Jose Juan Barea indeed made the opening day roster. Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry are the team captains. DJ Mbenga suffered a left foot tendon strain during practice last Monday. He is expected to be out at least 2 weeks. Devean George has been suffering from a stomach ailment and missed the first 2 games. Jason Terry called a players-only meeting on Sunday. The NBA fined Josh Howard $5,000 and upgraded his flagrant foul to a level 2 for his flagrant against Bruce Bowen during Thursday's Dal-SA game. San Antonio at Dallas (November 2) The game stayed close early on with both teams shooting well. Dallas scored 6 straight points to go up 14-8 with 6:50 left, but 6 points would be the largest lead in the quarter. Michael Finley hit a 3-pointer and Beno Udrih hit 2 free throws to pull San Antonio within 24-25 with 1:45 to go. Dallas led 27-26 after 1. Austin Croshere opened the 2nd quarter with a 3-pointer and the teams traded buckets over the next 3 minutes. Consecutive buckets gave Dallas a 40-34 lead with 8:30 left. Both teams' shooting fell off some and Dallas' lead ranged between 4 and 7 points over the rest of the quarter. Bruce Bowen knocked Josh Howard to the floor with 3:40 left and no foul was called and Howard responded by throwing a forearm at Bowen and Howard was (correctly) tagged with a flagrant (though the flagrant wouldn't have occurred if the refs called a foul on Bowen). Erick Dampier got a dunk near the quarter's end to give Dallas a 51-45 lead at the half. Dallas shot 53% FG and 2-6 FT and San Antonio shot 50% FG and 11-14 FT in the half. Dallas opened the 3rd quarter with a 7-3 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Dirk Nowitzki, to take their largest lead at 58-48 with 9 minutes to go. But Dallas then started settling for jump shots and San Antonio scored the next 9 points to pull within 57-58 with 5:50 left. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter. A 3-pointer by Croshere gave Dallas a 5 point lead with a minute remaining. 2 free throws by Udrih capped the quarter scoring. Dallas led 75-72 after 3. Dallas continued to settle for jumpers and continued to miss as they missed their first 6 shots of the 4th quarter. San Antonio scored the first 8 points of the quarter to go up 80-75 with 8:30 left. Dallas finally got a basket (a layup) with 6:50 remaining to cut San Antonio's lead down to 3 points. 3 points by Bowen gave the Spurs their largest lead of the game at 85-79 with 4:15 left. DeSagana Diop hit 1-2 FT and Howard then scored the next 4 points to pull Dallas within 84-85 with 2:35 remaining. Dallas played good D, but a drive-and-kick found Bowen behind the arc and he nailed the 3-pointer with 2:15 to go. Nowitzki got a shot with 2 minutes left to pull Dallas within 86-88. The teams traded misses and Bowen was fouled with 1:30 left - but he missed both free throws (including airballing the first). Jason Terry missed a long jumper. Nowitzki blocked a layup attempt by Francisco Elson, but Tim Duncan was there to clean up and give San Antonio a 90-86 lead with 50 seconds to go. Nowitzki missed a 15-footer and Dallas started intentionally fouling. Manu Ginobili hit 1-2 FT with 38 seconds left and Jerry Stackhouse turned the ball over. Tony Parker hit 2 free throws to give San Antonio a 93-86 lead with 34 seconds left. Terry got a quick layup and Parker hit 1-2 FT with 29 seconds remaining. Howard missed and Elson hit 2 free throws to give San Antonio their largest lead of the game at 8 points. Nowitzki did hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left, but it was too late. A free throw by Parker capped the scoring. San Antonio won 97-91. It was amazing how different Dallas looked from the 1st half to the 2nd half. There was a stretch in the 3rd quarter where Dallas looked like they were stuck in the mud. I can't tell you how aggravated I was with the team in the 4th quarter for their settling for jumpshots nor how many times I screamed for them to attack the basket. To make matters worse, the Spurs were in the penalty with 5 minutes left in the game - a time when attacking the basket pays the most dividends. Yet it was jump shot after jump shot. Argh. After shooting 53% FG in the 1st half, Dallas only shot 32.5% FG in