Phoenix at Dallas (February 7) Kevin Johnson, Wayman Tisdale, and Danny Manning (of course) did not play due to injuries. 1st Q: Phoenix started the game with a small run off of perfect shooting by the Suns and cold shooting by Dallas to go up 6-0. Dallas came back off of 2 Phoenix turnovers and some Sun misses to tie the game at 10-10. Jamal Mashburn got 2 and the foul to give Dallas their first lead at 13-10 with about 7 minutes to go in the quarter. The teams traded leads for the next 3 minutes of play. 19-17 Phoenix 4:30. Pheonix then went on a 10-2 run to go up 29-20. Lucious Harris stopped that run by draining a 3-pointer with 1:20 left. The teams traded baskets and misses and it was 34-29 Phoenix after 1. Phoenix shot 68% FG and Elliot Perry had 11 points on 5-5 FG. Phoenix was out-rebounding Dallas by a couple. 2nd Q: Dallas cut Phoenix's lead down to 37-35, but Phoenix pushed it back up to a 7 point lead. It was 45-40 Phoenix with 7:15 left. Perry scored 4 consecutive points to give Phoenix a 49-40 lead with 6:29 left. At the 3:30 mark, Phoenix was up 56-46. At the half, Phoenix was up 70-60. Phoenix was shooting 64% FG including 7-12 3-pointers and Dallas was shooting 44% FG. Charles Barkley had 22 points including 10-13 FG, Perry had 15 points on 7-8 FG, Dan Majerle had 10 points, Wesley Person had 7 points, and Danny Ainge had 8 points. Jim Jackson had 16 points, Jamal Mashburn had 13 points including 4-11 FG, Jason Kidd had 6 assists, Doug Smith had 6 points, and Lucious Harris had 11 points. 3rd Q: Phoenix was up 75-65 when Dallas went on a 11-1 run to tie the game at 76-76. Phoenix (finally) had gone cold from the field. A putback by Popeye Jones gave Dallas the lead at 78-76 with 4:45 left. Majerle followed with a 3-pointer and the teams traded leads. Phoenix was up 82-81 with 3:17 left. Person nailed another 3 at the end of the quarter to put the Suns up 97-93. Mashburn had 17 points in the quarter and 30 for the game. Majerle had 12 points in the quarter. Barkley was up to 26 points for the game. Phoenix had made 10 3-pointers in the 3 quarters. 4th Q: Phoenix was up 99-97 with 9:45 left. A jumper by Doug Smith tied the game at 99-99 with 9 minutes left. With 6:45 to go, it was all knotted up at 101-101. Phoenix received their 5th team foul to go into the penalty with 4:42 left and Phoenix was up 105-104. Barkley was called for fouling Jackson and after Jackson missed the first free throw, Barkley was given a one technical ejection by ref Hank Armstrong after Barkley said something. Jackson made the T and 2nd free throw to put the Mavs in front 106-105 with 4:25 to go. Two Phoenix misses, a Dallas turnover, and Mashburn drained a 3 to give Dallas a 109-105 lead with 3:10 left. The teams traded possessions, but no points. Popeye Jones rebounded a Mashburn miss and was fouled. He maded both free throws and Dallas was up 111-105 with 1:57 left. Person responded and drained a 3-pointer. Mashburn missed and Perry drove to the basket for 2 to make it an exciting game. 111-110 Dallas 1 minute. Popeye Jones nailed a jump hook to give the Mavs a 3 point lead with 49 seconds left. Ainge made 2 free throws. Harris missed the layup and it was Phoenix's ball with 25.4 seconds left. Perry drove to the hoop for 2 and the Phoenix lead. 114-113 Phoenix 13.8 seconds. Ainge tipped the inbounds pass and the Mavs scrambled for the ball. Harris got the ball and threw up the quick shot, which did not go in. Majerle was fouled with 3.6 seconds left. He missed both and Lorenzo Williams rebounded with 2.4 seconds. Kidd missed the short jumper at the buzzer. Phoenix 114, Dallas 113. Jeez, another tough loss. And we face Orlando in Orlando tonight (thanks a bunch schedulers). Elliott Perry had an excellent game with 23 points on 11-18 FG including 7 points scored in the final 1:38. Phoenix finished the game shooting 52.4% (44-85) FG and [the key to the game] 50% (11-22) 3-pointers. Dallas shot 47.5% (45-102) FG. With Lorenzo gathering 16, Popeye 12, Mashburn 7, Kidd 7, and Jackson 6, Dallas out-rebounded Phoenix 59-34, including 26-6 offensive! And they lost. Jeez. It was Dallas' 12th straight lost to the Suns. Quotes Paul Westphal: "Dallas gave us all we could handle. Elliot was sensational the whole game. We just got great performances from everyone. That's what it took to get this win." Elliot Perry: "I just took the shots when I was open. We pulled together and made big shots at the end. I just felt like if I was open, I was going to be more aggressive with my shot." Dick Motta: "I feel bad for the guys that they didn't win. I feel bad for Manning, but not for the Suns because their second team would still make the playoffs." Charles Barkley on ref Hank Armstrong and his ejection: "He made a stupid call and it will be stupid 'til the day he dies. He's stupid Hank. That's his nickname. It was a bogus call and he did a stupid thing. But we're all human." 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Phoenix 34 36 27 17 - 114 .524 .500 .518 .833 Dallas 29 31 33 20 - 113 .475 .318 .441 .667 Halftime: 70-60 Phoenix 3rd Q: 97-93 Phoenix Technicals: Barkley (ejected) 4:25 4th Refs: Hugh Evans, Ronnie Nunn, Hank Armstrong Attendance: 17,502 (sell-out) Phoenix Reb Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST PF STL TO Blk Dan Majerle 48 6-13 3-8 7-9 22 0-4 8 2 1 2 2 Charles Barkley 34 11-18 2-3 4-4 28 1-6 2 3 0 2 0 Joe Kleine 17 0-5 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 0 3 0 1 0 Elliot Perry 37 11-17 1-3 0-0 23 0-2 4 2 2 2 0 Wesley Person 33 6-11 3-5 0-0 15 0-6 3 4 0 1 0 A.C. Green 35 4-9 0-0 1-2 9 3-8 0 4 0 0 0 Danny Schayes 9 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 2 1 0 1 1 Danny Ainge 27 5-10 2-3 3-3 15 1-5 3 2 2 0 0 Totals 240 44-85 11-22 15-18 114 6-34 22 21 5 9 3 Dallas Reb Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST PF STL TO Blk Jamal Mashburn 42 14-29 2-10 5-6 35 1-7 5 3 2 3 0 Popeye Jones 33 6-15 0-1 3-4 15 8-12 3 5 1 1 0 Lorenzo Williams 40 0-2 0-0 0-2 0 7-16 1 4 1 1 4 Jason Kidd 29 4-9 1-3 2-4 11 1-7 7 2 1 3 1 Jim Jackson 44 11-24 2-3 5-6 29 3-6 8 4 0 1 0 Lucious Harris 21 4-8 2-4 1-2 11 1-2 2 0 0 0 0 Doug Smith 17 5-10 0-0 0-0 10 2-4 2 1 0 0 0 George McCloud 7 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 3-3 0 0 0 1 0 Tony Dumas 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 0 1 0 Terry Davis 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 240 45-102 7-22 16-24 113 26-59 29 21 5 11 5 patricia