Dallas at San Antonio The 1st quarter wasn't very pretty for the Mavs. They shot a terrible 24% FG while San Antonio was shooting 56% FG. Fortunately the Mavs were getting most of the rebounds and the Spurs were only up by 7 at the end of the quarter. 30-23 SA. The Mavs' shooting improved somewhat in the 2nd quarter and the Spurs were still shooting well. Again the Mavs got most of the rebounds and with their hustle they managed to cut the Spurs' lead to just 3 points. At the half, the Mavs were shooting about 39% FG and the Spurs about 54% FG. 56-53 SA. The Spurs started off red hot in the 3rd and they looked like they were going to pull away for good. They built up a 14 point lead midway through the quarter. But the "Don't Tell Me It's Over Until the Buzzer Sounds" Mavs still believed. Off of Tarpley's shooting, the teams hustle, and their continued rebounding dominance, the Mavs whittled away at the Spurs' lead. At one point in the 3rd, Avery Johnson stole to the ball from Kidd and ran down the court for what was going to be a break-away layup. But Kidd came running up behind Johnson and flew at just the right time to cleanly swat the shot from behind (and Popeye was there to pick it up). The Spurs were up by 3 with just a couple of seconds left in the the quarter when Mashburn nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game at 83-83. The 4th quarter went back and forth with neither team able to build more than a 4 point lead. The Spurs had a 4 point lead with less than 2 minutes left when Mashburn banked a 3-pointer. With less than 45 seconds left, Robinson drove to the basket, was fouled, and got the continuation (how many times did I see that). He made the extra to put the Spurs up 110-108. Lucious Harris then made a key 3-pointer with 22.8 seconds left to cut the Spurs' lead to just 112-111. The Spurs called timeout and inbounded the ball at half court. Kidd tapped the inbound's pass down court and it was a foot race between Kidd and Reid. Kidd caught up with the ball at the Mavs' baseline, leaped into the air (crossing the baseline), and called a 20 second timeout mid-air (it was very impressive!). Out of the timeout, Mashburn was fouled driving to the basket. He made 1 of 2. Robinson tried driving to the basket, was well defended, fumbled the ball, then passed the ball back out to Elliott, the pass flew over Elliott's head as the clock ran out. Overtime. 112-112. Tarpley fouled out about 2 minutes into overtime and Lorenzo Williams came into to replace him. We lost Williams to 6 fouls as well with less than 2 minutes left and, my worse nightmare, Hodge came in to try to guard Robinson. Fortunately, Robinson fouled out with 55 seconds left in overtime on an offensive foul when he ran into Popeye Jones, who had position (all right Popeye!). Jackson drove to the basket for on the next possession to put the Mavs up by 2. The Spurs missed on their next possession and Kidd nailed a pump-fake 10-footer. The Spurs again couldn't produce on their next possession and Mashburn was fouled. Mashburn made 1 of 2. Elliott nailed a 3-pointer to cut the Mavs' lead back down to just 2 with less than 10 seconds left. Jackson was immediately fouled and also only made 1 of 2. Elliott missed a 3 right before the buzzer. The Mavs won 124-121! The game was awesome! I had so much fun. There were a handful of Mavs fans near the area where I was at and we were just screaming our heads off. I was really surprised at how empty the 'dome was. The official attendance was over 14,000, but I would say that there was less than that - the 2nd level was practically empty. One thing that I found interesting was that almost the entire team for the Mavs was on the court for the pre-warmup for about 30 minutes or more. And the guys are laughing and talking to each other while they practice. Mashburn and Popeye (and one of the assistants and sometimes one other player - Smith, Davis, or Tarpley) always spend most of the pre-warmup posting up on each other. For the Spurs, only 4 or 5 players were on the court at a time for the pre-warmup. Tarpley looked great - though his defense is still a little lacking. He was hustling, ripping down rebounds, and nailing key baskets. Kidd is amazing. His stats just don't do him justice. 3 of his 5 steals came at crucial moments in the game. And he has a knack of picking up key rebounds. And is hustle is incredible. His shooting still needs some work, but, besides that, the kid just does not look like a rookie. Popeye Jones is a rebounding maniac. Not only that, but he gets some hustle points for the game. There was a loose ball at the Spurs end of the court in the 4th and Popeye just dove at the ball, got, and tossed it to Kidd who streaked down the court. Popeye also got posterized by Robinson. Robinson got the ball about 3 feet in front of the basket, Popeye was directly behind him and held his position with his arms straight up, and Robinson turn and powered it over Popeye. Height difference means everything. Motta went with a short bench. Only 8 players saw playing time and Lucious Harris was the only guard sub. He always had either Kidd or Jackson on the court. We just have to get a legitimate center. Hodge and Williams could not guard Robinson. Hodge looked awful on both offense and defense. Williams just doesn't have the muscle. Motta put Tarpley on Robinson as much as possible. The 3 players combined for 23 fouls. Avery Johnson had an awesome night. He was just flying past Kidd several times. Terry Davis and Willie Anderson DNP. 1 2 3 4 OT Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 23 30 30 29 12 - 124 .495 .294 .463 .792 San Antonio 30 26 27 29 9 - 121 .573 .200 .533 .750 Reb Ast Fouls Dallas 71 29 27 San Antonio 42 30 18 Bench scoring: Dal 35 pts, SA 0 pts Technicals: Coach Motta, Assistant coach Brad Davis, SA illegal D Flagrant foul: Chuch Person (I thought it was Elliott? - anyways, it was a bad call, shouldn't have been a flagrant) Attendance: 14,007 Dallas FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS Jamal Mashburn 13-24 4-11 4-6 34 Popeye Jones 6-16 0-0 3-4 15 and 17 rebs Lorenzo Williams 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 and 6 fouls Jason Kidd 3-9 0-1 4-4 10 and 13 asts, 7 rebs, 5 stls Jim Jackson 12-22 0-1 4-6 28 Donald Hodge 4-11 0-0 0-0 8 and 5 fouls Roy Tarpley 10-18 0-0 2-2 22 and 14 rebs, 6 fouls Lucious Harris 1-5 1-4 2-2 5 Totals 50-108 5-17 19-24 124 San Antonio FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS J.R. Reid 6-11 0-0 2-5 14 and 10 rebs Sean Elliott 7-16 2-6 2-3 18 David Robinson 17-26 0-0 8-10 42 and 8 rebs, 6 fouls Avery Johnson 7-10 0-0 8-9 22 and 16 asts Vinnie Del Negro 12-16 0-1 1-1 25 Terry Cummings 0-6 0-0 0-0 0 Chuck Person 0-7 0-3 0-0 0 Moses Malone 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 Jamie Nwosu 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 Chris Whitney 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 Totals 49-92 2-10 21-28 121 Interesting stat for the Mavs: they are an amazing 8-2 in games decided by 10 points or less and are perfect (3-0) in overtime games. It is a good thing that we aren't seeing the Spurs again for a month. With the other two overtime victories on the road (at Chicago and Denver), the opponents came to Reunion a week later to extract their revenge. patricia