The Mavs will be retiring Rolando Blackman's #22 during halftime of Saturday's Phoenix game. Ro played with the Mavs 81-82 - 91-92 and is the team's career leader in total points (16,643). If you're in Dallas and a long time Mavs fan, you need to be at Reunion to honor the raising of Ro's number. Congrats to Ro! (and to the Mavs for _finally_ doing it) Cedric Ceballos missed the Minnesota game with a sprained/broken left pinky finger. I've heard both sprained and broken and am not sure which is correct. He's questionable for tonight's game vs Phoenix. Don Nelson missed the Sacramento and Seattle games due to the flu. Donnie Nelson coach the two games. Happy, happy, joy, joy: Dallas released Dennis Rodman on Wednesday. The official reasons were along the lines of the Mavs were out of the playoffs and Rodman was brought here to help the Mavs in the playoff push and the team wanted to give other players more time and didn't feel it was fair to Rodman to have him sitting on the bench [which left some chuckling when Greg Buckner was the player cited that the team wanted to give more minutes too (and, to be fair, Buckner did play 24 minutes in the Minnesota game)]. The real reason was probably more along the lines of that it just wasn't working and Rodman was starting to get frustrated. The Mavs finished with a record of 4-9 with Rodman on the team (3-9 in games Rodman played). For as much as I criticized the team for bring Rodman on [I still hate the move], I give them kudos for the quick release and not dragging it out. Rodman had been spouting off the the media about his teammates (no specific names) and had even shown some disinterest during some games (most notably the Philly and Sacramento games). Reports were that he hadn't attended practice in over 2 weeks (he was allowed to skip practice) and wasn't paying attention during team huddles in recent games. After the Seattle loss on Tuesday, Rodman threw some criticism at owner Mark Cuban in addition to the barbs directed at his teammates [and he should have looked in the mirror with some of the comments he made about his teammates]. Both Cuban and Don Nelson claim that Rodman's comments had nothing to do with the release. I had figured that Rodman would be off the team a few weeks down the road - his frustration was obviously growing and it was only a matter of time before he did something (on the court or off the court) that made the team say "enough" [given his history] - and I'm happy that the team got rid of him before he reached that point. I know I'm biased, but I don't see anything positive from Rodman's month with the Mavs. People commented that maybe Rodman could teach some of the younger players, specifically Dirk Nowitzki, something about rebounding and provide some leadership. But, as you can see from the players' comments below, Rodman didn't teach Dirk anything and he hardly talked to his teammates. People pointed to rebounding, but the Mavs' team rebounds only increased from 41.1 rebounds for the first 47 games before Rodman's arrival to 42.3 in the 12 games Rodman played in. Granted the rebounding differential went from -8.8 pre-Rodman to -4.0 with Rodman, but I credit that more to the opponents shooting 45.2% FG pre-Rodman and 48.2% FG with Rodman. I don't blame Rodman for not helping the team's rebounding - he did average 14.2 rebounds with Dallas - but blame the rest of the Mavs for not continuing to go after the boards with Rodman on the court. Finley dropped from 7.2 rebounds to 3.9 rebounds, Ceballos dropped from 7.8 rebounds to 5.6 rebounds, and Bradley went from 6.4 rebounds to 4.0 rebounds - just to note 3, _all_ Mavs' individual rebounding numbers went down with Rodman there. But that does point out that Rodman's addition did not help. The Mavs had been mostly using a switching defense for the season. It looked pathetic during November, but had improved after that and generally wasn't terrible. With Rodman's addition, I expected it to take a few games of adjustment for the defensive rotations to work, but it never did. After a few games with Rodman and it not working, the Mavs were not using the switching defense as much. This was a case where Rodman practicing with the team could have helped. Now we again get an adjustment period with Rodman not