Arena news: Irving entered the arena war with guns a blazing. The mayor of Irving said that they have a plan, site, finances, and are ready to role. He talked with owner Donald Carter and the ball is in the Mavs court. The Irving site would be on a 102 acre tract on highway 635 and O'Connor Road and the arena would encompass 77 acres, seat 20,000, and have 120-150 luxury boxes. The Mavs and the city of Dallas are still (supposedly) negotiating and both have agreed not to talk to the press about the arena negotiations. Morning News columnist Frank Luksa put it perfectly: "It (the gag order) prevents city brass from admitting they've not budged a brick on the project in a year. Carter can avoid blurting that dealing with them is like playing golf with the dead ... you hit and drag." When Carter's patience with the city of Dallas finally runs out, Irving is ready and waiting. Utah at Dallas (February 4) First the shot of the night. Jeff Hornacek and Adam Keefe (I believe that is who it was) looked to be playing a game of horse or just seeing who could make the most difficult shot during the pre-pre-warmup. They were talking on the baseline, gesturing and pointing. So, Hornacek goes and shoots from about 3 feet behind the baseline, the balls goes over the backboard and goes in, hitting nothing but the bottom of the net! Now for the game. Guess who came out shooting? Jason Kidd! Motta introduced 2 new plays for the Mavs, both involving Kidd posting up. Kidd got the first 2 points for the Mavs off the postup. Afterwards, Utah double teamed Kidd whenever he got the ball on the block. Kidd then got the next 3 points for the Mavs by nailing a 3-pointer. The first quarter was played fairly evenly and ended knotted up at 24-24. Utah was out-rebounding Dallas by about 3. Kidd had 7 points, 1 assists, and 2 rebounds and John Stockton had 2 points and 1 assists in 7 minutes. Utah was shooting 40% FG and Dallas 38% FG. Most of the 2nd quarter was also played evenly. George McCloud provided a nice spark off the bench and Jamal Mashburn got a nice rest. It was 33-32 Dallas with 7:32 to go and 43-45 Dallas with 3:00. Dallas was up 51-46 with 1:05 when Jazz coach Jerry Sloan got two technicals and tossed for complaining about a loose ball foul on Antoine Carr [it was a correct call and I don't know why Sloan got _so_ upset about it and it definitely was not worth getting tossed for]. Kidd nailed a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left in the quarter to put the Mavs up 59-48 at the half. Utah shot 38% (16-42) FG and Dallas shot 44% (20-46) FG. Dallas was out-rebounding Utah 26-22. Utah shot 15-18 FT and Dallas 16-19 FT. Both teams had 7 turnovers and Dallas' bench was out-scoring Utah's bench 18-11. Jamal Mashburn had 10 points, Popeye Jones 8 points, Kidd 5 points, Jim Jackson 7 points, Lorenzo Williams 9 rebounds, and McCloud had 14 points including 6-8 FG, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist. Stockton had 12 points and 5 assists, Karl Malone 11 points and 5 rebounds, and David Benoit had 7 points. Just call it the Jackson and Mashburn show. Jackson scored the first 10 points of the 3rd for Dallas as the Mavs went on a 10-4 run to start the quarter and go up 69-54 with 8:23 left. The Mavs continued with a 9-3 run and Dallas was up 78-57 with 4:57. The quarter ended with the Mavs in charge at 90-68. For the quarter, Jackson had 15 points, Mashburn 12 points, and the rest of the Mavs 4 points. Utah was still shooting 38% FG for the game and Dallas was shooting 46% FG. Malone was up to 16 points including 4-9 FT and 8 rebounds. The Mavs got their largest lead of the night early in the 4th quarter