Injury update: Gary Trent missed the Utah and Atlanta games with a strained left groin. He is listed day-to-day and did travel with the team for the short road trip. Still no word as to when exactly (or closely) Steve Nash and Robert Pack will return. Nash has been out shooting around before the past few games. As expected, the Mavs signed Greg Buckner to a 10-day contract. Buckner, who is a good defensive player, played in both the Utah and Atlanta games. The Mavs also, as expected, re-signed Damon Jones to a 10-day contract. Jones missed the Utah game while clearing waivers, but played in the Atlanta game. Leon Smith update: Leon Smith has been released from the Dallas psychiatric ward and has moved to Houston were he is receiving consuling, guidance, and working out under the supervision of the NBA Players Association. Reports are that the Mavs and the Players Association are working on an agreement to terminate Smith's contract with Dallas. Following the Utah game (see below for details), the NBA fined Don Nelson $10,000 and suspended him for 1 game for bumping a ref and his confrontation with Karl Malone (the contact with the ref seemed accidental). Malone was also fined $10,000 for the elbow he threw at Shawn Bradley and the confrontation with Nelson. Don Nelson: "I didn't bump the referee. It was more of a collision, but, be that as it may, I don't mind the suspension. I deserve it and the fine's fine." And on shoving Malone: "That _was_ on purpose, no question. If that's what I'm being suspended for, that's fine. I didn't do it for any reason other than protecting my team. I thought there were a couple dirty plays and I thought he was trying to hurt my players, so I went to their defense and I'll do it every time. I'm not intimidated by Karl Malone or anybody else and that's just the way I am." Utah at Dallas (Jan. 6) The game was tied at 2-2 and Utah rattled off the next 11 points to take an early 13-2 lead with 7:40 left. Utah led 21-11 with 2:30 left and Dallas scored the last 7 points of the quarter, capped by a 3-pointer by Cedric Ceballos with 3 seconds to go, to cut Utah's lead down to 21-18 after 1. The game stayed close over the first 8 minutes of the 2nd quarter with neither team holding more than a 3 point lead and then things started getting physical. Karl Malone got a defensive rebound a started swinging his elbows as Shawn Bradley was near by. Malone's elbow hit Bradley's chin and Bradley went down. The ref just looked down at Bradley as he was heading down the court and shook his head with no call. Bradley got up and complained and got the technical. The game stayed physical the rest of the way with the Mavs getting black and blue and the refs not controlling the rough play. 2 free throws by John Stockton and a slam dunk by Bryon Russell gave Utah a 45-40 lead at the half. Uta shot 10-11 FT in the 2nd quarter while Dallas shot 2-2 FT. Utah was ahead 49-42 with 11 minutes remaining when Dallas went on a 10-3 run to tie the game at 52-52 with 7:45 left. Then things got worse as Malone drove to the basket and rammed his knee into Bradley's stomach - Bradley went down in pain and was called for the foul. And coach Don Nelson went balistic. During the long timeout (Bradley was down for a while and eventually helped from the floor with an abdominal contusion), Nelson got in one of the ref's face and let him know about how he felt the game was being called. The ref gave him two Ts and ejected him. Nelson wasn't done yelling at the ref and continued to do so while slowly walking towards halfcourt. Malone walked towards half court and said something to Nelson. Nelson didn't like it and got in Malone's face and the two exchanged words. Nelson shoved Malone and the players and refs separated the two. In the end, Nelson was still gone, Bradley was out injured, and Malone got hit with a technical. A little over a minute of game time later, Dirk Nowitzki drove to the basket and missed as he was shoved from behind. No call. I jumped from my seat screaming and assistant Donn Nelson did the same and he got his technical. It was amazing that Dallas was still in the game as Utah had shot 18-23 FT and Dallas only 3-4 FT and yet Utah only led 60-59 with 4:10 left. Utah held small leads the rest of the quarter and led 71-67 after 3. Malone had 14 points and Michael Finley had 9 points in the quarter. Bradley returned to action in the 