the 2nd half including 6-21 FG in the 4th quarter. For the game, Dallas shot 43.2% FG including 5-16 3-pointers and San Antonio shot 49.3% (34-69) FG including 4-11 3-pointers. The Spurs did have a big advantage from the line throughout the game, even if you take out the 10 free throws from intentional fouls at the end. I didn't have a problem with the 2nd half free throw difference as a jump shooting team isn't going to get many calls, but felt there were a number of questionable non-calls in the 1st half. For the game, San Antonio shot 25-37 FT and Dallas shot 10-16 FT. Also of note was the ref Jess Kersey (who was trying to be my hero with all the 3-seconds he was calling) got knocked down late in the 2nd quarter and had to get 5 stitches on his chin and he did not return - the rest of the game was officiated with 2 refs. The rebounds were even with 39 a piece and the turnovers were almost even with Dallas having 13 turnovers and San Antonio having 12 turnovers. The Spurs had a fairly balanced game with 6 players in double-digits scoring. Tony Parker was the high man with 19 points and also had 3 assists. Manu Ginobili had 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. Bruce Bowen had 13 points including a key 3-pointer late in the game that kept Dallas at bay. He shot 5-6 FG and 2-2 3-pointers, but continued to be horrendous at the line in shooting just 1-6 FT. Tim Duncan had a quiet night with just 13 points. He did have 10 rebounds and 4 assists, though. Francisco Elson and Fabricio Oberto manned the middle (though both defended Dirk Nowitzki and Duncan taking Dallas' center). Elson had 12 points including 5-7 FG, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Oberto had 4 points and 2 rebounds. Michael Finley had 10 points including 4-11 FG. In a rarity, Dallas lost with both Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard scoring 20+ points (the Mavs were 19-0 last season when Howard had 20+ points). Nowitzki had 21 points and 11 rebounds, but he shot just 3-10 FG in the 4th quarter (including a made 3-pointer with 16 seconds left and Dallas down by 8 points). He drove strong 2 times early in the game, but kept away from the basket for most of the 2nd half. Nowitzki was also plagued with foul trouble and he collected his 4th foul with 4:15 left in the 3rd quarter. Howard had 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Jason Terry had 14 points and 4 assists, but was fairly quiet. Austin Croshere was the only other Mav in double-digits with 12 points including 2-3 3-pointers. The centers didn't have a great night. DeSagana Diop had 6 points on 1-3 FG and 1-3 FT and 8 rebounds including 6 offensive. He also had a few nice blocks. Erick Dampier had 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 turnovers. Greg Buckner was the 5th starter, but missed all 5 shots he attempted and had just 2 rebounds and 1 steal in 18 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse had 9 points and 3 rebounds in 26 minutes. Anthony Johnson had 2 points in 18 minutes and Devin Harris had 2 points on 1-6 FG, 3 assists, and 5 fouls in 14 minutes. Quotes Gregg Popovich: "Our defense was better in the 2nd half. I thought we kept guys in front of us better in the 2nd half. They didn't shoot the ball as well and that helped. That's your best defense if a team just doesn't have a great half or a great night of shooting. They had a really good 1st half, they just didn't shoot it as well in the 2nd half. We didn't do anything a whole lot different, the shots just didn't fall for those guys." Popovich: "I thought the game was great. I thought both teams were real competitive. It got a little raggedy at times when turnovers were going back and forth, the game was going a little bit too fast to win. In the 4th quarter, I thought both teams executed pretty well. It was a good game. The officials let them play. It was real physical, real competitive." Popovich: "All the games with Dallas will be like this one. One team will lose that just as easily could have won." Popovich on Bowen: "Bruce made some big shots for us. It just takes one. As anybody knows that has been involved with this, winning games in the regular season or playoffs a lot of times comes down to who is making some shots in