Dallas finished the 1998-99 season with a record of 19-31 - 15-10 at home and 4-21 on the road. Prorated for 82 games, that would be 31 wins - an 11 game improvement over last season's record of 20-62. 9 of the Mavs' wins came in the last 22 days of the season. Some stats of note from the season. Both Gary Trent and Michael Finley saw vast improvement from the 1st 25 games of the season to the last 25 games of the season. Trent averaged 12.7 points including 45.4% FG and 7.0 rebounds in the 1st 25 games and 19.8 points including 49.7% FG and 8.7 rebounds in the last 25 games. Finley averaged 18.4 points on 42% FG and 76.1% FT and 4.8 rebounds in the 1st 25 games and 22.1 points on 46.7% FG and 88.5% FT and 5.8 rebounds in the last 25 games. Dirk Nowitzki finally showed signs of a top 10 draft pick in the last 12 games. In the first 38 games he averaged 5.6 points including 36.1% FG and 2.8 rebounds. In the last 12 games he averaged 14.5 points including 47% FG and 4.8 rebounds. The team was very good at controlling the ball as they averaged only 13.8 turnovers - breaking the old team record of 14.4 turnovers set last season. Team leaders Michael Finley, as usual, lead the team in minutes with 41.0 [will be top 3 in the league]. It is only the 2nd time in team history that a Mav has averaged more than 40 minutes (with Finley's 41.4 from last season being the first). Michael Finley, Hubert Davis, and A.C. Green played all 50 games. Only Finley started all 50. Michael Finley, of course, led the team in points with 20.2. Gary Trent was 2nd with 16.0 points and Cedric Ceballos (12.5 points) was the only other Mav to average double figures. Shawn Bradley shot 48.0% (167-348) FG with Gary Trent a close 2nd at 47.7% (287-602) FG. The Mavs had 4 players shoot under 40% FG - Steve Nash at 36.3% (114-314), Chris Anstey at 36% (50-139), Bruno Sundov at 28.6% (2-7), and Hot Rod Williams at 33.3% (11-33). Hubert Davis shot 45.1% (65-144) for 3-pointers. [He'll finish top 5 in the league.] The Mavs had 5 players shot in the 80s from the line, but also had 3 shoot below 65%. Hubert Davis shot 88% (44-50), Steve Nash shot 82.6% (38-46), Finley shot 82.3% (186-226), and Erick Strickland shot 81.5% (53-65). Samaki Walker shot 54.1% (53-98) FG, A.C. Green shot 57.7% (30-52), and Gary Trent shot 61.7% (145-235). Shawn Bradley lead the team in rebounding with 8.0 boards and Gary Trent was a close 2nd with 7.8 boards. Steve Nash averaged 5.5 assists and Michael Finley averaged 4.4 assists. Not much of a thief on the team as Michael Finley led the team averaging 1.3 steals and Erick Strickland (1.2) was the only other Mav to average more than 1 steals. Shawn Bradley, of course, led the team in blocks at 3.2. [He'll be top 3 in league ranking.] None of the Mavs were very turnover prone with only 3 averaging over 2 turnovers. Cedric Ceballos averaged 2.15 turnovers and Michael Finley average 2.14. Shawn Bradley averaged the most fouls at 3.1. Dallas at LA Lakers (May 4) With Gary Trent not playing due to a pulled left hamstring, Don Nelson had a starting lineup of Hubert Davis, Erick Strickland, Michael Finley, Samaki Walker, and Hot Rod Williams. The Lakers opened to an early 8-2 lead with 9:40 remaining, but Dallas responded with their own 8-2 run to tie the game at 10-10 with 7:15 left. The Lakers then scored the next 8 points to go up 18-10 with 5 minutes left. Dallas cut LA's lead down to 4 points at 25-21 with 2 minutes left and closed the quarter by scoring the last 8 points on a dunk by Chris Anstey from a sweet pass by Strickland, a 3-pointer by Finley, and another 3-pointer by Finley with 1.5 seconds left. Dallas led 29-25 after 1. Finley had 15 points in the quarter. Dallas scored the first 5 points of the 2nd quarter to go up 34-25 with 11 minutes to go, but could not get their lead into double-digits. Dallas led 38-29 with 9:20 left and the Lakers slowly whittled away at Dallas' lead. Dallas led 42-37 with 7 minutes remaining and the Lakers scored the next 6 points to go up 43-42 with 5:30 left. The Lakers led 45-44 with 5 minutes remaining and Dallas scored the next 7 points to go up 51-45 with 2:45 left. But