Dirk Nowitzki sprained his left shoulder after practice on Thursday, but played Friday (despite reports that he wouldn't). Just before the San Antonio game started, a huge surprise came walking out of the tunnel behind Mavs owner Mark Cuban. Cuban directed his guest to his seats next to the Mavs' bench. Free agent Joe Smith was in the house. Smith became a free agent when the league voided his contract with Minnesota for having a secret future contract with Minnesota and the league also voided his previous contracts with Minnesota, making his return to Minnesota unlikely as they can only offer league minimum ($611,000) and Smith would have to play with them for 3 years before gaining Bird rights (same with any other team). An arbitrator upheld the voiding of Smith's previous contracts just the previous day. The Mavs have made no secret that they would love to have Smith join the team. Dallas has the $2.25 million exception to offer Smith. Chicago (who has around $6 million to offer), Miami (who has $3.9 million to offer), New York ($2.25 million), Atlanta ($2.25 million), and Detroit ($2.25 million, but will also have money under the cap next summer) are also recruiting Smith. Getting to talk directly with Smith first was a coop. It makes me more optimistic about the Mavs' chances with him, but it would be hard for him to pass up Miami or Detroit. He and his agent are expected to chose a team next week. Smith quotes: Mark Cuban: "I really feel his first inclination is to go back to Minnesota. That's where his heart is, and that's a compliment. There's a lot of guys that'll run away from teammates when they get an opportunity, and walk away from problems. Joe is just a quality, quality guy, and he feels obligated to the people that supported him, and I told him I respected that." Cuban on recruiting Smith: "I didn't want to put on the hard sell. Joe wanted to see what Dallas is all about. We just want to let him know we want him to be here." Michael Finley on Smith's visit: "What more could you ask for? A packed house, we win at the buzzer, that's the best selling you can do. We'd love to get him." Finley: "I think the addition of Joe will definitely help our team. But that decision is entirely up to Joe; he's going to do what's best for him." Smith's agent Dan Fegan: "I would say the middle of next week is what we're setting as a tentative time frame. But it could be shorter, it could be longer. It's entirely up to Joe. When Joe feels in his heart that he's found the spot or he's made the decision, he's going to let me know and then he's going to act quickly." Fegan: "Joe has always made it clear that his first choice was to return to Minnesota. But [Dallas is] a team that Joe is considering, obviously, or we wouldn't have made this trip." Fegan on Dallas: "What's there not to like? It's a new owner. It's a new tradition. Without Mark Cuban I don't think this would be as attractive a situation." Fegan: "I think Mark and the Mavericks are synonymous." It was a tale of 2 games... Vancouver at Dallas (November 8) It was actually a close 1st quarter with 4 ties and 6 lead changes. Vancouver used a 9-2 run to take a 25-19 lead with 1:45 left. Vancouver led 29-23 after 1. Vancouver went on a 10-2 run to go up 45-31 with 4:40 remaining and led 38-54 at the half. Dallas only shot 36.8% FG in the 2nd quarter while Vancovuer shot 63.2% FG. Then things got ugly. Dallas managed to pull within 45-56 on a Eduardo Najera dunk. But Najera received a questionable technical for hanging on the rim (there was a player near him for the second he hung on to the rim) and not only did Dallas' momentum disappear, but Dallas' entire offense disappeared. Dallas' next points came on 2 Michael Finley free throws with 3:40 left as Vancouver scored 12 straight points. During that span, Dallas committed 4 turnovers. Well, Finley's free throws did not stop the bleeding as Vancouver closed the quarter with a 13-1 run and led 81-48 after 3. Gag! Only 48 points through 3 quarters. Dallas only shot 15.8% (3-19) FG for the quarter and Vancouver outscored Dallas 25-3 over the last 8:20 of the quarter. Obviously, the 4th quarter was pure garbage time (though for some strange (and dangerous - you never should risk injury in garbage time) reason, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Mike Bibby, and Othella Harrington played in the 4th)). Vancouver won 101-74. Yuch!!! Not a single Mav player had a good game. Don't let Christian Laettner's line fool you - 10 of his points came in garbage time (though, by that time, any