Keith Van Horn underwent surgery on the broken bone in his right hand. There is no time table for his return. Sacramento at Dallas (April 4) Adrian Griffin and Devin Harris remained out, but Marquis Daniels returned after missing a couple of games with a strained neck. The game stayed close early on with both teams holding small leads. The game was tied at 18-18 with 2:45 remaining and Dallas went on an 8-2 run to go up 26-20 with 30 seconds left. Dallas led 26-22 after 1. Brad Miller hit a jumper to open the 2nd quarter and Dallas then scored the next 10 points, including a monster swat that went past half court by Josh Powell and the last 6 points by Powell, to go up 36-24 with 9:15 left. Dallas continued to lead in double-digits and a 10-2 Mavs run put Dallas up 50-32 with 3:25 to go. 3 straight Dallas free throws and a jumper by Dirk Nowitzki gave Dallas a 59-36 lead with 1:30 remaining. Dallas led 63-41 at the half. Dallas out-scored Sacramento 37-19 in the 2nd quarter. For the half, Dallas shot 55% FG and Sacramento shot 39% FG. It was an offensive explosion in the 3rd quarter as neither team could stop the other (which also resulted in 2 humorous Dallas timeouts where Avery Johnson was furious at his team's defensive lapses - I thought he was going to tear his jacket off after calling one of them (and that was with Dallas leading by 20+ points)). The teams combined to shoot 18-23 FG over the first 6 1/2 minutes of the quarter, but Dallas still led in the 20s. A 3-pointer by Jason Terry gave Dallas a 95-68 lead with 2:45 remaining. Dallas led 101-76 after 3 (yes, with another quarter still to play). Nowitzki had 16 points and Bonzi Wells had 15 points in the quarter. Dallas out-scored Sacramento 38-35 in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter was pure garbage time as Sacramento got no closer than 23 points. 2 free throws by Marquis Daniels gave Dallas their largest lead at 113-83 with 6:20 to go. Dallas won easily 127-101. Though I thought Dallas would win, I was surprised by the blowout. Sacramento has been playing well lately and is fighting for a playoff spot. They had held their previous 13 opponents under 100 points. Dallas had 100 points in the 3rd quarter. The Mavs had it flowing offensively and Sacramento didn't put up much of a defensive challenge. Dallas shot a season high 61.3% (49-80) FG including 4-10 3-pointers. Sacramento shot 45.8% (38-83) FG including 5-24 3-pointers. Both teams shot well from the line as Dallas shot 25-28 FT and Sacramento shot 20-22 FT. Dallas killed Sacramento on the boards in out-rebounding the Kings 44-26 including 15-11 offensive. Dallas had a season high 29 assists and Sacramento had 25 assists. Next up should be a good one with Dallas in San Antonio on Friday for their last matchup of the regular season. Dallas had several strong performances. Ron Artest did not slow down Dirk Nowitzki as Nowitzki had 29 points including 11-17 FG - including several tough shots that became and-1s. He also had 7 rebounds. Josh Howard looked to be back to form after 2 good games (didn't look good his first game back from injury). He had 23 points and 8 rebounds including 6 offensive (though 4 came on 1 possession as he hustled to get the rebounds, but couldn't get the putbacks to fall). Jason Terry had 18 points and 8 assists. Give the rook some props. Josh Powell excited everyone with his monster swat and contributed 8 points (surpassing his career high 6 points) in the 2nd quarter. He finished with 12 points including 5-6 FG and 5 rebounds in 24 minutes. He did commit 4 turnovers though. Jerry Stackhouse had 10 points and 5 assists - and, stunner, no turnovers. Despite some defensive lapses, Erick Dampier again played well and had 10 points including 3-3 FG and 8 rebounds. On the other hand, again DeSagana Diop did not play well and was called out by the coach in the press conference. Diop had 2 points and 4 rebounds and several defensive lapses in 13 minutes. Marquis Daniels had 11 points on 2-2 FG and 7-8 FT, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. All who played scored as Darrell Armstrong had 2 points, Rawle Marshall had 2 points, and DJ Mbenga had 8 points - most of them on jumpers away from the paint (and all in garbage time). Bonzi Wells was the high man with 30 points including 10-18 FG. He also had 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Ron Artest had 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. Mike Bibby had 11 points and shot just 4-11 FG and 0-5 3-pointers. He had just 2 assists in 31 minutes. Brad Miller had just 4 points on 2-7 FG and 5 rebounds in 29 minutes. He did have 4 assists. Kevin Martin had 11 points including 4-11 FG. