The rift between Motta and Tarpley seems to not be as wide. This is really good as trading Tarpley will be very tough. It seems that any trade this season will have to go through the LA Clippers. The Clippers are the only team with a salary slot available that Tarpley's over $3 million salary can fit into and Dallas can not trade him for another $3 million player as Tarpley is considered a dreaded base-year player and his salary slot is worth only about $800,000. The Dallas-LA Clippers- Indiana rumors have died and Indiana management has put forth strong words that the rumored trade (Antonio Davis and LaSalle Thompson to LAC, Eric Piatkowski to Dallas, and Tarpley to Indiana) will not happen. Make no doubt about it though, the rift is still there. Fortunately, it does not appear to be affecting the team. The Dallas city council is still dragging their feet on putting solid plans up for a new arena. If they don't improve their image on this matter or make nicey with Mavs owner Donald Carter within the next few months, look for Carter to thumb his nose at the council and take the Mavs to the suburbs - most likely Lewisville. Don't forget to get those All-Star ballots in for the 4 Js (Jackson, Kidd, Mashburn, and write-in Popeye Jones) and Derek Harper. The game Dallas at Golden State (Kidd's homecoming) This was a game for the guards. Kidd vs his off season pick-up game opponent Tim Hardaway and two of the best young off guards in Jackson vs Latrell Sprewell. In the first half, the Hardaway-Kidd match up was everything you could want it to be. Hardaway was dishing out assists and nailing the occasional jumper. Kidd was whipping in passes and slashing for the occasional layup. Bragging rights were on the line. The Jackson-Sprewell match up was not as exciting. Jackson only had 4 points on 2-5 shooting in the first half. Sprewell was lighting it up and seemed to have exited his shooting slump that has plagued him the pass couple of games. Despite Jackson's poor half, the Mavs were rolling. The were executing well, passing great, defending well, and scoring a lot of points. The Mavs had a 45-27 lead mid-way through the 2nd. The Warriors took advantage of the Mavs' second team and dwindled their lead down to 11 points at the half. It was 51-40 Dallas I know that ref bashing from the winning side is in poor taste, but I was so upset with the start of the 2nd half. In the first two minutes of the half, there were 3 non-calls for the Mavs and 3 questionable/ boarderline calls in Golden State's favor - on consecutive plays!!! Talk about momentum swingers. It was no wonder that the Mavs lost their 11 point lead early in the 3rd. The Warriors went on a 14 to 2 run to start the quarter and took their first lead of the night at 54-53. The Mavs picked up their play a little bit and the game remained close the rest of the quarter with Golden State up 76-74 after 3. The Warriors had a small rally early into the 4th quarter and pushed their lead up to 85-78 with 9 minutes left. Mashburn had missed his first two shots of the quarter. Then the sleeping J woke up. Jackson had only 10 points in the first 3 quarters. He went on to score 10 of the Mavs' next 11 points. He finished with 16 points in the quarter. The Mavs took their first lead of the quarter with 3 minutes left on a jumper by Popeye to make it 94-93. The game went back and forth over the next two minutes. The Mavs took a 1 point lead on a Mashburn 3-pointer. The Mavs got the ball back and Mashburn nailed another 3! The Mavs were up 102-98 with about a minute left. Golden State was not able close the gap. Final: Dallas 110, Golden State 107. 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 31 20 23 36 - 110 .444 .385 .437 .600 Golden State 21 19 36 31 - 107 .638 .222 .555 .500 Halftime: 51-40 Dal 3rd Q: 76-74 GS GS's largest lead: 85-78, 8:51 4th Q Dal's largest lead: 45-27, 7:39 2nd Q Lead changes: 16 Attendance: 15,205 (sell-out) Technicals: Dallas illegal D, 1:31 4th Q Officials: Dick Bavetta, Ed F. Rush, Ron Olesiak Dallas FG 3pt FT Reb Player Min M-A M-A M-A Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Popeye Jones 35 8-13 0-0 2-4 18 2-6 2 1 5 1 0 Jamal Mashburn 41 9-26 4-5 5-9 27 4-5 5 1 2 0 0 Lorenzo Williams 26 1-6 0-0 0-0 2 6-8 2 1 3 1 1 Jim Jackson 36 12-22 0-2 2-2 26 3-6 4 2 4 2 0 Jason Kidd 40 7-14 1-6 4-6 19 2-5 10 1 3 1 1 Roy Tarpley 26 5-10 0-0 0-0 10 2-10 1 3 5 0 0 Morlon Wiley 10 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 4 1 0 2 0 Lucious Harris 14 2-10 0-0 2-4 6 3-6 0 1 0 1 0 Doug Smith 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Terry Davis 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 Donald Hodge 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 240 45-103 5-13 15-25 110 23-50 28 11 22 8 2 Golden State FG 3pt FT Reb Player Min M-A M-A M-A Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Tom Gugliotta 36 7-11 1-2 0-2 15 4-8 6 3 5 4 1 Clifford Rozier 12 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 1-4 0 1 3 0 1 Rony Seikaly 45 9-13 0-0 2-2 20 3-9 0 2 5 0 0 Tim Hardaway 42 8-19 3-9 1-3 20 3-5 18 4 4 0 0 Latrell Sprewell 46 13-23 0-5 2-3 28 1-7 5 2 0 4 1 Chris Gatling 32 8-11 0-0 2-4 18 1-7 0 4 5 4 2 Keith Jennings 19 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0-2 8 2 1 4 0 David Wood 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 240 48-87 4-18 7-14 107 13-42 37 18 24 16 5 [Note: the steal total for GS is listed as 4 in the paper, but adds up to 16. I'd guess (from viewing the game) that 4 is the correct total and that the four players with steals listed got 1 steal a piece.] patricia