Pavel Podkolzin was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right foot (I think a bone in his toe). He will undergo surgery this week and will then be out 3 to 4 months. Dallas released Tariq Abdul-Wahad. Even though under contract, he had not been a part of the team for the past 2 seasons. Jerry Stackhouse sat out the final preseason game with his sore right knee. He only played in the first preseason game due to the soreness. Erick Dampier did play in the Detroit game, after missing the previous 3 games with a sore right hip. The preseason is finally over and the regular season starts on Tuesday. Dallas finished the preseason with a record of 6-2. The roster is now at the maximum 15 players - no others have to be released for the opening day roster. The injured list no longer exists (so no minimum 5 games out) and a team now submits a list of 12 available players before each game. Preseason: Detroit at Dallas (October 27) The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with both teams holding small leads, none larger than 6 points. Dallas wasn't playing great defense and allowed Tayshaun Prince to get off a quick 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer. Detroit led 26-24 after 1. Both teams shot around 50% FG. Richard Hamilton had 10 points. Detroit led 34-32 with 8:50 remaining and Detroit's 2nd unit went on a 13-3 run to go up 47-35 with 4:30 left. Dallas again had an error at the end of the quarter as Erick Dampier ran into a shooting Chauncey Billups and he went to the line with less than a second left in the quarter to hit 3 free throws. Detroit led 56-45 at the half. Detroit out-rebounded Dallas 22-12. A dunk by Prince a minute into the 3rd quarter gave Detroit their largest lead at 58-45. The teams traded dunks and Dallas then went on an 11-2 run to pull within 58-62 with 5:45 to go. Detroit held a small lead the rest of the quarter and led 73-71 after 3. Outside of 30 seconds by Billups and 2 1/2 minutes by Prince, Detroit's reserves and younger players were on the court for the Pistons in the 4th quarter, while Dallas was playing starters and regular rotation players [Detroit had a game the next night while this was Dallas' last preseason game]. Not surprisingly, Dallas was able to put together a good run and take the lead. The Mavs went on a 19-4 run to go up 94-84 with 4:30 remaining. Dirk Nowitzki subbed out just prior to the last Dallas bucket of the run. Detroit did score the next 7 points to pull within 91-94 with 3 minutes to go. A 3-pointer by Keith Van Horn with 40 seconds left gave Dallas a 101-93 lead. Dallas won 103-97. It was a better game than some of the preseason games have been, but that isn't saying much. Surprisingly, the defense by both teams was not that great, even when Detroit's starters were out there. The Mavs did get over their 1st half rebounding problem and out-rebounded Detroit 25-19 in the 2nd half (and 14-8 in the 3rd quarter). The Mavs did have a large advantage at the free throw line in shooting 26-35 FT while Detroit shot 13-15 FT [Minnesota also had a large free throw advantage the next night against Detroit]. Keith Van Horn and Marquis Daniels had nice outings off the bench and both scored 13 points in the 4th quarter. Van Horn finished with 22 points including 3-6 3-pointers. Daniels had 16 points including 6-8 FG and 5 rebounds. Erick Dampier also had a nice game off the bench in limited minutes, including 2 impressive dunks. He had 6 points on 3-4 FG and 6 rebounds in 18 minutes. Despite playing 30+ minutes, Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard had fairly quiet nights. Nowitzki had 16 points and 6 rebounds and Howard had 14 points and 4 rebounds. Jason Terry had 15 points and 6 assists (and had the fun of chasing around Richard Hamilton some). DeSagana Diop started and had 6 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Richard Hamilton led the way for Detroit with 18 points including 8-11 FG. Chauncey Billups had 13 points including 3-9 FG, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Tayshaun Prince only had 9 points including 3-10 FG. Rasheed Wallace only played 11 minutes and had 4 points. Ben Wallace played 2 quarters and had 6 points and 8 rebounds. Dallas Mavericks 103, Detroit Pistons 97 at Dallas (October 27) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 24 21 26 32 - 103 .544 .313 .493 .743 Detroit 26 30 17 24 - 97 .462 .444 .460 .867 Halftime: Detroit 56-45 3rd Q: Detroit 73-71 Technicals: Carlos Arroyo 4:40 2nd, Dirk Nowitzki 4:40 2nd, Carlos Arroyo (ejected) 4:40 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds Refs: Ken Mauer, Marc Davis, Sean Wright Attendance: 19,782 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Jerry Stackhouse (sore right knee), Lindsey Hunter (left ankle surgery) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 32 5-12 2-6 3-6 15 0-3 6 3 2 2 2 Doug Christie 28 2-5 0-1 0-0 4 0-2 5 2 3 2 0 Josh Howard 38 6-11 0-2 2-3 14 1-4 0 1 3 2 2 Dirk Nowitzki 32 5-13 0-1 6-7 16 2-6 2 3 1 2 1 DeSagana Diop 28 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 4-8 0 0 2 0 4 Keith Van_Horn 26 6-13 3-6 7-7 22 1-2 0 0 2 0 0 Marquis Daniels 25 6-8 0-0 4-6 16 1-5 2 2 1 0 0 Erick Dampier 18 3-4 0-0 0-2 6 1-6 0 2 3 0 0 Devin Harris 13 1-3 0-0 2-2 4 0-1 3 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 36-73 5-16 26-35 103 10-37 18 15 19 8 9 Detroit Pistons REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Chauncey Billups 29 3-9 1-2 6-6 13 1-2 5 3 2 3 0 Richard Hamilton 25 8-11 0-0 2-2 18 1-2 1 0 4 0 0 Tayshaun Prince 28 3-10 1-3 2-2 9 2-4 2 0 0 0 0 Rasheed Wallace 10 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-2 0 1 4 1 0 Ben Wallace 24 3-8 0-0 0-2 6 2-8 2 1 2 0 0 Antonio McDyess 30 3-10 0-0 0-0 6 2-8 1 2 3 1 2 Darko Milicic 24 3-7 0-0 1-1 7 0-3 2 2 3 0 6 Carlos Delfino 18 1-5 1-1 0-0 3 0-2 2 2 2 1 1 Ronald Dupree 14 3-3 0-0 0-0 6 2-5 1 1 3 0 1 Maurice Evans 12 2-5 1-2 0-0 5 0-1 0 1 2 0 0 Alex Acker 11 0-2 0-1 2-2 2 0-0 1 0 2 1 0 Carlos Arroyo 8 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 0-0 3 0 2 0 0 Jason Maxiell 7 5-8 0-0 0-0 10 4-4 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 48 40-87 4-9 13-15 97 15-41 20 13 29 7 11 patricia