the 4th quarter." Popovich on Elson: "Francisco has learned the system real quickly. He provides a lot of energy for us. I was really pleased." Tim Duncan: "It was a hard fought game. Neither team can claim to have played a great game, but we toughed it out." Duncan: "We just continued to contest shots hoping that things would work in our favor and then on top of that finishing it with the rebounds. In the 1st half, even when we did get a stop, they hit the offensive glass, got a 2nd chance, and knocked those 2nd chances down. We were able to limit that in the 2nd half and that was kind of the key for us." Duncan: "It's one win but it's a great start to our season. They are going to be a very good team throughout this season. It's going to be a division rivalry, so it's big in many ways and a big start for us." Duncan on Elson: "That's going to be his role. He's going to come in there and use his athleticism." Tony Parker: "I didn't feel like I'm at my best, you know. But it was pretty good for a first game." Manu Ginobili: "We wanted to win really bad. But it's not the same as the playoffs last season. The only thing that will make us forget is to have a great season and play them again." Ginobili: "Obviously we both wanted to win and after the great series we had last year it was obviously a special game. But, no, it was not really the same atmosphere [as the playoffs]." Ginobili: "We had a great 2nd half. Not only because of the great shots that we did make, but also defensively. We held them to 16 points in the 4th quarter. We only made 3 turnovers in the 2nd half, so that was a big key for us. In the 1st half we were close, even with the 9 turnovers and 9 offensive rebounds we let them get. That was too many possessions. So we are very glad that we improved in the 2nd half." Ginobili on the 2nd half: "We just got into a good rhythm, we played more aggressively, and the rotations were better. I think it was a little bit of everything." Bruce Bowen on Howard's flagrant: "I know I made a cut and he fell. As I'm trying to step over him, he's grabbing me. Look at the film. I'm sick of all the stuff that takes place with me and Dallas. It always looks like it's something. And who gets the great label for that? Me." Avery Johnson: "Tonight this game was definitely a tale of 2 halves. We were running and playing our pace the 1st half and our defense was all right. The 2nd half, they seemed to have more energy. We had a not so good 4th quarter and we looked like the Mavericks from the past. This is not a basketball game that is a reflection of what we have been working on and how far we have come. So we will continue to work on it. We are not satisfied with our effort tonight. I give them them a lot of credit. They out-played us and out-worked us, especially in the 2nd half, and that was the key to the game." Johnson: "We looked like the Mavericks from the past. This is not a reflection of what we have been working on and how far we have come." Johnson on the 4th quarter: "We just couldn't seem to make any shots. We just did not play our game." Johnson on the free throw difference: "When you are aggressive in our league, you get rewarded. We were not as aggressive as I thought we would be. It is not because we are not in the right spots, we are in the right spots, we just need to be more aggressive. I did not particularly like our defense in the 2nd half. Again, this is the first game and we have a lot to work on. I did not make you guys think we have arrived and we need to get it going again." Johnson: "We have a lot to work on. We need to get it going again." Johnson: "I didn't like the way we played." Johnson: "I thought we were pretty physical and pretty energetic early on in the game, and we weren't that way as the game went on. When you are aggressive in our league, you get rewarded." Johnson: "It's just about timing and getting in sync, getting everyone on the same page. We'll keep working on it. I think it's more of a timing issue and making sure we're spaced properly." Dirk Nowitzki: "It's kind of good to see where we stand. In the preseason, you really don't know. San Antonio showed we got a lot of work to do. They're as good as anybody and I still think we have a chance to win it all. But there are