The 05-06 regular season ended last Wednesday. Dallas finished with a record of 60-22, tying the most wins in team history. Dallas averaged 99.3 points while giving up 93.2 points (lowest in team history). Dallas out-rebounded their opponent 42.2-38.3 including 12.6-11.4 offensive. As much as has been made of Dallas' low number of assists (just 18.0, lowest in team history), the opponents averaged fewer at just 17.5 (an opponent low). Dirk Nowitzki led the way in both points (26.6) and rebounds (9.0) while Jason Terry was the high assist man at 3.8. With Nowitzki (last) and DeSagana Diop (2nd to last) each sitting out a game at the season's end, only Erick Dampier played in all 82 games. No surprise that Dallas left Pavel Podkolzin and Rawle Marshall off of the playoff roster. Keith Van Horn is on the playoff roster, but is still out with his broken hand, with a slight (though unlikely) chance that he could return if the Mavs go really far in the playoffs. The playoff rosters this year have 13 players with 1 placed on IL prior to each game, so that is where Van Horn will be. Avery Johnson was named as Coach of the Year. Johnson received 63 of a possible 124 media 1st place votes and had a total of 419 points. And it was a run away win as Mike D'Antoni (Pho) was 2nd in the voting with 247 points and 27 1st place votes. Congrats AJ! LA Clippers at Dallas (April 19) The last game of the regular season was here and the game meant nothing to both teams and they both treated it as such. Dirk Nowitzki did not play for Dallas - missing his first game of the season to get some rest. Elton Brand, Sam Cassell, and Vladimir Radmanovic sat out for the Clippers. The 1st quarter did somewhat resemble a basketball game, but neither team seemed that interested. The Clippers held small leads most of the quarter, none larger than 5 points, but Dallas scored the last 5 points of the quarter to take their first (and only) lead of the game at 21-20. And that was the last we saw of Josh Howard [turns out he tweaked his back, but was able to play in the first game of the playoffs] and Jason Terry. Everyone's nightmare occurred in the 2nd quarter - Darrell Armstrong sprained an ankle and left the game [the only goal for both teams was to get the game over with no injuries]. Corey Maggette, fresh back from injury, played the entire 2nd quarter (was only in the last 18 seconds of the 1st quarter) and helped the Clippers surge to a 39-25 lead with 6:20 to go. They took their largest lead of the game at 49-30 with 3:25. The Clippers lead 54-38 at the half. And that was the last we saw of Jerry Stackhouse as Avery Johnson dug deep into his bench, including Pavel Podkolzin seeing action for the first time this season. The Clippers led in the teens the entire 3rd quarter and led 66-53 after 3. And then it got really ugly in the 4th as Dallas went with a lineup of 2 rookies (Rawle Marshall, Josh Powell) and 3 centers (DeSagana Diop, DJ Mbenga, Podkolzin) the entire quarter. The group did pull within 66-58 with 9:40 left, but the Clippers then scored the next 6 points and their lead stayed in double-digits the rest of the way. Those of us aware of the streak figured Dallas' consecutive games with a 3-pointer was definitely going to end. In fact, the Clippers also did not have a 3 in the game. But Walter McCarty hit a 3 with 1:51 remaining (and also hit another 3-pointer 40 seconds later). And the surprise of the night, with 56 seconds to go, Diop nailed a quick 3-pointer to keep the steak alive at 610 straight games [and Diop said it was a called play, with rumors that Mark Cuban informed Johnson about the streak]. The Clippers won 85-71. Well, it wasn't much of a game and pretty ugly in the 2nd half, especially the 4th quarter. The Clippers were happy to get Corey Maggette out on the court [and Dallas was disappointed that Devin Harris wasn't able to go, but he did play in game 1]. Darrell Armstrong said he was okay. 71 points is the fewest Dallas has scored this season [though the few points was no surprise with the 2nd half lineups]. I'm not going in to the numbers for this meaningless game. Quotes [very little talk about the game itself] Mike Dunleavy: "We got a lot of guys some playing time and nobody got hurt. We got the guys that haven't played, like Corey Maggette, some minutes. He got back in the rhythm and that's good for us. From our standpoint, it was a great season. We accomplished the goals we set out to accomplish; making the playoffs and getting home court." Corey Maggette on coming back from injury: "Everything went well. It was important to me because I wanted to test it [back] out in a game situation before we went to the big dance. It's good that I went out there and played and everything went well