there (there was more switching defense in the Minnesota game). And the weakside help was almost friggin non-existent with Rodman there - and part of his job as a power forward or center was to help with the weak side defense. Besides his job on Keith Van Horn at the end of the Jersey game, I did not see a good defensive player in Rodman. The opponents would often take the ball right at Rodman (probably because they knew the refs would likely call fouls on Rodman) and they would often score on him. BUT, it's over and it was just a bad dream. I can be proud to be a Mavs fan again and friends, family, and co-workers can stop harassing me about Rodman. Quotes Mark Cuban: "We got Dennis for a run at the playoffs. We obviously were not successful in making that run. Rather than sitting Dennis on the bench to give the other guys more time on the court, we decided it would be better to release him." Cuban: "If we were 3 games out of a playoff position, we would not be releasing him. This has to do with creating playing time for the younger guys and creating continuity for next year. We just didn't think it would serve Dennis or the Mavericks well if we just sat him down and didn't play him." Cuban: "It made no sense to keep Dennis with us now being out of the playoff picture. If we were 3 games away from a playoff spot right now, Dennis would be here. But at this point I'm not for Nellie keeping a kid on the bench to play a 38-year-old." Cuban on the firing being Nelson's idea: "He said, 'Look, this is what we're thinking about doing, and we think it's the best thing. I said, 'Nellie, I'll support you on it, it's your final call, I'll take the heat if there's heat, and no big deal, and we'll go forward.' Part of my job is to make sure that all of the heat and all of the fire comes focused on me, so other guys can do their jobs. I don't want it on Nellie, I don't want it on any of the players, because that's just a distraction for me. I make my money when they go out and are able to focus on basketball." Cuban: "I think the world of Dennis. He is a great competitor and rebounder." Cuban on Rodman's reaction: "He wanted to continue to play on the Mavs." Cuban on Rodman's Tuesday night comments: "If I was worried about personal criticism, I wouldn't have signed Dennis to start with." Cuban: "Dennis is just being Dennis, and the comments had nothing to do with our releasing him. We had talked about this prior to the comments because we were not making a run at the playoffs." Cuban: "The comments had nothing to do with it. We all are upset about losing. I would do this all again and sign Dennis in a heartbeat. It was the right move, we just didn't get the wins we wanted." Cuban: "I'm the first to admit that I'm not going to be perfect. I'm also the first to admit that I want to give us a chance to win. The one thing I didn't want to do was look back, see that we were one game short [of the playoffs] and say, 'We should have brought Dennis in.'" Don Nelson: "I enjoyed getting to know Dennis as a person and enjoyed coaching him. He was brought here to help us make a playoff run, which obviously hasn't happened. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the organization to play our younger players throughout the remainder of the season." Nelson, who missed the last 4 games with the flu: "Just by watching him on TV, I'd say the last 2 or 3 games were hard on him. He's not used to losing. I think that was hard on him." Nelson: "He didn't help us win. I can't tell you if we would have won more or less games without him, that's just guesswork. He did what he was supposed to do. He rebounded, and that's one of these reasons he was brought here. [But] we're farther away from the playoffs than we were." Nelson: "There is no question Dennis Rodman would still be here if we were still in the playoff hunt. We had to decide if we wanted to continue to give him 35 minutes a game or if we wanted to play younger guys. We decided to play the younger guys. It was nothing he said or did." [Nelson mentioned Greg Buckner as one of the players who he wanted to give more minutes to.] Nelson: "I thought everybody gave it a good try. Dennis tried, the players tried, the coaches tried, I think we handled it as well as we can. I think it was a good