Dallas at Indiana (January 12) Indiana scored the first 4 points of the game and held a small lead over the next 5 minutes. Indiana led 10-6 with 8:35 remaining and Dallas scored the next 6 points to take their first lead at 12-10 with 6:45 left. But Indiana scored the next 8 points to re-take the lead and led 18-12 with 4:10 to go. A jumper by Josh Howard pulled Dallas within 15-18 with 2:25 remaining, but Dallas would not score again until 6 seconds left in the quarter and Indiana scored the next 8 points. 2 free throws by Jerry Stackhouse capped the quarter scoring. Indiana led 26-17 after 1. Dallas opened the 2nd quarter with an 8-2 run to pull within 25-28 with 9:55 left, but Sarunas Jasikevicius answered with consecutive buckets. 6 straight points by Dallas pulled the Mavs within 33-34 with 6:25 to go, but Dallas could not pull ahead. A jumper by Dirk Nowitzki tied the game at 37-37 with 5 minutes remaining. The game was tied at 42-42 with 3:15 left and Indiana closed the quarter with a 9-2 run to go up 51-44 at the half. 3 straight free throws pulled Dallas within 50-51 with 10:35 to go, but Stephen Jackson got a layup and 3-pointer and Jermaine O'Neal's bucket gave Indiana a 58-50 lead with 8:25 left. Indiana led 63-54 with 6:35 to go, but Dallas went on a 13-4 run to tie the game at 67-67 with 3 minutes remaining. A free throw by Devin Harris gave Dallas a 72-71 lead with 55 seconds to go - Dallas' first lead since midway through the 1st quarter. Dallas led 74-73 after 3. Nowitzki had 14 points in the 3rd quarter. Harris got knocked on the head after a foul late in the 3rd quarter - he did play more in the quarter, but sat out the rest of the game with a headache and dizziness. A jumper by Marquis Daniels and 3-pointer by Jasikevicius gave Indiana a 78-74 with 11:10 left. A layup by Daniels gave Indiana a 83-78 lead with 9:30 to go, but the game stayed tight. A 3-point play by Nowitzki pulled Dallas within 86-87 with 7:50 left. Neither team scored over the next minute and a layup by O'Neal and 2 free throws by Danny Granger gave Indiana a 91-86 lead with 6:10 left. It then became a free throw fest as over 4 1/2 minutes would pass between field throws and yet 21 combined points would be scored during that time. 4 straight free throws by Nowitzki tied the game at 93-93 with 4 minutes remaining, but Indiana connected on the next 6 free throws to give the Pacers a 99-93 lead with 2:55 left. Dallas scored the next 4 points and O'Neal hit a hook shots (finally a basket) to give Indiana a 101-97 lead with 1:50 remaining. But Jason Terry answered with a 3-point play seconds later. Indiana missed on 2 attempts and Dallas missed. Jamaal Tinsley was fouled (with both teams long in the penalty), but he missed both free throws with a minute to go. Terry nailed a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left to give Dallas a 103-101 lead. After a timeout, Tinsley was fouled and this time he hit both free throws to tie the game with 30 seconds remaining. Terry turned the ball over with 18 seconds left and Indiana ran the clock down. DeSagana Diop was able to get a piece of O'Neal's jumpshot and with a mad scramble for the loose ball the refs held their whistle and time expired - they also ignored Avery Johnson trying to call timeout after Dallas did end up with the ball with a little over a second left. Overtime at 103-103. Dallas shot 16-18 FT and Indiana shot 15-17 FT in the 4th quarter. Also of note that both Nowitzki and O'Neal sprained an ankle late in the 4th quarter, but both kept playing. The teams traded misses to open the overtime and Tinsley hit 1-2 FT a minute in. The teams continued to shoot blanks over the next minute. Nowitzki hit a jumper to give Dallas a 105-104 lead with 2:50 remaining. Indiana turned the ball over and Dallas missed on 2 attempts (the 2 teams were a combined 1-11 FG to open the OT). Granger nailed a 3-pointer with 1:35 to go, but Nowitzki answered with a 3 20 seconds later to give Dallas back the lead. Tinsley drove for 2 to give Indiana a 109-108 lead with 1:05 left. Terry missed, but Josh Howard worked baseline and was able to sneak in and get the putback with 50 seconds remaining. The punch-and-counter-punch continued as O'Neal hit a shot