Dallas finished January with a record of 8-5. That is the 3rd best month record (excluding 1-0 in October 1997) in the past 10 years (behind 9-5 in March 1990 and 10-6 in March 1996). And only the 4th time (not including 1-0 in Oct 1997 and at .500 (8-8) in March 1998 and (6-6) in Nov 1990) since the 1990-91 season that the team has had a winning month. Erick Strickland has taken 27 charges in 29 games. LA Clippers at Dallas (Jan. 27) It was a close 1st quarter with ugly play from both teams and the largest lead of the quarter was only 6 points. The Clippers led 28-23 after 1. Derek Anderson had 12 points. The Clippers shot 9-9 FT and Dallas shot 2-2 FT. The Clippers led 30-23 with 11:45 left and Dallas went on a 20-1 run to go up 43-34 with 6:45 to go on a 3-pointer by Hubert Davis. Dallas led 56-49 at the half. For the half, Dallas shot 2-2 FT and the Clippers shot 18-19 FT. Dallas led 60-56 with 10:30 remaining and scored the next 8 points to go up 68-56 with 7:30 left. Dallas pushed their lead up to 78-61 with 3 minutes to go, but the Clippers closed the quarter with a 11-2 run. Dallas led 80-72 after 3. Dallas was not able to pull away nor was the Clippers able to catch up and Dallas led 88-80 with 7:45 remaining. Over an ugly 2 minutes, the Clippers scored 2 baskets to pull within 84-88 with 5:30 left. Dallas then scored the next 8 points to go up 96-84 with 2:40 left. The Clippers were unable to rally at the end and Dallas won 99-90. It was an ugly, sloppy game - but the good news is that Dallas showed they could win a game when they were not playing well. The Clippers were able to stay in the game in the 1st half due to the lopside number of free throws they received. Some of the Clippers getting to the line 17 times more than Dallas in the half can be blamed for Dallas sticking mostly to the perimeter game, but some is also Dallas simply not getting calls. I normally start out the player performance review with the Mavs or the winner, but the Mavs played so poorly and two of the Clippers played so well, I'll start with them. Derek Anderson and Lamar Odom tried to carry the team, but fell short. Anderson had an awesome game with a career high 35 points (this is his 3rd season) as no Mavs player could stop him and you could see the talent of Odom in his performance. Odom finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists. Dirk Nowitzki led the way for Dallas with 24 points and Michael Finley had 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 10 assists. There was winter weather in Dallas with a small ice storm that meant a smaller than usual attendance. The Paul Shaffer award goes the person who played the brief snibbit of "You're as cold as ice, but willing to sacrifice for love." before the players' intro. Quotes Don Nelson: "This is the time of the year that we are supposed to make a run and put some strings together. We've had the toughest schedule in the league and even then we've missed 3 or 4 opportunities that we've had. Now we have to try and and turn the corner." Nelson: "We did it tonight by not playing very well. When we don't shoot he ball very well from our 2 scorers, we are going to struggle. I never had so many easy shots that didn't go. We're talking 8-foot jumpers that were in and out. Dirk shot the ball well and that certainly helped." Michael Finley: "It was a good win for us being that I thought that we played terrible and still came out with a win. That's saying a lot for a team that is used to giving up games like this. When things are not going well but you still manage to get a victory, it's good." Finley: "Nobody was in here celebrating after the win. We know how bad we played. It's still a W and we'll take it." Dirk Nowitzki: "We just have to come out and let these teams know that they don't have a chance here. We've got to stay on a roll if we want to get into the playoff picture." Steve Nash: "It would have been devastating to lose to the Clippers at home. We can't slip up in these games." Erick Strickland: "This moves us up another notch. We want to make a run before the All-Star break. We need to do a better job of putting away teams. We're just finding a way to win." Chris Ford: "We had our moments tonight, but we committed 21 turnovers and it's tough to win on the road with that many turnovers. We had a great game from Derek Anderson. He was absolutely fabulous tonight. Lamar Odom certainly had his moments. He was shooting real well by making 11-12 from the foul line. He finds new ways to score every game." Maurice Taylor: "It's getting redundant. We say the same things after every game. Until guys want to win we're not going to win, it's as simple as that. It's obvious we have to play better together. We keep talking about it, but we haven't done it." Taylor: "Every time we came back in the 4th quarter, we shot ourselves in the foot with quick shots and turnovers. It never fails. 