and we'll go from there." Avery Johnson: "This was a game that we wanted to play well and win. We didn't win the game, but we accomplished most of what we wanted except that Armstrong got hurt. He seems like he is going to be okay. We had a couple of different lineups out there. We had 3 centers out there quite a bit, which was tough, but the guys battled." Johnson: "Rawle Marshall was outstanding tonight because he really competed at a high level. He had to play point guard for almost 3 quarters and that is not his natural position. We are just glad to get this game over with. We are really excited about what we did in the regular season. Being a 60 win team is really hard to accomplish, especially after all of the injuries we had this year and going 9-8 in the month of March." Rawle Marshall on Johnson being pleased with his play: "I'm happy to hear that, but I thought I could have done a little better out there. There's always room for improvement. If I would have hit a couple of more shots it would have been even better." Marshall on playing 36 minutes: "It feels great. It's always a privilege when you get out there and get a chance to play 36 minutes and try to showcase your talent. It's great to play for this organization." Los Angeles Clippers 85, Dallas Mavericks 71 at Dallas (April 19) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% LA Clippers 20 34 12 19 - 85 .516 .200 .472 .789 Dallas 21 17 15 18 - 71 .385 .200 .371 .545 Halftime: LA Clippers 54-38 3rd Q: LA Clippers 66-53 Technicals: none Refs: Bernie Fryer, Derek Richardson, Phil Robinson Attendance: 20,315 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Zeljko Rebraca (sore lower back), Vladimir Radmanovic (strained right groin), Dirk Nowitzki (sore right toe) Los Angeles Clippers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK James Singleton 42 1-4 0-2 0-0 2 3-6 1 2 3 2 1 Boniface N'Dong 23 2-8 0-0 0-0 4 2-7 0 1 2 0 0 Chris Kaman 27 6-9 0-0 2-2 14 1-6 0 2 2 0 1 Cuttino Mobley 21 5-13 0-1 0-0 10 2-3 2 1 1 3 1 Shaun Livingston 19 2-7 0-0 0-0 4 0-2 2 1 1 0 0 Corey Maggette 27 6-13 0-3 6-8 18 0-11 1 3 2 0 0 Vin Baker 25 3-5 0-0 4-5 10 0-4 1 1 6 1 2 Quinton Ross 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Daniel Ewing 29 4-5 0-0 3-4 11 0-3 6 3 2 1 0 Walter McCarty 21 5-7 2-4 0-0 12 0-3 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 48 34-72 2-10 15-19 85 8-46 13 14 24 7 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 12 3-3 0-0 1-2 7 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Josh Powell 43 2-12 0-0 7-10 11 2-9 2 1 2 0 0 DeSagana Diop 39 3-6 1-1 0-0 7 3-9 0 1 2 5 3 Jason Terry 12 6-9 0-2 0-1 12 1-1 0 0 1 0 1 Adrian Griffin 25 2-5 0-0 1-2 5 1-2 2 2 1 0 1 Jerry Stackhouse 12 4-8 0-1 0-0 8 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Erick Dampier 15 0-2 0-0 1-4 1 1-2 1 0 3 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Rawle Marshall 36 5-17 0-0 3-6 13 1-6 1 3 3 2 1 DJ Mbenga 22 1-6 0-1 2-2 4 1-4 0 0 5 1 1 Pavel Podkolzin 18 0-2 0-0 3-6 3 0-7 0 2 0 0 1 Totals 48 26-70 1-5 18-33 71 10-41 6 10 19 8 8 Game 1: Memphis at Dallas (April 24) The playoffs are HERE! Dallas jumped out to a 10-4 lead with 9 minutes to go. 2 minutes later, Dallas still led by 6 points. Eddie Jones then hit 2 3-pointers and hit 1-2 FT to give Memphis a 13-12 lead with 5:15 to go. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter. Dallas hit 4 straight free throws to close the quarter and led 28-22 after 1. Dirk Nowitzki had 13 points. Dallas out-rebounded Memphis 14-3 including 8-0 offensive, but Memphis shot 54% FG including 3-4 3-pointers to stay in the game. Jerry Stackhouse asserted himself early in the 2nd quarter in scoring 7 points to help Dallas to a 37-30 lead with 8:45 remaining. But Memphis then scored the next 6 points to pull within 36-37 with 7:25 to go. Dallas then pushed their lead back to 7 with a 7-1 mini-run, but Brian Cardinal answered with a 3-pointer and Chucky Atkins got a layup to pull Memphis within 42-44 with 4:50 left. Dallas then went on a 12-2 run to go up 56-44 with 2:35 to go. A hustle play by Adrian Griffin in stealing the ball in the back court resulted in Erick Dampier getting the ball at the free throw line and dribble-driving in for the one-handed slam with 35 seconds left. But Mike Miller nailed a 3-pointer with 15 seconds remaining and Stackhouse missed at the quarter buzzer. Dallas led 60-51 at the half. Dallas was killing Memphis on the boards in out-rebounding them 24-6 including 12-1 offensive in the half, but Memphis shot 61% FG and Dallas shot 51% FG. Memphis looked to get Pau Gasol going early in the 3rd quarter (3 points including 0-5 FG in the 1st half) and he got his first bucket 15 seconds into the quarter. Nowitzki hit 2 free throws and