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Obviously, tonight we thought this was a good game overall for us from start to finish. We thought we got our defense under us in the 1st half and kind of set the tone for the rest of the game. Fortunately, they missed some shots, but I thought overall we were alert. We got to loose balls. We did a good job on the boards tonight, which you have to do against this team. Obviously, we had a little lull defensively in the 3rd quarter, but they're a very good offensive basketball team and they weren't going to come out of the locker room lying down. We upped our offensive production in that 3rd quarter and continued to score with them - all we did was trade buckets. We'll continue to look at it and see where the breakdowns are. I think more than anything we lost a little concentration on what we were doing. We started off with my starting center, DeSagana Diop, not making the correct decisions on defense which set the tone for the rest of that 3rd period. He's going to have to wake up and get himself together because we can't have those defensive lapses as we move on." Johnson before the game on Howard: "When he's on his game and he's playing tough, hard-nosed defense and getting rebounds, getting some assists, guarding one of the better perimeter players, and scoring, I'm a much better coach." Johnson on Howard: "Josh is making progress. He wanted to play a little bit more tonight but I told him we're looking at the big picture. That's what I've been telling you guys, we've sorely missed him. We survived the best we could without him, but he's equivalent to a lot of the other starting 3s on other teams. Just look at Sacramento and how they would be without Ron Artest. Look at Detroit without Tayshaun Prince. We sorely missed him." Johnson on Nowitzki: "I thought he was real aggressive with his moves. He had 1 or 2 when he bailed out, but overall I thought he was making some hard vicious moves. That's what I call it. I know that's a bad word in a lot of ways. He made some really strong moves and that's what I was really excited about. We had some good production off our bench. Damp woke up, he's back. He took a 2 game vacation on us, but he's back and that really helps when he rebounds and does what he does for us on the defensive end." Johnson on Diop: "I think it's recent. We haven't seen that level of consistency. He'll get better. He'll keep working on his game and try to get to that next level. We have to get better production out of him and more alertness on defense." Johnson on Powell: "We have a lot of confidence in him, it's just that he's young. He makes little mistakes here and there, but overall we like his energy. As we move forward, we think he can be a nice, prototypical NBA power forward." Johnson: "You look at the last 2 ballgames, we've been consistent, especially defensively, which has taken a lot of pressure off our offense. I kind of like that stormy period that we went through now in hindsight. I hope we can continue to go back up the mountain because we took a big dip there for a minute. It's brought us closer together." Dirk Nowitzki: "We were really aggressive and we got really good looks. We played pretty decent defense and when we rebounded, we ran. In transition we usually get pretty good looks. We were in attack mode all game long." Nowitzki on Howard: "Getting Josh back really helps us on both ends of the floor. We missed his perimeter defense and on offense he's just so relentless getting to the basket. He's so good at slashing in there. He set the tone for us tonight." Nowitzki on Howard: "Getting Josh back makes a difference at both ends of the floor. All the things I need to work on, he's very good at. We make a good 3-4 combo. If we get Devin and Griff back, things will look pretty good for us." Josh Howard on the 2nd quarter: "I just think everyone was really aggressive on the offensive and defensive ends. The guys were just ready to play tonight." Howard: "We were really sharing the ball. Everybody was hitting the offensive glass and we were finishing our plays." Howard on his health: "I'm feeling pretty good. I'm just trying to work my way back into game shape and each game I play I feel better." Howard on Johnson saying he was a better coach with Howard on the floor: "It's a great compliment. All I do is come here and work hard and try to do whatever I can to help us win. Hopefully that makes his job easier." Jason Terry: "It was just a great job all around tonight. But I think more importantly, we have a game coming up against San Antonio were we really have to focus in on the execution part of our game. If we can come out of there with a win, then we'll be back on track." Terry on if Dallas needs to win in San Antonio: "Definitely it's going to do something for our confidence. Going into that game