4th quarter. Utah led 79-75 with 8 minutes to go and scored the next 10 points to go up 89-75 with 5:30 left. During that run, Bradley picked up a foul and wasn't happy with it, so he threw the ball hard towards the ref and he got his 2nd technical. Malone missed a jumper with 3:38 left and coach Jerry Sloan didn't like the non-call so he got shown the door. Dallas cut Utah's lead down to 94-87 with 2 minute remaining, but Stockton hit a floater and Russell got a dunk to basically seal the game at 98-87 with a minute to go. Utah won 105-92. Well, if you can't tell by the above, the officiating was atrocious for this game. I hope that Ted Bernhardt, Sean Corbin, and Scott Wall at least got fined for their terrible performance (the NBA does not announce fines for refs). According to the NBA rule 12.A.VII.l.: "A player, coach or trainer must be ejected for: (3) An elbow foul which makes contact above shoulder level." At minimum (if the ref felt no contact was made and that Bradley flopped (he didn't)), rule 10.X says: "Swinging of Elbows - A player shall not be allowed excessive and/or vigorous swinging of the elbows in a swinging motion (no contact). When a defensive player is nearby and the offensive player has the ball, it is considered a violation. PENALTY: Loss of ball." Yet the ref just stood there, saw the whole thing, and called nothing. My dis-favorite call of the night was where the Mavs had the ball on offense and passed the ball behind Dirk Nowitzki along the baseline so that he had to reach to get the ball. As he was reaching, John Stockton took one hand and pushed Dirk in the chest. Dirk went back a couple of feet and Stockton went back a couple of feet. The call? You guessed it, offensive foul on Nowitzki. Despite the close score for most of this game, I did not enjoy it. It was an ugly game due to the physicality the refs were allowing and it wasn't fun to watch the Mavs played 5 against 8 (even though the Mavs were still in it). It would have been a completely different game if the refs had called it correctly (doesn't mean the outcome would have been different). As for the game, there were a couple of blunders in the 4th quarter that had me shaking my head. When Sloan got called for the two technicals with Dallas down by 10 points, who stepped to the line to shoot the free throws? 92% free throw shooter Erick Strickland? 86% free throw shooter Hubert Davis? Nope and nope. 81% Finley stepped to the line and missed both. Yes, Finley is a good foul shooter, but when you've got a guy on your team who has only missed 4 free throws (Strick) and one who has missed 5 (Hubert) all season, one of those two should be shooting your technical free throws. The other blunder occurred with Dallas down by 9 points with 53 seconds left and Utah trying to inbound the ball. The Mavs' D worked and Utah called a timeout. The 2nd time, the Mavs were really focusing on the D and Strickland stepped in front of Stockton, stole the inbounds pass, and headed down the court. Just after he passed the halfcourt line, he realised what he had done wrong and the ref whistled the over-and-back as Strick had headed the wrong way. After a few seconds of burying my head into my dad's shoulder, I started laughing. For the numbers, the Mavs had 3 solid performances from the usual crowd. Michael Finley lead the way with 30 points, 5 rebounds, and 9 assists and played all 48 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points and 7 rebounds. Cedric Ceballos had 21 points and 14 rebounds. For Utah, Karl Malone had 24 points (18 of which came in the 2nd half) and 11 rebounds and Bryon Russell had 20 points including 9-14 FG. Quotes Jerry Sloan: "We executed. We kept our concentration. That's been our biggest problem all year. We're not a very good team when we lose our concentration." Sloan: "It was a little crazy out there at times. We were glad to come away with the win. Dallas is always tough for us to play because they do a lot of different things and they have a lot of different matchups." Sloan: "We were able to execute a few times, they'd get right there with us and if we executed we were all right. The thing that hurt us the most is that we lose our concentration and don't execute. In the 2nd, we got off to a fairly good start because they missed some shots. When they got us into a half court game defensively, we just started taking shots. We are