With his 3rd degree ankle sprain, word is Jim Jackson can be out (optimistically) 4 to 6 weeks or the rest of the season. Further examination on his ankle, such as a CAT scan and magnetic resonance imaging test, will occur when the Mavs return to Dallas this week. Jackson: "I'm looking at it like I'll be out the rest of the way." "With a bright future ahead for myself and our team next year and beyond, there's no reason to rush back this season and possibly get hurt even worse." "But this was one of those of freak things that I guess happens to everybody some time in their career. This may be a blessing in disguise in that I get to sit back and reflect on what I accomplished this season and what I need to work on." Trainer Doug Atkinson: "It's too early to tell or pinpoint a time frame. At the very minimum he'll miss four weeks, and there's the real possibility he could miss six or seven weeks. With only eight weeks left, that would be like being out the rest of the season." "We can't really determine exactly what's wrong until the swelling goes down." "It's a very uncommon, severe injury. It takes a lot of trauma to dislocate that part of the ankle." Dick Motta: "It's a serious thing. But Jimmy's a pro, and you know he'll do everything right in his rehab. He won't slack up, and he'll be back as quickly as humanly possible." Well, Mark Vandenwauver let me know that the Greece season ends in May, so no return to Dallas for Ro to fill in while Jackson is out. In his first game as a Mav in the game vs Indiana, Scott Brooks was participating in his 500th career NBA game. Dallas at Indiana (February 26) Dallas started off to a 7-2 lead with 10 minutes left. Mark Jackson nailed a 3-pointer and Rik Smits converted a 3 point play to put the Pacers up 8-7. The game went back and forth for the rest of the quarter with ties at 11-11, 13-13 with 6:30 left, 15-15, and 17-17. Jamal Mashburn nailed a 3-pointer and hit a long baseliner to give Dallas at 22-17 lead with 4 minutes to go. Miller got 2 of a drive and Jackson nailed another 3-pointer to tie the game again at 22-22 with 2:55 left. The teams played sloppy over the next minute, trading turnovers and misses. They then traded baskets. Popeye Jones nailed a fade away jumper to put Dallas up 26-24. Donald Hodge got 2 and stole the ball to prevent Indiana from getting a shot off prior to the end of the quarter. Dallas was up 28-24 after 1. Both teams were shooting around 50% FG. Mashburn had 12 points and Popeye had 10 points. Dallas was still up by 4 at 34-30 a couple of minutes into the 2nd quarter. Dallas was up 37-34 when Mashburn got his first rest of the game. 2 24 second violations by Dallas, a jam by Smits, and 2 free throws by Byron Scott gave Indiana the lead at 38-37 with 6:20 left. George McCloud converted a 3 point play and Smits nailed the hook to tie the game at 40-40 with 5:17 left. 1 turnover, 3 missed shots, and 2 missed free throws by Dallas helped Indiana take a 48-42 lead with 2:30 left. Mashburn had returned with Indiana up 44-42. Dallas was shooting just 2-11 FG in the quarter. Indiana was up 50-45 at the half after going on an 18-8 run to close the quarter. Dallas shot just 3-14 in the quarter and was shooting 42% FG for the game. Indiana was shooting 53% FG. Indiana shot 10-15 FT and Dallas shot 6-9 FT. Both teams had 21 rebounds. Dallas had 11 turnovers in the game. Mashburn had 16 points, Popeye had 10 points and 6 rebounds, Hodge had 6 points, Lucious Harris had 6 points, and McCloud had 5 points. Smits had 11 points, Reggie Miller had 6 points including 2-6 FG and 4 assists, Scott had 8 points, Dale Davis had 6 points, and Derrick McKey had 6 points. The teams traded baskets to start the quarter and Indiana was up 54-49. Indiana scored 4 consecutive points to go up 58-49. Jason Kidd answered with a long jumper. 