and Terry answered with a jumper to give Dallas a 112-111 lead with 30 seconds left. Indiana took a lot of time to get a shot off and O'Neal missed with 8 seconds left, but Granger got the rebound and went up for the layup, but Howard got the block from behind and then got the rebound and was fouled (foul to give). Dallas used a timeout to advance the ball and Nowitzki was intentionally fouled with 5 seconds left. He hit both free throws to make it a 3 point game. After a timeout, Dallas intentionally fouled Al Harrington, instead of letting Indiana attempt a 3-pointer. Harrington hit both free throws (even though he was trying to miss the 2nd one) with 2.6 seconds left (and Indiana was out of timeouts). Nowitzki was intentionally fouled with 1.9 seconds left. He missed the first free throw and made the 2nd. The long inbound pass went to Jeff Foster behind the arc, but Anthony Johnson was able to knock the ball loose before he could put up a shot and time expired. Dallas won 115-113 in overtime. Wow. I can't call it a great game with all those free throws in the 4th quarter, but it definitely was a tight game with the 2 teams throwing punches back and forth at the end of regulation and overtime. It was Dallas' first overtime game this season and they had to be happy to come out on top as they didn't play a great game. It was a gutty game by both teams and, fortunately, Dallas got the victory. For the game, Dallas shot 42% (37-88) FG including 6-20 3-pointers. Indiana shot 43.9% (36-82) FG including 5-11 3-pointers. Dallas shot 35-45 FT and Indiana shot 36-46 FT. Indiana barely out-rebounded Dallas 48-47 including 18-16 offensive - amazing as Indiana out-rebounded Dallas 16-6 in the 1st quarter. Dirk Nowitzki was pure and simply a stud. They guy played the last 8 minutes of the game on a gimpy ankle and scored 10 points during that time, including 8 of Dallas' 12 points in overtime. Nowitzki had a season high 43 points on 13-24 FG and 15-18 FT. He also had a game high 12 rebounds. Josh Howard went from having a lousy game where he struggled with his shot to being a hero with his putback late in overtime and, more importantly, his block with 7 seconds left. He had 15 points on 7-19 FG and 8 rebounds. Jason Terry played well and had 14 points in the 4th quarter and overtime. He finished with 30 points including 10-18 FG and 7 assists. Not only did Devin Harris miss the 4th quarter and overtime with dizziness, he hardly played (about 7 minutes) in the 1st half due to foul trouble. Harris had 5 points including 1-4 FG and 4 rebounds in 13 1/2 minutes. Erick Dampier had 13 points and 8 rebounds before fouling out with 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Devean George also fouled out - but he did so on the intentional foul with 2 seconds left in overtime. He missed his 2 shot attempts (both 3-pointers) and had 5 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse had a miserable outing in missing 8 shots and not doing much else. He shot 4-6 FT and had 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in 22 minutes. Greg Buckner had 2 points on 1-4 FG and 4 rebounds. DeSagana Diop had 2 points and 1 rebound in 12 minutes. Anthony Johnson had 1 point and 1 assist in 8 minutes, but prevented Indiana from getting a last shot. DJ Mbenga played 2 minutes and didn't have a stat. Indiana lost despite having 3 players with 20+ points. Jermaine O'Neal led the way with 26 points. He also had 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks before fouling out with 2 seconds left. He also played the last 6 minutes of the game on a gimpy ankle (but only scored 2 points). Stephen Jackson had 22 points, but did not have a rebound or an assist and had 4 turnovers in 42 minutes. The surprising performance came from Danny Granger, who had 22 points including 10-11 FT off the bench. He also had 8 rebounds including 5 offensive. Jamaal Tinsley had 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 11 assists. But he also shot 7-12 FT, including missing 2 critical ones late in the 4th quarter. Al Harrington had just 4 points including 1-5 FG and 7 rebounds in 46 minutes. Former Mav Marquis Daniels had 8 points including 3-10 FG and 5 rebounds in 16 minutes. Quotes Avery Johnson: "It was another brawl tonight. One of those old heavy weight Joe Louis, Joe Frazier type of brawls. Both teams were really going at it. We started slow and didn't have it going well offensively tonight, but guys hung in there. The team hates to lose. We weren't at our best tonight, but championship caliber teams hate to lose. We just didn't have any quit in us tonight. I saw some pretty good defensive stops tonight. J.O. [O'Neal] is a handful and Tinsley hurt us tonight. But we came up with stops when we had to." Johnson on Nowitzki: "If there is any question about who the MVP is, take a look at the film of the game tonight. 