Kip Motta got tossed from the Utah-Dallas game on Wednesday. What for? I guess sounding too much like his father. Dick Motta yelled at ref Derrick Stafford about a non-call on Lorenzo Williams in the 3rd. Stafford turned and Kip said something. Stafford gave him a T. Dick yelled again at Stafford thought that it was Kip that was yelling and gave him the 2nd T. Jim Jackson update: the removable cast is gone and he has been riding a stationary bike. He is in the middle of Phase 2 (of 4) of the rehabilitation. Phase 2 involves passive exercise to restore the range of motion to the ankle. Jackson's physical therapist expects him to be ready for more active exercises directed at restoring motion, strength, and balance by Monday. It will still probably be another week before he is allowed to start jogging. Dallas at Houston (March 11) 1st: Dallas started the game well by going up 10-2 on a 3-pointer by Jamal Mashburn and Jason Kidd had Dallas' first 7 points. Clyde Drexler got a dunk and then his second personal foul and sat for the rest of the quarter. Dallas was up 12-4 with 8:36 to go. The teams traded a lot of possessions and only a few points and Dallas was up 17-8 with 6:35 left. The teams traded baskets. Hakeem Olajuwon scored Houston's next 7 points and Lucious Harris made 2 free throws and Mashburn hit the 15-footer to put the score at 23-17 Dallas with 2:57 left. The teams traded baskets and possessions. George McCloud made 2 free throws and Sam Cassell drove for 2. Mashburn made 2 free throws, Olajuwon made 2 free throws, and McCloud made 2 free throws. A Houston turnover led to a Dallas break and McCloud fed Harris for the dunk. Scott Brooks closed the quarter with 2 free throws. Dallas 35-23. Dallas shot 53% FG and Houston shot 50% FG. Kidd had 12 points, Mashburn had 11 points, and Olajuwon had 17 points. 2nd: Dallas' 2nd team was in and you could tell. Dallas started the quarter ice cold and turnover prone and Houston took full advantage. Houston started the quarter with a 16-0 run as Dallas shot 0-8 FG. Brooks finally made a basket for Dallas just under 5 minutes into the quarter. Drexler made a jumper and Roy Tarpley and Olajuwon traded baskets inside. Drexler scored 4 more points to give Houston a 47-39 lead with 4:33 left. The scores was 54-47 Houston at the 2 minute mark. The teams traded possessions. Houston turned the ball over and Mashburn passed ahead to Kidd who got the nifty basket and the foul. He made the extra. Vernon Maxwell answered with a 3 pointer. Kidd drove for 2 and Olajuwon converted the 3 point play. At the half, Houston 60-52. For the 2nd quarter, Houston shot 65% (16-24) FG and Dallas shot 26% FG - including 2-11 FG from Dallas' bench. For the half, Houston shot 59% (26-44) FG and Dallas shot 39% (16-41) FG. Houston shot 6-6 FT and Dallas shot 16-16 FT (only 1-1 in the 2nd). Houston was out-rebounding Dallas 22-19, but Dallas held the lead in offensive boards at 8-6. Houston had 12 2nd chance points to Dallas' 2. Drexler had 18 points (16 points in the 2nd) including 8-10 FG and Olajuwon had 24 points including 10-14 FG and 6 rebounds. Jason Kidd had 20 points including 7-15 FG and Mashburn had 14 points. 3rd: Mashburn made 1 of 2 free throws and the teams traded jumpers. 62-56 Houston with 10:40 left. Houston scored the next 7 points. Mashburn got 2 and Houston was up 69-58 with 8:40 to go. Olajuwon missed and Mashburn made the sweet move inside for 2. Drexler made 2 free throws and Kidd hit the banker. Chucky Brown was hit with a T for shoving a player after Kidd's banker. Harris made the T. Kidd stole the ball and Popeye Jones got the offensive board and putback. Houston was up 71-65 with 7:13 left. The teams traded baskets and Mashburn hit the 3-pointers. Houston's lead was down to 73-70 with 6:11 left. The teams traded possessions and points. 75-72 Houston 4:14 left. Kidd stole the ball and Mashburn hit the fade away. Popeye collected his 4th foul and Drexler hit the free throws. Harris made the long jumper and Drexler hit the 3. 80-76 Houston 2:38 left. Mario Elie made 2 free throws. Houston ran after Mashburn missed and Drexler glided gracefully in for the drop in. Tarpley rattled in the jumper. Drexler missed. Mashburn worked around Drexler for the reverse layup and foul. He made the extra. After 3, Houston 84-81. Houston was shooting 53% FG and Dallas 41% FG. Mashburn had 29 points and 6 assists and Drexler had 33 points and both players scored 15 points in the quarter. 4th: Chilcutt got the easy 2 and the block on the other end. Elie hit the 10-footer. The teams traded misses and Houston was up 88-81. Chilcutt missed, Dallas ran, Tarpley to Doug Smith back to Tarpley for the finger roll and foul - perfect way to run the break. He made the extra. 88-84 Houston with 10:03 to go. A couple of missed shots later, Houston committed their 5th team foul at the 9:02 mark and Brooks made 2 free throws. The teams traded possessions and Elie hit the 3. Kidd made 1 of 2 free throws and Houston was ahead 91-87 with 7:30 left. Olajuwon hit the hook and the teams traded possessions and points. Olajuwon stole the ball and Drexler nailed the killer 3. Tarpley answered with his 2nd 3-pointer of his season. 98-92 Houston with 4:14 left. Olajuwon made his patented baseliner and Harris swished the 3. Elie drained the 3. And Harris's 3 hit nothing but the bottom of the net [swish]. 103-98 Houston 2:55. The teams traded baskets and possessions. 105-100 Houston with 1:35 left. Cassell missed the 3. Harris missed the 3 and Houston passed ahead to Drexler who lost the ball out of bounds. 