Don Nelson announced that he plans on returning to coaching on February 20 for the Lakers game. His recovery from prostate cancer has gone well and he says that the doctors are surprised by the speed of his recovery. A February 20th return will have been a little over 6 weeks after Nelson had surgery. Don Nelson: "Things are going good. I'm a very blessed guy. I beat cancer, but I'm getting a little bit antsy." Steve Nash re-injured his strained left hamstring in the Miami game and has not played sinced. He'll likely miss Tuesday's Spurs game as well. Dallas has a record of 31-19 at the All-Star break. That is the most wins ever in team history (previous was 30-16 in 86-87). Granted, the Mavs have played the 2nd most games prior to the All-Star break (53 in 80-81 and 50 in 84-85). Don't forget to watch Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash in the 3-point shootout tonight on TNT (in about an hour) and Michael Finley in the All-Star game tomorrow on NBC. Go Dirk and Steve! Miami at Dallas (February 1) Steve Nash looked a little gimpy before the game and there was some concern if he would play, but he did start. The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with neither team holding more than a 3 point lead. It was tied 24-24 after 1 and both teams were shooting awesome - Dallas shot 11-18 FG and Miami shot 11-19 FG. Nash aggravated his hamstring and did not play after the 1st quarter. In the 2nd, Miami slowly built up a small lead and led 40-32 with 6:40 remaining, but Dallas scored the next 6 points. Dallas scored 6 straight points to take a 46-44 lead with a minute left and led 48-46 at the half. Anthony Mason had a monster half with 19 points including 8-11 FG and Michael Finley had 14 points. The game continued to stay close in the 3rd as neither team held more than a 3 point lead over the first 9 minutes of the quarter. Miami led 65-64 with 3:40 to go and Dallas scored the next 8 points capped by a short Finley jumper at the buzzer. Dallas led 72-65 after 3. The teams lost their shooting touch in the 2nd half (both were in the 50s for the first) as both were shooting in the 30s for the 3rd quarter. The Mavs continued their run to open the 4th with a 9-2 run to go up 81-67 with 9:20 to go. But Miami came roaring back with the next 8 points by Tim Hardaway (a jumper and 2 3-pointers) to pull within 75-81 with 7:30 left. Shawn Bradley got 2 up close and Hardaway drained another 3 to bring Miami within 5 points. Dallas led 87-80 with 3:30 and could not find the basket again as they were content to play one-on-one ball instead of team ball on offense and it wasn't working. Miami scored the next 6 points as Brian Grant shot 1-2 FT, Anthony Carter shot 1-2 FT, Bruce Bowen shot 2-2 FT and Carter hit a short jumper to pull Miami within 86-87 with 33 seconds to go. Howard Eisley turned the ball over and the Mavs fouled Eddie Jones on the break with 11 seconds left. Jones missed the 1st free throw and hit the 2nd to tie the game at 87-87 (Jones is an 85.4% FT shooter). The Mavs ran the clock down and Finley missed at the buzzer and we had overtime. The teams traded misses to start the overtime and Finley nailed a 3-pointer a minute in. The teams missed 8 shots over the next 2 minutes before Dirk Nowitzki drove for a layup with 2:05 left to give Dallas a 92-87 lead. Grant was fouled inside and hit 2 free throws, but Eisley answered with a 3-pointer with 1:30 left. Mason got a layup with 1:17 remaining and was fouled, but he missed the free throw. Dallas turned the ball over, but Carter missed a 3-pointed with 46 seconds left. Eisley missed a runner with 22 seconds to go and Miami missed 2 3-pointers and that was game. Dallas won 95-91. It was a great game for first 3 1/2 quarters that Dallas deserved to win. Last half of 4th quarter, Dallas played like crap and deserved to lose. Fortunately Miami missed 3 free throws at the end of the 4th and played terrible in overtime. Well, both teams did not play well in the overtime as Dallas shot 3-9 FG and Miami shot 1-9 FG. The Mavs got lucky to win this one with that awful slump in the 4th. It drove me nuts seeing all that one-on-one isolation cramp that wasn't working where as the team game got them the lead. On the positive side, Dallas out-rebounded Miami 51-47 and, shockingly, out-scored Miami 50-28 in the paint. Michael Finley led the way for Dallas with 26 points and 11 rebounds in 50 minutes. Howard Eisley had 17 points in 46 minutes. The Mavs won despite a terrible game from Dirk Nowitzki - 10 points on 5-20 FG and only 4 rebounds. Anthony Mason's strong 1st half (19 points) was followed up with only 4 more points the rest of the way. Tim Hardaway had 21 points including 13 in the 4th quarter