Dallas opened April 5-0 - the first 5 game winning streak since 94-95 (where Dallas had a 6 game winning streak), only the 2nd 5 game winning streak since 89-90, and only the 2nd time in team history to start a month 5-0. The Mavs are 27-20 in 2000 (even better if you take out the 2 losses that opened the year), 23-11 excluding the 4-9 with the mistake, and 12-5 since the released of the mistake. Cedric Ceballos has not been playing due to his broken left pinky finger. Dallas signed Rodrick Rhodes for the rest of the season and to a non-guaranteed contract for next season on Monday. Rhodes is a 6-6, 225 swingman (shooting guard/small forward). He probably won't see much time on the court and will have to show himself during practices. His rep is a good defender who struggles shooting. As Nelson said, just a free look at him. To make room on the roster for Rhodes, the Mavs placed Bruno Sundov on IR. The phantom injury given was a strained lower back. Bruno has not played since March 16. Hot Rod Williams canceled his back surgery that was scheduled for Tuesday and has not rescheduled it. Don't know why. Congrats to the Wheelchair Mavericks for their 4th consecutive national title! They beat Illinois 69-51 to win the championship and Steve Welch was named MVP. The NBA Board of Governors formally approved the sale of the Mavericks from Ross Perot to Mark Cuban. Cuban has been in charge and making changes since signing a letter of intent to purchase the team in January. Mark Cuban: "Everyone shook my hand, so I take that as a good sign. They had a [Board of Governors] dinner last night, and a big part of the discussion was digital media and Internet. Everyone kept looking at me, so I kind of figured they were looking forward to getting me involved." Cuban: "It's not like I'm looking for other franchises or trying to build a sports empire. I love basketball, I love Dallas and I love the Mavericks. It doesn't have to be anything beyond that. It's a dream come true. It always felt a little bit tempered [before getting the approval], so now that it's past me, it's time to have some fun. Believe me, the fun has yet to begin." Cuban on the seal of approval: "Now, the shackles have been removed." [Leaving everyone wondering what exactly he wanted/wants to do and felt that he shouldn't do it before the vote.] Cuban on future moves: "Those [luxury taxes] will have an impact on player decisions for some organizations. So we'll try to take advantage of that. It's going to be really, really interesting to see how all of the dynamics play out with the salary cap. We're going to be as opportunistic as we possibly can be." David Stern: "We need to be proactive. And I don't think I've met anyone who's more proactive than Mark, and that's very good. And he's going to stub his toe. But that's better than just sort of sitting back and sort of accepting status quo if you think you can make improvements. I think that's what the fans want, and I think that's what we're looking for from Mark now." Stern: "He's high maintenance but good, and I mean that sincerely. He is in a class by himself, but that's good. He's young and enthusiastic. I think it's terrific. I think the owners are looking forward to that kind of energy." Stern: "We need to be proactive, and I don't think I know anyone who's more proactive than Mark. On the subject [of referees], I think I've made that point to him, where it's appropriate to say things out loud or keep it in the family. Other than that, we've encouraged Mark to be Mark and continue to generate the enthusiasm he seems to be generating in a city that's very anxious for a revived basketball team. I would say he has raised eyebrows, but he hasn't ruffled feathers. He's going to stub his toe, but that's better than sitting back and accepting the status quo." Dallas at Vancouver (April 2) The game stayed close in the 1st quarter. Dallas led 16-11 with 3:30 left and Vancouver scored the next 9 points to go up 22-16 with 38 seconds to go. Vancouver led 22-18 after 1. Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 11 points. Vancouver led 29-20 with 10:30 remaining and Dallas scored the next 11 points to go up 31-29 with 5:30 left. Mike Bibby hit 2 free throws and Dallas continued their run by scoring the next 7 points to go up 38-31 with 1:30 remaining. Dallas led 42-33 at the half. Vancouver only shot 3-14 FG in the 2nd quarter (Dallas shot 10-20 FG). Lionel Hollins picked up his 2nd technical foul after the 2nd quarter ended and was ejected. Dallas stayed in control in the 3rd quarter and slowly added to their lead. Dallas led 74-58 after 3. Dirk Nowitzki had 15 points including 3-4 3-pointers in the quarter. Dallas scored the first 6 points of the 4th to take their largest lead at 80-58 with 10:30 left. Vancouver could get no closer than the final score. Dallas won 100-86. Hey, the Mavs actually did what they were supposed to do - blew out a struggling team. Dirk Nowitzki (22 points, 8 rebounds) and Michael Finley (18 points) gave their usual strong performances. Hubert Davis chipped in 16 points and 7 rebounds and Steve Nash had a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists. Shareef Abdur-Rahim didn't get the ball enough considering his talent and teammates. He had 23 points including 9-15 FG and 10 rebounds. Mike Bibby had a triple-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists and had an impressive 7 steals, but also committed 6 turnovers. Michael Dickerson was the only other Grizzly in double digits with 14 points (including 4-14 FG). Antoine Carr suffered a strained right calf muscle during the 1st quarter (only 5 minutes) and will likely miss the rest of the season. Quotes Don Nelson on how the team would respond to being eliminated from the playoffs: "I wasn't sure about that. I was a little worried about our energy level, but the lads gave me a great effort. I had no reason to be worried." Nelson: "I actually thought it would be a very hard game for us. I'm a little surprised that we were able to gain such a big lead. Our energy was good other than maybe the first part of the 1st quarter. We found something that was working. They couldn't stop it so we stayed with it and basically ran the same play for a quarter and a half." Nelson: "Nash was the key. He's a great defender and no one knows about it or talks about it." Nelson: "But I think the job that Nash did defensively on Dickerson was a huge factor." Steve Nash on Dickerson: "Coach said he was their hot guy and he was averaging 28 a game the last 5 or 6 games. He said if you're not all over him, he'll kill you. So it was my job to get all over him and luckily it worked." Nash on what the Mavs want to do in the last month: "It's not like we didn't know [playoff elimination, which occurred Friday] was coming. But we're trying to get as many wins as we possibly can. People have been very negative around the Mavericks for a long time - not necessarily within the organization but around the organization. We're trying to ignore all that and build on these wins so we can do well next year." Nash: "There's been a lot of negativity surrounding the organization and we want to get wins to counteract some of that and for our pride. Just build on things to put ourselves in a position to improve and do well next year." Hubert Davis: "It was just a really good game for us. I thought we worked hard defensively and played unselfishly on the offensive end. We had a lot of guys trying to find the open man and when you do that, good things happen." Dirk Nowitzki: "I struggled a little bit in the 1st half - a few missed shots and a lot of turnovers. That's why you have to come out and play hard every night. I had a lot of wide open looks in the 3rd quarter and I was able to hit them." Nowitzki on the playoff elimination: "We lost this in November and December [where Dallas went 9-21], not now. But we're getting there." Lionel Hollins on his ejection: "They put me over the edge. There was a series of calls. They called calls that I haven't seen called all year long. We got a 5-second call on a post-up and they could call that every night 2 or 3 times a game. And it wasn't even the right call." [Actually, it was the right call - but I also didn't expect them to call it. It was only the 2nd time all year I've seen it called.] Mike Bibby: "I played all right. My energy was kind of low in the 1st half and I tried to pick it up in the 2nd. We were doing well on offense but we just couldn't stop anybody. They were knocking 3s down left and right. That hurt us." Shareef Abdur-Rahim: "I think we tried to come out and stay focussed and let [Hollins' ejection] fire us up. But it was a situation we had never really been in before, so I don't think as a team we knew how to respond to it." Abdur-Rahim: "The easy thing to do now would be to just say, 'Our season is over - let's get these out of the way and go home for the summer.' But our sense of urgency now is to stay focussed and keep our minds on playing games." Dennis Scott: "What have we got, 10 [games left]? Somehow each guy just has to say to themselves, 'this is our playoffs, this is who we are.' Somehow we have to muster up some type of chemistry to get over this hump, because it is ugly. Now I see why this team is, what is it 5-45, 5-50 in March? The mind set is not right." [Vancouver is 6-73 all-time in March.] Scott: "Right now, everybody is on egg shells because there is so much uncertainty about next year, with what the new owner is going to do. But you still got to play. People in the front office, they've still got to do their paperwork, typing. Recruiters still got to recruit. We've still got to perform like it's the first game of the season." Dallas Mavericks 100, Vancouver Grizzlies 86 at Vancouver (April 2) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 18 24 32 26 - 100 .509 .364 .468 1.00 Vancouver 22 11 25 28 - 86 .457 .091 .407 .731 Halftime: Dallas 42-33 3rd Q: Dallas 74-58 Vancouver's largest lead: 29-20 10:32 2nd Dallas' largest lead: 80-58 10:17 4th Technicals: Dallas Illegal D 11:02 2nd, Lionel Hollins 9:57 2nd, Lionel Hollins end of 2nd (ejected) Refs: Dick Bavetta, Tom Washington, Dee Kantner Attendance: 12,941 (cap 19,193) Did not play due to injury: Cedric Ceballos (broken left pinky finger) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 41 7-16 2-5 2-2 18 2-4 2 3 3 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 30 6-12 4-7 6-6 22 0-8 3 3 3 1 2 Shawn Bradley 33 4-9 0-0 2-2 10 1-10 0 1 5 0 1 Erick Strickland 26 3-9 0-1 1-1 7 3-5 2 1 1 1 0 Steve Nash 41 4-7 1-4 2-2 11 0-1 10 4 3 2 1 Greg Buckner 29 5-9 0-1 0-0 10 0-6 4 4 5 2 0 Hubert Davis 31 6-12 1-3 3-3 16 1-7 4 2 1 0 0 Sean Rooks 7 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 1-4 0 1 1 0 1 Damon Jones 2 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 37-79 8-22 18-18 100 8-45 25 19 22 8 5 Vancouver Grizzlies REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shareef Abdur-Rahim 36 9-15 0-3 5-7 23 4-10 1 5 3 0 0 Othella Harrington 31 4-11 0-0 1-4 9 2-7 2 1 3 0 2 Bryant Reeves 25 3-9 0-0 0-0 6 2-5 1 0 3 0 0 Michael Dickerson 39 4-14 0-2 6-6 14 2-5 3 1 1 2 1 Mike Bibby 40 5-13 0-1 4-4 14 2-11 11 6 3 7 0 Dennis Scott 27 2-7 1-5 1-1 6 0-3 1 0 2 2 0 Antoine Carr 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Milt Palacio 8 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 1 2 0 0 Felix Lopez 19 3-6 0-0 2-4 8 1-2 0 1 1 0 1 Doug West 10 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-81 1-11 19-26 86 13-45 19 18 18 11 4 Sacramento at Dallas (April 4) Chris Webber did not play due to a strained left hamstring. The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with Sacramento holding small leads. Sacramento led 21-16 with 3:30 and Dallas went on a 13-2 run, including 3 3-pointers by Erick Strickland, to go up 29-23 with 40 seconds