move. I think we'd do it again 10 out of 10 times. [But] we're farther away from the playoffs than we were, and he was brought in to close the gap." Nelson on Rodman's comments about Cuban: "It's not very smart to do, but that's not the reason [for the release]." Dennis Rodman: "If it's not a personal thing, then it's the NBA saying, 'If you don't get rid of Dennis Rodman, then you're not going to be an owner.' I think it's an injustice because I'm me, Dennis Rodman. I haven't done anything wrong. I thought I was doing a good job. I thought I lived up to my expectations. I don't get it. I really don't get it. I get the short end of the stick every [bleep] time. What am I doing wrong?" Rodman: "I got used again. It's like being blackballed. I've done so much for this league and people want to see me play. I don't get it." Rodman: "I don't think I deserve this, to be treated like as a $5 Cuban [bleep]. I don't mean Mark Cuban. I mean like going to Cuba to pay some [bleep] $5 to [bleep]." Rodman: "I don't hate Mark Cuban. I hate the system. I hate the predicament that people have to be under to make decisions. Mark Cuban made a decision, and it's a business. We'll still be friends." Rodman's quotes after Tuesday's Seattle game Dennis Rodman: "We're like that movie _Lost in Space_. We have no sense of direction. We're lost. There's not much else to say." Rodman: "I'm not accustomed to losing like this. I'm not accustomed to this at all. It hurts to go out on the floor and know that if the team doesn't play well we're going to get blown out. It's just one of those deals - I'd like to say what I'm thinking, but I can't. Guys are not playing together right now. They've got their heads down and they're not focusing on what needs to be done. We're very sub-par, and it's very difficult to watch that. We do what we do, but it's not enough." Rodman: "Losing is not a good feeling. It's just very uncomfortable. I'm used to coming in the locker room, head up high and looking for a win. When you come into the locker room and you feel like that, the whole air is just so LA-like - just cluttered." Rodman: "We need a backup center, a starting center, a true power forward, a couple of guards. Above all, we need some more veterans to come in here and provide some leadership. If we don't get that, then this team is always going to be on the bottom. And I won't stay on a team that's always at the bottom. I've been on the top too many years to do that." Rodman: "Mark Cuban wants to win, but he's an owner, not a player. He doesn't need to be hanging around the players like he's a coach or something. That's like Jerry Jones, and it's dumb. That's why the Cowboys went down. He needs to be the owner, step back and put people in who can get this team in the right direction." Players on the release Cedric Ceballos on Rodman not talking much with the players: "He only hurt us by not opening his mouth, by not expressing himself. He never said anything to us. Basically just, 'What's up?' I just wanted more. I wanted more because he played with great players. He could have let us know things, so we could start correcting them, but he didn't open his mouth." Michael Finley: "It was a matter of getting adjusted to him. Whenever you bring in a player, be it Dennis Rodman or whoever, he has to learn the system on the go, and that was tough. You need a training camp to get adjusted to a player." Finley on if Rodman's arrival affect the team's continuity and focus: "It did, but it's nothing to harp on. When you bring in any player, whether it's Dennis Rodman or anyone else, they have to learn the system on the go. It was hard for Dennis to learn it on the go. He did the best that he could, but he couldn't be expected to learn it right away. He brought fans into the building. He had to go without a training camp. Without the first 20 games to adjust to a guy who's getting part of the minutes, we had to learn it on the go." Shawn Bradley: "There's a lot of antics that go along with Dennis. We're a young team and somewhat immature, and we had to deal with some things I'm not sure we were ready for." Steve Nash: "I'm sorry to see him go. I wish it didn't have to end like this, but if Dennis is unhappy, there's no use in him being here. We could see he was unhappy. I could see him being frustrated, but we've all been frustrated and unhappy with our play. You could see something coming to a head, with us not playing well and his history of always being on good teams." Nash: "I think it would have been great if it could have worked out, but it definitely wasn't working out. I didn't want to see him go in one sense, but on the other hand I think it was time that he did go. I don't think he wanted to be here. If Dennis wanted to be here, I think we would have seen a different Dennis and a different result." Robert Pack: "He did provide a spark with his rebounding and charisma. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to get in sync." Dirk Nowitzki: "It's amazing that he's so smart and such a great rebounder. It's just sad that he didn't teach us anything, especially me. I'm not the best rebounder." Erick Strickland on Rodman's critism on his teammates: "You don't ever want to take shots at your teammates. It hurt a little bit, but I can't say it's going to stop me from playing the game tonight." What players on other teams thought Wally Szczerbiak after the Minnesota game: "... Dallas was 10-3 before the whole Rodman fiasco." Dallas at Sacramento (March 6) Sacramento scored 11 straight points to go up 16-4 with 6:40 left. Dallas continued to sleep walk through the quarter and Sacramento scored the last 4 points of the 1st to go up 38-20 after 1. Corliss Williamson had 11 points. Sacramento led 44-27 with 9:40 remaining before Dallas made a run of 8 straight points to cut Sacramento's lead down to 44-35 with 8 minutes to go. Sacramento scored the next 4 points and was able to keep their lead in double-digits the rest of the quarter. Sacramento led 59-49 at the half. Chris Webber had 14 points and Cedric Ceballos was carrying the Mavs with 23 points. Sacramento pushed their lead up to 75-60 with 7:45 to go and Dallas scored the next 10 points to pull within 70-75 with 5:30 remaining. Sacramento led 82-76 with 3:30 left and went on a 10-2 run to go up 92-78 with a minute left. Sacramento led 92-82 after 3. Sacramento led 99-88 with 10 minutes to go and scored the next 9 points to make it a blowout at 108-88 with 7:15 remaining. Dallas would get no closer than 15 points the rest of the way. Sacramento won 130-109. The Mavs showed no defense in this game - as evident by the fact that the Kings scored 38 points in both the 1st and 4th quarters. It's hard to win when you give up that many points. Darrick Martin deserves a special nod of disapproval. Martin came in the game with less than 2 minutes left with the Kings up by 17 points and proceeded to knock down 3 straight 3-pointers in a span of 40 seconds instead of running the clock down. Even the Kings' coach wasn't happy with Martin's performance. You don't rub a loss in a team's face like that. But the positives for Sacramento were Chris Webber's solid game of 22 points including 10-14 FG, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists and Vlade Divac's 19 points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes. Nick Anderson also had a nice game with 17 points including 5-7 3-pointers and Jason Williams wasn't too out of control with 13 points and 6 assists. For the Mavs, Dirk Nowitzki and Cedric Ceballos had nice offensive games. Dirk finished with 25 points and 7 rebounds and Ced had 27 points (only 4 in the 2nd half) had 5 rebounds. Michael Finley had 18 points and Erick Strickland had 15 points in the high scoring affair. Quotes [not many to be found] Rick Adelman: "I thought we did a terrific job, and Webb was terrific, he shared the ball, got everyone involved and got a triple-double." Adelman on Martin: "I didn't think he played very well. I don't think you need to shoot 3s when you're up 20." Chris Webber: "I was excited to get everyone involved in the game tonight and as long as we win, I don't care about the other things. It's up to coach about the lineup and I think the changes could bring some intensity to the team." Nick Anderson: "It was good to see everybody bring that intensity out. I think the San Antonio game did a lot for everybody. And that feeling just carried over. Before the game tonight, I said if we didn't give a great effort and come out and win this game tonight, the San Antonio game