points were appreciated) and 6 came in the 2nd with rookie Stromile Swift on him and the Mavs running isolation plays. Dallas only had 10 assists in the game and were out-rebounded 36-53. Michael Finley shot 4-15 FG and Dirk Nowitzki shot 2-12 FG. All around, a game to forget. Shareef Abdur-Rahim led the way for Vancouver with 22 points and Othella Harrington had 21 points and 9 rebounds. Quotes Sidney Lowe: "We played tremendous defense. The guys were active, helping each other out, communicating and being aggressive." Lowe: "Guys were active, helping each other out, communicating and just being aggressive. They had all the reads. It was just a great team effort." Lowe: "We tried to score from our defense and that's what happened. We got some stops, got down the floor and got some baskets." Lowe: "It's been a total team effort. The starters come in and they do their thing. The guys off the bench come in, they know their game is excitement, energy, making things happen, and they've been doing that well. They talk about it amongst themselves, about having energy." Shareef Abdur-Rahim: "This is a great feeling. Playing the way we're playing, if you could bottle this up and sell it, man, it would probably go for a million dollars a bottle." Abdur-Rahim: "This kind of start allows you to build confidence. When we come out hard and assert our will on people, that forces them to fight back. If they don't fight as hard as we fight, we're going to beat them." Abdur-Rahim: "Both teams are in the same situation, up-and-coming teams. We wanted to beat a team we've been compared to. We have to believe in ourselves. Nobody believes we can make the playoffs, but we do." Abdur-Rahim: "We feel like both of our teams are in the same situation. Both teams made a lot of moves this summer trying to get better, trying to fight and work their way into the playoffs. Both are hungry teams. We're in the same division so we want to come out, play hard and get wins against these kind of teams. We want to separate ourselves from them." Abdur-Rahim: "We're 4-1 and we beat a good team." Abdur-Rahim: "We have to be compassionate about each other. We are going out and competing hard together every night. We're going to war together. It's a great feeling, really. To go out there and go 4-1, playing the way we're playing, if you could bottle this up and sell it it would go for a million dollars a bottle!" Michael Dickerson: "This is one of the best starts we've had. It feels good, 4-1. This is right where we want to be. It's a great time." Damon Jones: "Greatest feeling I've had in about 2 months to come in here and do that job we just did - a beautiful win, you couldn't have asked for anything better." Don Nelson: "I didn't see this coming at all. I'm a very surprised coach. It was a laugher, really. We had been playing real well, and just laid an egg and couldn't do anything right. Our effort wasn't very good, our play was awful and I hope we don't have very many of these. It was a nightmare out there." Nelson: "I didn't see this coming at all. We couldn't do anything right and our effort wasn't very good. Our play was awful and I hope we don't have very many of these. That was a nightmare. We didn't play well in any quarter." Nelson: "I've been coaching a long, long time, and I don't know that you can learn anything other than try to prepare yourself so it doesn't happen again. The effort was there in the 2nd half and we were still awful. The bottom line is we stunk up the joint. It doesn't feel good any way you cut it. It's a stinker; we were awful and we proved it." Nelson: "We kept thinking we could get back in it. We were only down 16 at halftime, but then it got worse. You go through games like this, but I didn't expect it to happen tonight. There's no reason for this. We got spanked really badly and we played awful. I don't think we learn anything from games like this. There's a lot of lessons you can talk about, but the bottom line is we stunk up the joint." Michael Finley: "Offensively, we couldn't get anything going, and defensively they got whatever they wanted. When you've got those two things going against you, you can't win in any league." Finley: "Nothing went right for us offensively or defensively. We couldn't get anything going. Not to take anything away from Vancouver, but it's easy to shoot when you're getting open looks at the basket. They know if they want to get where they want to go, they have to beat teams like us." Finley: "You have to be cognizant that they read the papers, they know