Steve Nash injured his back Tuesday morning and has not played since. He didn't travel with the team on their current road trip (and, thus, won't play tonight against Sacramento). He may play on Monday vs Chicago. Bruno Sundov saw his first NBA action at the ends of the two blowout games. He became the youngest Mav ever to play at 19 years, 2 months, and 11 days. Dirk Nowitzki is the 2nd youngest at 20 years, 7 months, and 17 days when he played in the first game of the season. Not much to say about Sundov's performances in the limited minutes, except that he's definitely a project. Phoenix at Dallas (April 20) Steve Nash (back spasms), Gary Trent (bruised left thigh), and Luc Longley (hyperextended left knee) did not play. Phoenix led 18-6 with 5 minutes left in the 1st quarter. The Suns led 21-10 with 3 minutes to go and Dallas went on an 11-2 run to pull within 2 at 21-23 with 50 seconds left. Phoenix led 25-23 after 1. The game remained close to start the 2nd quarter, but Phoenix scored 8 consecutive points to go up 45-34 with 4:50 left. Phoenix maintained a led in the low teens the rest of the quarter. Phoenix led 61-49 at the half. Phoenix shot 54% (25-46) FG in the half. Phoenix led 71-62 with 6 minutes remaining and went on an 11-2 run to go up by 18 at 82-64 with 2:45 to go. Dallas scored the last 6 points of the quarter and Phoenix led 84-72 after 3. Phoenix led 88-72 a minute into the 4th quarter, but Dallas stayed in the game by scoring the next 6 points to cut Phoenix's lead down to 88-78 with 9:30 left. Phoenix led 95-85 with 6:50 remaining and then fell to pieces. Dallas scored the next 9 points and Phoenix was clinging to a 1 point lead at 95-94 with 4:15 to go. Phoenix scored the next 4 points on 4 points on free throws to go up 99-94 with 3:15 left. Chris Anstey's slam and Hubert Davis' long jumper pulled Dallas again within 1 point at 98-99 with 2:20 left. The teams traded turnovers and Clifford Robinson missed a short jumper. Michael Finley nailed a jumper with 1:40 left to give Dallas their first lead of the game at 100-99. Robinson turned the ball over and Davis missed a shot. Robinson missed a shot, but Danny Manning got the rebound. Manning was fouled with 29 seconds left, but only hit 1 of 2 free throws. The game was tied 100-100. Dallas ran the clock down and Finley made to drive with a couple of steps towards the basket and pulled up and nailed the 16-foot jumper with 6.5 seconds left. Phoenix moved the ball to half court and Erick Strickland tipped away Jason Kidd's inbound's pass. Chris Anstey picked up the loose ball and was fouled (but Phoenix had a foul to give). The Mavs inbounded the ball to Finley and he was immediately fouled. He nailed both free throws with 2.6 seconds left. Rex Chapman's 3-pointer with a second left was partially blocked. Dallas won 104-100. Finley took the team on his back and carried them to the comeback win. He had 13 points in the 3rd and another 13 points in the 4th quarter. Dallas shot 13-23 FG and Phoenix shot 4-16 FG in 4th. Phoenix also committed 6 turnovers in 4th. Phoenix went the last 4:45 of the game without a field goal made - they made 5 free throws in that span for their only points. Phoenix scored 61 points in the 1st half and only 39 points in the 2nd half. It was the 7th game the Mavs scored over 100 points (have only lost 1 game when scoring 100+ points) and 4th game in which Dallas shot 50% or better (perfect in games shooting 50%). Jason Kidd had 13 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds in the 1st half, but only 4 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds in the 2nd half. The funny point in the game came late in the 2nd quarter. Gugliotta ended up on the ground after missing a layup. While the Mavs were setting up their play at their end of the court, Gugliotta came trotting down the court with his right shoe in his hand. After playing defense a couple of seconds with the shoe in his hand, he decided that he needed his hand more than the shoe and threw the shoe to the side of the court. Finley missed a shot and Gugliotta, minus a shoe, got the rebound. Phoenix got the ball into the front court and called timeout so that Gugliotta could put his shoe back on. Quotes