Adrian Griffin converted a 3-point play to put Dallas up 67-55 with 9:45 remaining. Dallas led 73-63 with 7 minutes to go and Memphis went on an 11-2 run to pull within 74-75 with 3:30 left. Dallas did answer with an 8-2 run to go up 83-76 with 15 seconds to go. Gasol hit a jumper with a fraction of a second remaining and Stackhouse's long heave wasn't close. Dallas led 83-78 after 3. Gasol had 13 points in the 3rd quarter. Memphis won the rebounding war in the 3rd quarter in out-rebounding Dallas 10-5 including 4-0 offensive. Neither team scored over the first minute and a half of the 4th quarter. Nowitzki hit 2 free throws and Dampier converted a 3-point play to give Dallas an 88-78 lead with 9:50 to go. A layup by Jake Tsakalidis gave Memphis their first points of the quarter with 9:30 left, but Jason Terry then scored the next 4 points. After another layup by Tsakalidis, Dallas scored the next 8 points to take their largest lead at 100-82 with 5:40 remaining. It was a 17-4 run to open the quarter during which Memphis shot 2-7 FG and committed 4 turnovers. Dallas led 103-88 with 3:20 left and the Mavs went through a drought and Memphis scored the next 5 points to pull within 93-103 with 1:25 remaining. But Dallas' cushion was large enough and neither team scored the rest of the way. Dallas won 103-93. Dallas leads the series 1-0. It wasn't always pretty, but it was a good win for Dallas. Both teams showed jitters early on, but settled down pretty quickly. Although the Mavs were a monster on the boards in the 1st half, Dallas' defense was lacking, which allowed Mempis to stay in the game. Of course, Memphis' 1st half defense was also lacking in allowing Dallas to score 60 points - Memphis prides themselves for their defense and their opponents averaged just 88.5 points during the regular season. The defense did pick up in the 4th quarter where both teams made just 5 shots (Dallas 5-18 FG, Memphis 5-13 FG). Memphis did not hit an outside shot in the 4th quarter. They had 4 layups and a dunk and 5 free throws for their 15 4th quarter points. For the game, Dallas shot 45.9% (34-74) FG including 5-13 3-pointers. Memphis shot 53.2% (33-62) FG including 6-14 3-pointers (0-1 3-pointers in the 4th). The 62 FGA for Memphis set an opponent playoff low for FGA. Dallas shot 30-35 FT and Memphis shot 21-29 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Memphis 40-29 including 15-7 offensive, but Memphis out-rebounded Dallas 23-16 including 6-3 offensive in the 2nd half. Dallas had 14 turnovers which Memphis converted into 19 points and Memphis had 19 turnovers [including 7 in the 4th quarter] which Dallas converted into 28 points. Game 2 is Wednesday at 7 pm. Dirk Nowitzki was solid throughout with 31 points on 9-18 FG and 13-15 FT and 11 rebounds in 45 minutes. He also had 3 assists. The 2nd best Mav was a surprise. Erick Dampier had the effort and hustle that sparked the team. He had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds including 7 offensive. He also had 2 steals and 2 blocks. Jason Terry had 20 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. Josh Howard struggled with foul trouble and had just 8 points and 1 rebound in 18 minutes. Thankfully Marquis Daniels stepped up in Howard's place and played well. Daniels had 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in 26 minutes. DeSagana Diop was also saddled with foul trouble, which wasn't a bad thing with how well Dampier played. Diop didn't attempt a shot and had 5 rebounds and 5 fouls in 15 minutes. Adrian Griffin played his usual game - important on the floor with not many numbers to show for his work. Griff had 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals. Jerry Stackhouse struggled with his shot, but got to the line. He had 14 points on 3-11 FG (all makes early in the 2nd quarter) and 7-9 FT. The Mavs were happy to have their backup point guard back. Devin Harris played 12 minutes in spelling Terry and did some good things and did some bad things. He missed his 2 attempts and had 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 3 turnovers. Paul Gasol didn't get going until the 2nd half as the Mavs' defense focused on him early in the game and then he stopped looking for his shot. No surprise when Memphis went to him early and often in the 3rd quarter where Gasol scored 13 of his team high 24 points. Gasol also had 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 41 minutes. Eddie Jones hurt the Mavs in spurts, but was quiet for long stretches. He had 16 points and 2 assists. Jake Tsakalidis looked for his shot more than expected as Memphis posted him up on Dirk Nowitzki a few times. He had 11 points and 8 rebounds. Chucky Atkins was limited by foul trouble and had just 4 points and 1 