3 times we cut the lead to 6 points and then we turned the ball over. It's real frustrating and it's getting redundant that we make the same mistakes every game." Lamar Odom: "If you watch the best teams in the NBA, they sacrifice for each other on the defensive end. When one guy gets beat and another has to step up, they rotate. Right now, we don't have none of that. It seems like we're playing and then when we look up, we're down by 10. Anyone who watches us knows that it is more than one thing. You just can't sit there and say we're losing because we're not playing good D. It's more than that. It's all little things and in the NBA, little things add up to big things and that's what is happening right now." Tyrone Nesby: "It's hard to win when we're just making one pass and taking one shot. The coaches talk to us about that every day. We talk about it before the game that we need to pass the ball around more and get everyone involved. But at the same time, we're not doing that. If we continue to do that, we're not going anywhere. We'll be lucky to win another game because we play too much 1-on-1 basketball." Dallas Mavericks 99, Los Angeles Clippers 90 at Dallas (January 27) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 23 33 24 19 - 99 .486 .385 .471 .857 LA Clippers 28 21 23 18 - 90 .438 .231 .403 .926 Halftime: Dallas 56-49 3rd Q: Dallas 80-72 Clippers' largest lead: 30-23 11:42 2nd Dallas' largest lead: 78-61 3:04 3rd Lead changes: 2 Technicals: Lamar Odom 8:18 3rd, Erick Strickland 7:14 3rd, Sean Rooks 9:49 4th, Michael Olowokandi 5:24 4th Refs: Joe Forte, Scott Foster, Hank Armstrong Attendance: 11,927 (cap 18,187) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Cedric Ceballos 32 4-13 1-4 2-2 11 1-3 4 4 1 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 40 8-13 1-2 7-9 24 1-4 1 1 3 1 0 Shawn Bradley 28 6-10 0-0 0-0 12 3-10 2 1 2 0 1 Michael Finley 46 10-26 0-0 0-0 20 2-7 10 4 0 1 0 Erick Strickland 16 3-6 0-1 1-1 7 0-3 0 1 5 0 0 Greg Buckner 24 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 1-3 1 1 3 0 0 Steve Nash 20 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0-2 4 2 2 2 0 Sean Rooks 17 4-8 0-0 2-2 10 1-6 2 2 4 0 0 Hubert Davis 17 3-5 3-4 0-0 9 0-1 3 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 41-87 5-13 12-14 99 9-39 27 16 20 5 1 Los Angeles Clippers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Lamar Odom 42 5-10 0-1 11-12 21 6-12 6 6 5 3 3 Maurice Taylor 32 6-11 0-0 3-4 15 0-4 1 4 5 0 2 Michael Olowokandi 39 2-10 0-0 0-0 4 3-14 0 1 3 1 3 Derek Anderson 44 11-22 2-7 11-11 35 2-3 4 2 2 1 0 Eric Murdock 25 1-7 0-1 0-0 2 0-3 5 3 1 1 0 Keith Closs 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Tyrone Nesby 28 4-11 0-1 0-0 8 1-3 1 1 2 2 0 Troy Hudson 8 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 Pete Chilcutt 12 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 1-4 0 1 2 0 1 Eric Piatkowski 7 1-1 1-1 0-0 3 0-2 0 2 1 0 0 Totals 48 31-77 3-13 25-27 90 13-45 17 21 21 9 9 Denver at Dallas (Jan. 29) Dallas took a 2-2 tie into a 18-4 lead with 5:30 left. Dallas scored the last 6 points of the quarter to go up 28-10 after 1. Denver shot 5-23 FG in the quarter. Cedric Ceballos had 13 points and 7 rebounds. Denver cut Dallas' lead down to 30-18 with 9:30 left, but Dallas responded with a 20-3 run to take a commanding 50-21 lead with 4 minutes to go. Ceballos was still out scoring Denver by himself (23-21). Dallas led 58-37 at the half. Ceballos had 25 points in the half. Denver cut Dallas' lead down to 69-56 with 5:30 left, but Dallas scored the next 12 points to go up 81-56 with 2:15 remaining. Dallas led 87-61 after 3. Dallas led 96-67 with 7 minutes to go and garbage time was in full affect. However, Dallas' bench didn't play well and Denver cut into Dallas' lead. Dallas led 100-83 with 2:30 remaining and Denver went nuts with James Posey hitting a jumper and two 3-pointers and Popeye Jones nailing a 3-pointer to cut Dallas' lead down to 100-94 with 49 seconds left. But Dallas hit 7-8 free throws to close the game. Dallas won 107-96. Denver really struggled in this game. They opened the game shooting only 2-17 FG. Ron Mercer missed his first 5 free throws (and he's an 80% FT shooter). They weren't helped by the fact that Antonio McDyess only played 7 minutes in the game. He was suffering from tendinitis in his right knee. Before the game, he was working out and you could see the winces of pain on his face at times. To the Mavs' credit, they took full advantage of everything that Denver gave them (except for the Denver run in garbage time). And they did it with Michael Finley having a poor game. Finley only had 2 points in the 1st half (he finished with only 8 points). Cedric Ceballos led the way for the blowout with 31 points including 11-19 FG and 10 rebounds in only 28 minutes. Erick Strickland had a nice game with 15 points (10 in the 1st half), 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. Sean Rooks (11 points) and Shawn Bradley (9 