wouldn't have meant anything. I guess we responded." Donn Nelson: "This was a good old-fashioned western shootout, there wasn't much defense on either side. When you give up 51% 3s and 50 points within the paint, you're not gonna win many games, especially on the road." Sacramento Kings 130, Dallas Mavericks 109 at Sacramento (March 6) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Sacramento 38 21 33 38 - 130 .545 .519 .538 .593 Dallas 20 29 33 27 - 109 .471 .450 .466 .783 Halftime: Sacramento 59-49 3rd Q: Sacramento 92-82 Technicals: Cedric Ceballos 8:53 4th Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Sean Corbin, Violet Palmer Attendance: 17,317 (sellout) Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Chris Webber 41 10-14 0-0 2-4 22 3-10 11 5 2 0 2 Corliss Williamson 20 6-6 0-0 1-1 13 3-6 0 2 5 1 1 Vlade Divac 25 7-13 0-0 5-10 19 4-10 0 3 1 1 1 Nick Anderson 33 6-11 5-7 0-0 17 0-4 2 0 2 1 0 Jason Williams 29 5-12 3-8 0-0 13 1-4 6 2 0 0 0 Predrag Stojakovic 18 2-8 1-4 0-0 5 1-3 2 0 2 1 0 Scot Pollard 12 3-5 0-0 0-3 6 3-3 0 1 1 0 0 Tony Delk 19 3-8 0-0 3-3 9 2-4 0 2 2 1 1 Jon Barry 23 3-6 2-4 5-6 13 0-2 5 0 3 2 0 Tyrone Corbin 16 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 2-4 1 2 2 0 0 Darrick Martin 2 4-5 3-4 0-0 11 0-0 0 2 0 0 0 Lawrence Funderburke 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 50-93 14-27 16-27 130 19-50 29 19 20 7 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dennis Rodman 24 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 3-8 0 2 3 0 0 Erick Strickland 26 6-13 2-5 1-2 15 0-4 4 0 5 3 0 Dirk Nowitzki 34 9-19 3-5 4-4 25 3-7 2 0 4 1 0 Michael Finley 34 8-18 0-2 2-4 18 2-5 5 0 1 2 0 Robert Pack 18 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 3 3 2 0 0 Cedric Ceballos 31 11-18 1-2 4-5 27 4-5 0 5 3 0 0 Greg Buckner 22 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 0-5 1 2 2 3 0 Shawn Bradley 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 0 1 0 Steve Nash 10 1-3 1-1 0-0 3 1-1 1 0 1 0 1 Hubert Davis 18 2-3 0-1 0-0 4 0-1 2 2 1 0 0 Sean Rooks 9 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 1-1 1 1 1 0 0 Damon Jones 5 2-4 2-3 3-4 9 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 41-88 9-20 18-23 109 14-40 20 17 24 10 1 Dallas at Seattle (March 7) Dallas led 8-7 with 9 minutes left and Seattle went on a 12-4 run to go up 19-12 with 4 minutes remaining. Seattle led 25-18 after 1. Seattle led 25-20 with 11:35 left and then went on a monster 19-3 run to go up 44-23 with 6:15 to go. The Mavs again faced a large 1st half hole as Seattle led 57-38 at the half. Gary Payton had 17 points. Seattle led 63-44 with 8:45 left and Dallas went on a 17-4 run to get back in the game and Seattle led 67-61 with 3:30 remaining. But Seattle closed the quarter with a 5-1 run to go up 74-64 after 3. Payton was ejected with his 2nd technical for complaining to the ref at the end of the quarter and Seattle also lost Horace Grant with a hyperextended right elbow in the 3rd. Michael Finley had 12 points in the quarter. Seattle pushed their lead up to 80-66 with 10:30 remaining. A jumper by Dirk Nowitzki and 3-pointer by Finley cut Seattle's lead down to 80-71 with 9 minutes left, but Emanual Davis answered with a 3-pointer and Seattle wouldn't let Dallas back in the game as their lead stayed in double-digits for the rest of the game. Seattle won 101-86. The Mavs just dug too big of a hole in the 1st half. Michael Finley had a very poor 1st half with 6 points on 3-10 FG, but finished strong with 25 points including 10-16 FG in the 2nd half. Dirk Nowitzki had 22 points on 8-22 FG, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Erick Strickland was the only other Mav in double-digits (12 points). Dennis Rodman had 2 points (on 2 free throws) and 15 rebounds. Cedric Ceballos was having a poor game anyways (only 6 points) and injured the pinky finger on his left hand when he thought that a pass meant for Dirk was simply overthrown and he reached up to try to get it and it brushed off the tip of his fingers during the 3rd quarter. He did continue to play some with the injury. For Seattle, Ruben Patterson stepped up big time with Payton gone from the game in the 4th. Patterson had 16 points in the 4th and a total of 32 points on 12-20 FG and 7-10 