not a very good one-on-one team." Jeff Hornacek: "It's a heated game out there, emotion runs high every once in a while." Karl Malone: "I was taught as a little boy by my mother and step-father to respect my elders. But when your elders get in your face, they're out of line. There's a fine line that you don't cross in this game, and he crossed it." Malone: "I was taught to respect my elders. But Grandaddy always said, 'If an older person gets out of line, you gotta put 'em in their place.' I think he's a little overmatched in this one." Malone: "If you're out of line as a coach - I don't care how great you are - you're still out of line. Like I said, out of everybody in this building, I think he should have picked somebody else. Not me, because I'm not really in the mood." Malone on his kneeing Bradley where Bradley went down: "When a Volkswagen hits and 18-wheeler, what is the result going to be?" Malone: "I was going to the basket hard - just like I always do. And that's the way I'll go to the basket for the rest of my career." Bryon Russell on the Malone-Nelson confrontation: "I thought Nellie said he was going to whip Karl's ass. Karl would be less of a man if he didn't do what he did." Donn Nelson: "I am extremely proud of the guys. We basically went to a 7 man rotation - especially Shawn Bradley, the way he got back out there and gave us a lift in the 4th quarter. We just were not able to sustain it. The guys were dragging out there and just lost momentum toward the end. I thought that we played hard for 45 minutes." Nelson on the Malone-Nelson incident: "I thought I was going to have to jump on his back and slow him down. That's what he is - he's a competitor, and he's feisty." Nelson on his dad's fighting ability: "He's got a real good sucker punch." Michael Finley on the Malone-Nelson incident: "It would have been a great fight to watch. Coach just thought we were getting the short end of the stick, and I think Karl took it personally." Finley: "Utah is a physical team, a team that likes to intimidate you both offensively and defensively. I think they kind of [ticked] us off tonight. It turned into a physical affair. Tempers flared, both coaches flared, it was a great game to be a part of." Finley: "Nellie is a feisty guy, and he thought were getting the short end of the stick from the refs. He went out there to defend his players, and I guess Karl took what he said kind of personal." Erick Strickland: "We had a chance at the end, and we didn't come through. That's the way it's been going." Hubert Davis: "It was a physical game. The refs called it the way they saw it, you just have to play through it. Just got to fight through it. We had chances to win the game so there is no excuses." Davis: "It is frustrating being so close everytime. Somehow we are going to have to learn how to win these games. Utah has been there and they know how to win it and somehow we have to find a way to win it." Utah Jazz 105, Dallas Mavericks 92 at Dallas (January 6) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Utah 21 24 26 34 - 105 .487 .000 .446 .795 Dallas 18 22 27 25 - 92 .471 .267 .435 .700 Halftime: Utah 45-40 3rd Q: Utah 71-67 Dallas' largest and last lead: 32-31 5:59 2nd Utah's largest lead: 89-75 5:31 4th Lead changes: 8 Technicals: Shawn Bradley 3:51 2nd, Don Nelson 6:04 3rd (2 - ejected), Karl Malone 6:04 3rd, Donn Nelson 4:53 3rd, Bradley 6:28 4th (ejected), Dallas Illegal D 4:35 4th, Jerry Sloan 3:37 4th (2 - ejected) Refs: Ted Bernhardt, Sean Corbin, Scott Wall Attendance: 12,218 (cap 18,187) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (sprained right ankle), Gary Trent (strained left groin) Utah Jazz REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bryon Russell 33 9-14 0-2 2-2 20 0-1 1 1 3 1 0 Karl Malone 39 8-18 0-0 8-11 24 0-11 4 2 3 0 1 Olden Polynice 22 2-4 0-0 0-2 4 4-12 0 0 4 1 1 John Stockton 27 3-8 0-0 6-6 12 0-3 10 2 3 3 0 Jeff Hornacek 31 3-8 0-1 6-7 12 1-5 3 2 0 1 2 Howard Eisley 28 4-11 0-3 1-2 9 0-2 7 3 2 1 1 Quincy Lewis 22 3-9 0-0 4-4 10 1-3 0 0 4 1 1 Jacque Vaughn 10 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 1 1 1 0 0 Greg Ostertag 15 2-3 0-0 4-5 8 4-6 0 0 1 0 0 Adam Keefe 13 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 2-6 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 37-83 0-6 31-39 105 12-49 26 12 22 8 6 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Cedric