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 blocks) also had nice performances. For Denver, Bryant Stith really stepped up for them and finished with 27 points including 10-16 FG. Quotes Don Nelson: "I was very pleased by the way the team came out. They came out the right way jumped all over them and stayed that way for a long time. The score was a little closer than the game was." Nelson: "I was pleased. The team came out the right way and jumped out on them." Nelson: "I felt very comfortable even though they cut it to 6 points. I was a little disappointed with a couple of players at the end of the game. But that's garbage time and strange things happen in garbage time." Nelson: "We should be looking to play well and keep winning. We need to make sure we finish this homestand up strong and be ready to go on the road again." Cedric Ceballos: "It was just an opportunity for us to just push the basketball. We were a little disappointed in [the loss in] Denver. We really just want to win badly and understand the importance of [winning against] the teams that are right next to us. It's kind of like a 2 for 1 win. It's one in the loss column for them, it's a win for us. We really wanted to get this one so we could move up a slot." Ceballos: "We've been trying to figure this out and keep it going. It's a constant fight. We did have a light schedule in January and that could be something to it." Ceballos on Finley: "It's great to give him a rest. It's an opportunity for the younger guys to get a shot. I'm all about winning." Ceballos: "We're starting to trust each other a little bit. It's a different crowd now, thanks to what Mark Cuban is bringing in here. It's a college crowd and we're just trying to play well for them." Sean Rooks: "It wasn't the same high-flying McDyess we're used to seeing. We knew we had to key on him, but he isn't normal. He's got some tendinitis in his knees." Dan Issel: "We weren't ready to play and that was obvious. We didn't guard anybody and we took jump shots rather than take the ball to the basket. We just weren't ready to play. They get paid to play 82 games and they have to play 82 games. There may be some days that aren't ideal situations, but you have to come out and put yourself through it." Issel on McDyess: "I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw him try to run up and down the court. He had no business playing." Bryant Stith: "Fate wouldn't allow us to pull that game out tonight. We played too poorly." Stith: "All I wanted to do is provide a spark off the bench for this team. I just hate for it to come up empty." Raef LaFrentz: "We had much of the season to learn how to play on the road, and learn how to play on the road right. A lot of us haven't experienced it. But if we don't break the curse and figure it out, we can't expect to be competitive enough to talk about making the playoffs. We feel like we can beat anybody at home. But when we go on the road, it's a different story. I'm not going to say it's a lack of confidence. Everyone in this locker room thinks we can win on the road. But to lose the game tonight in this fashion shows how far we have to go." Dallas Mavericks 107, Denver Nuggets 96 at Dallas (January 29) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 30 29 20 - 107 .522 .353 .488 .760 Denver 10 27 24 35 - 96 .464 .286 .422 .583 Halftime: Dallas 58-37 3rd Q: Dallas 87-61 Denver never led Dallas' largest lead: 96-67 7:28 4th Technicals: None Refs: Ron Garretson, Ted Bernhardt, Michael Smith Attendance: 16,674 (cap 18,187) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Cedric Ceballos 28 11-19 3-5 6-6 31 2-10 2 3 3 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 31 4-11 0-1 2-2 10 2-4 1 3 3 0 0 Shawn Bradley 23 4-7 0-0 1-2 9 2-8 0 0 2 0 5 Michael Finley 31 4-11 0-3 0-0 8 1-3 5 1 2 0 0 Erick Strickland 32 7-13 1-2 0-2 15 2-7 6 0 0 3 0 Hubert Davis 24 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 1 0 1 1 0 Sean Rooks 23 3-7 0-0 5-7 11 0-4 1 3 3 0 1 Greg Buckner 16 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 0-4 0 1 4 1 0 Steve Nash 20 3-5 2-4 4-4 12 1-3 4 3 1 1 0 Damon Jones 6 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Bruno Sundov 6 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 41-84 6-17 19-25 107 10-44 20 15 20 9 6 Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Antonio McDyess 7 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2-5 0 2 0 0 0 James Posey 28 6-14 3-5 0-0 15 4-6 0 0 3 1 0 Raef LaFrentz 29 4-14 0-1 4-5 12 4-11 1 1 2 1 1 Ron Mercer 24 5-9 0-0 3-8 13 0-5 1 2 2 1 0 Nick Van_Exel 27 4-10 0-4 0-0 8 0-1 4 2 1 0 0 Keon Clark 32 6-10 0-1 2-2 14 3-8 2 4 5 1 1 Bryant Stith 35 10-16 2-5 5-7 27 1-4 2 1 4 2 0 George McCloud 11 0-4 0-2 0-0 0 0-1 1 0 2 0 0 Chris Herren 21 1-3 0-2 0-0 2 1-3 6 2 2 2 0 Popeye Jones 22 2-7 1-1 0-2 5 3-7 3 4 3 0 0 Roy Rogers 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 2 0 0 Totals 48 38-90 6-21 14-24 96 18-51 20 20 26 8 2 patricia