Pau Gasol 38 9-22 0-0 8-9 26 4-10 2 1 2 1 0 Shane Battier 38 3-6 1-2 3-4 10 2-7 3 1 1 2 2 Lorenzen Wright 16 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 Mike Miller 33 3-12 1-4 3-4 10 0-6 3 2 2 1 1 Bobby Jackson 21 1-8 0-2 0-0 2 1-1 3 1 2 2 0 Brian Cardinal 25 2-3 1-2 1-2 6 0-7 1 1 5 2 0 Jake Tsakalidis 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 28-72 5-17 19-25 80 9-40 18 13 20 10 3 patricia