the Lakers answered with an 8-2 run to tie the game at 53-53 with 1 minute to go. Dallas led 57-55 at the half. Both teams shot the ball very well in the 1st half with Dallas shooting 58% FG and the Lakers shooting 55% FG. Then came the 3rd quarter. The Lakers picked up their defense and Dallas fell apart. The Lakers opened the 3rd quarter with a 14-3 run to go up 69-60 with 8 minutes left as Dallas' only points came from free throws. The Mavs finally made a basket on a Walker hook shot with 7:35 remaining, but Dallas' next basket (and points) wouldn't come for 5 more minutes as the Lakers rattled off 13 consecutive points to take a 83-63 lead with 3 minutes left. 2 layups by Shawn Bradley cut the Lakers' lead down to 16 points and the Lakers led 85-72 after 3. Dallas shot 3-11 FG and the Lakers shot 9-15 FG in the 3rd as the Lakers out-scored Dallas 30-15. The Lakers also out-rebounded Dallas 10-5 in the quarter. Yuch. Dallas kept trying to get back in the game in the 4th quarter, but the Lakers wouldn't let them. The Mavs pulled within 10 points at 88-78 with 9:40 left, but Derek Harper drove for the layup on the next possession. The Mavs were within 11 points at 92-81 on a Finley short jumper with 7:30 left, but Rick Fox drained a 3-pointer. Strickland drove for a layup 10 seconds later, but Harper nailed a 3-pointer. Dallas missed on their next 2 possessions, but Fox did not as he drained consecutive 3-pointer to give the Lakers a 20 point lead at 103-83 with 6 minutes left. Dallas did manage to pull within 14 points at 104-90 on a 3-pointer by Davis with 5 minutes left, by Harper answered with another 3. The Lakers won 115-102. The Mavs played one half of basketball very well, but the 3rd quarter killed them and the Lakers wouldn't let them get back in the game in the 4th quarter - every time the Mavs did something right, the Lakers would answer, and often answer with a 3-pointer. Michael Finley had 15 points in the 1st quarter, 2 points in the 2nd, and only 7 points in the 2nd half. Erick Strickland deserves special mention for his great play, including on the defensive end where he was matched up against the (at least) 4" taller Kobe Bryant. Yes, occasionally Bryant would blow by him, but no where near as often as you would think and Bryant only had 17 points and Strickland matched his 17 points. Bryant did have a career high 10 assists. Quotes Kurt Rambis: "We moved the basketball, just kept moving it, and attacking it, and we were able to get a lot of opportunities for guys to get wide-open shots." Glen Rice: "Tonight I was definitely in to the flow and a little more active. Guys were looking to set screens for me and get me involved." Rice: "We got more aggressive in the second half with our defense. Once again, the defense ignited everything." Shaquille O'Neal: "They hit a lot of shots, they shot 60% in the 1st half. We just wanted to come out and play a little bit better defense, box out better, and just keep playing hard. Then they started missing some shots and a couple of our guys got hot and the momentum turned a different way." Kobe Bryant: "I was just trying to hit the open man. The guys were coming and double teaming me and I was just finding the open man. This team is a very dangerous team to do that to. You double on Shaq or myself and we've got a lot of weapons to go to." Don Nelson: "We absolutely gave ourselves no chance with the 3rd quarter we played. We needed to continue to play like we did in the 1st half. We just turned the ball over too much." Nelson: "We played very well in the 1st half. Unfortunately, that was the only half we played well. They did their damage on us when Shaq was out of the game, which is pretty disappointing, because we set our whole defense to try to keep the ball away from him." Nelson on Finley only having 7 2nd half points: "That was my fault a little bit. We were going with more of a motion passing game and I didn't call his number quite as much, and I probably should have. But even the times that we did try to get the ball to him, we turned it over." Nelson on playing Davis, Finley, and Strickland so many minutes (the only healthy