remaining. Dallas led 29-25 after 1. Corliss Williamson had 10 points. Dallas opened the 2nd quarter with a 14-4 run, including 2 3-pointers each by Michael Finley and Dirk Nowitzki, to go up 43-29 with 8 minutes to go. Sacramento scored the next 6 points and Dallas led by 7 to 12 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 58-46 at the half. Strickland had 17 points, Finley had 17 points, and Williamson had 14 points. The Mavs opened the 3rd quarter with a 8-3 run to go up 66-49 with 9:30 left. Dallas led 70-53 with 7:45 remaining and Sacramento went on a 15-6 run to pull within 66-72 with 4:30 left. Dallas led 80-75 after 3. Finley had 10 points in the 3rd. Dallas led 93-88 with 7 minutes to go and the Kings went on a 9-3 run capped by a 3-pointer by Predrag Stojakovic to go up 97-96 with with 3:45 left. Finley answered with 2 free throws and a short jumper and Hubert Davis chipped in a jumper to put Dallas up 102-97 with 1:40 remaining. Vlade Divac tipped in a missed shot with 1:30 to go. Dallas missed and the teams traded missed 3-pointers. Divac was fouled with 27 seconds left and only hit 1 of 2 free throws. Dallas led 102-100. Steve Nash was intentionally fouled, but he only hit 1 of 2 free throws. Jason Williams drove for a layup with 20 seconds left and Finley was fouled with 15 seconds remaining. Finley hit 2 free throws to put Dallas up 105-102. Williams missed a 3-pointer and Stojakovic missed a jumper with 5.2 seconds left and Sacramento again got the rebound, but Stojakovic's back foot was out of bounds on the 3-point attempt. The Mavs tried the long inbounds pass, but Sacramento tipped the ball and it went out of bounds near Dallas' basket. Dallas had the ball out of bounds under their own basket with 0.9 seconds left. Finley was looking to inbound the ball and did the smart thing - he bounced the ball off of one of the Kings' leg to run out the clock. Dallas won 105-102. It was a good win even though Dallas blew a 17 point lead in the 3rd quarter. It was raining in Reunion as Dallas shot 13-19 3-pointers (while Sacramento only shot 2-15 3-pointers). The Mavs again won despite being killed on the boards (32-47), but shot 54.4% FG. I really liked Finley using his head to bounce the ball off the Kings' leg at the end (even though Reunion's shot clock keeper was slow in starting the clock when the ball hit the leg). And Finley had an awesome game and carried the Mavs. He finished with 38 points (including 14 in the 4th quarter) and 8 assists. Finley also had 2 key blocks in the 4th quarter (one with 4:50 left and a layup attempt by Stojakovic with 3:10 left). All but 4 of Erick Strickland's 21 points (on 9-13 FG and 3-4 3-pointers) came in the 1st half. Dirk Nowitzki (13 points) and Steve Nash (in another nice performance with 12 points and 10 assists) were the only other Mavs in double digits. I don't understand Rick Adelman playing the hot hand only the first 1:30 of the 4th quarter. Corliss Williamson had 20 points on 10-17 FG through 3 quarters, but sat almost all of the 4th and he wasn't in foul trouble and I never heard about an injury problem. Bench players Predrag Stojakovic and Tony Delk tried to carry the Kings in the 4th quarter with 10 points each in the 4th quarter, but weren't enough. They both finished with 14 points. Vlade Divac had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. Jason Williams had a good game (I think his first good one versus Dallas) with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists, and only 4 turnovers. Quotes Don Nelson: "What a game. We hung in there and made enough big plays to win the game." Nelson: "My team plays hard. I have very few complaints this season. They continue to play hard and that's a coach's dream - to keep it going until the end." Michael Finley: "It was good to see us bring that energy that we have on the road to a home game. 33 wins is good, but I still would rather be in the playoffs." Finley: "I had a hot hand and my teammates were getting me the ball. It was one of those nights you dream about." Finley: "I had good looks at the basket. The team recognized that I had a hot hand and they continued to give me the ball. I had good looks at the basket, the ball felt good leaving my hand and it was just one of those nights. It was one of those nights you dream for." Finley: "I want to keep doing the things that made me an All-Star. I don't want people to think since I made the All-Stars that I'm satisfied. I'm far from being satisfied as a player, and I think this team is far from being satisfied with the 33 wins. We're going to continue to go out the remainder of the season and finish on a high note." Steve Nash: "We were lucky because we made a lot of shots. We realize how many times we've blown it [in crunch time] and we've learned a lot of lessons from our mistakes." Nash: "You can make up for a lot when you shoot the ball as well as we shot it from the 3 tonight, and that's the bottom line. We shot the ball really well, and it kept us in the game. Other than that, we didn't play too well." Nash: "We were lucky we made a lot of 3s because we didn't really play all that well. But things are coming around for us. We're learning to win tight games. We're learning from past mistakes." Nash on Webber not playing: "I think it showed when we went up 17. Then they realized he's not going to come in, so they better get aggressive. They got aggressive and we got more passive, and it turned around. But it's unfortunate he couldn't have played, so we could have tested ourselves a little more. But a win's a win in this league. It doesn't matter who's playing. They still had another NBA player out there in his position who can get it done." Erick Strickland: "Michael Finley's our All-Star. He did what he's supposed to do night in and night out. He led by example and hit some big shots." Strickland on Webber: "Chris adds a dimension for them. We had