at 93-68. The only thing interesting about the 4th quarter was that both teams kept their starters in for so long (in fact Utah even brought Malone into the game). Utah finally pulled Stockton and Malone with 4 minutes to go and the Mavs lead still hovering around 20 points and Motta finally pulled his starters with 3 minutes to go. Dallas 119, Utah 98. The win ended a 17 game lossing streak to Utah. How about George McCloud! Forget the 2nd 10-day contract, sign him up for the rest of the season. Look for Tarpley to stay on IR for a while longer and then either Hodge or Terry Davis to come up with an injury as the Mavs keep a 13-man roster. McCloud, who has been playing mostly small forward and a little shooting guard, finished with 22 points on 9-11 FG, 3-4 3-pointers, and 1-1 FT. He even got the offensive rebound and putback on his one miss inside 15 feet. Quotes: Jerry Sloan: "We didn't have much spark and our execution was very slow." Sloan: "I saw it coming from the beginning of the game. I got a little too frustrated. I shouldn't have gotten kicked out, our wheels fell off." Jim Jackson: "It was our time tonight. Luckily we caught them on a night after they had lost to Houston the other night. It was our advantage to get out there and establish something early." Dick Motta on the Mavs' win after being blown out the previous night vs San Antonio: "I appreciate that. They're kind of my heroes. I really respect the way they don't get discouraged after a loss." Motta on George McCloud: "He can really do that shooting stuff. He fills a definite need for us." McCloud on his previous NBA stint with Indiana: "I was hurt a lot and I had a lot of personal problems. I lost my mother and my father, I kind of lost my desire to play." Jason Kidd on the post game show when Ted Davis asked him if he had hit the rookie wall a week or so ago: "I smacked into it." Kidd: "It feels like it's the beginning of the season for me. I felt like I needed the rest. My body just shut down." 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 24 35 31 29 - 119 .478 .571 .494 .829 Utah 24 24 20 30 - 98 .443 .375 .430 .692 Halftime: 59-48 Dallas 3rd Q: 90-68 Dallas Utah's largest lead: 30-25 10:45 2nd Dallas' largest lead: 93-68 11:16 4th Lead changes: 2 Technicals: Carr 8:15 2nd, Coach Sloan 2 (ejected) 0:15 2nd Refs: Paul Mihalak, Ken Mauer, Tim Donaghy Attendance: 17,051 (cap. 17,502) Dallas Reb Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Jamal Mashburn 33 7-12 1-3 10-12 25 1-2 1 3 3 1 0 Popeye Jones 35 4-9 0-0 2-3 10 4-15 3 4 4 0 0 Lorenzo Williams 36 3-8 0-0 0-0 6 9-15 0 1 5 4 1 Jason Kidd 38 5-15 2-3 4-4 16 2-5 9 6 2 1 0 Jim Jackson 42 10-19 2-4 8-10 30 1-5 7 4 2 0 0 George McCloud 25 9-11 3-4 1-1 22 2-4 2 1 1 2 1 Doug Smith 14 0-3 0-0 1-2 1 1-2 0 1 4 0 1 Lucious Harris 10 2-5 0-0 2-2 6 0-2 0 0 1 1 0 Tony Dumas 6 1-1 0-0 1-1 3 0-1 1 1 0 0 0 Terry Davis 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 240 41-83 8-14 29-35 119 20-51 23 21 22 9 3 Utah Reb Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk David Benoit 27 4-12 1-3 0-0 9 3-4 1 0 3 2 2 Karl Malone 36 9-20 0-1 4-9 22 7-10 3 4 2 2 2 James Donaldson 12 2-2 0-0 1-2 5 0-2 0 0 1 0 2 John Stockton 35 6-9 2-3 6-6 20 1-1 10 4 3 5 1 Jeff Hornacek 32 5-17 3-7 0-0 13 2-5 3 2 0 2 0 John Crotty 13 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 3 0 3 0 0 Antoine Carr 22 1-7 0-0 0-0 2 2-3 0 1 3 0 0 Jamie Watson 16 2-4 0-0 1-2 5 0-1 0 1 5 2 0 Adam Keefe 24 4-5 0-0 2-2 10 3-6 0 1 2 2 0 Tom Chambers 13 2-5 0-1 4-5 8 0-1 1 1 0 0 0 Bryon Russell 10 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 4 0 0 1 0 Totals 240 37-86 6-16 18-26 98 18-33 25 14 22 16 7 patricia