Jim Jackson is expected to return for Tuesday's home game vs the LA Lakers. Look for Terry Davis to go on IR with "tendinitis" or some such to free up a roster spot for Jimmy. Dallas at New York (March 31) Well, it didn't sound like very pretty basketball by either team. Both teams were getting several shots at the basket each time down the court. Dallas was up 10-6 with 7:15 to go. Jamal Mashburn had 8 of Dallas' 10 points. Derek Harper cut Dallas' lead to 12-10. Dallas responded by going on a 7-0 run and lead 17-10 with 4 minutes remaining in the 1st. New York came back with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 19-19. Both teams were still getting several shots at the basket. Charles Smith gave New York their first lead on a jumper with 41 seconds remaining at 23-21. And that was the score after 1. Dallas had missed their last 7 field goal attempts and shot 36% FG for the quarter. Mashburn had 12 points. New York scored the first 6 points of the quarter as Dallas did not score in the first 4 minutes of the 2nd. Roy Tarpley finally put a point on the board when he made 1 of 2 FT and Dallas' shooting percentage was down to 29% FG. New York was up 31-22. Mashburn made Dallas' first field goal of the quarter with a baseline runner. New York was up at 35-26 and 41-31. Dallas was able to cut New York's lead in half by the end of the half and New York was up 46-41. In the 2nd quarter, New York shot 11-16 FG and Dallas shot 6-18 FG. Free throws were keeping Dallas in the game; for the half, Dallas had made 13-20 FT and New York only 1-3 FT. New York was shooting 54% FG and Dallas shot 35% FG. Patrick Ewing had 16 points, including 10 in the 2nd, Harper had 10 points, and C Smith had 6 points. Jamal Mashburn had 16 points, Jason Kidd had 10 points, Lucious Harris had 8 points, and Popeye Jones had 5 points and 9 rebounds. And then came the 3rd quarter. New York led 49-45 when they went on a 12-0 run to go up 61-45 with 6:30 left. Harper had 8 of those 15 points. New York was up 64-51 with 4:30 to go. Jason Kidd hit a 3-pointer with 3:44 remaining to bring Dallas within 66-54. John Starks hit a 3-pointer to put New York by 17 at 71-54. And Hubert Davis banked in another 3 and Harper hit another 3 and the 3s were New York's best shots of the quarter. Geez. After 3, New York lead 77-58. New York shot _7_ for 8 3-pointers in the quarter, but only 4-15 2-pointers. Dallas shot 5-22 FG in the 3rd and were shooting only 31% FG for the game. New York built up their largest lead at 85-62. Ewing and Mashburn both sat all of the 4th. Dallas' bench did go on a 13-2 run to close the game and make the final score look a little better. New York 101-90. Dallas was, pure and simple, flat the entire game. Besides the garbage time, they got little performance from the bench. Dallas shot 35.6% FG and New York shot 54.4% FG. And New York out-rebounded Dallas 50-41. It was only the 20th time (out of 69 games) that Dallas has been out- rebounded. The only good news was that former Mav Derek Harper had a very good game with 17 points including 3-4 3-pointers (I thought he had more 3s), 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Patrick Ewing had 18 points and 6 rebounds and sat the 4th quarter. Jason Kidd was the high scorer for Dallas with 17 points, but also had 5 turnovers. All of Jamal Mashburn's 16 points came in the 1st half. He also had 5 rebounds. Quotes Dick Motta: "They're really tough here. Even though we won last night, it's tough