Preseason: Dallas at New York (October 16) Once again, both teams were playing without some key players. The Mavs found someone even more foul prone that Erick Dampier as Eddy Curry picked up a foul on the opening jumpball [though the refs were kind to Curry in the paint as he didn't pick up a single 3-seconds call while Damp was called for 1 (both are amongst the worst offenders for camping in the paint)]. Dallas opened the game with a 12-3 run, forcing the Knicks into an early timeout. The Knicks did score the next 4 points, but Dallas was able to keep the lead the rest of the quarter. Consecutive dunks by Dirk Nowitzki gave Dallas their largest lead at 26-14 with 4:35 remaining, but after a time out New York scored the next 6 points. Devin Harris hit a jumper as the quarter ended to give Dallas a 35-30 lead after 1 (and you know coach Larry Brown had to be very unhappy giving up so many points in a quarter, especially since a number came off of poor transition defense). Nowitzki was a monster in the quarter taking advantage of Malik Rose first and then rookie David Lee as Nowitzki racked up 15 points in the quarter. Dallas continued to lead throughout the 2nd quarter as New York got no closer than 3 points, but Dallas' lead got no larger than 10 points. Dallas led 61-57 at the half. Quentin Richardson tweak a hammy during the 2nd quarter and did not play the rest of the game. For the half, Dallas shot 61% FG and New York shot 44% FG, but the Knicks had the advantage at the line in shooting 23-27 FT while Dallas shot 13-16 FT. Dallas scored the first 6 points of the 3rd quarter before New York finally scored 3 1/2 minutes into the quarter. Consecutive jumpers by Josh Howard gave Dallas their largest lead at 81-65 with 2:40 to go, but New York then scored the next 8 points. Dallas led 85-75 after 3. Howard had 10 points in the quarter. Nowitzki and Dampier sat the entire 4th quarter and Howard was subbed out for good 2 minutes into the quarter as Avery Johnson went with the reserves and youngsters in what ended up being a tight game (New York also played their youngsters and Stephon Marbury sat the entire quarter). New York opened the 4th quarter with a 9-3 run to pull within 84-88 with 8 minutes left. Dallas was able to cling to a small lead over the next 6 minutes and led 101-94 with 2 minutes to go. Little Nate Robinson hit a jumper, Keith Van Horn turned the ball over, David Lee hit 1-2 free throws, Marquis Daniels was called for charging, Robinson hit 1-2 free throws, Devin Harris missed a jumper, and Channing Frye got a dunk after a timeout to pull New York within 100-101 with 18 seconds left. Daniels was intentionally fouled, but he only hit 1-2 FT. Robinson was fouled on the other end and he hit both free throws to tie the game with 7 seconds left - the first tie since the start of the game. Dallas got the ball into Van Horn (and he traveled all over the place, as the Knicks announcers correctly pointed out, but no call was made) and he threw up an ugly shot that clanked, but DeSagana Diop was able to grab the rebound and put the ball back up and it bounced off the side of the rim and in with time expired. Reviews showed he clearly got the shot off in time, so Dallas won 104-102. The good news from this game is that it didn't go into overtime. It wasn't that pretty of a performance by either team (though no where as ugly as the Clippers game). Dallas shot better than New York the entire game, but the Knicks kept the game close with lots of trips to the line. 47 free throws attempted is a really high number. Dallas shot 52.6% (40-76) FG and 21-29 FT - they missed far too many freebies. New York shot 42.5% (31-73) FG and 38-47 FT. There were still too many sloppy