assist before fouling out in 15 minutes. As such, Bobby Jackson played 33 minutes, but he wasn't the Mavs killer this night [didn't stop the groans when he attempted 3s, though]. Jackson had 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists, but also had 5 turnovers. Shane Battier was fairly quiet with 6 points on 3-4 FG and 6 rebounds in 40 minutes. He also had 3 steals, 2 blocks, and 3 turnovers. Mike Miller also didn't get going for Memphis and he had 9 points including 3-5 FG and 3 rebounds in 28 minutes. Lorenzen Wright had 7 points including 3-4 FG and 2 rebounds in 12 minutes. Brian Cardinal had 3 points in 7 minutes and Dahntay Jones had 2 points in 3 minutes. [I'd like to really thank TNT for the game ending at 11:30 pm local time. Extra fun for those of us at the game with a 30 minute drive home and a 6 am wake up time. Kudos to the parents in front of me who brought their son and stayed until near the end, even though it was a school night.] Quotes [all but Gasol's quotes were transcribed by me] Avery Johnson: "Obviously tonight we are happy to get out of here with a victory. For all of you that predicted that this would be an easy series for any team, you were definitely wrong about it. These 2 teams are teams that have a lot of pride. Memphis doesn't back down from anybody and they haven't played their best game yet. They're going to come back and play a much better game, we know that so we have to be ready. But overall, for a team that's kind of been injured like we have been and trying to get some guys back out there like Devin Harris and Josh Howard and Marquis Daniels and dealing with a lot of those different things, I guess we've got to be pleased with the results. On the other hand, we looked like a team that hadn't played together in a while in a lot of situations. We were not crisp. We were a little unorganized in certain situations and unsure. But again, we knew we're going to have to play better than what we played tonight to have any sort of success in this series. But overall obviously we'll take this win, but there are a lot of things that are going to show up tomorrow in our film session and I'm sure it will show up in theirs also. So we're fortunate to get this win. I'm really proud of our guys. If you look at some of the individuals like Marquis Daniels and Erick Dampier, again, that's what we want, that's what we want from these guys. I thought Stack battled and gutted out 30 minutes for us. Obviously Dirk is playing on an MVP level. So again, Gasol got going on us a little bit in the 2nd half. But we again, we'll take the win, but there are a lot of things we definitely have to work on." Johnson on the start of the 4th quarter: "We were just fortunate to get some stops. They were shooting 60% on us in the half; they finished shooting 50% on us for the game. So I was just waiting for us to play some Mavericks defense and hoping they would miss some shots, and fortunately that happened in the 4th quarter." Johnson on the centers: "I thought they battled. Gasol is a tough cover. We tried to give him different looks. When we double-teamed, he kicked it out to Miller and Eddie Jones and made us pay. When we didn't double-team him, he made us pay. So Gasol's a tough cover. We've been trying to say that for almost 4 or 5 days now. We knew it by the way we've had battles with these guys during the regular season. Damp and Gana [Diop] did battle as best they can, but Gasol is a tough cover." Johnson on rebounding: "I thought it was big. I think you've got to win the war on the boards. You've got to win that war. It is a war down there. Those guys are really physical down there. So we've got to continue to try to get our share of rebounds." Johnson on Dampier: "Not always are you going to get a double-double, but we want him to play with emotion and intensity and not get so many cheap fouls - stuff that we've seen in the past, he's staying away from that kind of stuff by trying to battle in there and again showing some emotion. What you saw tonight, I don't think you really saw it in one playoff game [last season]. But again, does what he did tonight make coach happy for the rest of the playoffs? By no means. He's still paying me back. So we like what he did tonight, but we need more of the same." Johnson on if Dampier's experience helped: "Ya, absolutely. That's one of the reasons why we brought 8 guys back. We wanted to have some familiarity. Obviously this is my 2nd go around as a coach. Obviously I've been in a million times as a player. So, you're right, you learn from your experiences. He learned. Dirk has learned how to talk to him better, or communicate with him better. So obviously all of us have learned. And when you're trying to win a championship, you