some things we were going to try to do to slow him down. He's a great player. They obviously missed him." Rick Adelman: "They shot the lights out. We give them 19 3s and they make 13. That's great shooting." Adelman when asked about the open 3s: "But open or not open, that's still a great shooting night. They did a good job of penetrating and then finding guys on the weak side. We certainly could have played better defense in the 1st half." Adelman: "[Webber is] out, but other guys have to step up and do the job. We put ourselves in position to win on the road, and that's what you want. But we just didn't do enough to get over the hump, and they shot well." Adelman: "We really competed in the 2nd half. We put ourselves in position to win on the road, but we just didn't do enough to get over the hump and they shot it too well." Adelman on Finley: "He made a couple of great blocks. Hey, he played great all night." Vlade Divac: "We did a much better job against them in the 2nd half, but it was too late." Dallas Mavericks 105, Sacramento Kings 102 at Dallas (April 4) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 29 29 22 25 - 105 .500 .684 .544 .750 Sacramento 25 21 29 27 - 102 .537 .133 .474 .667 Halftime: Dallas 58-46 3rd Q: Dallas 80-75 Sacramento's largest lead: 16-10 7:01 1st Dallas' largest lead: 70-53 7:45 3rd Technicals: Rick Adelman 8:03 2nd Refs: Joey Crawford, Tommy Nunez, Jim Kinsey Attendance: 14,029 (cap 18,187) Did not play due to injury: Cedric Ceballos (broken left pinky finger), Robert Pack (root canal), Chris Webber (strained left hamstring) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 46 14-26 6-8 4-4 38 0-4 8 5 0 1 2 Dirk Nowitzki 38 6-11 1-3 0-1 13 1-5 3 1 3 0 1 Shawn Bradley 27 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 2-7 1 3 4 1 2 Steve Nash 45 4-9 2-3 2-3 12 0-2 10 2 1 2 0 Erick Strickland 30 9-13 3-4 0-0 21 0-3 2 3 2 1 1 Hubert Davis 28 4-5 1-1 0-0 9 0-3 3 1 2 0 1 Greg Buckner 15 2-7 0-0 0-0 4 0-4 0 2 4 0 1 Sean Rooks 10 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2-4 1 2 2 1 1 Damon Jones 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 43-79 13-19 6-8 105 5-32 28 19 18 6 9 Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Corliss Williamson 31 10-17 0-0 0-0 20 2-3 0 4 1 2 0 Lawrence Funderburke 22 6-8 0-0 1-2 13 2-5 0 1 1 0 0 Vlade Divac 33 6-10 0-1 4-7 16 5-10 7 0 0 5 2 Nick Anderson 24 1-7 0-3 0-0 2 0-3 1 1 0 3 0 Jason Williams 33 6-15 0-4 0-0 12 2-7 10 4 3 0 0 Tyrone Corbin 22 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 0 0 2 0 0 Scot Pollard 15 3-6 0-0 1-1 7 4-10 2 0 1 0 1 Predrag Stojakovic 24 6-14 2-4 0-0 14 2-6 1 3 1 0 0 Tony Delk 22 6-15 0-2 2-2 14 1-1 2 0 1 1 0 Darrick Martin 14 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 1 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 46-97 2-15 8-12 102 19-47 24 14 12 11 3 Dallas at Denver (April 6) Dallas scored 12 straight points to go up 26-12 with 3 minutes left. Dallas led 35-20 after 1. After a strong 1st quarter, Dallas let up the rest of the game and Denver used a 19-8 run to pull within 43-44 with 4:20 to go. Dallas led 58-53 at the half. Denver shot 10-16 FG and 10-14 FT in the 2nd quarter. The game stayed close in the 3rd quarter with 3 ties and Dallas' largest lead was only 6 points. Dallas led 79-77 after 3. Denver scored 6 consecutive points to take an 85-82 lead with 9 minutes remaining. Dallas answered by scoring the next 12 points, with the first 8 coming from Dirk Nowitzki, to go up 94-85 with 6 minutes to go. Denver then rallied with the next 10 points to go up 95-94 with 4 minutes left. The teams traded leads for the next 2 1/2 minutes. A 3-pointer by Hubert Davis and a 3-pointer by Michael Finley gave Dallas a 106-102 lead with 46 seconds to go. Keon Clark made a layup with 42 seconds left, but could not convert the 3-point play. Erick Strickland drove and missed the pull-up jumper with 24 seconds left. An off pass resulted in Strickland and George McCloud going after the ball and Strickland was called for the foul with 11 seconds to go. McCloud hit both free throws to tie the game at 106-106. The Mavs got the ball into Steve Nash, who looked to pass the ball to Finley, but he was covered, so Nash passed to Strickland who drove to the basket and his shot was blocked by Antonio McDyess. Overtime. Finley opened the overtime with a jumper and Nick Van Exel nailed a 3-pointer to give Denver a 109-108 lead with 4:20 remaining. Nowitzki and Finley hit jumpers to put Dallas up 112-109 with 3:20 to go. McDyess hit 2 jumpers to give Denver a 113-112 with 1:30 left. Finley hit the jump hook with 1:11 to go and McDyess answered with a layup with 51 seconds left. Finley missed with 28 seconds left, but Dallas got the ball back as Denver knocked the ball out of bounds. Dallas got the ball into Nowitzki who drove baseline for the layup with 14 seconds remaining. Van Exel missed with 7 seconds left, but Denver got another shot as a ref called a foul on Strickland going for the rebound [I didn't see the foul]. Van Exel missed again and the game was over. Dallas won 116-115. Ugh. If the team had just kept up the effort they showed in the 1st quarter, this would have been an easy game. Instead it was a struggle and Dallas was very lucky to get away with the win. Dirk Nowitzki had a very nice game (and should have gotten the ball _much_ more) with 32 points including 11-16 FG, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. Michael Finley struggled offensively but hit key shots at the end of regulation and in overtime (where 6 of his points came) and finished with 23 points including 7-23 FG, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals. Steve Nash had another nice, solid performance with 15 points on 7-11 FG and 10 assists. Erick Strickland shouldn't have had the ball both times at the end of regulation and had 16 points and 5 rebounds. Shawn Bradley did a nice job in the middle