Don Nelson: "That hasn't happened too often, so we're really glad to get it. Tonight [Finley] was able to drive to the basket, and he also had his outside shot working so the defense had to honor that, too." Nelson on Strickland's steal: "[That was] kind of a diagramed steal that we thought we might be able to get. We played their out of bounds play great." Nelson: "I think the key to the game was that we changed our zone trap. We went to a 1-3-1 zone trap in the 2nd half. I thought it was really effective." Nelson: "Michael Finley carried us the whole game. We called his number a lot and he really had it going tonight. This is the best comeback we've had all year. We did it against a team we haven't beaten in quite a while." Nelson: "This is the kind of play I thought I'd get from [Finley] consistently this year, and we've only seen it a couple of times. He's only had a few dominating games this year." Michael Finley when asked if it was the best win all season: "It was the best because those guys don't respect us. We wanted to make a statement." Finley: "They don't respect us. They were only up 10 or 8 points, and they were playing like they were up 20. I guess they can do that when they've been beating us on a consistent basis. But these guys took that to heart. We thought if Phoenix came in with that lackadaisical attitude, not respecting us, we had a great opportunity. And it showed." Finley: "I'm not going to lie and say it isn't personal. It's personal when you go against a team you used to play for. I want to beat them every time, just like Jason wants to beat us every time. If we keep that up, it will be a great series for years to come." Finley: "I've seen them play, and they were just going through the motions. I think they kind of circled this game on the schedule as an easy game." Finley on the win: "Gravy on the potatoes." Erick Strickland: "They thought they were just gonna come out and win. They try to play with us and joke with us on the court." Danny Ainge: "This is a tough loss. We had control of the game and we got too comfortable with the lead we had. We felt no matter how we played, we'd still win the game. Their athleticism was too tough for us to match up with." Ainge: "We had control of the game and we got too comfortable with the lead we had. We talked about it during every timeout. We weren't playing with the energy we needed to finish the game off." Jason Kidd: "We played 3 great quarters and we didn't finish it. That's the biggest lesson we learned about this." Kidd: "We let it slip away. We shouldn't have let that happen. You've got to tip your hat to them. They don't have anything to play for, and they're loosey-goosey." Clifford Robinson on Finley's jumper with 6.5 seconds left: "I had a hand in his face, and he just hit a great shot. He didn't do anything special. He just shot it over me." Dallas Mavericks 104, Phoenix Suns 100 at Dallas (April 20) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 23 26 23 32 - 104 .530 .455 .519 .826 Phoenix 25 36 23 16 - 100 .486 .308 .458 .769 Halftime: Phoenix 61-49 3rd Q: Phoenix 84-72 Phoenix's largest lead: 84-66 1:22 3rd Dallas' largest lead: 104-100 final Lead changes: 1 Technicals: none Refs: Ronnie Nunn, Leon Wood, Marc Davis Attendance: 18,121 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (back spasms), Gary Trent (bruised right thigh), Luc Longley (hyperextended left knee) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 39 3-11 0-2 7-10 13 1-9 4 4 6 1 1 Samaki Walker 23 3-5 0-0 3-4 9 1-3 0 2 2 0 1 Chris Anstey 17 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-4 3 1 5 0 0 Michael Finley 48 14-25 2-3 6-6 36 1-10 4 2 1 3 1 Hubert Davis 45 8-15 2-5 0-0 18 0-3 4 2 2 1 0 A.C. Green 14 1-1 0-0 1-1 3 0-2 0 0 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 29 4-7 0-0 2-2 10 3-10 2 2 4 1 2 Erick Strickland 25 5-10 1-1 0-0 11 0-0 3 2 0 3 1 Totals 48 40-77 5-11 19-23 104 7-41 20 15 21 9 6 Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Tom Gugliotta 36 5-14 0-0 5-6 15 4-12 5 2 3 3 0 Clifford Robinson 42 7-16 0-1 3-5 17 3-5 5 3 4 2 2 Pat Garrity 30 5-11 0-0 2-2 12 1-6 0 1 2 1 0 Rex Chapman 34 5-12 1-2 2-2 13 0-3 3 1 3 0 0 Jason Kidd 48 7-13 1-4 2-3 17 0-7 8 5 3 2 0 Danny