FT, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals. Payton had 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists before his ejection. Brent Barry had 16 points and 7 rebounds. Quotes Paul Westphal: "There's a perception that Ruben can't shoot. And they were just backing off of him. Ruben can shoot those open shots. We just don't want Ruben shooting a lot of shots off the dribble. When he has his feet set and a good look at the basket, he shoots it real good." Westphal: "We've been having good starts at home, so I really wasn't worried about the start of the game. I was more worried about Dallas getting hot." Westphal: "I wasn't really worried about the start of the game. I was more worried about Dallas getting hot. But the 2nd quarter is where we knocked them out. We relaxed in the 3rd and they showed how explosive they are. But we had the answers." Vin Baker: "That was a big 1st quarter for us because if we would have had the trend we've had, we would have had some problems, especially with Gary [who was ejected] and Horace [who was injured] being out of the game." Baker: "We have some guys on this team who are capable of having some big nights for us. Those guys work hard in practice. They're dedicated, and it showed tonight." Ruben Patterson: "I've just been working on my shot. I'm working on it every day in practice, and that's what will happen. Let them keep [backing up]. Every time they back up, I'm going to pop it in their face." Patterson: "Everybody said, 'Let him shoot, let him shoot.' Now they got to get up on me. Every time they back up, I'll pop it in their face. It was a great thing." Patterson: "It was like a zone. I said to myself I had to step up. I was telling the guys to get it to me, and they did." Patterson: "I was just hitting everything. I'm glad I got my career high." Donnie Nelson: "Ruben's a tough, and when he's hitting his outside shot like that, he's near unstoppable. Our game plan was to let him take a couple of outside shots, and he made us pay the price." Nelson: "When Patterson's hitting his outside shot like that, he's near unstoppable. We were going to take that poison vs one of the other 3-point shooters." Nelson: "It got real emotional out there. Early on I didn't feel like we were aggressive enough, and as a result we weren't earning calls. They were taking it to our gut and getting to the free throw line. That was frustrating, and then they got frustrated and it evened out like it generally does in the NBA." Nelson: "We could have easily packed it in tonight. It looked like that in the 1st half, but their game was clicking and we shot the ball terribly. We had the heart and energy to make this a close game, and I was very proud of the guys." Nelson: "I was very proud of the way we fought back. Unfortunately we were not able to sustain it. I'm proud of the energy, especially off a back-to-back. We could've packed it in tonight." Dirk Nowitzki: "When we came out like we did in the 2nd half, we really got ourselves in a good position to win the game. But when you always started with 20 back, it takes a lot of power out of us and in the end maybe we don't have the power to get over the edge to win those games. We've got to have a complete effort for 48 minutes, especially on the road. Otherwise, you'll lose anyway." Erick Strickland: "We got down too deep again. We're digging ourselves too deep of a hole that we can't get out of. They're just basically covering us up just enough to finish us off. We have to continue to stop digging ourselves in this hole. We're not that type of team to dig ourselves a hole." Strickland on the rest of the season: "You start setting goals for yourself as far as wins and improving on last year's total. If you love the game that much, you want to go out and compete and try to put together something to feel good about at the end of the year." Seattle Sonics 101, Dallas Mavericks 86 at Seattle (March 7) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Seattle 25 32 17 27 - 101 .515 .438 .500 .600 Dallas 18 20 26 22 - 86 .452 .227 .393 .789 Halftime: Seattle 57-38 3rd Q: Seattle 74-64 Dallas' largest lead: 5-3 10:46 1st Dallas' last lead: 8-7 8:52 1st Seattle's largest lead: 55-33 1:00 2nd Technicals: Shawn Bradley 6:16 2nd, Dirk Nowitzki 8:14 3rd, Erick