guards the team has): "I knew [playing them heavy minutes] was going to be a problem. But I thought we'd see how the game went. The game plan was good the 1st half, so we stayed with it. I may have worn them out for [the Seattle game], but that was a chance we had to take." Samaki Walker: "I thought that the 1st half was a good half. We didn't match their energy in the 2nd half. They came out and they shot well. I thought that we played pretty good for most of the game. We had some big spurts, and they had some big spurts that we couldn't come back from. They really began to dominate us on the offensive glass and got some easy baskets." Erick Strickland on his 45 minutes: "I'm definitely tired. I knew I never played that much before, but I'm sure glad I got to." Dirk Nowitzki on his limited minutes due to foul trouble: "I made 3 fouls, and they gave me 6. I was taking an elbow or a knee at times. Maybe they were trying to scare me or something." Los Angeles Lakers 115, Dallas Mavericks 102 at Los Angeles (May 3) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% LA Lakers 25 30 30 30 - 115 .574 .438 .545 .828 Dallas 29 28 15 30 - 102 .534 .308 .493 .700 Halftime: Dallas 57-55 3rd Q: LA Lakers 85-72 Technicals: none Refs: Nolan Fine, Joe Forte, Scott Wall Attendance: 17,505 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (strained lower back), Gary Trent (pulled left hamstring) Los Angeles Lakers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK J.R Reid 23 3-5 0-0 3-4 9 0-4 2 2 3 1 0 Glen Rice 35 7-15 1-5 7-7 22 1-5 1 3 4 2 1 Shaquille O'Neal 31 10-14 0-0 6-10 26 5-11 0 0 4 1 0 Kobe Bryant 40 6-12 0-0 5-5 17 0-4 10 5 4 3 1 Derek Fisher 28 3-5 1-1 3-3 10 0-1 8 1 2 2 0 Rick Fox 26 4-8 3-5 0-0 11 3-5 4 2 5 0 1 Derek Harper 21 3-6 2-3 0-0 8 0-0 3 1 0 0 0 Robert Horry 24 2-6 0-1 0-0 4 1-4 3 3 2 1 0 Travis Knight 7 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 3 0 0 Tyronn Lue 3 2-3 0-1 0-0 4 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Sean Rooks 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 42-77 7-16 24-29 115 10-35 31 18 27 10 3 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 42 8-16 3-6 5-6 24 1-5 3 1 0 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 15 3-6 0-0 2-4 8 0-1 0 1 6 0 0 John Williams 12 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 0 1 3 1 0 Hubert Davis 43 5-11 1-4 2-2 13 1-3 1 5 2 0 0 Erick Strickland 45 5-13 0-1 7-9 17 0-4 6 2 3 3 1 Chris Anstey 25 3-8 0-0 4-6 10 2-7 1 2 5 1 0 Shawn Bradley 16 5-6 0-0 3-4 13 0-2 0 1 3 2 2 A.C. Green 19 1-3 0-2 0-2 2 2-5 1 2 1 0 0 Bruno Sundov 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Samaki Walker 20 5-7 0-0 5-7 15 2-3 1 2 5 1 0 Totals 48 35-71 4-13 28-40 102 9-33 13 17 28 8 3 Dallas at Seattle (May 4) Gary Trent also did not play in this game due to his pulled hamstring. It was a close game over the first 6 minutes with 8 lead changes and neither team able to build more than a 4 point lead. Dallas led 18-17 with 6 minutes remaining and Seattle went on a 9-2 run to go up 26-20 with 4 minutes left. Michael Finley hit 2 free throws and Seattle then continued their rally with a 9-1 run to go up 35-23 with 1:26 left as Dallas missed 5 consecutive shots. Seattle led 38-27 after 1. Dallas attempted a lot of bad shots in the quarter and missed most of them. Seattle shot 14-21 FG and Dallas shot 9-22 FG. Finley had 15 points and Gary Payton had 11 points including 3-3 3-pointers. Dallas scored the first 5 points of the 2nd quarter to pull within 4 points at 32-38 with 10:30 to go, but could get no closer. Seattle led 42-36 with 7:40 remaining and rattled off the next 8 points to go up 50-36 with 5 minutes left. Seattle maintained a double digit lead until Hubert Davis nailed a 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds left. Seattle led 60-51 at the half. Seattle opened the 3rd quarter by scoring the first 5 points to go up 65-51 with 10:10 remaining, but Dallas answered by scoring the next 7 points and Seattle led 65-58 with 9 minutes to go. The teams traded small rallies as Seattle built up an 11 points lead and Dallas cut that lead down to 6 points at 69-63 with 6:40 left. Seattle