41 [Nowitzki] was out there playing on 1 leg and really carried us in overtime. Just replay that game. Pair it up against anybody in the league. The guy is incredible. Dirk Nowitzki, just in case you didn't know who I was talking about." Johnson: "Josh Howard turned a bad night into a good night. And that's what you've got to do." Dirk Nowitzki: "We've been in a lot of close games, that's what got us to the finals last year. We learned last year how to close big games out, and that's what you've got to do." Nowitzki on being down by 6 points late in the 4th quarter: "I don't think that was the time to panic. We got some big stops and made some big shots." Nowitzki: "Both teams gave it a great battle. It was a playoff type atmosphere. Both teams weren't going to quit. We didn't really shoot the ball well, but we kept making the hustle plays." Nowitzki on his ankle: "It's a little sore, but I've seen it plenty of times." Josh Howard: "It came down to the last possession. It was a back and forth game all night. It seemed like they kept getting up on us all game, but to our credit we kept crawling back and then Dirk hit a lot of shots late in the game. We've had quite a few games like this this year. So we're used to doing this. I think this will make us better for the playoffs." Howard on a putback late in the game: "I had the mindset of hitting the glass hard and just being aggressive. So when the shot went up, nobody checked me and I was fortunate to get to the rim and get the tip in for the basket. Later in the game, on the Granger block, I tried to stay active, just tried to get to the rebound, and he had no idea anyone was behind him so I was able to get the block shot. We just keep clawing away and we keep winning these games." Jason Terry on if he needed to be reminded to shoot the ball: "Not at all tonight. Jamaal Tinsley did a good job of putting me back on my heels at the start of the game. He came out and was real aggressive with the basketball. So it put me in a mindset to go back at him. Thank god there at the end when I took that one 3-pointer, I thought it was a brick but somehow, I don't know how, it went in. We rode Dirk's back almost all night. And Josh Howard had a big block there underneath the basket towards the end." Terry: "I thought in the 1st half we really weren't into it. I thought it was the worst defensive performance that we've had all year. But we battled back and grinded out a win tonight. Sometimes you have to win with your offense, like we did tonight." Terry: "It was a gutty, gutty performance from everyone. I'll steal a line from the General: 'When you don't have your best defense, you better win it with your offense,' and that's what we did." Terry: "This was thrilling. When you can come out on an off night defensively and still pull it out on the road, against a tough Indiana team, that says a lot about your team." Terry: "Dirk is our MVP. He's been doing it for years, and that performance was no different." Terry on Howard's block: "He had the play of the game. If he doesn't get that block, I'm the scapegoat because it was my guy who snuck in there for the rebound." Devean George on Dallas staying focused late in the game: "I noticed it when we were down 6. I saw a sense of calm. No panic from everybody and Coach." Rick Carlisle: "It's disappointing to come out on the short end because we played hard. In the final analysis, we just made too many mistakes at the defensive end and missing block outs. When you play a really good team like that, you have to pay attention to the details. The game should come down to our ability