Manning 22 6-9 0-0 4-6 16 2-4 1 0 2 0 1 George McCloud 25 3-8 2-6 0-0 8 1-2 5 0 5 1 1 Chris Morris 3 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 0-1 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 38-83 4-13 20-26 100 11-40 27 13 22 10 4 Dallas at Houston (April 21) Houston pulled out to an early 16-8 lead with 6:50 remaining. Houston led 20-14 with 5 minutes left and Dallas came back with a 15-2 run to go up 29-22 with 2 minutes left. Houston scored the next 6 points and Dirk Nowitzki's short jumper with 7 seconds left gave Dallas a 31-28 lead after 1. Charles Barkley nailed a jumper 30 seconds into the 2nd quarter and Dallas then took over with another 15-2 run to go up 46-32 with 8 minutes remaining. Houston cut Dallas' lead down to 8 points at 52-44 with 5 minutes to go, but Dallas scored the next 7 points. Dallas led 61-49 at the half. Hakeem Olajuwon hit 2 free throws to open the 3rd quarter and Dallas then went on a 12-2 run to blow the game wide open with a 73-53 lead with 8:15 remaining. Houston cut Dallas' lead down to 16 points 3 times, but the Mavs scored after each time. Dallas led 86-68 after 3. The surprising blowout continued in the 4th as Dallas maintained a 19 to 26 point lead through most of the quarter. Houston subbed out their starters with about 4 minutes left and Dallas subbed their starters with a little over 2 minutes left. Houston's bench scored the last 10 points of the game over a little less than 2 minute span to make the final score a little more respectable. Dallas won 109-95. It was a solid all around game by the Mavs. They looked great the entire game and clearly out-played Houston. For the 2nd consecutive game, the Mavs shot above 50% and scored more than 100 points. It was a great game for Dirk Nowitzki (22 points including 10-13 FG), Gary Trent (24 points and 10 rebounds), and Michael Finley (27 points, 6 rebounds, and 11 assists). Quotes Don Nelson: "The last two games, we got wins that were unexpected. I thought if we could hang in there, we might be able to win with a last shot, but to play with the lead the entire game is surprising." [Actually, Houston had small leads early in the 1st quarter.] Nelson: "Break up the Mavericks. You can't judge a lot by just one game. All of a sudden we seem to be playing better basketball." Nelson: ""Maybe we deserved some wins earlier this year that we didn't get, and maybe now it's the time of the year we get some." Michael Finley: "This is the best we've played for 48 minutes. Fortunately, for me, my shot was falling and when I passed to my teammates, they hit their shots too. Defensively, we did what we needed to do and offensively our shots were falling." Finley: "We played consistently throughout the game. On offense, our shots were falling as a result. We had a lot of fun out there tonight." Finley: "We knew we were going to take our lumps early [in the season], and we did. But now, we're in a groove. The guys know their roles and we're in a comfort zone. We've been playing so freely and loose, we have looked good." Gary Trent: "This is one of our best games. But there have been games where we played great and still lost. I think tonight we had a great defensive effort. We limited them to one shot, then we'd get the rebound and run out on them. We took advantage of that tonight." Trent: "It's fun to beat the kings of the hill. I told Hakeem and Charles after the game, y'all are the greatest. Y'all paved the way for us young players." Rudy Tomjanovich: "I can't figure it out, no way with everything so obvious, to get that kind of performance is baffling. They made some good shots, they made some easy shots. We just showed up." Hakeem Olajuwon: "You have to give Dallas a lot of credit. It's one of those nights where they could do nothing wrong, especially the way they shot the ball. This is definitely a big setback for us." Charles Barkley: "They played well. Give them credit. Michael Finley was terrific and Trent was terrific and Nowitzki was terrific. Everytime we lose, you guys think the world is coming to an end. If those three guys play like that every night they are going to win a lot of games. They don't play that well every night." Barkley: "They played terrific tonight. We