Dallas at Phoenix (12/26) The first quarter was a run-and-gun game. The Mavs' offense did a good job of keeping up with the Suns, but I thought their defense had a lot of holes. It was a high scoring quarter and looked to be a fun game. The game was tied at 31-31 and both teams were shooting 54% FG. 26 of Dallas' points came in the paint, including 3 slams by Jackson. There were some interesting matchups throughout the game - Mashburn on Tisdale, Lorenzo Williams on Barkley, Wesley Person on Jackson, and (of course) Kidd on KJ. Kidd had a strong 1st quarter dishing out several nifty passes. Once again, Popeye got in foul trouble in the 1st quarter. He only played 15 minutes in the game. The Mavs didn't make too many mistakes in the 2nd quarter, but it seemed that Phoenix capitalized on those few mistakes. Phoenix also shot extremely well in the quarter. The biggest difference in the quarter, though, was Phoenix's 3-point shooting. They made _7_ 3-pointers in the quarter (7-9 on 3-pointers), including 4 consecutive 3s. The Suns were up 66-56 at the half. Part of Dallas' problem in the game was also that they double down off of the point guard. It didn't work in this games as doing so left KJ open and he took advantage of it getting 20 points on 7-10 FG and 6-6 FT. The Mavs only committed 7 turnovers in the half. Then came the 3rd quarter. Right from the start, you could tell that Barkley wanted the ball. He took advantage of Lorenzo being on him (and Lo actually did play some good D, but Barkley is just too good) and made the first four points of the quarter. I don't know the exact numbers, but he must of made 15 of his 19 total points in the quarter. I was also impressed with how much quickness Barkley still has. At least twice he ran down the floor with the ball, beating the defense back, for the power slam on one and layup on the other. 2/3rds into the quarter, after Jackson drove to the basket and no foul was called (and Phoenix capitalized on a fast break the other way), both Kip and Dick Motta picked up technical fouls. It was the third consecutive game that the Mavs were not getting any respect from the officals. Dick Motta had had enough and picked up his 2nd T 15 seconds later. For the quarter, Phoenix attempted something like 15 free throws to Dallas' something like 4. Although the final stat of 29 Phoenix free throw attempts to 25 Dallas attempts looks fairly even, 13 of those Dallas free throws occurred in the 4th quarter, after the game was decided. [That's not to say that the reffing cost the Mavs the game - Phoenix was obviously the better team, but it would be nice for the Mavs to get some respect from the refs for a change.] Phoenix was up 102-84 after 3. The all the starters were resting on the bench about 3 minutes into the 4th. The pine sitters had their fun as Phoenix coasted to a 139-113 win. Phoenix was just plain and simple the better team. They shot 61.8% from 2 pointers and 57.1% FG over all. What can you do. Motta on the game: "They're good. They hit the 3-pointers, every one, it seemed. When we trapped them, they hit the open man. We're just another one of the lambs that got led to the slaughter." Jason Kidd looked very good in the game. He didn't seem hesitant to take the few shots he did attempt and successfully drove to the basket 4 times - twice for layups and twice for dish-offs. He had several "Oh Wow" passes and was able to snatch 7 rebounds, including 2 offensive. Popeye continued to struggle. One of the commentators made the comment that seemed to ring true - Popeye's struggling is a result of teams focusing on him to block him out on the boards. And he is trying to compensate by forcing his way in using his hands which leads to fouls (though the refs also tend to get him on ticky-tacky fouls too). Lorenzo, benefiting from the focus on Popeye, managed to rack up 14 rebounds including 8 offensive. Jackson and Mashburn had good offensive games with 28 and 21 points. Tony Dumas took advantage of his garbage time and scored every chance he got. He had 9 points on 3-3 FG including a 3-pointer, and 2-2 FT in 6 minutes. For Phoenix, Barkley, Green, KJ, Person, Majerle, Manning, Perry, and Ainge all had 11 points or more. Jeez. Barkley nearly had a triple double with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists. Only Wayman Tisdale seemed to have a poor game for Phoenix with 4 points on 2-6 FG, 4 rebounds, 3 turnovers, and 6 fouls in 22 minutes. It will be interesting to see how the Mavs respond in the re-match tonight at Reunion Arena. 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Phoenix 31 35 36 37 - 139 .618 .435 .571 .862 Dallas 31 25 28 29 - 113 .557 .188 .495 .640 Halftime: 66-56 Phoenix 3rd Q: 102-84 Pho Phoenix's largest lead: 139-113, final Dallas' largest lead: 5-0, 11:25 1st Q Dallas' last lead: 18-16, 5:55 1st Q Lead changes: 3 Attendance: 19,023 (sell-out) Technicals: Dallas - Assistant Kip Motta 4:21 3rd Q, Coach Dick Motta 4:21 3rd Q, Coach Motta (ejected) 4:09 3rd Q; Phoenix - illegal D 8:11 3rd Q Officials: Ed T. Rush, Luis Grillo, Mark Wunderlic Phoenix FG 3pt FT Reb Player Min M-A M-A M-A Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Charles Barkley 31 8-17 0-3 3-4 19 1-12 8 1 2 1 0 A.C. Green 30 7-8 2-3 0-0 16 6-11 1 0 2 0 0 Wayman Tisdale 22 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 1-4 1 3 6 2 0 Kevin Johnson 23 7-10 0-0 6-6 20 1-1 7 1 1 3 0 Wesley Person 34 6-10 1-4 2-2 15 1-2 1 1 2 0 1 Dan Majerle 22 7-14 5-8 0-2 19 0-1 2 1 3 1 1 Danny Manning 29 3-7 0-1 6-7 12 1-3 4 3 2 0 2 Eliot Perry 20 4-7 1-1 4-4 13 2-4 8 4 2 2 0 Danny Ainge 12 3-4 1-1 4-4 11 0-0 4 0 2 1 0 Joe Klein 7 2-3 0-1 0-0 4 0-4 0 1 0 0 1 Danny Schayes 5 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Trevor Ruffin 5 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 1-1 2 0 0 2 0 Totals 240 52-91 10-23 25-29 139 14-43 38 15 24 12 5 Dallas FG 3pt FT Reb Player Min M-A M-A M-A Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Jamal Mashburn 27 10-19 1-5 0-1 21 0-1 5 2 5 0 0 Popeye Jones 15 1-3 0-0 2-2 4 1-2 1 1 4 0 0 Lorenzo Williams 37 4-7 0-0 1-4 9 8-14 3 2 4 2 2 Jason Kidd 38 4-8 0-1 0-0 8 2-7 11 6 4 4 0 Jim Jackson 37 11-23 1-4 5-8 28 0-2 4 3 2 0 0 Roy Tarpley 23 7-13 0-0 2-2 16 3-6 2 2 0 0 1 Doug Smith 22 3-9 0-1 0-0 6 1-2 1 2 5 0 2 Lucious Harris 15 1-6 0-3 0-1 2 1-3 4 0 0 0 0 Morlon Wiley 10 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 1-4 3 2 1 2 0 Donald Hodge 10 3-3 0-0 3-3 9 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Tony Dumas 6 3-3 1-1 2-2 9 0-0 0 0 1 1 0 Totals 240 47-95 3-16 16-25 113 17-41 34 21 26 9 5 Terry Davis did not travel with the team to Phoenix. It is likely that he will go on IR in the next couple of days. patricia