tough losses during a year and this is one of them." Nowitzki: "It was a tough loss. Both teams didn't play great. We still had enough shots at the end." Josh Howard on the 2nd half: "We really lost our rhythm and that's about it." Howard: "From what I could see, we just weren't running the plays that were working at the time and that's more of the players' fault than the coach. We're out there on the court, coach can't tell us everything at every time. It's on us as a team to go out there and do the things that work." Howard: "It's the first regular season game. We're going to have to keep working on the combinations until we get comfortable. The new guys are trying their best to fulfill their roles and understand what coach wants. It's going to be a matter of time until we get everything together." Howard on the flagrant: "A situation happened where I got to protect myself." Jerry Stackhouse: "We just did some things different than we normally do just to get guys acclimated with our offense. We got new pieces that we got to try to get involved. So we may have some growing pains with that." Stackhouse on the 2nd half: "They were making shots and we just weren't getting stops like we were in the early part of the game." Stackhouse: "Bruce [Bowen] hit a big 3 from the corner, but we'd rather give that up rather than a layup. He made a nice shot." Devin Harris: "It's just our first game together and we're trying to find what combinations out there work. It's going to take a little bit of time. We're trying to get the new guys comfortable with the system. Rome wasn't built in a day, and we'll come back next game." Harris: "We got hot those first 3 quarters, jump shots were falling. We were playing good defense, rebounding, and pushing it out. We kind of struggled in that 4th quarter. Jump shots didn't fall like the first 3 quarters and we struggled to score the first 4 minutes of the 4th." Harris on if it felt like a playoff game: "At times it did. It was a game of runs. We made our run early and they made their run late and we couldn't overcome that last run get the lead back. We cut it to 2 a couple of times, but they came back with some big buckets." Harris on the physical game: "It got a little testy out there, but not anything too overdramatic." Greg Buckner: "Right now we're just trying to see how things go and Coach is trying to get the rotation together. We'll see. It's the first game." San Antonio Spurs 97, Dallas Mavericks 91 at Dallas (November 2) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% San Antonio 26 19 27 25 - 97 .517 .364 .493 .676 Dallas 27 24 24 16 - 91 .458 .313 .432 .625 Halftime: Dallas 51-45 3rd Q: Dallas 75-72 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 3:24 1st, DeSagana Diop 7:01 3rd, Francisco Elson 1:19 3rd Flagrant Foul: Josh Howard (level 1) 3:36 2nd Refs: Ed F. Rush, Mark Wunderlich, Jess Kersey (injured 2nd quarter) Attendance: 20,416 (sellout) IL: Dallas: DJ Mbenga, Devean George, Jose Juan Barea San Antonio: Jackie Butler, Eric Williams San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Tony Parker 34 5-11 0-1 9-12 19 0-2 3 1 3 1 0 Manu Ginobili 34 6-12 1-2 3-5 16 0-4 5 1 1 2 1 Bruce Bowen 35 5-6 2-2 1-6 13 2-5 2 1 1 0 0 Tim Duncan 34 5-13 0-0 3-5 13 3-10 4 3 3 1 1 Fabricio Oberto 16 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-2 1 3 0 0 1 Michael Finley 27 4-11 1-4 1-1 10 2-3 0 0 1 2 0 Francisco Elson 26 5-7 0-0 2-2 12 0-6 1 3 3 0 2 Robert Horry 20 1-4 0-2 0-0 2 0-6 0 0 4 0 0 Beno Udrih 14 1-2 0-0 6-6 8 0-0 4 0 0 0 0 Jacque Vaughn 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-69 4-11 25-37 97 7-39 20 12 16 6 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 32 7-13 0-1 0-0 14 0-2 4 1 5 0 0 Greg Buckner 18 0-5 0-1 0-0 0 0-2 0 0 1 1 0 Josh Howard 36 7-16 1-4 5-6 20 2-6 4 1 2 1 2 Dirk Nowitzki 33 9-20 2-4 1-2 21 2-11 1 1 5 1 1 DeSagana Diop 26 1-3 0-0 1-3 3 6-8 0 1 4 1 3 Jerry Stackhouse 26 4-8 0-1 1-1 9 1-3 1 2 2 0 0 Erick Dampier 21 3-5 0-0 2-4 8 2-6 1 5 1 0 1 Anthony Johnson 18 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 3 1 0 Austin Croshere 15 5-9 2-3 0-0 12 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Devin Harris 14 1-6 0-2 0-0 2 0-0 3 0 5 0 0 Totals 48 38-88 5-16 10-16 91 13-39 15 13 28 5 7 Dallas at Houston (November 4) Rafer Alston opened the game with 2 3-pointers and the Mavs should have turned around and headed home then. The Mavs missed 2 shots and committed 3 turnovers as Houston jumped out to a 12-0 lead with 9 minutes remaining. A jumper by Dirk Nowitzki put Dallas on the board with 8:40 to go and the Mavs did score the next 7 points to pull within 7-12 with 6 minutes left. 2 free throws pulled Dallas within 13-17 with 3:20 left, but Houston scored the next 6 points to go up 23-13 with 1:50 to go. Anthony Johnson nailed a 3-pointer, but Kirk Snyder answered with a layup with 45 seconds left and neither team scored the rest of the quarter. Houston led 25-16 after 1. Steve Novak opened the 2nd quarter with a 3-pointer. Johnson tried to keep Dallas in the game with a bucket and 3-pointer that pulled Dallas within 22-28 with 9:30 remaining. Houston scored the next 4 points, but Nowitzki hit a jumper and Johnson hit another 3-pointer pull Dallas within 27-32 with 7:50 left. Houston then went on an 11-2 run to go up 43-29 with 4:10 remaining. Houston's lead would remain in the teens the rest of the quarter. Yao Ming hit a 15-footer at the quarter buzzer to give Houston a 52-38 lead at the half. Houston shot 54% FG and Dallas shot 44% FG in the half. Nowitzki opened the 3rd quarter with a 3-pointer, but Dallas was unable to get closer than 10 points in the quarter. Consecutive buckets by Yao gave Houston a 67-51 lead with 4:25 remaining. Houston led 75-61 after 3. Luther Head opened the 4th quarter with a 3-point play and later hit a 3-pointer, Chuck Hayes got a layup and Head converted another 3-point play to give Houston a commanding 86-61 lead with 8:30 left as Dallas opened the quarter by missing 4 shots and committing 3 turnovers. A jumper by Josh Howard with 8:15 to go finally got Dallas on the scoreboard in the quarter, but it was already garbage time as 23 points would be as close as the Mavs got in the quarter. Houston won 107-76. It was just a bad, bad, bad performance by Dallas. Their defense stunk and their offense wasn't much better. It just goes to show that preseason is valuable and that teams that don't take preseason seriously can get bit in the tail at the beginning of the regular season. There was nothing from this game that Dallas can take as a positive - except maybe it was a wakeup call (except a team as good as the Mavs shouldn't be sleepwalking). All the numbers went Houston's way. Houston shot 53.6% (47-69) FG including 8-16 3-pointers and Dallas shot 41.4% (29-70) FG including 4-12 3-pointers. Houston shot 25-30 FT and Dallas shot 14-19 FT. Houston out-rebounded Dallas 35-34. Houston had 26 assists and 15 turnovers and Dallas had 13 assists and 22 turnovers. Dallas never led in the game. Yao Ming had a stellar game. What impressed me even more than his performance was the fact that he shoots the technical free throws for the team - when was the last time a center had that honor. The Mavs could do nothing about him and his performance got even better when he realized that all he had to do was turn and shoot over what ever defender (even when help was there) was on him. Yao had 36 points on 12-16 FG and 12-12 FT and 6 rebounds. The only flaw was that he got pegged for 3 early turnovers by traveling (clearly moving his pivot foot before putting the ball down). On the other hand, Tracy McGrady had a poor outing - yes, Dallas got blown out by Houston with little impact from McGrady. He had just 8 points on 4-11 FG and 0-3 FT (from being fouled on a 3-point attempt), 3 rebounds, and 4 assists in 22 minutes. Rafer Alston had a good all-around game with 14 points including 4-6 3-pointers, 8 rebounds, 12 assists, and 4 steals. Luther Head had 17 points including 6-8 FG and 3-4 3-pointers off the bench. Kirk Snyder kicked in 12 points off the bench. Since they didn't put the effort in for the game, I'm not bothering pointing out the Mavs' dismal performers. Quotes Jeff Van Gundy: "I thought we tried a hell of a lot harder tonight, so that's always where it starts. To have a chance in this league, you need to have energy and execution - both of them consistently - and you need great players playing great. And Yao obviously played great." Van Gundy on turnovers: "Yeah, that ball was all over