obviously did not play well. The way they played tonight, they should be in the playoffs. Michael Finley was the best player on the floor tonight. He, Trent and Nowitzki all played terrific." Barkley: "If them guys played like that every night, they'd be the #1 seed in the playoffs. I don't think anybody could have beaten those guys tonight." Dallas Mavericks 109, Houston Rockets 95 at Houston (April 21) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 31 30 25 23 - 109 .547 .417 .529 .923 Houston 28 21 19 27 - 95 .500 .227 .429 .750 Halftime: Dallas 61-49 3rd Q: Dallas 86-68 Houston's largest lead: 16-8 6:50 1st Dallas' largest lead: 107-81 2:38 4th Lead changes: 2 Technicals: Rudy Tomjanovich 1:51 1st, Charles Barkley 11:40 2nd, A.C. Green 11:40 2nd Refs: Dan Crawford, Tom Washington, Dee Kantner Attendance: 16,285 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (back spasms) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 41 10-13 2-2 0-0 22 0-3 3 1 3 1 3 Gary Trent 36 11-20 0-0 2-3 24 2-10 3 0 3 1 0 John Williams 17 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 0 0 3 0 0 Michael Finley 43 11-20 1-5 4-4 27 1-6 11 2 1 2 0 Hubert Davis 40 5-13 2-4 2-2 14 0-3 4 2 1 2 0 Shawn Bradley 31 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 2-10 1 0 5 1 4 A.C. Green 10 3-4 0-0 2-2 8 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Erick Strickland 18 2-7 0-1 2-2 6 1-5 2 2 0 2 0 Chris Anstey 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Bruno Sundov 2 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 46-87 5-12 12-13 109 7-39 25 8 19 9 7 Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Scottie Pippen 31 2-8 0-4 0-0 4 1-3 3 1 1 0 0 Charles Barkley 36 7-13 0-0 2-4 16 5-14 3 2 1 0 0 Hakeem Olajuwon 40 9-18 0-0 9-11 27 4-11 2 3 1 0 3 Michael Dickerson 22 4-11 0-3 0-0 8 0-2 2 1 2 0 0 Cuttino Mobley 33 3-6 0-2 2-2 8 1-2 2 0 1 2 0 Sam Mack 20 2-7 2-7 1-2 7 0-0 3 1 2 0 0 Bryce Drew 24 2-9 1-3 0-0 5 0-3 4 1 2 0 1 Antoine Carr 16 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 1-3 1 2 4 0 3 Matt Bullard 6 2-3 1-1 0-0 5 2-2 1 0 0 1 0 Matt Maloney 4 0-1 0-1 2-2 2 0-0 1 0 0 1 0 Anthony Miller 4 1-2 0-0 2-3 4 1-2 1 0 0 0 0 Brent Price 4 1-1 1-1 0-0 3 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 36-84 5-22 18-24 95 15-42 24 12 14 4 7 Dallas at San Antonio (April 22) Shawn Bradley scored the first basket of the game and San Antonio took over the led and maintained a single digit lead the rest of the quarter. The Spurs led 25-15 with 3:40 left, but couldn't push their lead into the teens. Michael Finley hit a 3-pointer with 1:50 remaining to cut San Antonio's lead down to 27-23, but the Spurs scored the last 5 points of the quarter to lead 32-23 after 1. Dallas was not able to make a run in the 2nd quarter and San Antonio held leads of 9 to 15 points the entire quarter. San Antonio led 52-41 at the half. David Robinson had 15 points in the half. The Spurs scored the first 7 points of the 3rd to go up 59-41 with 10 minutes to go. Dallas responded by scoring the next 10 points to pull within 51-59 on a 3-pointer by Hubert Davis with 6:30 left. But the Spurs decided to put the game away early and answered with a 19-2 run to go up 78-53 with 1 minute left. San Antonio led 81-56 after 3. San Antonio's starters sat the whole 4th as the blowout continued. San Antonio led in the 20s the entire quarter. San Antonio won 103-76. San Antonio shot 52.1% (38-73) FG and Dallas shot 38% (30-79). Combine that with the Spurs out-rebounding Dallas 43-36 and Dallas only getting 10 offensive boards and you have a blowout. Though it wouldn't have made a difference in this game, the Mavs got no respect from the refs. San Antonio shot 24-34 FT as Dallas was called for 27 fouls (some of the justified, but some of them not) and Dallas shot 12-18 FT as San Antonio was called for 18 fouls. I don't have the exact numbers, but the Spurs totally dominated the Mavs in the paint. Michael Finley was the only Mav to show up for the game. He had 20 points and 5 rebounds. Hubert Davis was the only other Mav in double digits scoring (11 pts). The effects of this being Dallas' 3rd game in the 3-in-3 and 6th game in 8 days was obvious. And San Antonio was ready for