what's going on around the league. And they know in order to go to the next level where they want to go they've got to beat teams like us. They came out with that kind of intensity. For some reason or another, we just didn't have it tonight." Dirk Nowitzki: "I would say it was a total breakdown. The whole team didn't shoot the ball very well, and we were all struggling. We made mistakes that we normally don't make, but there are nights like that. This is just a very tough loss." Steve Nash: "That was ridiculous. We didn't play smart, and we didn't play hard enough. They made a lot of shots, but we didn't do anything to stop them. The bottom line is we were terrible. There's no excuse." Nash: "It's kind of a major setback. We didn't expect this. That's why this game was so big, so we can take some pressure off before we play San Antonio and go on that big West Coast swing. Now we've got to dig ourselves out of a hole." Nash: "If there's any way to strip yourself of momentum and confidence, we showed it tonight." Hubert Davis: "Teams are coming into Dallas knowing that they've got to play well to win. This is not just a stop anymore. They're going to be in for a battle. So teams are ready for us and we have to step up to the challenge." Davis: "That's not playing any defense. We didn't contest any shots." Shawn Bradley: "We feel like it's going to be between us and them for a playoff spot. To have this happen on our home court hurts. We've got to file this one away." Vancouver Grizzlies 101, Dallas Mavericks 74 at Dallas (November 8) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Vancouver 29 25 27 20 - 101 .537 .200 .494 .793 Dallas 23 15 10 26 - 74 .395 .125 .369 .647 Halftime: Vancouver 54-38 3rd Q: Vancouver 81-48 Dallas' largest lead: 1 point 1st Lakers' largest lead: 33 points 4th Technicals: Shareef Abdur-Rahim end of 2nd, Eduardo Najera (hanging on the rim) 8:20 3rd, Dallas Illegal D 0:12 3rd Refs: Luis Grillo, LeRoy Richardson, Courtney Kirkland Attendance: 11,500 (cap 18,187) Did not play due to injury: Greg Buckner (sprained right foot) Vancouver Grizzlies REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shareef Abdur-Rahim 34 7-13 1-1 7-7 22 2-12 2 3 2 3 0 Othella Harrington 36 8-15 0-0 5-7 21 3-9 0 0 4 0 0 Bryant Reeves 25 3-8 0-0 0-0 6 2-5 2 3 2 1 0 Mike Bibby 32 3-8 0-2 3-4 9 0-6 6 4 2 0 0 Michael Dickerson 20 4-8 0-1 1-1 9 1-3 1 3 5 0 3 Kevin Edwards 25 3-6 0-1 2-3 8 1-5 3 3 3 1 1 Damon Jones 23 2-5 1-4 0-0 5 0-3 3 1 1 1 0 Isaac Austin 18 3-6 0-1 3-3 9 2-5 1 1 3 1 1 Grant Long 21 2-4 0-0 1-2 5 0-3 2 1 2 1 0 Stromile Swift 6 3-4 0-0 1-2 7 1-2 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 48 38-77 2-10 23-29 101 12-53 20 21 27 8 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Eduardo Najera 22 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 3-7 0 2 1 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 28 2-12 1-3 0-0 5 0-5 1 2 0 1 1 Shawn Bradley 26 2-5 0-0 1-1 5 3-9 1 1 6 0 4 Michael Finley 34 4-15 0-1 2-4 10 1-5 1 2 3 1 0 Steve Nash 23 4-9 0-2 1-1 9 0-2 1 1 3 1 0 Loy Vaught 19 4-9 0-0 0-0 8 3-3 0 3 2 1 1 Howard Eisley 22 0-5 0-2 2-2 2 0-2 5 1 2 0 0 Christian Laettner 14 8-11 0-0 1-3 17 0-1 0 2 2 0 0 Hubert Davis 22 0-2 0-0 2-2 2 1-1 0 1 2 1 0 Courtney Alexander 25 4-9 0-0 2-4 10 0-1 1 2 2 2 1 Bill Curley 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 1 Totals 48 31-84 1-8 11-17 74 11-36 10 17 25 7 9 San Antonio at Dallas (November 10) The Spurs game started out having me thinking that it was again going to be a long night as San Antonio opened the game with an 11-2 run over the first 4 minutes. San Antonio led 17-6 with 6 minutes remaining when Dallas came roaring back by rattling off the next 16 points, including 7 points from Dirk Nowitzki, to go up 22-17 with less than a minute to go. Dallas led 24-19 after 1. Dallas opened the 2nd quarter with a 6-2 mini-run to go up 30-21 with 10:30 left. San Antonio, sparked by 3 consecutive Avery Johnson drives (2 layups and 2 free throws), responded with a 10-0 run to go up 31-30 with 6:45 left. The teams traded leads and Dallas scored the next 8 points to go up 40-33 with 2 minutes left and led 40-35 at the half. Though an exciting game, neither team was shooting well (Dallas 36% FG and San Antonio 34.1% FG). The game stayed close in the 3rd quarter with Dallas mostly holding small leads (none larger than 5 points) and San Antonio briefly taking the lead 3 times. Dallas led 61-58 after 3. A scary moment occurred with 3:10 left in the 3rd when 2 Mavs and Tim Duncan were going after a long rebound