Strickland 7:54 3rd, Gary Payton 5:32 3rd, Gary Payton 0:46 3rd (ejected), Seattle Illegal D 4:00 4th Refs: Jack Nies, Tony Brothers, George Toliver Attendance: 13,621 (cap 17,072) Seattle Sonics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Vin Baker 35 2-12 0-0 2-2 6 4-7 6 4 5 0 0 Ruben Patterson 40 12-20 1-2 7-10 32 6-8 5 5 2 5 0 Horace Grant 21 3-5 0-0 0-1 6 0-4 1 0 0 0 0 Brent Barry 42 6-11 3-5 1-2 16 1-7 3 5 1 1 0 Gary Payton 30 9-17 1-4 0-1 19 2-8 9 5 5 1 0 Rashard Lewis 27 2-4 0-1 0-2 4 1-8 2 2 3 3 0 Greg Foster 19 2-5 0-0 2-2 6 0-6 2 1 3 0 1 Emanual Davis 26 5-8 2-4 0-0 12 0-4 2 2 2 3 1 Totals 48 41-82 7-16 12-20 101 14-52 30 24 21 13 2 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 44 8-22 1-6 5-6 22 2-5 5 1 3 0 0 Dennis Rodman 35 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 2-15 1 1 2 0 0 Shawn Bradley 32 3-10 0-1 1-2 7 4-7 1 1 5 0 2 Michael Finley 44 13-26 1-5 4-4 31 0-1 5 5 4 5 0 Erick Strickland 36 4-12 2-7 2-4 12 1-6 4 4 3 7 0 Cedric Ceballos 17 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 1-2 0 5 2 1 0 Robert Pack 4 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Greg Buckner 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 3 0 0 Steve Nash 19 1-4 1-3 1-1 4 1-1 5 2 2 0 0 Hubert Davis 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-84 5-22 15-19 86 11-40 22 21 24 13 2 Minnesota at Dallas (March 9) Dallas took an early 11-6 lead with 6 minutes left and Minnesota scored the next 7 points to go up 13-11 with 4:40 remaining. Minnesota led 23-21 after 1. Shawn Bradley had 12 points in the quarter. Minnesota scored the first 5 points of the 2nd quarter and led 28-21 with 10:45 to go. Minnesota led by 7 to 11 points the rest of the quarter and led 46-37 at the half. Minnesota led 55-46 with 7:45 left and went on a 10-2 run to go up 65-48 with 4:45 left. Dallas closed the quarter by scoring the last 6 points and Minnesota led 69-58 after 3. Dallas scored 5 consecutive points to pull within 9 points at 66-75 with 8:40 remaining, but Minnesota answered with the next 6 points to go up 81-66 with 7:20 to go. Dallas could get no closer than 12 points the rest of the way. Minnesota won 100-79. The Mavs did not play well in this game. The sad thing was they still had a shot at the game if they just had one strong rally in the 3rd or 4th quarter. And they wasted a good performance by Shawn Bradley. Bradley had 26 points including 11-14 FG and 9 rebounds. The team definitely missed Cedric Ceballos (who did not play due to a sprained left pinky finger) as only Michael Finley (14 points) and Dirk Nowitzki (15 points) joined Bradley in double figures. And I have to question Don Nelson's player rotation as neither Robert Pack or Steve Nash started (Strickland, Hubert, Finley, Dirk, and Bradley started) and the two combined for only 16 minutes and Minnesota had a true point guard on the floor (Terrell Brandon) for 33 minutes. And Pack didn't look bad to me in the 10 minutes he received. I have no idea why Nelson chose not to play his true point guards in this game - it seems like they were just in his dog house. For Minnesota, Kevin Garnett led the way with 22 points on 11-18 FG and 12 rebounds. Wally Szczerbiak looked very nice with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Terrell Brandon had a quiet 17 points and 6 assists. Quotes Flip Saunders on maintaining their lead: "We had the right people in. We didn't lose our aggression. Sometimes when you lose the lead, it's because you relax. We didn't relax." Saunders: "Defensively, I thought we did a pretty good job. Bradley had a big game, but I guess we made a very conscious effort that we thought we had to stop Finley, Davis, Strickland, Nowitzki, Pack and their perimeter people and not let those guys get off." Kevin Garnett: "We just came out and played man. We made a push and put them away like we're supposed to." Garnett: "It's all about being focused on the present. It wasn't necessarily us finishing this team off, but us being aggressive, staying aggressive for 48 minutes. That's what we did tonight." Wally Szczerbiak: "I don't know why we finish stronger on the road. At home, we get up 10, then we don't push ourselves. Part of it is, guys relax, the crowd gets dead, we make substitutions." Joe Smith: "We blew