As you may know, Michael Finley has been playing the past two weeks with a pulled groin muscle (it doesn't seem to bother him any more). Don't look for Finley to miss any games with a minor injury. He has not missed a game in his NBA career (including playing 83 games last season due to the trade) and he looks up to A.C. Green. I don't know if I mentioned this last season, but Erick Strickland has taken over the role previously filled by Popeye Jones and Brad Davis. Strick will take a charge without regard to his personal health. In the Indiana game he took 4 charges, including getting barreled over by a frustrated Antonio Davis. The games Dallas 85, Indiana 82 2OT - at Indiana (February 13) _Terrible_ first half. Indiana led 24-8 with under 2 minutes left in the 1st quarter. The Mavs did manage to score the last 4 points of the quarter. Indiana led 24-12 after 1. And the 2nd quarter was worse. Indiana sunk down to the Mavs' level and produced only 10 points while Dallas scored 12 points. Indiana led 34-24 at the half. The Mavs tied the team record low for a half and the teams tied the 2 team halftime score NBA low since the inception of the shot clock. Not surprisingly, both teams shot very poorly in the half. Dallas shot 6-19 FG in the 1st quarter and Indiana shot 5-16 FG in the 2nd quarter. Nelson needs to bottle whatever he said/did during halftime for future use. Dallas came out on fire in 3rd and quickly get within reach of Indiana, instead of being blown out. The Mavs went on a 20-9 run to go up 50-47 and led 53-49 after 3. Dallas out-scored Indiana 29-15 in the 3rd quarter as Indiana continued to shoot poorly (4-18 FG). The game stayed close in the 4th and the teams would hold small leads. Indiana went on an 11-4 run to take a 66-61 led with 3 minutes left. Indiana led 73-69 with 17.1 seconds left as Reggie Miller hit a tough jumper over Erick Strickland. Hubert Davis answered with a layup with 12.5 seconds remaining. Derrick McKey hit 1-2 free throws with 7.1 seconds left. Mavs got the ball to Michael Finley and he was fouled shooting by McKey with 3 seconds left. Finley missed the first free throw . He made the 2nd and the Mavs called timeout. Finley intentionally missed the 3rd and the shot bounce off the front of the rim, off the backboard, and into Shawn Bradley's hands, who had worked from the right side block around to the left baseline, for the easy layup with 2 seconds left. Miller missed the 18-foot baseliner at the buzzer and we had overtime at 74-74. Both teams struggled offensively in overtime. A Finley dunk put Dallas up 78-76 with 2:52 left. Finley would miss his next 9 shots. Indiana got 2 points somewhere in there before the end of overtime and the game was tied 78-78 going into the 2nd overtime. Mark Jackson drove for 2 to give Indiana a 81-78 lead with 3:15 left. Bradley hit a short jumper and Dennis Scott drove for the tough reverse layup around 7-4 Rik Smits to give Dallas an 82-81 lead. Jackson hit 1-2 free throws with 1 minute left to tie the game. Neither team could score. Finley missed with about 7 seconds left. Indiana called timeout. Chris Mullin was called for an illegal screen out of bounds trying to pick off Strickland to free up Miller. It was Dallas' ball with 2.9 seconds left. The Mavs called time out and advanced the ball to half court. Scott inbounded the ball to Finley behind the 3-point line with Mullin guarding him, Finley elevated and drained the 3-pointer and the buzzer sounded as the ball went through the net. It wasn't a pretty game, but it sure was exciting. The win snapped the Mavs' 22 road game lossing streak . Bradley picked up his 5th foul early in the 4th quarter and managed to played the rest of the way without fouling out. Since I've been making some negative comments lately about the refs, I'll give the ones who reffed the Indiana game some praise as I felt they did a very good job, even with Indy getting 12 more free throw attempts. Minnesota 105, Dallas 99 OT - at Minnesota (February 15) Minnesota shot very poorly in the 1st quarter, but Dallas did not take full advantage of it. Seldom used Bubba Wells had a nice quarter by pitching in 8 points in the 1st. Dallas led 22-15 after 1, even though Minnesota only shot 5-29 FG. Minnesota went on an 8-0 run in the 2nd quarter to go up 30-29 with 3:34 left. Minnesota led 36-35 at the half (yet another low scoring half as both teams shot poorly). Minnesota scored the first 9 points of the 3rd quarter and led 45-35. Minnesota led 56-46 with 5 1/2 minutes left before Dallas decided to get back in the game. Dallas went on a 16-5 run, with 5 points each from Michael Finley and Dennis Scott, to take a 62-61 lead with 31 seconds left in the 3rd. The game was tied 62-62 after 3. Minnesota sprung ahead again with a 18-6 run in the 4th to go up 82-75 with 3 1/2 minutes left. Dallas respond with a 9-1 run capped by a Finley 17-footer to put Dallas up 84-83 with 46 seconds left. The last minute of regulation was very exciting. Terry Porter drained a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left. Finley drove passed Kevin Garnett and Garnett fouled him from behind preventing the dunk with 27 seconds left. Finley hit both free throws to tie the game at 86-86. Minnesota ran the shot clock down and Stephon Marbury traveled as he made his move with 3.6 seconds left. Finley's 20-footer over Garnett bounced off the front of the rim at the buzzer. Overtime again. Marbury took over the game in overtime - he had 9 of his points in the extra period on 4-5 FG and 1-1 FT. Marbury drove for a layup with 2:30 left to put Minnesota up 93-91. Finley hit 1-2 free throws. Marbury drove for the 5-foot floater and was fouled. He converted the extra point and Minnesota led 96-92 with 1:30 left. Finley drained a 3-pointer and Porter answered with a 3. Finley drove for the layup with 34 seconds and Minnesota led 101-99. Minnesota setup their play with the ball and 2 players on one side of the court and the other 3 on the other side outside of the 3-point arc and let the clock tick. Shawn Bradley was called for illegal defense. As much as I did not like the call (it was the only illegal D called in the game and it took away a possibly exciting ending), Bradley was illegal as he was a few feet inside of the baseline near the paint and his man was near the 3-point arc - I hate to say it, but it was the right call. Since the illegal D came within the last 24 seconds of the game, it was a technical foul even though it was the first of the game. Porter made the free throw and Minnesota got the ball out of bounds with no shot clock. Thus, the Mavs had to foul immediately and they fouled Garnett. Garnett hit 1-2 to give Minnesota a 103-99 lead. Finley missed and Garnett converted 2 free throws for the final points. patricia