Jason Terry went to Atlanta on Monday, returned in time for the game on Tuesday, and left the team again after Thursday's game for Atlanta. He is expected to be in Utah in time for tonight's game. Terry's 9 year old niece died unexpectedly. Thoughts and prayers go out to the Terrys. Dallas at Portland (March 9) It was the 2nd meeting against Portland in 2 days, this time in Portland. Josh Howard remained out with his strained hammy and Devin Harris started in his place. Portland held small leads early on, but Dallas score 4 straight points to take their first lead at 12-11 with 6:30 to go. Portland responded by scoring the next 4 points. Portland led 17-15 with 4:25 left and Dallas scored the next 8 points to go up 23-17 with 2:15 remaining. Dallas led 25-19 after 1. Dallas led 31-26 with 9:35 left and the Mavs went on a 9-1 run to go up 40-27 with 6:15 to go. Dirk Nowitzki hit 4 straight free throws and Jason Terry hit a jumper to give Dallas a 54-38 lead with a minute remaining. A bucket by Voshon Lenard capped the quarter scoring. Dallas led 54-40 at the half. Nowitzki had 18 points in the half. Terry opened the 3rd quarter with consecutive 3-pointers. Another 3 by Terry gave Dallas a 65-42 lead with 8:25 left. Portland did score the next 5 points, but Dallas then scored the next 8 points to take their largest lead at 73-47 with 4:30 to go. Dallas led 78-56 with 1:15 remaining and Portland closed the quarter with a 7-1 run. Dallas led 79-63 after 3. Terry had 10 points in the 3rd quarter. Portland pulled within 67-81 with 10:05 left, but a 3-pointer by Nowitzki kicked off a 12-4 run to put Dallas up 93-71 with 7:50 to go. Portland got no closer than 15 points the rest of the way. Dallas won 109-92. It was a much better performance by Dallas than the last game and a blowout most of the 2nd half. Portland simply didn't not look as sharp as they did in the previous game - and they would need a strong game to keep up with a much better Dallas team. Dallas shot 55.4% (36-65) FG including 6-14 3-pointers and Portland shot 47.9% (34-71) FG including 4-10 3-pointers. Dallas shot 31-35 FT and Portland shot 20-26 FT. There weren't many rebounds as the 2 teams combined for just 55 rebounds, a Dallas record low for 2 teams. Dallas out-rebounded Portland 30-25 and Portland had the edge on offensive rebounds at 9-5. Both teams were fairly clean with the ball with just 10 turnovers each. Thus ends the season series against Portland, which Dallas swept 4-0. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 33 points including 15-16 FT. He was also the high rebounder with 10 boards. Jason Terry was the sharp shooter with 19 points including 4-7 3-pointers. He only had 2 assists, but did not turn the ball over. Devin Harris played well in his start and had 12 points and a team high 7 assists. Marquis Daniels had 13 points and Jerry Stackhouse had 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists off of the bench. DeSagana Diop had 2 points and 5 rebounds in 17 minutes and Erick Dampier had 9 points including 4-5 FG and 5 rebounds in 26 minutes. Diop took a shot to the head during the 2nd quarter and did not play most of the 2nd half due to dizziness. Adrian Griffin had 4 points and 3 assists. Josh Powell saw some real game time and had 4 points and 2 rebounds in 14 minutes. The other 3 players only played 2 minutes each. Zach Randolph again gave the strongest performance for Portland with 29 points including 3-3 3-pointers. He also had 5 rebounds including 4 offensive. Viktor Khryapa had 10 points and 6 rebounds. Sebastian Telfair had 12 points - all in the last 12:09 of the game - and 8 assists. Martell Webster had 10 points and 3 rebounds. Darius Miles looked lackluster and had 9 points in 17 minutes. Quotes Avery Johnson: "We put together a pretty decent game from start to finish. Obviously we fell asleep with our 4th quarter defense. But again, we had a pretty good cushion with that 26 point lead. We have a few things to work on. We had a couple good contributors tonight. Josh Powell, I thought he came in and gave us a chance to rest Dirk and didn't really hurt us and did some good things on the court tonight. Devin's play at point guard tonight was really good. He was pretty efficient at what he did and especially in the 3rd quarter when he found Jason Terry for those 2 big 3-pointers. I thought having Devin in the lineup was the key to us winning tonight. He held down their guards." Johnson: "We had a few key contributors from Dirk and Devin finding Terry for those big shots to start the 3rd. But again, we have a few things to work on." Johnson: "Having Devin in the lineup with JT [Terry] was a key for us. It gave us a chance to get [Terry] going. We like having those guys in the game together for short stretches." Johnson: "I really challenged our team to come up with a big effort for us tonight. We did some good things and we are heading in the right direction. I still don't like our 4th quarter defense." Johnson: "I'm glad Sebastian Telfair didn't play much early in the game because he really hurt us late in the game with his penetration. Overall, I thought we were physical. We haven't found a way to solve Zach Randolph yet. We took him out of his post up game but tonight he decided to make 3s on us. We're fortunate we're not playing this team anymore because all of the games have been highly contested." Johnson on the death of Terry's niece: "It's been rough for everybody. We've been talking quite a bit. The nights have been pretty long. It shows that, even as NBA athletes, the players got to go through the same thing normal people go through. They get no free pass. His heart is pretty heavy right now." Dirk Nowitzki: "It was nice to get the win and get the series [vs Portland] over with. They are a young athletic team and it is