have a lot of growing pains." Johnson on being up 1-0: "Again, we'll take it, but I'm just looking forward to practice." Johnson if Howard was limited to 18 minutes because of his sore back: "No more than foul trouble. But fortunately he should be really energized. He's got 2 more days to get the back together and get back to playing Josh Howard basketball. But again, I think what I really love about tonight - and this is the thing that really sticks out in my mind - Josh Howard was one of the first guys off of the bench when Marquis Daniels was really playing well. And that really shows a lot of unselfishness because you are going to see a lot of Josh Howard this series, but he knew it wasn't his night, he was in foul trouble, but he was up cheering for Marquis Daniels. That's how our team has grown this year." Dirk Nowitzki on the difference from last year: "Obviously a way better start. I think we learned a little bit from last year - we're very inexperienced. But giving up 2 at home last year put us in a huge hole and I think we wanted to make sure we come a lot more aggressive and I think we did. Still we didn't play a great game. We didn't really execute the game plan great, I thought. I think on penetration, we left some shooters, we made some errors. But it's good to get the first one out of the way, even though it wasn't a great game. We're going to watch a lot of film these next 2 days and get ready for Wednesday. But you've got to give them credit. They kept on coming, but we found a way to close it out." Nowitzki: "Obviously after last year's playoff run, I wanted to get a rhythm really quick. The first couple of possessions, I wanted the ball in my hands and make some stuff happen and kind of feel good about myself going into these playoffs and hopefully we're going to keep playing for a couple of months here. But that first game was important for me. I didn't play since last Sunday because I sat out on Wednesday and a week is a long time for me to sit around without a game. So I just wanted to make sure to find my rhythm real quick and I was able to knock a few shots in early enough and obviously the confidence goes up and that helped a lot." Nowitzki: "Obviously we're not going to win with one guy. It's a team sport. And everybody came through in the 2nd half. In that run in the 4th quarter, I don't think I even scored 1 basket. I think our defense was there, we came at Gasol, made them take some tough shots, got some steals, got some rebounds, pushed the ball, and guys made some shots. Obviously we won't win the championship with one guy. We got to attack from a lot of angles, and I think that's what all the good teams do. The good teams, they play together on both ends of the floor and that's what we're trying to do." Nowitzki on trusting teammates: "Well I think we can all get better at that. You know, we've got to trust that the guy helping, the guy that is giving the help, somebody else has to give him some help and I think that's something we got to get better at on the defense rotation still. But it's something we've worked on all season long. I think we're a lot better than the previous years, but obviously it's still something to work with. And offensively, I think we're fine. We're moving the ball. When somebody's open, he's getting it and we trust that guys will make shots. So I think offensively we'll be all right." Nowitzki on toughness: "I think we're fine in that area. We got big guys who can clog up the paint and block some shots. We got some tough minded guys that if you looked at them, you wouldn't really say they're tough physical players, but they're tough minded and I think that's what ultimately matters in this league, to keep coming. I think we're fine. We're not soft any more. We just got to keep doing it." Nowitzki on Dampier: "He was great. I always said when he's active and clogging the paint defensively and offensively keeping balls alive for us, giving us 2nd chance opportunities, we're a different team. If he's just bringing energy and he had a couple of and-1s and pumping up the crowd, he was big. And we're looking to get more of him hopefully these playoffs, and that was great." Nowitzki on defense: "A little bit of everything. They got into the middle a lot. Our game plan was to keep them out of the middle a little but, but they're just coming on the pick-and-roll. I think we did a decent job in the 1st half on Gasol, but the 2nd half he made some shots and he didn't quit, so you got to give him credit. They're a tough team to play. They spread the floor with a lot of shooters out there, so we're glad that we got the first one out of the way, but they're going to come even harder on Wednesday and we've got to be ready." Nowitzki: "I