we're going to be extremely focused and the key for us is to execute our game plan. We're really not concerned on how they play or what they're trying to do to us. It's more about how we play defense and how we contain their penetration and how we rebound the basketball." Terry on if Dallas is back after the 3 straight losses and now 2 straight blowouts: "Yes, the fans and us both. What a great feeling it is to come back home and play in front of your fans and be welcomed with open arms. It's great when this place is loud and rocking like it is every night, it makes it that much easier for us to go out there and perform." Jerry Stackhouse on Powell: "The kid was very enthusiastic and gave us a lot of energy. It was good to see some of these young kids play with all the injuries we've been having." Josh Powell on his over half court swat: "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He pump-faked and then went up like nobody was there. I was like, 'Let me go get it.' It kind of made me smile a little bit, but I had to keep it to myself." Rick Adelman: "Just a very poor game on our part. We didn't guard them all night long. When they got in the open court, they pretty much did whatever they wanted to do. We didn't guard them. Even in the 3rd quarter when we scored 35 points, we lost ground. That was probably our poorest defensive effort in a long time. Give them credit; they were very good, but we gave up a lot of layups, gave up offensive boards. It's a tough team to cover, but we have to do better than that." Adelman: "We haven't had a game like this in a long, long time." Adelman: "Nobody tonight was very into it. Maybe you're due to have a game like that. I don't know. But you can't play like that and expect to close this [playoff race] out in a strong fashion. We've got to play much better than that." Adelman on Howard: "He was on the boards, very active. He put the ball on the floor and attacked us. You have to give them credit. They were very extremely good tonight, but we added a lot to it." Adelman on the playoff race for #8: "It's still in our control. We're ahead of them. If we win games, they can't catch us. That's the bottom line. If we don't win games, then we open it up for them to get back in it." Mike Bibby: "They are playing well. We couldn't stop them. They were hitting shots and making layups. They shot 61% from the field, so that's a sign that you weren't doing something or they were. They were hitting shots everywhere and we couldn't get any stops." Bonzi Wells: "It's a defensive wake-up call. You don't want to start trips like this. And it doesn't get any easier." Brad Miller: "We didn't play the way we were supposed to, executing defensively. Yeah, they're a good team, but we expected a better effort, a better showing." Dallas Mavericks 127, Sacramento Kings 101 at Dallas (April 4) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 26 37 38 26 - 127 .643 .400 .613 .893 Sacramento 22 19 35 25 - 101 .559 .208 .458 .909 Halftime: Dallas 63-41 3rd Q: Dallas 101-76 Technicals: none Refs: Tony Brothers, Bob Delaney, Bill Kennedy Attendance: 20,128 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Adrian Griffin (strained right hamstring) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 32 7-13 2-3 2-2 18 0-2 8 2 2 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 32 5-11 0-2 0-0 10 0-2 5 0 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 31 11-17 1-2 6-6 29 1-7 2 2 1 0 1 Josh Howard 29 9-19 1-1 4-4 23 6-8 4 1 1 0 1 DeSagana Diop 13 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 3-4 0 0 1 0 1 Erick Dampier 28 3-3 0-0 4-6 10 2-8 1 2 3 0 0 Marquis Daniels 24 2-2 0-0 7-8 11 0-4 5 0 1 1 0 Josh Powell 24 5-6 0-0 2-2 12 2-5 0 4 5 0 1 Darrell Armstrong 11 1-3 0-2 0-0 2 0-1 3 0 2 0 0 Rawle Marshall 9 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 1 2 0 0 1 DJ Mbenga 8 4-4 0-0 0-0 8 1-2 0 1 1 1 0 Totals 48 49-80 4-10 25-28 127 15-44 29 14 20 2 5 Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bonzi Wells 32 10-18 1-3 9-9 30 2-7 4 1 0 1 0 Mike Bibby 31 4-11 0-5 3-3 11 0-0 2 0 3 0 0 Ron Artest 32 8-15 1-4 2-2 19 3-3 4 1 4 0 1 Kenny Thomas 32 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 3-4 2 2 3 1 2 Brad Miller 29 2-7 0-1 0-0 4 0-5 4 0 3 0 0 Kevin Martin 23 4-11 1-4 2-2 11 2-4 1 0 1 1 0 Shareef Abdur-Rahim 18 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 1 1 6 2 1 Francisco Garcia 12 0-2 0-2 2-4 2 0-2 1 1 1 1 0 Ronnie Price 9 2-4 2-4 0-0 6 0-0 1 2 0 1 0 Corliss Williamson 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 3 0 0 0 0 Vitaly Potapenko 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 2 0 2 0 0 Jason Hart 6 3-4 0-1 2-2 8 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-83 5-24 20-22 101 11-26 25 9 23 7 4 patricia