and 5-7 3-pointers and 6 assists. Quotes Don Nelson: "We made it a point that we had not beaten this team since December 10, 1991. Our franchise has been embarrassed enough through the years, and I think those days of embarrassment hopefully are over. I think our guys take pride in the fact that that history was there, and they turned another page today." Nelson: "Obviously, we're real thrilled with getting the victory. I thought our execution was pretty darn good for 3 quarters. We got a little bit sloppy in the 4th, but their defense will do that to you." Michael Finley: "It was an ugly win, but it's something that we'll take. It was a total team effort, and you know when you have to go up against a team like Miami's caliber, it's going to take all 12 guys." Finley: "This was a big win for our team and for our organization. It was an ugly win, but we'll take it." Dirk Nowitzki: "Miami is a tough team. We have a great team, a playoff team. We just can't have any let downs because we are playing good right now. Maybe two years ago or last year we would have lost a game like this tonight. Now we are confident down the stretch and that says a lot about our team." Hubert Davis on Miami's comeback in the 4th: "Tim Hardaway got hot in the 4th quarter and he was making some real good shots and they stepped up their defense." Gary Trent: "It's a team win and that's what we needed. We don't have Michael Jordan or anybody of that caliber, so we just need our whole team to contribute so we can do our thing." Steve Nash: "I just tweaked my hammy a little bit. I'm just going to have to try to get it healthy and get it right next time, and hopefully finish the season strong." Pat Riley: "We just lost all kinds of poise. We just made way too many mental mistakes." Riley: "We were absolutely fortunate to be there at the end. We got absolutely obliterated in the paint." Riley on Dallas: "They do a good job; they're a little more conventional than they used to be. They did a great job on our pick-and-rolls. Their individual defense seems to be better." Eddie Jones on his missed free throw: "It was right there. It felt fine. It went in and went out." Tim Hardaway: "When Finley made that 3 it really hurt us. In overtime, the first basket. It's tough because you know you made them miss some shots that they normally make and that 3 really hurt us." Anthony Mason: "They played well and hit shots, but we hurt ourselves at the end. We took ourselves out of the game." Dallas Mavericks 95, Miami Heat 91 OT at Dallas (February 1) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 24 24 24 15 8 - 95 .456 .333 .440 .786 Miami 24 22 19 22 4 - 91 .406 .389 .402 .783 Halftime: Dallas 48-46 3rd Q: Dallas 72-65 Technicals: None Refs: Joey Crawford, Phil Robinson, Blane Reichelt Attendance: 14,497 (cap 18,187) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 50 10-22 2-2 4-6 26 1-11 2 2 0 1 1 Dirk Nowitzki 44 5-20 0-4 0-0 10 1-4 2 2 2 0 1 Christian Laettner 19 4-7 0-1 5-5 13 3-7 2 0 1 0 1 Howard Eisley 46 8-18 1-3 0-0 17 0-3 4 2 3 0 1 Steve Nash 12 3-3 0-0 0-0 6 0-1 3 1 1 0 0 Greg Buckner 25 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 2-6 3 1 5 0 1 Loy Vaught 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 33 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 3-13 0 1 4 1 3 Hubert Davis 21 2-5 1-2 0-0 5 0-1 3 0 0 2 0 Gary Trent 14 5-7 0-0 0-1 10 2-5 0 0 4 0 1 Totals 53 40-91 4-12 11-14 95 12-51 19 9 20 4 9 Miami Heat REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bruce Bowen 39 4-9 0-2 6-6 14 0-5 1 0 3 1 0 Anthony Mason 44 9-14 0-0 5-7 23 1-7 2 0 1 1 1 Brian Grant 36 3-8 0-0 3-4 9 4-15 2 3 5 0 1 Tim Hardaway 40 8-17 5-7 0-0 21 2-4 6 2 3 2 0 Eddie Jones 41 5-16 2-4 1-2 13 1-3 4 3 1 0 1 A.C. Green 19 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 2-5 0 1 2 1 0 Anthony Carter 27 1-9 0-2 3-4 5 0-6 4 2 2 1 1 Dan Majerle 19 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 0-2 2 0 3 1 1 Totals 53 33-82 7-18 18-23 91 10-47 21 12 20 7 5 Golden State at Dallas (February 3) This is one that should have been easy, but the Mavs couldn't do things the easy way, of course. Golden State held small leads at the beginning of the game. Golden State led 9-4 with 9 minutes left and Dallas scored the next 13 points to go up 17-9 as Dallas made 5 straight shots and Golden State missed 5 consecutive shots. Dallas led 21-11 with 5:30 to go and Golden State went on a 14-3 run to go up 25-24 with 2:30 left. Both teams struggled at the end of the quarter as a Greg Buckner free throw and a Howard Eisley 3-pointer were the only points scored. Dallas led 28-25 after 1. Eisley had 11 points and Bob Sura had 15 points. Dallas led 37-31 with 8:30 remaining and Golden State went on an 8-2 