Ceballos 43 6-13 1-3 8-8 21 2-14 1 2 4 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 43 11-22 2-7 0-2 24 3-7 3 0 5 1 1 Sean Rooks 19 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 1 4 0 0 Michael Finley 48 13-27 1-3 3-6 30 0-5 8 3 1 2 0 Erick Strickland 22 3-7 0-1 2-2 8 1-3 4 3 5 1 0 Shawn Bradley 21 1-6 0-0 1-2 3 4-8 1 1 5 3 2 Hubert Davis 38 2-8 0-1 0-0 4 0-4 4 3 2 1 0 Greg Buckner 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 37-85 4-15 14-20 92 10-43 21 14 29 8 3 Atlanta at Dallas (Jan. 8) Dallas held small leads through the first 6 minutes of the game. The game was tied at 14-14 with 5:15 left and Atlanta closed the quarter with a 14-4 run, including 8 points from Isaiah Rider, to go up 28-18 after 1. Atlanta led 34-23 with 9:30 remaining when Dallas scored 11 straight points to tie the game at 34-34 with 7 minutes left. The game remained close the rest of the half as neither team held more than a 5 point lead. Atlanta led 49-46 at the half as Bimbo Coles nailed a 3-pointer with 6 seconds to go. Atlanta slowly built up their lead to 10 points at 64-54 with 6 minutes left. Michael Finley single-handedly kept the Mavs in the game as he scored 12 of Dallas' 14 points for the rest of the quarter. Shawn Bradley and LaPhonso Ellis got into a little shoving match with 1:15 to go where both got technicals fouls. Atlanta led 74-68 after 3. Atlanta led 76-68 with 10 minutes remaining when Dallas came storming back behind 3 consecutive 3-pointers by Hubert Davis to tie the game at 77-77 with 7 minutes left. Dallas continued to rally as Atlanta was completely off and rattled off a 12-2 run to go up 89-79 with 1:30 left. And the Mavs actually managed to finish it for a change by matching every basket Atlanta made with 2 made free throws. Dallas won 95-85. The numbers looked good for a number of players, but defense won this game. The Mavs really kicked it in defensively in the 2nd half and, especially the 4th quarter, with good defensive performances by Erick Strickland, newly signed Greg Buckner, Michael Finley, and Shawn Bradley. Strickland and Buckner helped hold Isaiah Rider to 8 points including 2-12 FG in the 2nd half and only 3 points in the 4th. Rider had 16 points in the 1st half. Bradley had 7 rebounds and 4 blocks in the 2nd half. In the 4th quarter, Atlanta only had 11 points including 5-26 FG and Dallas had 27 points including 7-15 FG and 4-7 3-pointers. As usual, Michael Finley led the way for Dallas with 28 points including 11-19 FG, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists. Cedric Ceballos struggled shooting, but contributed 16 points including 5-15 FG and snagged 14 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki also struggled offensively, but hit a big 3-pointer to put Dallas up by 6 points with 2:30 left in the 4th. He had 18 points including 5-14 FG and 6 rebounds. Hubert Davis' 3-pointers keyed the Mavs' comeback and he finished with 14 points on 5-7 FG and 4-5 3-pointers. Jim Jackson looked to be having a monster game against his former team, but all 18 of his points came in the first 3 quarters. Isaiah Rider had 24 points including 9-28 FG. Dikembe Mutombo was a rebounding monster, but didn't do much offensively. He had 8 points, 19 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Both teams were without their head coaches. Don Nelson was suspended by the league for his altercation in the Utah game and Lenny Wilkens was back in Atlanta suffering from the flu. Cedric Ceballos gets the award for suck-up of the night. When the final buzzer sounded, Ceballos took the ball and ran over to where new owner Mark Cuban was at and gave him the game ball. Quotes Donn Nelson: "This was a total team effort. Shawn Bradley was almost nonexistent in the 1st half and was a huge factor in the 2nd half. And then Mike started getting it going. When Mike's feeling it like that, we've just got to get on his doggone shoulders and ride it out, and that's what we did." Nelson: "Bradley started off slow, but woke up in the 2nd half. If I had to give out a game ball, I would have to split it between Finley and Bradley." Nelson on his coaching: "I knew a lot of stuff specifically in what I wanted to do tonight. We put a couple of new offensive sets in; we did some things defensively that we don't normally do. I'm not a Don Nelson Sr. clone. Certainly he's been a strong influence, but we've got