back-to-back. Their legs were really fresh tonight. We didn't step on the floor and surprise them. They were ready for us." Derek Harper: "This was a strange game for me. I had a lot of emotions and it was hard to prepare for. I had a lot of opportunities to shoot the ball because they were backing off and guarding our inside. It wasn't designed for us to take a lot of threes, but when open shots present themselves, you have to take them." Patrick Ewing: "It was a good win for us. We jumped out to a good lead and kept it. We didn't let up like a lot of times this year." 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% New York 23 23 31 24 - 101 .531 .600 .544 .545 Dallas 21 20 17 32 - 90 .375 .200 .356 .750 Halftime: 46-41 New York 3rd Q: 77-58 New York Technicals: none Flagrant Fouls: Derek Harper Refs: Dick Bavetta, Ken Mauer, Gary Benson Attendance: 19,763 New York REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST PF STL TO BLK Anthony Bonner 20 3-5 0-0 1-2 7 5-9 0 4 0 1 2 Charles Oakley 21 3-5 1-1 0-0 7 3-8 1 4 0 0 0 Patrick Ewing 28 8-18 0-0 2-3 18 3-5 1 1 0 3 0 Derek Harper 26 7-12 3-4 0-0 17 0-5 6 2 1 2 0 John Starks 25 3-10 2-3 0-0 8 1-1 4 2 3 2 0 Charles Smith 9 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 1-2 0 3 0 2 0 Anthony Mason 27 4-7 0-0 0-0 8 0-7 4 3 1 2 0 Hubert Davis 26 6-10 2-5 0-0 14 0-2 3 2 2 2 0 Herb Williams 20 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-4 1 4 0 2 2 Greg Anthony 22 3-4 1-2 1-2 8 0-3 6 1 1 1 0 Doug Christie 10 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 0-2 1 1 0 3 0 Monty Williams 6 1-1 0-0 0-2 2 0-2 0 0 0 2 0 Totals 240 43-79 9-15 6-11 101 13-50 27 27 8 22 4 Dallas REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST PF STL TO BLK Jamal Mashburn 31 5-18 0-2 6-8 16 2-5 2 3 2 2 0 Popeye Jones 33 4-9 0-0 1-4 9 7-13 3 1 0 0 0 Lorenzo Williams 26 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2-6 1 3 2 0 1 Jason Kidd 29 5-10 1-3 6-6 17 1-4 3 0 0 5 0 Lucious Harris 29 6-14 0-2 0-0 12 1-2 1 2 2 2 0 Roy Tarpley 22 0-8 0-0 3-4 3 3-4 0 1 4 1 1 Scott Brooks 22 1-8 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 Tony Dumas 16 2-4 0-0 1-2 5 0-0 1 0 2 0 0 George McCloud 17 2-9 0-1 7-8 11 1-2 2 1 0 0 0 Doug Smith 9 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 1-3 1 2 0 0 0 Donald Hodge 6 3-4 1-1 0-0 7 1-2 1 1 0 1 0 Totals 240 32-90 2-10 24-32 90 19-41 15 15 13 12 2 The race for the 8th: Sacramento also lost last night, so Dallas remained 2 games behind the Kings in vying for the 8th playoff spot. BUT, Denver Denver won last night and that put the Nuggets a 1/2 game up on the Kings, so the Mavs are 2 1/2 games behind Denver. The 3 teams remaining schedules: DEN (34-36) SAC (34-37) DAL (31-38) 4/2 DEN at Cle A 4/4 LAL at DEN H 4/4 Hou at SAC H 4/2 DAL at Bos A 4/6 Sea at DEN H 4/6 SA at SAC H 4/5 LAL at DAL H 4/9 Hou at DEN H 4/8 LAC at SAC H 4/7 Min at DAL H 4/10 DEN at Min A 4/11 SAC at LAC A 4/8 Sea at DAL H 4/13 DEN at LAC A 4/12 LAL at SAC H 4/10 GS at DAL H 4/14 Pho at DEN H 4/14 SAC at SA A 4/11 DAL at Hou A 4/16 SA at DEN H 4/15 SAC at Hou A 4/13 DAL at Sea A 4/18 DEN at SA A 4/18 SAC at Pho A 4/15 DAL at Por A 4/19 Min at DEN H 4/20 SAC at GS A 4/16 DAL at LAL A 4/22 DEN at GS A 4/21 Sea at SAC H 4/18 LAC at DAL H 4/23 SAC at DEN H 4/23 SAC at DEN A 4/20 SA at DAL H 4/21 DAL at Pho A 4/23 DAL at LAC- A* Sunday's game vs Boston is the last chance for the Mavs to win at the Boston Garden. Boston is the only city where Dallas has never won a game. patricia