think we learned from last year a little bit. We had a lot of inexperienced guys in the playoffs last year. You've got to give Houston credit last year - they came out with a great game plan and really took it to us. And today we wanted to turn it around a little bit. Obviously we don't want to give up home court advantage. Played a decent ballgame. Still, defensively we made a lot of mistakes, but at least we got the first one out of the way and we'll go from there." Nowitzki on the physicalness: "Obviously that's what the playoffs is all about. It'll get chippy once in a while. The games are just played a little tougher and everything is made a little tougher, so we're all ready for it. I think the refs are ready for it, and the players are. That's just part of the game. And we're getting ready for Wednesday." Erick Dampier: "I just came out there and hit the boards whenever I had the opportunity to. Tried to trick guys out so I'm able to get rebounds. Just go out there and play hard, leave it all out on the floor. Give the fans what they want to see and we're able to get a win." Dampier: "We've been playing together for a year now, so we've had a lot of time to play and practice together and the team chemistry is there. We know what each player is going to do when we're out there on the floor. So we just go out there and try to put it all together and leave it all on the floor." Dampier: "Only difference in starting and coming off the bench is you get a chance to get the tip. So, hey, when ever he calls my name, I just go out there and do what ever I can to help this team win." Dampier: "Obviously I can give that type of effort. I just think it is going to be very important to come out and to be consistent with it and try to duplicate that effort each and every night." Dampier: "There's no pressure at all. I know I'm capable of it, so I just have to go out there and try to put it together." Dampier: "I'm sure that both teams are going to make adjustments. We're going to look at some film tomorrow, look at our mistakes, and see what we can do better. And, hey, we'll just try to put it all together and just try to come out there and play hard the next game and see if we can get a win." Dampier: "We won this one. It doesn't matter if you win by 1 or 2 or 10, you know. We got this game behind us and now we just got to get ready to prepare for the 2nd game." Dampier on Gasol: "Obviously we got to do that in the 2nd half too. We had a couple of mistakes in the 2nd half and he was able to score. So we just got to come out and play him the way we played him in the 1st half for the next couple of games." Dampier on Memphis hitting shots making defending Gasol more difficult: "I don't think it was difficult. This is the game of basketball, players are going to score. So even if he scores, just try to contest his shot and make it a hard shot for him." Dampier: "I just wanted to come out there and do what ever I can to help this team win. Obviously last year was my first experience of the playoffs. This is my 2nd go around. And just try to be consistent with my play. Just go out there and play hard and let everything else take care of itself." Devin Harris: "It was good to get back out there. It's been quite a long time, probably the longest I've ever faced. I'm just feeling good and was glad to get back out on the court." Harris: "When any of our centers play the way that Dampier played tonight, we're a very tough team to beat. They've proved that throughout the season. If we get that effort out of him 4 or 5 games out of this series, we'll be very tough to beat." Harris: "We made the right plays when we needed to, getting the right steals, getting hands on a lot of balls. And we need to continue to be that active to be effective on defense." Harris: "I feel good. I hardly even think about the leg. We don't have any set backs or anything like that, so it's time to move forward." Marquis Daniels on the bench play: "They have probably the 6th man of the year in Mike Miller and we wanted to come in and try to limit him as much as possible. Damp did a great job on the rebounding end as well as offensively. I just tried to contain Miller as much as possible and limit Jackson as well. So I think our bench did a pretty good job tonight matching their bench." Mike Fratello: "It's pretty easy to figure out where the problem developed when halftime we're down 12 offensive rebounds to 1. We had 6 total rebounds in a half of basketball, they had 24 in the 1st half. That's not going to allow an opportunity to get enough field goal attempts - we're 13 field goal attempts at halftime. Our turnovers and our rebounds were the 2 major areas that we need to try to work to get better at. Defensively, giving up 103 