with 11 points including 5-7 FG and 7 rebounds. For Denver, Antonio McDyess was solid with 18 points (6 in OT) and 13 rebounds. George McCloud had a nice game versus his former team with 23 points and 7 rebounds. Rookie Chris Herren had 18 points and rookie James Possey had 17 points and 7 rebounds. Nick Van Exel didn't go off against Dallas like he often does but did have 17 points and 12 assists. Quotes Don Nelson: "It was a fun game. Every game this year with Denver has been right there. They've been very competitive and exciting." Nelson on Nowitzki's game winner: "We ran exactly what we wanted and, of course, he made a great play on it." Nelson on Nowitzki: "Dirk definitely won this game. We've thought for a long time that Dirk is a star in the making. But to do the things he did tonight, to play 45 minutes here [in the altitude], boy was he good." Nelson: "Nowitzki is an up-and-coming star. We're very excited about him. He won the game for us." Nelson: "Dirk Nowitzki is an up-and-coming star player. We're very excited about him. He definitely won the game for us and got the game ball. The last play is what we wanted and Dirk made a great play." Nelson on Van Exel's last shot: "Maybe we got a little lucky, but we made him shoot a little higher than he wanted to." Dirk Nowitzki on his game winning layup: "I saw [Clark] playing real tight, and just decided to drop to the basket, and fortunately it went in. But we were supposed to lay a pick-and-roll. He didn't expect me that early to drive to the basket. We had 14 or 15 seconds left." Nowitzki: "I just saw Keon Clark so close to me. I don't think he expected me to take a shot so early." Nowitzki: "I don't think they expected me to drive. They expected a pass. Steve Nash and I played pick and roll, and I realized they were playing me up close, and I made the drive." Nowitzki: "I felt good the whole night. Some shots just fell, like the last one. The biggest thing is the win. I felt I had a pretty good game but I should have gotten a couple more rebounds at the end of the game." Michael Finley on Nowitzki: "He's growing. Dirk is growing, and I think the whole team is growing. The sky's the limit for Dirk." Dan Issel: "I know the focus is going to be on the last shot we missed and the last shot they made. But if you look at the game as a whole, we lost the game in the 1st quarter when our starters came out with no energy and were down 15 points. Chris, Popeye Jones, Ryan Bowen and George actually got us back in the basketball game. [Dallas] scored 35 points in the 1st quarter and don't score more than 27 in a quarter the rest of the way. The way I look at it, the way we started the game and the lack of energy and intensity that our starters brought cost us the game. It wasn't anything down the stretch." Issel on Nowitzki: "Nowitzki had a lot of good looks at the basket. He had a great game." Issel's on Denver and Dallas' "battle" for 9th in the West: "We had that spot most of the year. It would be nice to get back there. It doesn't mean anything except just for pride. They've been playing awfully well lately. They've been able to do something that we haven't done yet and that is to play well on the road." Nick Van Exel on his last shot: "It seemed like everyone fell off their man, so I had to take the shot. It just fell off." Antonio McDyess: "We came out lackadaisical and without a spark. We had to fight the whole game and play hard to catch up. I'll take the blame; all our starters take the blame. We let Dallas do what they wanted. We had no defense at all in the 1st quarter." McDyess on Nowitzki: "It was tough to keep him from getting shots. We had our 4 or 5 man guarding him, and our first instinct is to help out when a guard drives to the basket, and he's wide open at the 3-point line. As great a shooter as he is, you know he's going to knock down 3s like that all day." Chris Gatling on the 9th spot: "We're not in the playoffs. It doesn't matter. We're just playing for pride. We pass them, what? We're still going to be going home in 2 weeks so what's the big deal? For bragging rights? 'Whoa, we beat them last year?'" Dallas Mavericks 116, Denver Nuggets 115 OT at Denver (April 6) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 35 23 21 27 10 - 116 .521 .353 .489 .786 Denver 20 33 24 29 9 - 115 .516 .476 .506 .760 Halftime: Dallas 58-53 3rd Q: Dallas 79-77 4th Q: 106-106 Dallas' largest lead: 58-53 after 1 Technicals: Dallas Illegal D 4:44 3rd Refs: Joe Forte, Hank Armstrong, Joe DeRosa Attendance: 14,673 (cap 19,099) Did not play due to injury: Cedric Ceballos (broken left pinky finger), Robert Pack (root canal surgery) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 48 7-23 1-4 8-8 23 1-6 3 3 3 3 1 Dirk Nowitzki 45 11-16 3-7 7-9 32 3-9 6 2 2 0 0 Shawn Bradley 30 5-7 0-0 1-1 11 4-7 0 1 5 0 1 Steve Nash 51 7-11 1-3 0-0 15 1-4 10 2 1 1 0 Erick Strickland 44 6-12 0-0 4-6 16 2-5 2 0 4 3 1 Greg Buckner 12 0-3 0-1 1-2 1 1-2 1 1 1 0 0 Hubert Davis 25 6-15 1-2 0-0 13 2-4 3 1 2 0 0 Sean Rooks 10 2-3 0-0 1-2 5 0-1 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 53 44-90 6-17 22-28 116 14-38 25 19 10 7 3 Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Keon Clark 24 3-4 0-0 0-1 6 0-2 0 1 4 1 0 Antonio McDyess 47 8-16 0-0 2-4 18 5-13 1 4 4 1 3 Raef LaFrentz 17 3-4 0-0 2-2 8 1-4 0 1 3 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 44 7-18 1-4 2-3 17 0-3 12 2 3 1 0 James Posey 32 5-9 3-5 4-4 17 2-7 3 1 5 1 1 Chris Gatling 16 2-4 0-1 0-0 4 3-5 1 2 4 0 0 George McCloud 43 8-16 2-5 5-5 23 2-7 3 3 1 0 1 Chris Herren 30 5-11 4-6 4-4 18 1-3 7 1 0 0 0 Popeye Jones 6 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Ryan Bowen 6 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 0-0 0 0 0 2 1 Totals 53 43-85 10-21 19-25 115 14-44 27 16 25 6 6 LA Clippers at Dallas (April 8) The Clippers led 7-6 with 10 minutes left and Dallas scored the next 11 points to go up 18-7 with 6:15 