always difficult playing the same team back-to-back during the season." Nowitzki: "We wanted to come out with that sense of urgency, be in attack mode and aggressive. It was good on both ends of the court. We really moved the ball well and made the right adjustments to get a comfortable lead by half." Nowitzki: "We were in an intense mode all game and we never really looked back." Nowitzki on Terry: "He's one of the best shooters in the league and we found him in transition. He ran right to the line and when he gets his feet set, he can shoot with the best of them. Those shots kind of put [Portland] away." Jason Terry: "After halftime, we talked about getting a good start to the 3rd quarter. Whatever we had to do, we wanted them to call the first timeout and that's exactly what we did. As far as my shots, Devin broke down the defense and saw me spotting up. He found me and I did what I do, shoot the ball." Terry: "Our focus at shoot around and coming into today's game was to be crisper. We wanted to make our cuts a lot harder and set our defense. I thought we did that for a majority of the ballgame. We're in a situation where we know what were capable of and it's just a matter of us going out there and getting it done." Terry on Johnson: "He did all the motivating that he needed to do. It's just a situation where we know what we are capable of doing. Now it's just a matter of us doing what needs to be done. We got veterans on this team that will step up as far as leadership and make sure we keep this thing going in the right direction." Terry on the death of his niece: "I'm just using basketball as my sanctuary. That's how I've been dealing with it. I told Avery a couple days ago from Atlanta that the best place for me is back on the court. I think about it before the game. Then when I'm out there playing, I have some time away from it. But as soon as the game is over, I'm kind of right back there having those thoughts." Devin Harris on playing with Terry: "We've worked pretty well together. It creates a lot of open shots for him. And my first couple of drives to the basket felt pretty good." Nate McMillan: "We got lost in transition. We got sucked in on their pick-and-roll sets. We left Terry open and that's a no-no. I thought the energy level wasn't there. It wasn't what I expected. Tonight we were flat for most of the game. They came out sharp and we didn't respond to their intensity and the energy they brought. I think I need to ask some questions and talk to some guys and see who wants to be here. You have to have passion in this game. It's the NBA and were asking for effort." McMillan: "They came out with their defensive sets and really mixed it up. Our young guys got confused out there. They really disrupted our offensive sets in the 1st half. Their pick-and-roll defense was pretty good tonight." McMillan on Miles: "If that's how he feels, that's how he feels. I have no problem with that. No problem at all." Sebastian Telfair: "Right now, I think we're kind of moving backwards. Quitting - as in not giving the same effort. We're still coming to work every night, but we're not giving that effort." Jarrett Jack: "We just came out flat. We didn't pick it up as the game went along. Against a team like that you're going to pay for it." Jack: "Especially playing a team of that caliber, it's tough playing them 2 games in a row. We thought we had them 2 out of the first 3 games and we gave those games away. This game they came out and executed their offense well." Jack: "You try to be as motivational as possible, and try to go out there and do your part as much as you can and hope everyone will feed off of you and it will be a domino effect." Dallas Mavericks 109, Portland Trailblazers 92 at Dallas (March 9) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 25 29 25 30 - 109 .600 .400 .554 .886 Portland 19 21 23 29 - 92 .492 .400 .479 .769 Halftime: Dallas 54-40 3rd Q: Dallas 79-63 Technicals: Viktor Khryapa 9:25 4th (hanging on the rim), Nate McMillan 7:59 4th, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 2:44 4th Refs: Danny Crawford, Michael Henderson, Tim Donaghy Attendance: 15,433 (cap 19,980) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 20 2-2 0-0 0-1 4 0-2 3 1 4 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 38 8-18 2-5 15-16 33 1-10 3 1 2 1 1 DeSagana Diop 17 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-5 0 0 1 0 1 Devin Harris 32 5-10 0-0 2-2 12 0-2 7 1 5 1 0 Jason Terry 36 6-11 4-7 3-4 19 0-0 2 0 2 1 0 Jerry Stackhouse 26 4-8 0-2 3-4 11 0-3 4 3 5 0 0 Erick Dampier 26 4-5 0-0 1-1 9 2-5 0 1 5 1 1 Marquis Daniels 26 4-7 0-0 5-5 13 0-1 2 1 1 1 0 Josh Powell 14 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 1-2 1 1 2 0 0 DJ Mbenga 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 4 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Rawle Marshall 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 49 36-65 6-15 31-35 109 5-30 22 10 27 5 4 Portland Trailblazers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Viktor Khryapa 28 4-8 0-0 2-4 10 3-6 2 1 5 1 0 Zach Randolph 42 11-20 3-3 4-4 29 4-5 1 1 3 0 0 Theo Ratliff 24 1-3 0-0 3-4 5 0-3 0 1 2 0 1 Juan Dixon 16 3-9 0-1 0-0 6 0-1 2 0 2 1 0 Steve Blake 30 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-3 5 3 1 0 0 Darius Miles 17 4-8 0-0 1-1 9 0-2 0 0 5 0 1 Jarrett Jack 10 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 2 0 0 0 Travis Outlaw 19 2-4 0-2 0-0 4 1-1 1 0 2 0 1 Sebastian Telfair 18 4-5 0-0 4-6 12 0-0 8 1 3 1 0 Brian Skinner 12 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0-1 0 0 2 2 1 Voshon Lenard 7 1-3 0-2 0-0 2 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 Martell Webster 17 2-5 1-2 5-5 10 0-3 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 34-71 4-10 20-26 92 9-25 20 10 27 5 4 patricia