two leads the last two games. This time, we tried to stay as focused as possible and keep them at arm's length." Terrell Brandon: "Teams [like Dallas] tend to be emotional with what had happened here in the last couple of days. It's very dangerous when something like that happens. We just made a concerted effort to start defensively, to contest every shot, and when they miss we go to the boards and work on our break a little bit." Don Nelson on Ceballos missing the game: "We need all of our weapons when we play that team. Against them, you have to be good all night. We have too many small guys and not enough big guys." Nelson: "We were really between a rock and a hard place without Ceballos available. We really struggled scoring the ball, and they did a magnificent job not letting Mike get off the double-team." Nelson: "Unfortunately, we didn't have very good nights from our offensive players. I thought our energy level was good for 3 quarters, and I thought our schemes were good. But Minnesota is a very good team, and we need all our weapons." Nelson: "It broke our hearts, the New Jersey loss, although I thought our energy level was good tonight. I don't have any complaints about the way we started, or how hard we played. It's just that we didn't play very well." Michael Finley: "We just have to get the same energy and life back that we didn't have on the road. We got it back tonight, but our shooting was gone. When we get both of those things going, then we can be the type of team I know we're capable of being." Erick Strickland: "We're not playing well right now. We're trying to get that good flow of playing ball back. We have to find out what works. With Dennis, we had to make switches, and without him we still have to make switches." Pack on Ceballos being out: "He's a big plus for us offensively. He gets it going and gets a lot of baskets that are not counted for or run plays for." Pack on the difference with the fans without Rodman: "There definitely was a difference with the crowd. Hey, I love the way he brought it in. The fans loved him, and for a guy like myself who's played in big games, who's played in the playoffs - that atmosphere is great to play in. You want to come in and play in a place that the energy is high right from the outset. We definitely missed that tonight." Minnesota Timberwolves 100, Dallas Mavericks 79 at Dallas (March 9) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Minnesota 23 23 23 31 - 100 .535 .417 .518 .750 Dallas 21 16 21 21 - 79 .455 .286 .438 .650 Halftime: Minnesota 46-37 3rd Q: Minnesota 69-58 Dallas' largest lead: 11-6 5:54 1st Dallas' last lead: 11-10 5:01 1st Minnesota's largest lead: 100-79 final Technicals: none Refs: Joey Crawford, Scott Foster, Bill Kennedy Attendance: 13,435 (cap 18,187) Did not play due to injury: Cedric Ceballos (sprained left pinky finger) Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Wally Szczerbiak 43 6-11 1-2 3-3 16 3-8 6 3 4 0 0 Kevin Garnett 41 11-18 0-0 0-0 22 4-13 4 2 3 2 2 Joe Smith 25 6-10 0-0 2-2 14 2-5 0 1 5 2 2 Malik Sealy 29 3-10 0-1 0-1 6 0-4 0 3 2 2 2 Terrell Brandon 33 7-15 1-3 2-2 17 1-2 6 1 1 1 1 Anthony Peeler 28 5-12 3-6 0-0 13 1-6 4 1 2 2 0 Bobby Jackson 15 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 1-2 3 2 0 0 1 Radoslav Nesterovic 24 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 1-3 0 0 4 0 1 William Avery 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Tom Hammonds 1 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 43-83 5-12 9-12 100 13-43 23 14 21 9 9 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 44 6-16 0-1 2-4 14 1-4 5 1 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 42 6-15 0-3 3-4 15 3-7 1 2 2 1 1 Shawn Bradley 34 11-14 0-0 4-5 26 6-9 0 2 4 1 2 Erick Strickland 35 2-7 0-0 1-2 5 1-3 0 2 4 2 1 Hubert Davis 30 1-6 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 2 5 2 0 0 Greg Buckner 24 2-3 1-1 2-3 7 0-3 0 0 3 1 0 Robert Pack 10 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 2 1 0 0 0 Sean Rooks 13 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 2-5 0 1 2 0 0 Steve Nash 6 1-2 1-2 0-0 3 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Damon Jones 2 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 32-73 2-7 13-20 79 13-34 10 17 19 6 4 patricia