to go. The Clippers scored the next 10 points to pull within 17-18 with 3:30 remaining. It was Dallas' turn to rally as they knocked down the next 7 points. Dallas led 25-19 after 1. Dallas scored the first 4 points of the 2nd quarter to go up 29-19 with 11:15 remaining. Dallas led 41-29 with 6 minutes left and the Clippers scored 7 straight points to pull within 36-41 with 3:20 left. Dallas led 47-40 at the half. Dallas led 49-45 with 11 minutes remaining and used a 13-2 run to go up 62-47 with 6:50 left. Dallas led 71-57 with 2:15 to go and the Clippers scored the next 6 points to pull within 63-71 with 45 seconds left. A free throw by Sean Rooks put Dallas up 72-63 after 3. Dallas was up 76-68 with 10 minutes left and the Clippers scored the next 6 points to pull within 74-76 with 7:45 remaining. Dallas answered with an 8-1 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Steve Nash, to go up 84-75 with 6:25 left. Dallas led 90-81 with 5 minutes to go and the Clippers rattled off the next 6 points to get within 87-90 with 3 minutes to go. Neither team could score over the next minute and Nash hit a 3-pointer with 1:30 left to put Dallas up 93-87 with 1:30 remaining. The teams traded 2 points and there was only a minute left. Lamar Odom hit 2 free throws and Maurice Taylor hit a jumper with 25 seconds to go to cut Dallas' lead down to 95-93. For some reason the Clippers wasted precious time before fouling Michael Finley with 8 seconds left. Finley hit both free throws. Maurice Taylor missed a 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left and Finley was immediately fouled. He hit the 1st but missed the 2nd, but Jeff McInnis' over half court 3-point attempt was way off. Dallas won 98-96. Ugh. The Mavs let the Clippers stay in the game and never put them away. Dallas was lucky to come away with a win, but a win is a win is a win. This was a game that Dallas should have been in control of all the way - and it looked as though they were going to when they built up a 15 point lead in the 3rd quarter - but they slacked off and let the Clippers back in with a shot at winning the game. The Mavs won despite shooting only 41% FG (the Clippers shot 44%) and being out-rebounded by 17. Turnovers killed the Clippers. 21 Clippers turnovers results in 30 Dallas points. The Clippers also couldn't run as they had 0 fast break points. For the season, Dallas swept the series vs the Clippers 4-0. The Mavs also swept Golden State (4-0), Atlanta (2-0), Chicago (2-0), and Detroit (2-0). Maybe it's just 'cause I felt this game shouldn't have been so close, but I have trouble picking out stars and good performances from the game. Greg Buckner was nice and aggressive with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Michael Finley had a balanced game despite shooting poorly with 19 points including 5-16 FG, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. Erick Strickland also had 19 points and had 7 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki chipped in 18 points and 6 rebounds. Michael Olowokandi and Shawn Bradley picked up double technical fouls for getting a little too physical in trying to get post position with 8 minutes left in the 3rd. Olowokandi picked up his 2nd technical and was ejected a few seconds later for gripping to refs. Even without the ejection, Olowokandi does not look like a good NBA player - the only thing he seems to have going for him is his height. In 21 minutes against a team weak in the middle, he had 2 points on 1-6 FG and 7 rebounds. The Mavs gave another player a career high with Tyrone Nesby going off on them. Nesby had 29 points (11 came in the 4th quarter) including 5-9 3-pointers and 5 rebounds. Maurice Taylor still looks to be a big name in the summer's free agent market and finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Lamar Odom (12 points, 5 rebounds, 6 turnovers) didn't have a very good game, but was limited by foul trouble, and Jeff McInnis (12 points) was the only other Clipper in double digits. Quotes Don Nelson: "We came at them hard with double teams and traps and it worked for us. I really liked our effort today." Nelson: "I though we came out like we were going to put the Clippers away. Then circumstances stepped in and made it a tight game. I think the education part of it was just great for out team." Nelson: "This is just a perfect situation for our team right now. These are the types of games I want them to be in right now - close games. They learn more lessons in what not to do, and we're still managing to find a way to win." Nelson: "I'm interested in this carrying over into next year. That's why these tight games are really important to us. We need to learn how to function under fire, under pressure, and find a way to come through. And they're doing a good job of that." Michael Finley: "We made some big shots down the stretch and came up with some key defensive stops. We've crumbled and lost a lot of these close games. We've learned from that." Finley on what the team is learning: "It comes down to a mental state where you can't give in. You have to keep striving to beat the best and be the best. If you keep working hard, good things usually happen." Steve Nash: "I think we're growing as a team. We're winning some close games even when we play as poorly as we did today. These are games against teams we should beat that we were losing." Nash: "It's been really positive to win some of these games because we've given them away a lot. That's been frustrating in the past. For us to be winning these games and hang on with enough toughness to pull it off is positive for this team." Erick Strickland: "The Clippers came in here very feisty and fought hard the whole game, but we held them off. They stayed in it. They showed a lot of pride. They didn't give up." Strickland: "Those types of games we were losing earlier in the season, but we are finishing them now." Strickland: "We're playing for pride. Nobody wants to go out a loser. We're going to try to win as many as we can the rest of the way." Greg Buckner: "No team in this league is going to come in and give you a game. They have pride also, so they came in and gave us a fight." Buckner on the jump hook he occasionally uses: "I think that if you shoot the jump hook right it's almost unblockable. That's the shot I used in college and I use it now. The only way you're going to miss it is if you miss it." Jim Todd: "We just try to stay close and win it at the end. When you're the underdog night in and night out, that's all we can hope to do." Todd: "We'd like to have a 20 point lead with a couple of minutes to go, but we tried to stay close, just like Bill Parcel's coaching - stay close and try to win it at the end. When you are the underdog night in and night out, that's all we can hope to do. We had a shot at it tonight." Todd on Olowokandi's ejection: "To be quite honest, I'm glad he at least retaliated and fought back. You don't want to see him get thrown out at any time, but if you're going to play with emotion, you've got to retaliate a little bit." Maurice Taylor: "I tried to come out and play basketball. The outcome wasn't like we wanted it, but no matter how hard you play, the game doesn't seem as good unless you come out with a win." Taylor: "We knew at the mid-part of the 4th quarter that the game was getting out of control in the Mavericks favor and we had to step up our defensive intensity if we wanted to get back into the game. We stepped it up a little bit on the defensive end and that is what enabled us to get back into the game." Dallas Mavericks 98, Los Angeles Clippers 96 at Dallas (April 8) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 25 22 25 26 - 98 .385 .500 .410 .724 LA Clippers 19 21 23 33 - 96 .418 .529 .440 .813 Halftime: Dallas 47-40 3rd Q: Dallas 72-63 Technicals: Michael Olowokandi 8:00 3rd, Shawn Bradley 7:55 3rd, Michael Olowokandi 7:55 3rd (ejected) Refs: Jack Nies, Tony Brothers, Rashan Michel Attendance: 13,552 (cap 18,187) Did not play due to injury: Cedric Ceballos (broken left pinky finger), Derek Anderson (stomach flu) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 47 5-16 2-3 7-9 19 5-8 7 1 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 33 6-10 2-5 4-6 18 1-6 0 1 4 0 0 Shawn Bradley 19 2-7 0-0 4-4 8 2-5 2 1 3 5 1 Steve Nash 33 5-7 2-2 1-1 13 1-3 7 5 2 0 0 Erick Strickland 34 7-18 2-5 3-5 19 2-7 4 1 2 2 0 Greg Buckner 33 7-13 0-0 1-2 15 3-7 1 1 5 3 1 Sean Rooks 17 1-5 0-0 1-2 3 1-3 1 2 3 1 1 Hubert Davis 24 1-7 1-3 0-0 3 0-1 1 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 34-83 9-18 21-29 98 15-40 23 13 23 12 3 Los Angeles Clippers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Lamar Odom 25 4-8 0-1 4-4 12 1-5 4 6 6 0 1 Maurice Taylor 45 10-20 0-0 4-4 24 5-15 4 5 2 0 0 Michael Olowokandi 21 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 1-7 1 1 3 0 1 Jeff McInnis 41 5-13 2-3 0-0 12 2-4 7 2 3 0 0 Tyrone Nesby 43 11-22 5-9 2-4 29 2-5 3 3 5 1 1 Eric Piatkowski 22 3-6 1-2 2-2 9 4-8 0 1 0 0 0 Pete Chilcutt 11 1-2 1-1 0-0 3 2-5 1 1 1 0 0 Keith Closs 15 1-5 0-0 1-2 3 3-5 1 1 2 1 2 Charles Jones 16 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-3 1 0 2 1 0 Etdrick Bohannon 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 37-84 9-17 13-16 96 20-57 22 21 24 3 5 Portland at Dallas (April 11) Arvydas Sabonis (sprained right foot) and Detlef Schrempf (sore neck) did not play. Dallas scored the first 7 points of the game and held a 1 to 6 point lead the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 27-22 after 1. Neither team was able to make much of a rally in the 2nd quarter and Dallas was able to keep their lead, leading by 2 to 8 points the entire quarter. Shawn Bradley left the game with a twisted left knee with 1:22 left. Dallas led 43-39 at the half. Rasheed Wallace hit 2 free throws and Brian Grant hit a line drive 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer to give Portland their first lead of the game at 44-43 with 10:40 remaining. The teams traded baskets and Dallas then went on a 13-3 run to go up 58-49 with 3:51. Dirk Nowitzki hit consecutive 3-pointers and Steve Nash made the technical free throw on Wallace (complaining) to end the run. Bradley returned to action with 6:15 remaining. Dallas led 64-54 after 3. Dallas opened the 4th quarter with a 7-2 run to go up 71-56 with 10 minutes to go. Portland answered by scoring the next 9 points, capped by a 3-point play by Wallace, to pull Portland within 65-71 with 7:50 left. Those 3 points gave Wallace 11 points - the first Blazer to reach double digits. Dallas led 80-74 with 3:25 remaining and Michael Finley hit a jumper and Erick Strickland made 2 free throws to give Dallas a 84-74 lead with 2 minutes to go. Wallace hit 2 free throws and Strickland nailed a jumper with 1:25 left. Damon Stoudamire hit a 3-pointer with 1:15 to go, but Finley side-stepped the defense and answered with a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left. Portland was not able hit their 3-pointers in the last minute and Dallas won 92-81. Wow. Dallas controlled the game and Portland could not hit the broadside of a barn. Dallas won besides the fact that they could get the defensive rebounds in the 2nd half. Portland out-rebounded Dallas 59-37 including _27_ to 9 offensive. Portland only shot 34.6% FG while Dallas shot 44.7% FG. And Portland could not hit their free throws (which the refs were giving them lots of) as they missed 14 free throws in the game. But the thing that astounded me, even more than winning despite being out-rebounded by that many, was not a single Portland player having a solid game - Portland did not have any player in double digits scoring through 3 quarters and no Portland player made more than 4 field goals. Michael Finley had a nice game with 24 points (13 in the 4th) including 9-16 FG