to finish off plays defensively. We fought hard and we were in a position to win." Carlisle: "It's disappointing to come out on the short end. We played hard, but the final analysis is that we made too many mistakes, particularly on the defensive end. Particularly in terms of blocking out. Our undoing was 2nd chance opportunities, especially down the stretch." Carlisle: "When you play a really good team like that, you have to really pay attention to details. Otherwise they are going to find ways to beat you." Carlisle: "Dirk Nowitzki is going to make tough shots. He's a great player, one of the best on the planet. When he does miss, we have to make sure we get the rebound." Stephen Jackson: "We just made a lot of end of the game errors. I didn't boxout, we missed free throws, didn't make the extra pass. A lot of stuff we didn't concentrate on at the end of the game. That's why we lost." Jamaal Tinsley: "We fought hard, but came up short. We competed but we are not satisfied with the loss. It's a tough loss. Down the stretch, they made free throws and we didn't." Tinsley on Granger: "He's playing really aggressive. His shots are going in and he's a great help to this team. We ran our offense pretty good tonight. We gave ourselves a chance to win, but we gave it away. They're a good team and we have to take our hats off to them." Danny Granger: "It's a hard way to lose. We battled right down to the end. We're very disappointed. We don't believe in moral victories. We should have won both here and in Dallas. We just have to be prepared for our next game." Granger on Nowitzki: "They've got a great player in Dirk. He's the only 7-footer that can do what he does. He's very difficult to guard. It's really hard to contest his shot." Dallas Mavericks 115, Indiana Pacers 113 OT at Indiana (January 12) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 17 27 30 29 12 - 115 .456 .300 .420 .778 Indiana 26 25 22 30 10 - 113 .437 .455 .439 .783 Halftime: Indiana 51-44 3rd Q: Dallas 74-73 4th Q: 103-103 Technicals: Indiana defensive 3 seconds 9:52 3rd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 10:23 4th Refs: Matt Boland, Ron Garretson, Phil Robinson Attendance: 15,934 (cap. 18,345) IL: Dallas - Maurice Ager, J.J. Barea, Pops Mensah-Bonsu Indiana - Josh Powell, Rawle Marshall, David Harrison Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Devin Harris 13 1-4 0-0 3-4 5 3-4 2 0 3 1 0 Jason Terry 42 10-18 3-5 7-9 30 1-3 7 3 5 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 44 13-24 2-4 15-18 43 3-12 2 3 1 0 0 Josh Howard 45 7-19 1-4 0-0 15 3-8 0 1 3 0 2 Erick Dampier 32 4-6 0-0 5-6 13 3-8 0 1 6 0 2 Devean George 26 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 1-5 0 0 6 1 0 Jerry Stackhouse 22 0-8 0-2 4-6 4 0-2 2 1 0 2 0 Greg Buckner 18 1-4 0-2 0-0 2 1-4 2 0 3 1 0 DeSagana Diop 12 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 2 0 3 Anthony Johnson 8 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 0-0 1 0 3 1 0 DJ Mbenga 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 53 37-88 6-20 35-45 115 16-47 16 11 32 7 7 Indiana Pacers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jamaal Tinsley 38 5-13 0-1 7-12 17 1-7 11 1 5 2 2 Stephen Jackson 42 8-14 2-4 4-4 22 0-0 0 4 1 1 0 Jermaine O'Neal 40 10-22 0-0 6-6 26 2-9 5 2 6 1 3 Al Harrington 46 1-5 0-1 2-2 4 2-7 1 3 5 0 0 Jeff Foster 25 1-3 0-0 2-4 4 4-9 0 1 4 1 1 Danny Granger 37 5-11 2-3 10-11 22 5-8 1 0 5 2 0 Marquis Daniels 16 3-10 0-0 2-4 8 4-5 0 1 2 0 0 Sarunas Jasikevicius 12 3-4 1-2 1-1 8 0-1 1 1 2 0 0 Maceo Baston 5 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 0-2 0 1 2 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 2 0 0 Orien Greene 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Shawne Williams 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 53 36-82 5-11 36-46 113 18-48 20 14 35 7 6 Dallas at Toronto (January 14) It was an early noon (Central time) start, and Mavs fans cringed as Dallas usually struggles in early games. This game was no exception. Anthony Parker opened the game with a 3-point play and Dallas seemed to be playing catchup the rest of the game. 2 free throws by Chris Bosh gave Toronto an 11-6 lead with 7:45 to go. Consecutive 3-pointers gave the Raptors