turnovers, especially by Marquis Daniels and Keith Van Horn. And the rebounding wasn't very good by either team as no one was really aggressively going after the boards. Dallas only had 15 assists. The DNP list was long with Jerry Stackhouse (sore right knee), Pavel Podkolzin (sprained right big toe), Antonio Davis (personal), Jerome James (strained right hamstring), Allan Houston (left knee pain, now retired) not playing. Though both had lapses, Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard were the best players in this game. Nowitzki had 20 points and 3 steals in 28 minutes but only had 2 rebounds. Howard had 16 points. Erick Dampier had a good outing and didn't get into foul trouble. He had 11 points including 4-4 FG and 7 rebounds in 22 minutes. It goes down hill from those 3, with a slight nod to DeSagana Diop for the game winner and 5 blocks including 4 in the 4th quarter (but only shot 1-5 FG and had just 2 rebounds). Marquis Daniels and Keith Van Horn looked poor with lots of miss handles and Van Horn was racking up fouls. Jason Terry only shot 5-15 FG and also had 5 fouls. Devin Harris didn't show much as 5-9 Nate Robinson gave the Mavs guards fits. Darrell Armstrong came in for the last few seconds to run the last defense and offense plays. New York's youngsters looked good. Nate Robinson had the speed and quickness that a sub-6-footer needs to make it in the NBA and did a good job in anchoring the Knick's comeback in the 4th. David Lee also looked good in spots - better when he wasn't trying to guard Nowitzki, of course. Dallas Mavericks 104, New York Knicks 102 at New York (October 16) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 35 26 24 19 - 104 .561 .300 .526 .724 New York 30 27 18 27 - 102 .426 .400 .425 .809 Halftime: Dallas 61-57 3rd Q: Dallas 85-75 Technicals: Larry Brown 3rd Refs: Tom Washington, Michael Henderson, Ed Malloy Attendance: 15,541 (cap 19,763) Did not play due to injury: Jerry Stackhouse (sore right knee), Pavel Podkolzin (sprained right big toe), Antonio Davis (personal), Jerome James (strained right hamstring), Allan Houston (left knee pain) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 33 5-15 0-1 3-3 13 1-4 3 2 5 3 0 Doug Christie 20 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 0-3 2 4 2 1 1 Dirk Nowitzki 28 7-13 1-2 5-5 20 1-2 3 0 4 3 0 Josh Howard 26 8-13 0-2 0-2 16 2-4 1 2 1 2 0 Erick Dampier 22 4-4 0-0 3-5 11 2-7 1 2 3 0 1 Marquis Daniels 34 4-9 0-1 1-2 9 0-4 4 5 3 3 0 Devin Harris 28 2-5 0-1 6-8 10 3-5 0 1 5 1 1 Keith Van_Horn 23 4-6 2-3 1-2 11 1-3 1 4 5 1 0 DeSagana Diop 18 1-5 0-0 2-2 4 1-2 0 0 3 0 5 DJ Mbenga 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 3 0 0 Rawle Marshall 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-76 3-10 21-29 104 11-34 15 20 35 14 8 New York Knicks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jamal Crawford 25 1-6 0-2 0-0 2 0-3 2 2 2 0 0 Anfernee Hardaway 14 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 2 0 1 0 0 Quentin Richardson 13 4-7 2-3 0-0 10 0-3 0 3 1 1 0 Malik Rose 9 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 1-2 1 0 1 0 0 Eddy Curry 18 2-4 0-0 3-4 7 1-5 0 4 4 0 0 David Lee 30 5-12 0-0 7-11 17 2-4 2 1 4 3 0 Stephon Marbury 26 3-8 0-0 4-6 10 0-2 5 2 2 1 0 Nate Robinson 24 3-8 0-0 7-8 13 0-3 3 3 4 4 0 Trevor Ariza 23 1-3 0-0 8-8 10 3-4 1 1 1 2 0 Channing Frye 18 5-9 0-0 1-1 11 2-4 0 0 2 1 0 Jackie Butler 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 1 1 2 0 1 Matt Barnes 11 3-5 0-0 4-5 10 2-3 1 1 1 0 0 Maurice Taylor 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 2 2 0 0 0 Steven Barber 8 1-3 0-0 2-2 4 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 31-73 2-5 38-47 102 11-36 21 22 25 12 1 patricia