the place tonight. Yao was on a traveling travesty for a bit. Shooting makes up for a lot. We shot well tonight. Yao was great. So even the mistakes that we made - I'm not going to overlook them - but they will be overlooked and you just hope they're not overlooked by your team. If you have the right decision makers like Rafer and McGrady, if they handle the ball the majority of the time, our turnovers will be pretty good. We have some other decision makers that we just have to harness their aggression." Van Gundy on Alston: "He pursued the long rebounds tremendously. He played nearly 40 minutes without a turnover and he made his 3s. You're not going to get any better than that. He played a great, great game." Tracy McGrady: "The defense was okay. It could have been better, especially on my part." McGrady: "It's a real honor [to have Yao]. That's what I always wanted when I was in Orlando. At the time, you had Tim Duncan, Shaq; and Yao was pretty much a young fellow at the time. Now he's coming into his own." McGrady on if Yao is the best center: "At this point, I'd say he's the best. Now, he's coming into his own." McGrady on Alston: "Rafer feels comfortable in our offense now. He knows his teammates, he knows what we like to do, where we like the ball, where we're going to be, and also we know where he is going to be. A good indication was tonight, I was penetrating and guys were collapsing on me in the 1st quarter. Rafer was out there by himself, he's worked so hard on knocking down his jumper. He knows how much attention myself and Yao receive on offense. He knows there are going to be nights where he is going to have to knock down open jumpers. Tonight was one of those nights where he shot the ball with confidence. In transition, he did a heck of a job pushing the ball and trying to find guys." Yao Ming: "The 1st couple of times I was scoring, I had my back to the basket. I was trying to figure out how they were defending me. After I made the 1st couple of shots, they were coming to my side. The team had a good start and I had a good start. The whole team played a great game." Yao on the difference from the Utah game: "I think the key was our starting differently. The 1st game we started very slow. In the 1st couple of minutes tonight, we had a 10-0 run that brought us energy and we were able to sustain that throughout the game." Yao: "This team always defends well. The reason why we play well is because we defend well. When we see success on the defensive side, we do better on offense." Yao on Alston: "He showed up the entire game. When I give him a target, he always passes the ball right on target. I think there's good chemistry there." Rafer Alston: "I was concentrating [on defense]. Coach was stressing today that we had to. If there was one guy that we needed to limit, it was Terry. It's always tough to guard Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki is just a matchup problem and Josh Howard is a talented guy who is consistent and efficient out there. He's another guy who is tough to guard. If there's one guy that we need to key on, it's Terry's jump shot, Terry's pick-and-roll and Terry's spot-up 3-pointer." Alston: "Tonight we just got out there defensively. I think we ran the floor well. We rebounded and we ran the floor. We put pressure on them with our running game as well as our low post game. We had a few things working. We had Yao in the paint, we had the transition game, and we also had the 3-point game going." Alston on rebounds: "If I can help in that area, I may not get 8 or 9 every night. But if I can contribute 4 to 6 a night, then that would help us with our rebounding. In Utah, there were balls that were bouncing and I wasn't there to get them. Tonight I made a conscious effort to get those rebounds." Alston: "This ranks up there with my better [games]. Sometimes, your best games are not in the statistics. They're what you do when you don't have the ball." Avery Johnson: "It seemed like they took it to us from the beginning. They came out with a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm. We were just unable to throw a punch tonight. We just didn't have it." Johnson: "We got off to a bad start and could never recover. We got the game back to 10 and then Yao