differences of opinion; whereas I know what things he won't take when he's coaching, I'm going to try to do those things." Hubert Davis: ""I just appreciate the opportunity of being out there. They threw me some good passes and fortunately, they went in. That's a shot I feel comfortable with. I think we were really unselfish tonight. We hit the open man. When you do that, most of the time, the ball goes in. It was nice to get a win tonight." Davis on subbing coach Donn Nelson: "I thought he got us prepared for the game in terms of the scouting report. He coached a good game. I thought he did a great job." Dirk Nowitzki: "It really didn't matter who was coaching us. We came out with some energy. I think the crowd here today was great. The atmosphere was great in the gym. If it's like that every time, we have a great chance to win every game." Cedric Ceballos: "We had to get this one. It was prime." Michael Finley: "I think we've take for granted what we found here last year [Dallas was 15-10 in Reunion]. Guys can't think energy is just going to come out and generate itself just because we're at home." Finley on his 13 points in the 3rd quarter: "I thought it was a good time to assert myself. We were a little bit stagnant. I wanted to give us a score to get us out of the lull we were in. I think the team looks for me in that situation and fortunately I had a good stroke going." Stan Albeck: "We had absolutely point-blank shots and I don't know how many of our tips rolled right off the rim [in the 4th]. You don't win many games on the road in the NBA by only scoring 11 points in the 4th quarter and shooting 34% [for the game]. Those things are just absolute killers." Albeck: "Michael Finley's all-around game is probably as good as there is in the NBA. He's a bona fide superstar." Isaiah Rider: "It was a frustrating game tonight from the stand point of playing good enough to win. We played pretty good the whole game and then pretty much just broke down in the 4th quarter. Everybody went cold." Jim Jackson: "What happened in the 4th period? In the 3rd quarter, we had a good flow going. Shot-wise, in the 4th quarter, we missed some dunks, we missed some tip-backs. We didn't make shots. When you miss and they make 9 times out of 10, you are going to be down like we were." Jackson on Lenny Wilkens not being there: "Of course you miss coach, but as a team we still do things with or without him. We do things right as a team without coach Wilkens as a team, too. We won last night, no reason why we couldn't have won tonight if we had just continued to play like we played in the 3rd quarter." Dallas Mavericks 95, Atlanta Hawks 85 at Dallas (January 8) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 18 28 22 27 - 95 .403 .467 .416 .889 Atlanta 28 21 25 11 - 85 .325 .467 .347 .625 Halftime: Atlanta 49-46 3rd Q: Atlanta 74-68 Atlanta's largest lead: 34-22 9:54 2nd Dallas' largest lead: 95-85 final Technicals: Dallas Illegal D 2:59 1st, LaPhonso Ellis 1:16 3rd, Shawn Bradley 1:16 3rd, Atlanta Illegal D 5:18 4th Refs: Joe Forte, Eddie F. Rush, Bill Kennedy Attendance: 12,814 (cap 18,187) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (sprained right ankle), Gary Trent (strained left groin), Chris Crawford (bruised tailbone and elbow) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Cedric Ceballos 35 5-15 0-0 6-7 16 2-14 3 4 1 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 39 5-14 1-3 7-8 18 0-6 2 1 2 0 1 Sean Rooks 17 1-3 0-0 3-4 5 1-1 2 0 2 0 1 Michael Finley 46 11-19 2-3 4-4 28 0-6 9 5 3 1 0 Erick Strickland 25 3-9 0-2 4-4 10 1-7 2 2 4 0 0 Shawn Bradley 23 1-7 0-1 0-0 2 4-10 0 0 2 0 5 Hubert Davis 29 5-7 4-5 0-0 14 0-3 1 0 1 0 0 Greg Buckner 21 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1-3 1 0 3 1 3 Damon Jones 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 32-77 7-15 24-27 95 9-50 20 12 18 3 10 Atlanta Hawks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jim Jackson 41 7-19 4-6 0-0 18 3-5 0 2 4 0 0 Alan Henderson 37 5-12 0-0 3-8 13 6-9 0 3 4 1 3 Dikembe Mutombo 42 3-8 0-0 2-2 8 4-19 1 2 3 0 4 Bimbo Coles 31 5-15 2-3 0-0 12 0-2 4 2 1 2 0 Isaiah Rider 44 9-28 1-4 5-6 24 2-6 5 0 2 1 0 Anthony Johnson 21 3-8 0-1 0-0 6 1-5 1 1 3 3 0 LaPhonso Ellis 21 2-8 0-1 0-0 4 3-9 1 1 1 1 0 Lorenzen Wright 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 4 0 0 Totals 48 34-98 7-15 10-16 85 19-55 12 12 22 8 7 patricia