and 4-5 3-pointers. But Dirk Nowitzki was the man with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Erick Strickland chipped in 18 points and 8 rebounds (6 in the 1st half). Even though his number's weren't that great (12 points and 5 rebounds), kudos to Shawn Bradley for returning after he was injured. He definitely affected the game. Portland's only players in double digits were Rasheed Wallace (13 points), Stacey Augmon (12 points), Damon Stoudamire (11 points), and Bonzi Wells (11 points - all in the 4th). Quotes Don Nelson: "I don't know how we're winning some of these games. How do you get outrebounded by 20 in this league and win? I have no idea, but we've done it all season long. It amazes me, but our defense was strong enough." Nelson: "I don't know how we're winning a lot of these to be honest with you. But I'm happy we're doing it." Nelson: "We're overachieving, no question about it. But we're also playing very well. We're keeping the pedal to the metal and I think Mark [Cuban] has a lot to do with it. But this ain't a mini-surge. We've been playing well for 3 months now." Nelson: "You look at Steve Nash's line, and it's not very impressive. Yet, he's the main reason we won. He made every right play, defended and ran a great game. His line doesn't look all that good, but he was the guy tonight. There's no question about it." Nelson on Bradley returning after being injured: "I'm really glad he was able to play the 2nd half. The fact that he came back after his injury and played well was a factor in a lot of their missed shots." Steve Nash: "First and foremost, it's just prioritizing defense, making defense important. When we're just concerned with trying to fill it up and score points, defense becomes secondary." Nash: "It was one of those nights where I didn't throw the ball into the stands. I just took care of it and got the guys the ball. They made a lot of shots. I think the key was we played good defense even though we couldn't rebound the ball." Dirk Nowitzki: "It's weird. We did a good job of double teaming them inside, but they had a lot of open looks from the outside and weren't making them. It's late in the season, but we're maturing as a team. We're trying to win as many as we can." Erick Strickland: "I'm very happy with the guys. Everybody is playing well. Everybody is playing hard. We have tremendous heart on this team. We're not giving up and we want to finish the season strong." Strickland: "The difference was we played great defense. They didn't get great open looks and we contested every shot." Michael Finley: "The sky's the limit for our team. We have a young team who started out real slow. It kind of affected us as far as the playoff race, but I'd rather for us to go the way we did. Starting off slow and finishing strong than to start strong and and finish terrible. Although we don't have any playoffs in our future this year, next year we should be there." Finley: "The sky's the limit. We don't have any playoffs in our future this year, but we hope we can take this into next season. We're beating playoff teams who are jockeying for position. These are some good tests for us." Finley: "I had some good looks. My teammates were finding me and I was knocking down my shot." Mike Dunleavy: "Our effort was good. We had guys who played hard. But we were lucky to be in the game as much as we were the way we shot the ball." Dunleavy: "We really didn't have it physically tonight. You can tell by the way we shot our free throws. We're normally a good free throw shooting team. We also made some mental mistakes that allowed them to jump out at us." Dunleavy on not playing Sabonis: "He played last night. We're not going to risk him, probably wouldn't play him in a back-to-back game unless it was totally necessary for some playoff implications at this point and time. I knew fully coming in that there could be no time for him." Scottie Pippen: "You can't beat a high school team shooting like that." Jermaine O'Neal: "They had a lot more in the gas tank than we did." O'Neal on Bradley: "He was the X-factor. He made some plays we didn't think he could make." Greg Anthony: "We'd like to make excuses, but the reality is, we just didn't play well. We couldn't get the key stops or get the shots we needed down the stretch to fall." Dallas Mavericks 92, Portland Trailblazers 81 at Dallas (April 11) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 27 16 21 28 - 92 .464 .400 .447 .889 Portland 22 17 15 27 - 81 .367 .286 .346 .576 Halftime: Dallas 43-39 3rd Q: Dallas 64-54 Portland's largest lead: 46-45 9:41 3rd Dallas' largest lead: 71-56 9:57 4th Technicals: Rasheed Wallace 3:31 3rd Refs: Ken Mauer, David Jones, Tommie Wood Attendance: 14,005 (cap 18,187) Did not play due to injury: Cedric Ceballos (broken left pinky finger), Arvydas Sabonis (sprained right foot), Detlef Schrempf (sore neck) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 44 9-16 4-5 2-2 24 1-4 4 5 3 4 3 Dirk Nowitzki 44 6-15 3-10 6-6 21 2-14 4 2 2 2 0 Shawn Bradley 29 4-9 0-0 4-5 12 0-5 1 0 4 0 5 Steve Nash 39 4-9 0-2 1-1 9 0-1 6 0 1 0 0 Erick Strickland 31 7-14 1-2 3-4 18 3-8 3 1 3 2 0 Sean Rooks 17 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 1-3 0 0 4 0 1 Hubert Davis 24 1-5 0-1 0-0 2 1-1 1 1 4 0 0 Greg Buckner 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 34-76 8-20 16-18 92 9-37 19 10 23 8 9 Portland Trailblazers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Brian Grant 32 2-8 1-1 2-6 7 4-12 1 0 1 1 1 Scottie Pippen 29 1-6 0-2 3-6 5 2-9 2 3 1 1 0 Rasheed Wallace 39 4-12 0-3 5-5 13 1-6 1 2 3 1 0 Steve Smith 29 4-10 0-2 0-2 8 4-5 2 1 2 1 0 Damon Stoudamire 26 4-11 3-4 0-0 11 1-2 2 3 3 0 0 Stacey Augmon 25 4-8 0-0 4-4 12 4-6 2 0 1 0 0 Bonzi Wells 22 4-10 1-3 2-6 11 6-10 2 2 3 2 0 Greg Anthony 24 3-10 1-6 2-2 9 1-1 2 2 5 2 0 Jermaine O'Neal 14 2-6 0-0 1-2 5 4-8 0 2 2 0 0 Totals 48 28-81 6-21 19-33 81 27-59 14 18 21 8 1 patricia