got a dunk on us and that's the way the game went." Johnson: "They came out with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and you have to give them a lot of credit for how they played. We got back on our heels from the start of the game and we just didn't have it. We didn't look like a team that was hungry for a win." Johnson on Yao: "We knew that's what they were going to do and when we double-teamed, tripled-team, and single-covered him, he made his shots. He was playing like we were not on the court. That's what bothers me." Josh Howard: "They got hot at the beginning and that was about the way the whole game went. Yao was knocking down his shots and their entire team played well. Yao never surprises me." Howard on the 0-2 start: "We need to just go out and play our system. We know we have a big target on our back and we have to come out focused and play hard every game." Howard: "I just know we need to go out and there and run our system. I don't know about hunger. I think everybody wants to get back to the position we were in last year, and that's enough motivation right there." Jerry Stackhouse: "We were out of sync early and could never get a good rhythm. Our best offense was when we just pushed the ball and had them back on their heels in the transition game." Stackhouse: "We are still learning each other and that's what it is and coach will find a way to get it right. We need to work harder and focus because there is a sense of urgency for us to stop this trend." Stackhouse: "We're in the red right now. And that's not a familiar place for us, and that's not where we like to be." Stackhouse: "Yao did some good things, but it is about us right now. On their opening night at home, they kicked our ass. They did a lot things right and we didn't." Erick Dampier: "This was only our second game of the season and we still have 80 to go and it's a long season. We know what we have to do and work our system and we will be all right." Dampier: "Yao did what he needed to do for his team to win the game." Houston Rockets 107, Dallas Mavericks 76 at Houston (November 4) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Houston 25 27 23 32 - 107 .547 .500 .536 .833 Dallas 16 22 23 15 - 76 .431 .333 .414 .737 Halftime: Houston 52-38 3rd Q: Houston 75-61 Technicals: Avery Johnson 4:28 1st, Dirk Nowitzki 0:02 2nd, Houston defensive 3 seconds 6:04 3rd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 1:02 3rd Refs: Tim Donaghy, Joe forte, Eli Roe Attendance: 18,245 (sellout) IL: Houston - Bob Sura, John Lucas, Scott Padgett Dallas - Devean George, DJ Mbenga, Pops Menash-Bonsu Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Rafer Alston 39 4-10 4-6 2-2 14 0-8 12 0 0 4 0 Tracy McGrady 22 4-11 0-1 0-3 8 0-3 4 1 4 0 0 Shane Battier 33 2-6 0-3 0-0 4 0-2 3 0 1 1 1 Chuck Hayes 17 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 2-3 1 0 6 2 0 Yao Ming 36 12-16 0-0 12-12 36 1-6 1 4 2 1 2 Kirk Snyder 30 3-6 0-1 6-6 12 1-3 1 1 2 2 0 Luther Head 20 6-8 3-4 2-2 17 0-2 3 3 2 1 0 Bonzi Wells 14 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 1 0 3 1 0 Steve Novak 11 2-2 1-1 0-0 5 1-2 0 1 0 0 0 Dikembe Mutombo 9 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 0 2 2 0 2 Vassilis Spanoulis 4 1-1 0-0 3-5 5 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 Juwan Howard 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 37-69 8-16 25-30 107 7-35 26 15 23 13 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 27 0-5 0-2 1-2 1 0-4 4 3 2 0 0 Greg Buckner 22 1-5 0-1 1-1 3 0-3 2 1 2 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 34 10-18 1-1 3-3 24 1-4 1 2 2 0 0 Josh Howard 32 7-13 0-1 2-3 16 0-1 0 2 2 0 1 DeSagana Diop 18 1-1 0-0 1-2 3 3-4 0 3 3 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 25 2-7 0-2 4-4 8 1-5 2 2 1 0 0 Erick Dampier 23 1-3 0-0 0-2 2 5-9 0 4 4 0 1 Anthony Johnson 19 4-5 3-3 0-0 11 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 Austin Croshere 17 1-5 0-1 0-0 2 1-3 1 1 1 0 1 Devin Harris 13 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 0-1 2 0 2 1 0 Maurice Ager 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 1 0 0 J.J. Barea 3 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 2 0 0 Totals 48 29-70 4-12 14-19 76 11-34 13 22 24 1 3 patricia