Dallas since the Mavs upset the Spurs a mere 9 days before. Quotes Gregg Popovich: "I'm very pleased with the team's attention to detail. They played well for a long time tonight, both the bench and the starters. Their mental focus and toughness was impressive." Popovich: "Malik continues to play with a heart as big as the Alamodome. He really sparks us defensively and running the floor. He's a real energy player." Popovich: "We're very aware of Nowitzki's shot. We guarded him a lot more physically and aggressively than we did in Dallas." Malik Rose: "It feels good to get these guys back. They play a physical game. They really took a lot of steam out of us earlier when they beat us." Don Nelson: "There is no one they can't beat right now. But they need to make the outside shot because their big guys will be double teamed in the playoffs. They haven't proven to me yet that they can do that consistently." Nelson: "They were ready for us. We expected they would be. This was our 3rd in a row and we had tired legs. We were lucky to be down only 11 at the half. We thought maybe we could make a run at in the 2nd but they never gave us a sniff at this one." Nelson: "I thought we were lucky to be only down 11 at halftime. I was kind of hoping we could put it together for one half and maybe get back in the game, but it just wasn't going to happen tonight." Nelson: "Defensively, they made it very difficult for us. They challenged every shot, and they did what they were supposed to do. Nelson: "It's been a very difficult stretch to go through; we knew it was going to be hard. This was the only bad game that we had in the whole stretch, and I understand what happened tonight and accept it." Michael Finley: "I think fatigue was a little bit of a factor on our part. But that's something you have to get over when you're on a back-to-back-to-back situation. Finley: "They came out with the type of energy that I knew that they would, and it showed in the 1st half. But we played terrible in the 1st half and still had a chance to win it." Gary Trent on his poor offensive night: "I've scored on [Duncan] plenty of times. It was just a bad night." Trent: "It went wrong at the start of the game. I was real flat on my shots, and I couldn't really explode off the ground like I wanted to. And they had a great defense out there, too. But it was just one of those games where I was just off." San Antonio Spurs 103, Dallas Mavericks 76 at San Antonio (April 22) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% San Antonio 32 20 29 22 - 103 .565 .273 .521 .706 Dallas 23 18 15 20 - 76 .366 .500 .380 .667 Halftime: San Antonio 52-41 3rd Q: San Antonio 81-56 Dallas' only lead: 2-0 11:43 1st Technicals: none Refs: Jim Clark, Phil Robinson, Bruce Alexander Attendance: 18,720 (cap 20,557) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (back spasms) San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Sean Elliott 22 6-11 0-1 0-0 12 0-1 2 2 1 0 0 Tim Duncan 32 6-11 0-0 2-3 14 2-10 4 4 3 0 3 David Robinson 26 7-8 0-0 4-8 18 1-6 2 4 2 3 1 Mario Elie 23 2-6 0-2 2-2 6 2-6 1 1 0 2 0 Avery Johnson 24 5-6 0-0 0-0 10 0-2 8 0 0 0 0 Steve Kerr 20 1-5 1-2 0-0 3 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Antonio Daniels 24 4-11 0-0 1-2 9 0-2 3 3 3 1 0 Malik Rose 19 3-4 0-0 8-10 14 1-6 2 0 3 2 0 Jaren Jackson 18 2-7 2-5 2-2 8 0-2 1 0 1 2 0 Jerome Kersey 13 1-3 0-1 2-2 4 1-4 0 1 1 0 1 Will Perdue 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 1 0 3 0 0 Gerard King 5 1-1 0-0 3-5 5 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 Totals 48 38-73 3-11 24-34 103 8-43 26 16 18 11 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 40 3-8 0-0 2-3 8 0-5 0 2 5 2 0 Gary Trent 33 3-16 0-1 1-2 7 2-7 2 4 3 0 0 Shawn Bradley 12 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 1-1 0 0 1 0 0 Michael Finley 35 7-16 1-2 5-5 20 1-5 2 5 2 1 0 Hubert Davis 37 4-7 3-3 0-0 11 1-2 2 2 1 0 0 Chris Anstey 28 2-5 0-0 1-2 5 4-10 1 1 4 3 1 Erick Strickland 29 3-10 0-2 3-4 9 1-4 2 3 2 0 0 Samaki Walker 14 3-5 0-0 0-2 6 0-2 0 2 6 1 0 A.C. Green 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 4 0 Bruno Sundov 6 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 30-79 4-8 12-18 76 10-36 10 20 27 11 1 patricia