Roy Tarpley was placed out of the starting line-up and back into the 6th man role. He didn't have a very good performance (his defense was lousy). Motta experimented with Tony Dumas as the backup guard (point and off). He did pretty good defensively. I thought for sure Drexler was going to eat him alive, but Portland didn't get him the ball very much and when they did, Dumas and the double teamer would contain him. I thought that Dumas actually did a pretty good job at the point. As a result of Motta's experiment, Lucious Harris and Morlon Wiley did not play - coach's decision. The other mismatch is saw was when they put Hodge on Clifford Robinson. That lasted for one play and then Motta put Tarpley on him the next time down. Jim Jackson scored 19 points in the 3rd quarter. It was all Dallas into the 4th. During the 4th, Portland showed that they are a veteran team and the Mavs are a young team as they ate away at the lead over a 5 minute span and the Mavs had relaxed. The Mavs almost let this one get away. They went from a lead of 85-60 early into the 4th to a slim lead of 89-87 with just under 3 minutes left. Jason Kidd stole the offensive rebound off a missed free throw by Donald Hodge which resulted in a basket and pushed the lead up to 5 points with a little over a minute left and allowed the fans to breathe a little easier. Kidd's four turnovers (I think he had actually had more) were really bad passes that were way off the mark and not the recipient's fault. Chris Dudley has to have one of the ugliest free throw shooting forms in the league. I wasn't surprised that he shot 3-10 FT. Both teams did not help themselves by missing 13 free throws. Mashburn was the main culprit for Dallas in shooting 7-14 FT. Dallas FG 3pt FT Reb Player Min M-A M-A M-A Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Jamal Mashburn 36 10-14 0-2 7-14 27 1-4 3 3 4 1 0 Popeye Jones 29 5-2 0-0 2-2 12 3-16 1 3 5 0 0 Lorenzo Williams 29 1-0 0-0 0-0 2 0-8 3 1 6 1 2 Jason Kidd 37 4-6 0-0 5-6 13 1-3 10 4 4 4 0 Jim Jackson 40 10-13 1-2 10-13 31 2-4 1 4 3 0 0 Tony Dumas 19 1-0 0-2 0-0 2 3-3 1 0 1 0 1 Roy Tarpley 17 2-1 0-0 1-1 5 3-8 1 2 1 0 2 Terry Davis 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2-5 0 0 0 0 0 Donald Hodge 19 4-3 0-0 1-3 9 4-5 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 240 37-39 1-6 26-39 101 19-56 20 17 26 6 5 Portland FG 3pt FT Reb Player Min M-A M-A M-A Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Clifford Robinson 39 8-20 0-3 3-6 19 5-4 4 2 3 2 0 Buck Williams 37 3-7 0-0 0-0 6 3-5 1 1 2 2 1 Chris Dudley 33 1-6 0-0 3-10 5 7-12 0 0 2 0 1 Clyde Drexler 37 5-17 2-6 7-9 19 3-2 6 4 5 2 0 James Robinson 30 3-10 2-5 4-4 12 1-2 7 2 1 0 2 Mark Bryant 17 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 1 2 5 0 0 Tracey Murray 9 1-6 0-1 0-0 2 1-0 0 0 4 0 0 Harvey Grant 9 2-6 0-0 3-4 7 0-1 0 0 3 0 0 Jerome Kersey 8 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 1-2 0 2 2 1 1 Steve Henson 18 4-7 3-5 0-0 11 0-0 4 0 3 1 0 Aaron Mckie 3 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 240 32-91 7-20 20-33 91 22-29 23 13 30 8 5 1 2 3 4 - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 22 30 31 18 - 101 .493 .167 .468 .667 Portland 16 16 28 31 - 91 .352 .350 .352 .606 Halftime: 52-32 Dal 3rd Quarter: 83-60 Dal Por largest lead: 1 Dal largest lead: 25 Lead changes: 3 Attendance: 17,502 (sell-out) Technical fouls: Dallas (Coach Motta for arguing a bad call), Portland illegal D Officials: Steve Javie, Nolan Fine, Mark Wunderlic.