scored the next 7 points to go up 76-63 with 3:30 remaining and maintained a 9 to 13 point lead the rest of the quarter. Seattle led 84-73 after 3. Seattle led 88-75 with 9:25 left and Dallas scored the next 7 points to cut Seattle's lead down to 88-82 with 6:45 to go, but Drew Barry answered with a 3-pointer. Seattle led 95-84 with 5 minutes left and Dallas again cut Seattle's lead down to 6 points at 95-89 with 3:30 left, but Seattle scored the next 4 points. Seattle led 101-92 with 2:15 to go and Payton was called for a technical for gripping about a ref. It was his 2nd technical and he was ejected. Davis hit the technical free throw. The teams traded misses and Erick Strickland drove for a layup with 1:30 left and Seattle led 101-95. But the Mavs missed 2 shots and Seattle hit 5 consecutive free throws to go up 106-95 with 50 seconds left. Seattle won 110-100. Michael Finley finished with 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists and Shawn Bradley had a solid game with 17 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Gary Payton led the way for Seattle with 24 points on 10-14 FG and 4-9 3-pointers and Vladimir Stepania chipped in 17 points and 10 rebounds. The Mavs never really recovered from their poor start in the 1st quarter where only Finley was clicking offensively and their defense was severely lacking as they allowed Seattle to score 38 points in the quarter. Seattle did benefit from some home cooking from the refs as most of the inside fouls they committed were not called. Quotes Paul Westphal: "It was a nice professional effort. It's not easy to get up for a game when you're not in the playoffs. But the guys decided that it was important to come out and put on a good performance." Westphal: "It's amazing to me how far Vladimir has come. From a foreign country, not really speaking the language very well, not understanding the referees or the opposition, let alone the coaching staff or teammates. He couldn't have done this, played a full game without fouling out [earlier in the season]." Don Nelson: "It was a real tough 1st half for me because I didn't think that we played with the energy that we needed in our last outing." Michael Finley: "We underachieved as a team. I came into this season with high expectations, but I don't think we lived up to those expectations and me, personally, I didn't live up to those expectations. The good sign is we finished strong, except for these last two games. We found something. I hope the guys remember over the summer how it felt to beat those teams we weren't supposed to beat." [pretty light on game quotes for this game] Seattle Sonics 110, Dallas Mavericks 100 at Seattle (May 4) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Seattle 38 22 24 26 - 110 .600 .294 .528 .744 Dallas 27 24 22 27 - 100 .400 .444 .409 .690 Halftime: Seattle 60-51 3rd Q: Seattle 84-73 Technicals: Gary Payton 4:44 1st, Payton 2:16 4th (ejected) Refs: Eddie F. rush, Greg Willard, Derek Richardson Attendance: 17,072 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (strained lower back), Gary Trent (pulled left hamstring) Seattle Sonics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Vin Baker 33 6-12 0-0 3-5 15 1-9 6 6 4 0 1 Don MacLean 24 7-14 0-3 4-5 18 1-3 1 1 3 0 1 Vladimir Stepania 34 5-8 0-0 7-11 17 1-10 1 1 3 0 0 Hersey Hawkins 24 1-2 0-0 3-3 5 0-5 2 1 1 0 1 Gary Payton 30 10-15 4-9 0-0 24 0-3 2 2 1 0 1 Drew Barry 24 1-6 1-3 2-2 5 0-3 2 1 3 1 0 John Crotty 18 2-4 0-2 2-2 6 0-2 1 2 1 1 0 Jelani McCoy 29 5-6 0-0 4-7 14 0-4 0 1 4 0 1 Detlef Schrempf 24 1-5 0-0 4-4 6 2-8 4 2 2 1 0 Totals 48 38-72 5-17 29-39 110 5-47 19 18 22 3 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Chris Anstey 17 1-6 0-1 0-0 2 0-1 3 1 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 33 2-13 0-3 5-6 9 2-5 1 3 6 2 0 Shawn Bradley 40 8-14 0-0 1-1 17 3-15 2 4 4 2 4 Hubert Davis 42 7-19 5-9 2-2 21 0-2 4 0 4 0 0 Michael Finley 44 12-22 2-3 8-11 34 3-10 6 1 4 2 0 A.C. Green 24 2-5 0-1 0-2 4 1-2 0 0 4 1 0 Erick Strickland 22 4-7 1-1 2-3 11 0-2 3 0 3 1 0 Samaki Walker 18 0-2 0-0 2-4 2 0-0 2 1 5 1 0 Totals 48 36-88 8-18 20-29 100 9-37 21 11 32 10 4 patricia