their largest lead of the quarter at 30-20 with 45 seconds remaining. Toronto lead 32-22 after 1. Parker had 12 points and Josh Howard had 10 points in the quarter. A 3-pointer by Morris Peterson gave Toronto their largest lead at 43-27 with 8:55 left. Toronto would lead by 16 points a few more times, but could not build their lead larger. A jumper and 3-pointer by Dirk Nowitzki pulled Dallas within 41-50 with 3:45 to go, but Toronto scored the next 7 points to go up 57-41 with 1:40 left. Dallas scored the last 5 points of the quarter, including a 3-pointer by Nowitzki with a fraction of a second left in the quarter. Toronto led 59-48 at the half. Nowitzki had 15 points and Bosh had 10 points in the 2nd quarter. Toronto scored the first 2 buckets of the 3rd quarter as they continued to lead in double-digits. Toronto led 65-50 with 8:25 remaining and Dallas went on a 14-4 run, including 4 3-pointers by Jason Terry, to pull within 64-69 with 4:05 to go. A jumper and technical free throw by Nowitzki pulled Dallas within 69-71 with 2:15 left (with the T on Bosh for complaining about a non-call), but Toronto scored the next 4 points. Toronto led 77-71 after 3. Nowitzki scored the first 3 points of the 4th quarter, but the Raptors were able to hang on to a small lead. A jumper by Andrea Bargnani gave Toronto a 90-84 lead with 6:30 left. The teams traded misses and a 3-pointer by Terry cut Toronto's lead in half with 5:25 to go. Neither team scored over the next 2 minutes and Devean George got 2 inside and Nowitzki hit a jumper to give Dallas a 91-90 lead with 2:55 remaining - Dallas' first lead of the game. The lead didn't last long as T.J. Ford hit a jumper 17 seconds later. Nowitzki was called for an offensive foul and then picked up a technical - Toronto missed the free throw, though. 2 free throws by Bosh gave Toronto a 94-91 lead with 2:10 left. Nowitzki drove strong for the power dunk. The teams traded misses and Ford drove for the reverse layup with 1:10 left. Devin Harris drove and was fouled and he hit both free throws to pull Dallas within 95-96 with 35 seconds to go. After a timeout, Toronto ran some time off the clock and Ford missed with 15 seconds left, but Dallas was a step slow in going after the rebound and it ended up being a jumpball between Peterson and Harris. Neither team controlled the jump and it was another jumpball, this time between Bosh and Greg Buckner. Bosh tapped the ball and a Raptor caught it up high, but Nowitzki knocked it loose and Howard corralled the ball and Dallas called timeout with 6.6 seconds remaining. Dallas advanced the ball to halfcourt and inbounded it to Terry. Terry showed great patience and when 2 defenders went with Nowitzki on the elbow, Howard stepped back towards the basket and was wide open and Terry got him the ball and Howard got the layup as Toronto's defense recovered a step too late. The bucket gave Dallas a 1 point lead with .9 seconds left. After a Toronto timeout and advancement of the ball, the ball was inbounded to Parker and he airballed the 3-point attempt as the defense was tight on him. Dallas won 97-96. Phew. This is what you call stealing a win. It was a win that Dallas didn't really deserve as Toronto was the better team throughout most of the game. But Dallas was able to use the veteran experience and take advantage of Toronto's youth to hang around and manage to come out with the victory. Dallas led a grand total of 18 seconds in the game. Dallas won despite shooting just 40.2% (35-87) FG - helped out by shooting 10-23 3-pointers. Toronto shot 48.6% (34-70) FG including 7-13 3-pointers. Dallas shot 17-19 FT and Toronto shot 21-24 FT. Dallas helped their struggles with offensive rebounds. Dallas out-rebounded Toronto 41-34 including 14-4 offensive. It was Dallas' 4th straight win and 17th win out of their last 18 games. Dirk Nowitzki again was stellar with 38 points and 11 rebounds. He shot 14-30 FG, 3-6 3-pointers, and 7-9 FT and also had 5 assists and 3 blocks in 46 1/2 minutes. Thank goodness Jason Terry's 3-point shot was falling. He had 17 points including 5-8 3-pointers (and surpassed 1,000 career 3-pointers). Josh Howard again came back from a poor outing to have a key play late in the game. Howard had 