and Duncan and Christian Laettner both got their hands on the ball (jumpball) with Duncan hitting the top of his head on the floor as the three went down. After the jump, Duncan went to the bench to get a large butterfly bandage for his head. He returned to action in the 4th quarter and said after the game that he was okay. The game was tied at 67-67 with 6:45 remaining and Dallas scored the next 6 points to go up 73-67 with 5 minutes left. But San Antonio scored the next 7 points, capped by a beautiful lob from Duncan to David Robinson for the easy slam, to go up 74-73 with 1:26 left. Shawn Bradley was fouled with 1:08 left and hit 1-2 free throws to tie the game. San Antonio got the ball into David Robinson in the paint and he was shockingly (and correctly) called for traveling. The Mavs did an isolation for Michael Finley and he nailed the clutch 18-footer to give Dallas a 76-74 lead with 37 seconds to go. San Antonio used their last timeout. Sean Elliott drove to the basket with 20 seconds left, but Bradley was there to swat the ball away and Greg Buckner gathered the loose ball and was fouled. He missed the first free throw and hit the second. 77-74 Dallas with 18.8 seconds remaining. Needing a 3-pointer and out of timeouts, Elliott drove to the basket and the Mavs contested (let him have the fricken layup!!!), Elliott missed, Robinson missed the putback, and the loose ball rolled out to Johnson in the corner who drained the 3-pointer to tie the game at 77-77 with 4.1 seconds left. Timeout Dallas. The Mavs inbounded the ball at halfcourt and got it to Finley. Finley faked the drive, pulled back, and nailed the 20-foot fall-away jumper over Elliott at the buzzer. Game over. Dallas won 79-77. Wow! What a game (ugly shooting, but really exciting)! All hail Finley. No question who the hero of this game was, though others also played well. The Mavs had 16 blocks and were only out-rebounded by 5 boards, despite San Antonio's dominating big men. Shawn Bradley, Christian Laettner, and Dirk Nowitzki (yes, even Dirk) played good defense on Tim Duncan and David Robinson for most of the game (though some has to be contributed to the two having off games). It always amazes me that San Antonio never seems to take advantage of Duncan and Robinson against the Mavs. The Duncan to Robinson lob with a minute left was the only time it was tried. Duncan and Robinson only had 13 points combined midway through the 4th quarter. Duncan finished with 11 points and Robinson had only 9, though both had 14 rebounds. Derek Anderson had a nice game as the Mavs' focused on the big men and had 17 points and 7 rebounds. Finley led the way for Dallas with 20 points and 6 rebounds and Nowitzki chipped in 18 points and 10 rebounds. Laettner had 10 points on 5-5 FG in 16 minutes. Bradley had 7 points (including 2-8 FG - his "shot" is really struggling this year), 8 rebounds, and 8 blocks. Surprisingly, Courtney Alexander started, but he didn't last long as he collected 3 fouls in his 7 minutes. Quotes Don Nelson on Finley's game winner: "Good grief. Boy, did he make a big shot." Nelson: "That's a play we've been working on in practice. We hadn't shown that yet. I had confidence that we'd get the ball where we wanted it. Boy, what a shot he made. I'd like to get a little better percentage shot than that, but with 4 seconds left you don't have a lot of choice. You get it in there, you get single coverage and you give it to your best player. That's what we did and he made a heck of a shot." Nelson on the Spurs' last possession: "We did a good job of defending the 3, but with the miss and guys going for the rebound, guys were trying to chase the ball down and that left [Johnson] open for it." Nelson on Robinson's and Duncan's low points: "We've never done that since I've been in Dallas. We've never held those two down. We were double teaming them on the catch, we're definitely leaving other people open and thank goodness they didn't make their shots tonight. They are 2 great players and we just did a great job on them." Nelson: "We beat them at their own game. We had 15 blocks and they had 2. Normally, it's just the opposite." Nelson on Nowitzki asking to play despite his injury: "I like it when a player plays hurt. Unless people have a major injury, I think people need to get out there because there's continuity out there." Michael Finley on the game winner: "It's a play we work on quite a bit in practice. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The ball felt good when it left my hands. Luckily, it went in." Finley: "It's a play that we've worked on in practice quite a few times. When the ball left my hand, it looked good and went it." Finley: "It was a [shot] that we practiced quite a few times in practice and in shoot arounds. It was successful sometimes, sometimes not so successful. When I got the opportunity tonight, I just came up with it. I could see over his head. It looked good. I just shot it." Finley on his game winner: "Believe it or not, last year I had those same opportunities and missed." Shawn Bradley: "After our performance the other night, our focus tonight was to have energy and play solid defense." Shawn Bradley on Robinson and Duncan: "It feels good when you hold 2 great players down like that." Bradley: "We did things to disrupt Robinson and Duncan." Christian Laettner: "We just tried to double-team them some and limited their chances. You just have to front them a little bit, foul them a little bit and not let them get into their comfort zone." Steve Nash on Finley's shot: "He kind of can create a shot out of nothing, so we feel confident that he can make a good look for himself. I am as confident with him having the ball in his hands as anybody in the league." Nash: "It almost makes up for the previous loss. Almost." Dirk Nowitzki on his double-double: "That's what I'm supposed to do as a power forward." Greg Popovich: "Both teams were in a position where one shot was going to do it for somebody, and Finley hit a heck of a shot. It was just one of those miracle shots. Sean Elliott had it guarded real well." Popovich: "Both teams played hard all night and it was a great contest. Finley hit a shot and you've got to give him the credit. We just came up short at the end of it." Popovich on SA's 11 1st half turnovers: "We really turned it over too much and dug ourselves a hole." David Robinson: "We tightened up our defense in the last quarter and started limiting them to one shot. Our offense still wasn't good, but it was good enough to get us back into the game." Robinson: "We came out good, but then we got out of our rhythm. They did a nice job of really spreading the floor. They beat us to loose balls and then made a big run on us. That made it tough the rest of the way." Robinson: "They did a great job of spreading the floor and beating us to the loose balls. We've got to rotate better. We've just got to get better against these quick, penetrating teams." Avery Johnson on his 3: "It would have felt really good if it would have led to a win." Johnson: "Sean is one of our best defenders on the perimeter. We had our best man on Finley, and he just made a tough shot." Sean Elliott on defending Finley's shot: "You do what you can, but it was frustrating. That's what you want - a 20-foot, off-balance shot, but he made it." Dallas Mavericks 79, San Antonio Spurs 77 at Dallas (November 10) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 24 16 21 18 - 79 .438 .154 .395 .750 San Antonio 19 16 23 19 - 77 .368 .429 .373 .667 Halftime: Dallas 40-35 3rd Q: Dallas 61-58 Technicals: Don Nelson 8:35 1st, Dallas Illegal D 5:41 2nd Refs: Ronnie Nunn, Tony Brothers, Monty McCutchen Attendance: 17,296 (cap 18,187) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 42 10-20 0-2 0-0 20 1-6 4 5 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 36 8-20 1-5 1-2 18 1-10 3 0 3 0 3 Shawn Bradley 34 2-8 0-0 3-4 7 2-8 1 0 2 0 8 Courtney Alexander 7 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 3 0 0 Steve Nash 39 3-8 1-4 4-4 11 4-7 7 4 3 2 0 Hubert Davis 19 3-9 0-2 0-0 6 1-2 1 0 0 2 0 Eduardo Najera 11 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 0 0 2 0 1 Howard Eisley 20 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 1 3 0 1 Greg Buckner 16 1-5 0-0 1-2 3 3-9 0 0 3 0 0 Christian Laettner 16 5-5 0-0 0-0 10 1-3 2 2 5 0 2 Totals 48 34-86 2-13 9-12 79 14-49 18 12 26 5 15 San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Tim Duncan 39 5-13 0-0 1-2 11 2-14 4 4 5 2 1 Sean Elliott 36 5-12 1-2 0-0 11 0-7 1 1 2 0 1 David Robinson 35 4-14 0-0 1-2 9 6-14 3 4 1 0 0 Derek Anderson 42 7-16 0-1 3-3 17 1-7 2 1 4 0 0 Avery Johnson 27 4-8 1-1 2-4 11 1-2 1 0 4 1 0 Antonio Daniels 21 3-10 1-3 1-2 8 0-1 2 3 1 0 0 Steve Kerr 13 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 0 0 0 Malik Rose 16 3-4 0-0 4-4 10 3-4 0 1 1 2 0 Samaki Walker 6 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2-2 0 1 1 0 0 Terry Porter 5 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0-2 1 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 31-83 3-7 12-18 77 15-54 15 16 20 5 2 patricia