points, we can do a better job than that. Can't put them on the line 35 times. They're a very good free throw shooting team - they shot 86 [percent] tonight from the line. If you're going to put them on 35 times, you're just hurting yourself. But we hung in there. Got it back to 5 to start the 4th quarter. And a little bit better execution. They picked up 28 points off of our turnovers - that's a lot of points off of turnovers, so if we can do a better job of protecting the ball, cut back. 2nd half they had 3 offensive rebounds vs 12 in the 1st half. So if we do a better job of them getting 2nd shot opportunities, the obvious is you give yourself a better chance of trying to win a basketball game." Fratello on staying in the game: "We made some shots. If we weren't shooting the ball the way we were, we wouldn't have been that close. But we fortunately made a lot of shots that allowed us to hang around. That 3rd quarter, we hold them to 23 [points], which is much better than the 28 and 32 in the first 2 quarters. So you have to try to give yourself a chance. But we obviously didn't give up as many offensive rebounds in the 3rd quarter and we cut our turnovers back a little bit. But if I remember right - I don't have a running thing in front of me - but I just have a remembrance of starting the 4th quarter down 5 and it seemed like we only scored 3 or 4 points in the next 5 minutes - does that, does anybody have it written? Was it 4 points? In how many minutes? [reporter: 17-4 run] In 5 1/2, 6 minutes? [about 5 1/2] Something like that, yeah. That's what I remember in my head. And I'd probably say that if we look back at it, we probably had a number of turnovers in there. All of the sudden a 5 point game goes up to a 14, 16 point game and now you're fighting from that far back." Fratello on Atkins: "Chucky was never allowed to get in a rhythm of the game because of the time on the bench. He's going to come back and play better defensively and turn that all out and into having more opportunities at the offensive end." Fratello on Gasol: "The fact that we were down 9 [at halftime] with Pao 0-5 [FG], 12-1 offensive rebounds, 24-6 total rebounds, and them with 60 points at halftime - I'm that, you know, that's not bad. I'm saying that when you look at all those things jumping out at you, you shake your head a little bit and wonder." Fratello: "We didn't smell too many rebounds in the 1st half." Fratello on adjustments: "I'll go back and look at the tape with the coaches and then we'll meet on it and show the team tomorrow and we'll try to work it out, see if we can do better next time out." Pau Gasol on his 1st half struggles: "I never got into a rhythm and I couldn't get myself going. Same defense, same setup, same everything except I was a little bit more aggressive [in the 2nd half] and I was able to hit a couple shots and get myself going." Gasol on things Memphis can take from this game: "There are a lot of things. We have to be concerned a little bit, but at the same time we have to do a better job overall in playing with a little bit more hustle." Game 1: Dallas Mavericks 103, Memphis Grizzlies 93 at Dallas (April 23) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 32 23 20 - 103 .475 .385 .459 .857 Memphis 22 29 27 15 - 93 .563 .429 .532 .724 Halftime: Dallas 60-51 3rd Q: Dallas 83-78 Technicals: Chucky Atkins 6:20 4th Refs: Dick Bavetta, Sean Corbin, Joe Forte Attendance: 20,340 (sellout) IL: Keith Van Horn (Dal), Anthony Roberson (Mem) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 36 7-15 1-4 5-6 20 1-3 4 3 2 1 0 Adrian Griffin 23 2-5 0-0 1-1 5 0-3 2 1 0 4 0 Dirk Nowitzki 45 9-18 0-3 13-15 31 2-11 3 1 3 1 0 Josh Howard 18 3-7 2-2 0-0 8 1-1 2 2 4 0 0 DeSagana Diop 15 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-5 0 2 5 0 1 Erick Dampier 33 4-7 0-0 4-4 12 7-12 0 0 4 2 2 Jerry Stackhouse 33 3-11 1-3 7-9 14 1-1 1 2 3 0 0 Marquis Daniels 26 6-9 1-1 0-0 13 1-3 3 0 4 2 0 Devin Harris 12 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 2 3 2 2 0 Totals 48 34-74 5-13 30-35 103 15-40 17 14 27 12 3 Memphis Grizzlies REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Eddie Jones 34 5-8 2-3 4-6 16 0-0 2 0 4 1 0 Chucky Atkins 15 2-5 0-2 0-0 4 0-0 1 2 6 0 0 Pau Gasol 41 8-18 0-1 8-11 24 1-7 4 2 3 1 2 Shane Battier 40 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 2-6 1 3 5 3 2 Jake Tsakalidis 27 5-8 0-0 1-2 11 3-8 2 2 5 1 0 Bobby Jackson 33 3-8 2-5 3-4 11 0-3 4 5 2 0 0 Mike Miller 28 3-5 1-1 2-2 9 0-3 1 3 2 1 0 Lorenzen Wright 12 3-4 0-0 1-2 7 1-2 0 2 3 0 0 Brian Cardinal 7 1-2 1-2 0-0 3 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 Dahntay Jones 3 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-62 6-14 21-29 93 7-29 16 19 31 8 4 patricia Go Mavs!