14 points including 5-17 FG and 0-4 3-pointers. He also had 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Devin Harris recovered from his mild concussion from the Indiana game and contributed 10 points including 3-9 FG, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists. Erick Dampier had 4 points and 10 rebounds including 6 offensive. Jerry Stackhouse had 7 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, and 4 turnovers in 24 minutes. Devean George had 5 points and 4 rebounds and Greg Buckner had 2 points. Austin Croshere did not attempt a shot and had 1 rebound and 1 assist in 4 minutes. Dallas went with a short rotation with just 9 players playing - both Anthony Johnson and DeSagana Diop did not play, coach's decision. Chris Bosh played well and had 24 points including 10-12 FT and 15 rebounds. He did have 6 turnovers, though. T.J. Ford had 16 points, 8 assists, and 3 steals. Anthony Parker had 14 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist. Off the bench, Joey Graham had 12 points and Morris Peterson had 11 points. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Tonight this was obviously a gutsy performance by our team, especially in the 2nd half. We were sleep walking quite a bit in the 1st half and we had no answers for whatever they were doing. It looked like we've never run pick-and-roll defense, post defense. They beat us in transition. But we turned it around in the 2nd half, got our feet planted, and came up with some big plays. Dirk was phenomenal. Josh was struggling pretty much all night, but he came up with a big bucket there for us to take the lead. But again, like I've been saying all along, we're not a perfect basketball team, but this team is very resilient. You had chance to see that tonight. We're just going to start trying to play more than a half. We've been sleep walking for a little while. I don't know, maybe it's been this stretch that we've been in, but this team is very tough minded and it showed again tonight." Johnson on Terry: "We always poke fun at him sometimes when he passes up shots, trying to compare him to some point guards who historically have been really good with assists. But tonight that was the right pass at the right time and I am glad it got through there, and I'm glad Josh finished it." Johnson on Toronto: "I told Sam [Mitchell] this earlier in the year, I really like his ballclub. Bosh is a handful. Bargnani is very difficult to guard with his size and his ability. If he keeps driving the ball to the basket like he did on that one play, boy, he is going to really mix his game up. They have some other nice pieces around and still have 2 relatively young point guards. I told him I really like his team and I like watching them on the satellite." Johnson on comparing Bargnani to Nowitzki: "I don't like to do that. It is kind of like comparing Dirk to [Larry] Bird. I think Bargnani has his own style and is going to make a name and reputation for himself. It is hard to compare a young guy in the NBA to Dirk. Dirk is playing at MVP caliber. He doesn't get a lot of respect that the other guys in the MVP circle get, but he just keeps on playing and you had a chance to see that tonight. What I tell our guys, just let your game do the talking, we don't have to apologize for anything." Dirk Nowitzki on the tough win: "Yes, I thought they gave us everything they wanted. We came out flat in the beginning, they were spreading the floor making shots and Bosh was great in the 1st half. We really didn't show up until the 2nd quarter. We were in a dog fight and you have to give them credit, they play a fun style. They almost play like Phoenix - spread the floor, a lot of shooters, and they kept making plays. Down the stretch, I think obviously we got a little lucky as they both went with me and Josh was open and he made a hell of a finish." Nowitzki on the last play: "We work on end of game situations, and you have to be ready for every option. Things aren't always going to be there the way you want them to be, and if I would have come off the screen, I would have had a shot. But JET [Terry] made a great pass and Josh had a heck of a finish." Nowitzki: "Yes, I think that we have learned over the years how to close out