46 seconds. Elie intercepted Tarpley's pass to Mashburn and took it all the way in for the behind the head slam. Mashburn airballed the 3 and 2 free throws for each team closed the game. Houston 109, Dallas 102. Drexler was incredible. He had two of his highlight glides - and glide is truly what it looks like - that I could just watch over and over. He finished with his best offensive performance as a Rocket with 36 points on 13-18 FG and 7-7 FT. He also had 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Olajuwon had his way against first Lorenzo Williams (who did not have a good night) and then Roy Tarpley. He had 34 points (many of those from his baseline fade away and his hook) on 13-22 FG and 8-8 FT and 12 rebounds. Mario Elie and Pete Chilcutt played key roles in the victory for Houston. Elie had 12 points in the 4th (16 for the game) and Chilcutt had several key rebounds and blocks in the 4th. Mashburn had an excellent all round game. He looked great; it was too bad that he didn't get much help besides Kidd and Harris. He had 34 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals. Kidd continued his offensive effort with Jackson's absence and had a career high 23 points and 7 assists. He is now actually looking to take shots - but it seems that he has to have decided to shot before he gets the ball, else he'll still look to purely pass it no matter how open he is. The only other Mavs worthy of mention is Lucious, who had 20 points; Popeye, who had 14 rebounds; and Tarpley, who had 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks. The Dallas bench contributed only 20 points (10 of which came from Tarp) including 5-22 FG and had 7 turnovers. Quotes: Hakeem Olajuwon: "This is the kind of effort it's going to take every night. Clyde is a good player and you know that he's going to get his points. We are the kings of players that can give you that almost every night. When you have a player like Clyde it makes things a lot easier on me." Clyde Drexler: "It's good to get the win. We were struggling there for a little bit. When things go bad it seems like everything goes bad. It's good to get a win and break out of it." Dick Motta: "We let it slip away from us in the second quarter when Hakeem wasn't in there and they went on a big run. When he came back it made things double tough for us. You expect Hakeem and Clyde to do their thing but Elie came from nowhere to kill us." Motta on Mario Elie: "Elie came out of nowhere and got away from us." Jamal Mashburn: "The Rockets seem to get so many easy baskets and we were always fighting up hill. We just couldn't make a run to turn the game in our favor." Jason Kidd: "This says to our second team: 'Hey, you guys have to step up sooner or later. If [the starters] are going to get off to a good start, you've got to do your part too.'" Mashburn: "It's just a fight, you know? We don't have the luxury, like a lot of teams, of going to the bench and having someone step up. We're trying to play a lot of young players. It's a rebuilding process." Motta: "I think we relaxed when Hakeem went out. Our substitutes shot 2 of 11 in the 2nd quarter." Kidd on his 20 1st half points and 22 shot attempts: "The second half, I knew I couldn't maintain what I did in the first half. I just had a feeling. I don't think I've shot that many times in my life, in my career. I'm going home to ice my shoulder." Popeye Jones, who has been struggling offensively lately (10-38 for previous 3 games): "I was concentrating on my shot too much. I'm not a scorer. It seemed like every time a shot went up, instead of going to the basket for the rebound, I was just spotting up for a jump shot. Tonight, I thought about that a lot. Basically, I tried to go to the basket every play." [He had 14 rebounds including 7 offensive in the game.] 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Houston 23 37 24 25 - 109 .515 .438 .500 1.00 Dallas 35 17 29 21 - 102 .368 .450 .386 .893 Halftime: 60-52 Houston 3rd Q: 84-81 Houston Houston's largest lead: 69-56 9:36 3rd Dallas' largest lead: 35-23 end of 1st Dallas' last lead: 35-34 9:24 2nd Lead changes: 1 Technicals: Chucky Brown 7:37 3rd Refs: Bill Oakes, Bernie Fryer, Jim Kinsey Attendance: 16,611 (sell-out) Houston Reb Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Chucky Brown 25 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 2-7 3 1 3 0 0 Clyde Drexler 35 13-18 3-4 7-7 36 1-5 3 2 5 3 1 Hakeem Olajuwon 41 13-22 0-1 8-8 34 1-12 2 3 2 2 1 Vernon Maxwell 24 1-6 1-3 0-0 3 0-1 4 2 2 1 0 Kenny Smith 14 1-4 1-3 0-0 3 0-0 3 2 2 0 0 Mario Elie 27 6-10 2-2 2-2 16 1-2 3 1 3 1 0 Sam Cassell 33 4-12 0-3 1-1 9 1-6 6 2 4 0 0 Tracy Murray 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Pete Chilcutt 27 2-7 0-0 0-0 4 4-9 4 2 1 0 2 Tim Breaux 13 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 1 1 1 Totals 240 42-84 7-16 18-18 109 10-43 28 15 25 8 5 Dallas Reb Player Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Popeye Jones 35 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 7-14 1 1 4 0 0 Jamal Mashburn 43 12-28 3-6 6-8 33 3-8 6 6 4 3 0 Lorenzo Williams 21 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 1 0 3 0 1 Lucious Harris 40 6-9 3-5 5-5 20 1-3 1 0 1 0 0 Jason Kidd 37 8-22 2-4 5-6 23 1-3 7 1 2 2 1 Roy Tarpley 27 4-11 1-2 1-1 10 3-10 1 3 5 0 3 Scott Brooks 19 1-7 0-3 4-4 6 1-3 0 1 0 0 0 George McCloud 8 0-0 0-0 4-4 4 0-1 1 0 2 1 0 Terry Davis 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2-2 0 2 1 0 0 Doug Smith 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 1 0 0 Totals 240 34-88 9-20 25-28 102 19-46 19 15 23 6 5 patricia