4 points by Popeye and 2 by Smits put the score at 60-55 Indiana with 7:18 left. A 6-2 Indiana run put them up 68-60 with 4:40 left. Smits was shooting 8-11 FG for the game. Indiana was up at 71-63. The teams traded misses, turnovers, and baskets and Indiana was up 73-65 with 2 minutes left. A lot of missed shots, a couple of turnovers and just a few points left the score at 75-70 Indiana after 3. Dallas was shooting 42% FG and Indiana was shooting 54% FG. Indiana scored the first 4 points of the quarter as Dallas was still throwing up bricks. 79-70 Indiana 10:39 left. Indiana scored 5 more consecutive points to go up 84-70. Kidd fed McCloud for 2, Lorenzo Williams blocked a shot, and Kidd nailed a fade away to cut Indiana's lead down to 10 at 84-74 with 8:25 left. The teams traded baskets and Dallas made 3 free throws. 86-79 Indiana 7:08. D Davis was called for a moving screen and Kidd drove for 2. Derrick McKey made a jumper, Popeye nailed a baseliner, and Miller made 2 free throws. 90-83 Indiana 5:46. Kidd drove for 2 more. The 7'4" Smits again took advantage of his height advantage over the 6'9" Lorenzo and got 2 up close. Mashburn made 1 of 2 free throws and Miller nailed a 3-pointer. Kidd got 2 on a goaltending call against D Davis. An Antonio Davis miss lead to a Dallas break in which Mashburn drove for 2. 95-90 Indiana with 3:30 left. Despite numerous contact around the Dallas basket, no foul was call and Mashburn airballed a 3 point attempt. D Davis got the offensive rebound and putback. Dallas turned the ball over and Jackson made 1 of 2 free throws. The teams traded misses. Smits made a lay up and Harris converted the 3 point play. 100-92 Indiana with 53 seconds. No one scored any points the rest of the way, so that was the final. This was the Rik Smits show. He made his last 10 shot attempts and scored 17 points in the 2nd half. He finished with 28 points including 13-16 FG and had 7 rebounds and 4 blocks in 34 minutes. Reggie Miller never seemed to be in the game offensively and had only 13 points including 4-13 FG. But he did contribute 7 assists. Popeye Jones had his 4th 20+ scoring game and another double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Jason Kidd had a nice offensive game with 16 points on 7-9 FG, 3 of which came out-side and 2 off of driving lefty flip-ins, and 9 assists. All of his points came in the 2nd half. With the made free throw in the game, George McCloud is a perfect 11-11 FT as a Mav. With Scott Brooks now on the roster and able to backup Kidd, look for Lucious Harris to get the majority of the shooting guard minutes. Tony Dumas looked very poor in the 5 minutes he played. Lucious played 38 minutes, including the entire 1st quarter. 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Indiana 24 26 25 25 - 100 .597 .231 .533 .654 Dallas 28 17 25 22 - 92 .464 .286 .434 .696 Halftime: 50-45 Indiana 3rd Q: 75-70 Indiana Technicals: none Refs: Lee Jones, Joe Crawford, Gary Benson Attendance: 16,183 (sell-out) Indiana REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST PF STL TO BLK Dale Davis 36 5-9 0-0 2-6 12 3-8 0 2 1 2 0 Derrick McKey 32 6-10 0-0 0-0 12 2-5 4 5 2 2 0 Rik Smits 34 13-16 0-0 2-2 28 2-7 2 3 1 2 4 Mark Jackson 30 4-10 2-5 1-2 11 0-6 9 3 0 2 0 Reggie Miller 33 4-13 1-5 4-4 13 0-2 7 1 3 3 0 Antonio Davis 22 1-2 0-0 1-4 3 0-3 0 3 1 1 1 Vern Fleming 18 5-7 0-0 0-0 10 0-3 2 2 1 1 0 Byron Scott 20 2-8 0-3 4-4 8 0-6 1 3 0 3 1 Sam Mitchell 15 0-0 0-0 3-4 3 0-1 2 0 1 0 2 Totals 240 40-75 3-13 17-26 100 7-41 27 22 10 16 8 Dallas REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST PF STL TO BLK Popeye Jones 38 9-17 0-1 2-2 20 2-12 1 4 1 1 0 Jamal Mashburn 40 9-25 3-8 6-9 27 0-5 5 3 0 0 0 Lorenzo Williams 37 0-4 0-0 0-2 0 7-13 2 4 1 4 4 Lucious Harris 38 5-11 0-0 4-5 14 0-1 3 1 2 2 0 Jason Kidd 35 7-9 1-2 1-2 16 0-2 9 0 3 3 1 Scott Brooks 14 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 0-1 3 0 1 1 0 Donald Hodge 10 2-3 0-0 2-2 6 0-1 0 3 1 1 0 George McCloud 23 3-9 0-2 1-1 7 3-4 2 3 0 3 0 Tony Dumas 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 240 36-83 4-14 16-23 92 12-39 25 19 9 15 5 patricia