close games. I think that is what really got us to the finals last year. In the playoffs, there aren't many blowouts. Every game is close down the stretch and we have learned how to win those. And I think we got some big stops there at the end and we made some big shots to kind of stay in it and had a layup with Josh to win it." Nowitzki on Toronto: "I really like what they are doing. They are going with young guys, going with guys that can shoot and play. I think that ultimately that is where the league is going. The league is going away from all the pounding. Teams like Phoenix, and everybody is trying to copy that, with the high paced offense and everybody is a good shooter and I think that is where the league is going. I think that they are right on track. They have some great young talent and obviously with Bosh they have a go-to guy, and had him sign an extension and that is important, and surrounding him with a great group of guys, so I think they are going to have a chance in this league." Nowitzki on Bargnani: "I like him. Obviously he is a great shooter, but he can put it on the floor a little bit. At this point, he has a lot to learn, he is a rookie in this league. He will keep his eyes and ears open and improve from year to year and I think he is going to be a great player in this league. I think he is a better player already now than I was at 19 or 20. He's going to be a heck of a player. He's a little more athletic than I even was back then. He can drive a little better than me." Josh Howard on his game winner: "Both of their players committed to Dirk and I just flashed over top." Howard: "I am just happy to get this win. I am not excited about me. We drew up the play in the huddle hoping that those 2 guys would go to Dirk and that's what happened and I finished the play." Howard on Toronto: "They are an NBA team, they are going to come out aggressive at home and that is what they did. Their guys stepped up and made some big shots and they made some big 3s in the 1st half and kept them in the game throughout. We kept clawing back like we have been doing and Coach drew up a perfect play and we won." Howard on the 1st half: "To be honest, I don't know. They came out playing great ball. Chris [Bosh] and the 2 Europeans, their whole team came out playing great ball." Howard on his struggles: "It's just good to get this win. That other stuff isn't even a concern for me." Jason Terry: "Just because we didn't get off to a good start we weren't going to bag it in." Terry on the game winner: "I found Josh wide open. He made like a receiver and it was a great play. Toronto could have easily won that game." Terry on the game winner: "All I had to do was read it, like I was a quarterback. When I saw their 2 guys go with Dirk, I knew JHo [Howard] would come open. We work on that play in practice every day. that's a very serious part of practice." Sam Mitchell on if Toronto can play better: "Yeah, look at the layups we missed, missed some free throws down the stretch. We had 2 jumpball situations and we had Chris [Bosh], our best jumper, and we didn't come up with the ball. So a lot of things we could have done better. A lot of things we did good but we could have done some things better. We had our opportunities. It's disappointing, but that game should show our guys that we're mentally ready to play, and play the way we play, we can beat anybody." Mitchell on Howard's layup at the end: "Yeah, and it happens with .9 seconds. It happens. You have to give them credit, they ran a great play." Mitchell on Dallas' last play: "We got a list of the plays that they run and a lot of the stuff is with Dirk zippering up to the top and we didn't want to get a small guy that he can shoot [over], so our thing was to try to stay home, keep Chris [Bosh] at home on him. They ran something totally different than what we thought. But those things happen. They made a great pass to find him. I still thought Chris [Bosh] trapped the recover, had a chance to block it, but those things happen." Mitchell on Dallas getting the ball off the jumpball: "I thought Dirk made a great play. He used his length to reach over our guy. The only thing Chris [Bosh] could have done is tip it a bit harder so we could run it down." Chris Bosh: "We would have loved to win this game, but there were points and times where we were kind of flat. They started playing and we knew it was going to come. That's what good teams do, they keep scrapping and fighting and they try to find a way to win and they did." Bosh on Dallas' last play: "In the huddle, Sam [Mitchell] just told me to stay with Dirk. But you know, most of the time they are going to switch and that's what they want. They want Dirk on a smaller guy and he's going to shoot that turnaround jump shot he'd been shooting in the game. He was shooting the ball really, really well in the 2nd half. We just wanted to keep height on him. I was going to shoot the gap, I wasn't going to let him catch it. I was denying him on the weakside. They swung the ball and Mo [Peterson] thought I was a little bit behind. We just wanted to keep height on height." T.J. Ford: "It's tough to swallow this one, losing on a layup. We had our opportunities, we had the game won, and we let it slip out of our hands. We have to eat that one up and come out and not let it affect us tomorrow." Ford on Dallas' last play: "I'm not sure what happened on the backside. I was on the opposite side of the ball. Communication, down the stretch you have to be able to communicate when the building is loud. Everybody had to continue to have that focus and just communicate because that one play, if we communicated, that probably wouldn't have happened." Morris Peterson: "We wanted this game bad. To come up short is definitely disappointing. The lesson we can take out of this game is that we can play with anybody. We took a team like Dallas down to the wire." Peterson on helping on the last play instead of staying on Howard: "Coach did say he didn't want us to switch, but when I looked up, there I am seeing Dirk coming off a screen and nobody's behind him. So my initial reaction was to not let him get the ball. It was a miscommunication and I take the blame for it. We were not supposed to switch and we ended up switching because when I looked over I saw Dirk open and they threw Josh the ball and he got a layup." Dallas Mavericks 115, Indiana Pacers 113 OT at Indiana (January 12) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 17 27 30 29 12 - 115 .456 .300 .420 .778 Indiana 26 25 22 30 10 - 113 .437 .455 .439 .783 Halftime: Indiana 51-44 3rd Q: Dallas 74-73 4th Q: 103-103 Technicals: Indiana defensive 3 seconds 9:52 3rd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 10:23 4th Refs: Matt Boland, Ron Garretson, Phil Robinson Attendance: 15,934 (cap. 18,345) IL: Dallas - Maurice Ager, J.J. Barea, Pops Mensah-Bonsu Indiana - Josh Powell, Rawle Marshall, David Harrison Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Devin Harris 13 1-4 0-0 3-4 5 3-4 2 0 3 1 0 Jason Terry 42 10-18 3-5 7-9 30 1-3 7 3 5 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 44 13-24 2-4 15-18 43 3-12 2 3 1 0 0 Josh Howard 45 7-19 1-4 0-0 15 3-8 0 1 3 0 2 Erick Dampier 32 4-6 0-0 5-6 13 3-8 0 1 6 0 2 Devean George 26 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 1-5 0 0 6 1 0 Jerry Stackhouse 22 0-8 0-2 4-6 4 0-2 2 1 0 2 0 Greg Buckner 18 1-4 0-2 0-0 2 1-4 2 0 3 1 0 DeSagana Diop 12 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 2 0 3 Anthony Johnson 8 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 0-0 1 0 3 1 0 DJ Mbenga 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 53 37-88 6-20 35-45 115 16-47 16 11 32 7 7 Indiana Pacers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jamaal Tinsley 38 5-13 0-1 7-12 17 1-7 11 1 5 2 2 Stephen Jackson 42 8-14 2-4 4-4 22 0-0 0 4 1 1 0 Jermaine O'Neal 40 10-22 0-0 6-6 26 2-9 5 2 6 1 3 Al Harrington 46 1-5 0-1 2-2 4 2-7 1 3 5 0 0 Jeff Foster 25 1-3 0-0 2-4 4 4-9 0 1 4 1 1 Danny Granger 37 5-11 2-3 10-11 22 5-8 1 0 5 2 0 Marquis Daniels 16 3-10 0-0 2-4 8 4-5 0 1 2 0 0 Sarunas Jasikevicius 12 3-4 1-2 1-1 8 0-1 1 1 2 0 0 Maceo Baston 5 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 0-2 0 1 2 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 2 0 0 Orien Greene 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Shawne Williams 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 53 36-82 5-11 36-46 113 18-48 20 14 35 7 6 patricia