mini-run to go up 42-39 with 5:30 left. Neither team led by more than 4 points the rest of the quarter. Corie Blount got a putback at the buzzer and Golden State led 52-50 at the half. Marc Jackson had 16 points in the half. Golden State held a single-digit lead the 1st half of the 3rd. Golden State led 63-58 with 7 minutes remaining and Dallas closed the quarter with a 16-5 run to go up 74-68 after 3. Golden State only shot 6-19 FG in the quarter while Dallas shot slightly better at 9-24 FG. Dallas continued their run with the first 5 points of the 4th and led 79-68 with 10:30 to go. Dallas led 88-76 with 7:20 left and went on an 11-3 run including 3 3-pointers by Hubert Davis to go up 99-79 with 4:50 remaining. Dallas then got sloppy after getting that large lead and Golden State scored the next 12 points to pull within 91-99 with 1:25 left. Dirk Nowitzki hit 2 free throws to finally end Dallas' drought with 1:08 left. Vonteego Cummings hit 2 free throws with a minute left, but neither team scored again until Sura's meaningless layup with 6 seconds left. Dallas won 101-95. It wasn't pretty, but I have to keep telling myself "a win is a win is a win." The Mavs won despite Michael Finley's 2nd worse game of the season. Finley only had 7 points including 3-13 FG, but did have 6 assists. [He had 7 points including 3-16 FG on 11/15.] Dirk Nowitzki led the way with 23 points and 9 rebounds and Howard Eisley filled in nicely for the injured Steve Nash with 20 points including 4-8 3-pointers and 8 assists. Christian Laettner had a nice game with 15 points including 5-7 FG and 6 rebounds. For Golden State, the rookie of the year Marc Jackson was really on with 27 points including 12-17 FG and 12 rebounds. Bob Sura was the high man with 28 points including 10-17 FG and 5-8 3-pointers. Antawn Jamison was held in check with only 16 points. Quotes Donn Nelson on the win and winning despite Finley's poor game: "If this was a year ago, I don't think we would be sitting here with the win. There's no question about that. I think we're just better around Mike and he can afford to have an off game here and there and we can keep the wining tradition going. Nelson: "I'm just satisfied with the win any way you cut it. Especially considering that Mike struggled from the field. This year we have a supporting cast that can step up and take it to another level. I think it speaks to our depth." Nelson on Davis' 3s in the 4th: "They were all huge. Again, it was at a time when our offense was struggling a little bit, Mike wasn't clicking for whatever reason. They ended up double teaming us, the ball swung around the horn, and he was over there the whole game. We just needed them to collapse their defense a little bit and that opened it up. They were all huge. They were all dagger shots." Nelson on playing down to the competition: "We should beat these teams at home and we understand that, but we are young and we get geeked up for the Miami's of the world and sometimes we get caught off guard when the Golden State's of the world come in here. The main thing was at halftime we made some adjustments and came out with a really solid 2nd half." Michael Finley: "If I would have played well, we would have blown this team out." Dirk Nowitzki: "We always talk about how we have a deep team. Everybody stepped up tonight and the bench has stepped up in the last few games. We really needed them tonight." Nowitzki on the season: "I think it's going great so far. We are right there where we want to be in the playoff hunt. We had a couple of tough losses, but we've had some great wins. We can't have any let downs." Christian Laettner: "Other guys have been stepping up for really well for us lately. You have to realize that Steve hasn't been playing too much lately. Dirk struggled the other night and we won. Mike struggled a little bit tonight and we won. That shows that we have an overall good team. When our stars are hurt or not playing so well we can pick up the slack. We had a slow 1st half, but we were able to pick it up in the 2nd half and were able to win." Laettner: "I had a big grin after the 3-pointer I hit because it was my first one of the year. I can shoot if I give myself a chance and get my feet set. I shot one the other night and it went in and out so I let one go tonight. I shot one from the corner because it's easier. Dirk thinks he's the only big guy that can shoot and this team. I ran to the corner and got a shot off and it went in. It felt real good." Hubert Davis: "We were struggling both offensively and defensively throughout the entire game. We started moving the ball and getting some easy shots and fortunately they started going in for us." Davis on Donn Nelson's halftime talk: "He was expressive. And he was right in telling us so. Golden State is a very good team, but at home we should have played better. He got into us a little." Davis on his 3s in the 4th: "They were just doubling Dirk, doubling Mike. We got some real good mismatches down low and Mike and Dirk swung the ball to the open man and I was able to knock them down and it was good for the team." Dave Cowens: "We just didn't shoot the ball very well and their bench outscored us big time. They got a lot more scoring out of their bench then we did. I thought they played really hard and did a nice job. They moved the ball well. They were determined not to let Antawn Jamison get off so they double-teamed him every time he touched it, even on the perimeter they went after him early. I thought he reacted to it. I thought he did a nice job moving the ball around." Antawn Jamison: "They didn't allow me any comfort zone down in the low blocks. They did a good job of double-teaming and getting the ball out of my hand." Jamison: "Any time you play against Dallas, they're going to try to take away your bread and butter. They double-teamed me a lot. They did a good job of that." Marc Jackson: "They went on a spurt that carried over into the 4th quarter. We just didn't have any answers. They got rebounds and hit big shots. That hurt us because we couldn't finish or make any stops." Dallas Mavericks 101, Golden State Warriors 95 at Dallas (February 3) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 22 24 27 - 101 .433 .500 .447 .800 Golden State 25 27 16 27 - 95 .469 .389 .451 .667 Halftime: Golden State 52-50 3rd Q: Dallas 74-68 Technicals: Shawn Bradley 9:57 3rd, Marc Jackson 0:42 3rd Refs: Luis Grillo, Ted Bernhardt, LeRoy Richardson Attendance: 18,187 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (sore left hamstring), Larry Hughes (sprained right thumb), Chris Porter (sprained right ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 43 7-17 1-4 8-9 23 1-9 4 4 5 1 2 Gary Trent 16 2-6 0-0 1-2 5 0-3 0 0 1 0 0 Christian Laettner 31 5-7 1-1 4-4 15 1-6 2 3 5 3 1 Howard Eisley 45 8-19 4-8 0-0 20 0-4 8 1 1 2 0 Michael Finley 35 3-13 0-1 1-2 7 1-3 6 1 1 1 0 Shawn Bradley 21 5-9 0-0 0-0 10 3-8 0 1 6 0 3 Greg Buckner 20 2-5 0-0 2-3 6 2-5 2 3 4 1 0 Hubert Davis 29 6-9 3-4 0-0 15 0-2 0 0 1 1 0 Totals 48 38-85 9-18 16-20 101 8-40 22 14 24 9 6 Golden State Warriors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Marc Jackson 44 12-17 0-0 3-3 27 5-12 4 2 2 1 0 Antawn Jamison 45 7-15 0-2 2-4 16 2-6 4 3 2 1 0 Adonal Foyle 24 2-4 0-0 3-4 7 1-9 0 4 4 0 3 Mookie Blaylock 32 2-13 0-1 0-0 4 1-3 3 0 1 1 0 Bob Sura 42 10-17 5-8 3-4 28 1-5 2 4 2 1 1 Adam Keefe 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 2 1 1 0 1 Chris Mullin 13 2-5 1-3 0-0 5 0-1 0 1 4 0 0 Corie Blount 17 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2-8 1 4 1 0 0 Vonteego Cummings 18 1-7 1-4 3-6 6 0-2 7 0 1 0 0 Paul McPherson 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 37-82 7-18 14-21 95 13-47 23 21 19 4 5 Dallas at Atlanta (February 5) Another poor team and another game of Dallas playing down to the competition. In this game, they actually played much worse than the competition in the first half. It was a close 1st quarter with neither team holding more than a 4 point lead. Atlanta led 24-23 after 1. Then came the awful 2nd quarter. Atlanta led 28-27 with 8:30 to go and went on a 20-2 monster run including 16 straight points as Dallas missed 13 of 14 shots and Atlanta led 48-29 with 2:22 left. Dallas finally rejoined the game and scored the next 7 points. A jumper by Brevin Knight gave Atlanta a 50-36 lead at halftime. Dallas only shot 6-24 FG in the 2nd quarter while Atlanta shot 10-21 FG. Atlanta out-scored Dallas 26-13 in the 2nd. Well, as I keep saying, if you are going to be down big, best be down big early. Atlanta led 62-48 with 6:40 remaining and Dallas came roaring back with a 20-4 monster run capped by 2 3-pointers by Howard Eisley and Dallas led 68-66 after 3. Dallas shot 14-21 FG in the 3rd and Atlanta shot 7-19 FG. Dallas out-scored Atlanta 32-16 in the 3rd including 12 points by Dirk Nowitzki. Dallas continued their rally with a 9-1 run to go up 77-67 with 9:45 left. Atlanta pulled within 75-82 with 4:30 remaining, but Dallas answered with the next 2 baskets and Dallas led by 9 to 12 points the rest of the way. Dallas won 91-81. Its was a tale of 2 runs. Fortunately, Dallas had the 2nd one and Atlanta never really covered as their confidence was shot. The story of the game was shooting. Dallas only shot 34.9% (15-44) FG in the 1st half and shot 61.8% (21-34) FG in the 2nd half. From the players' comments after the game, the catalyst for Dallas was Michael Finley's halftime speech. Finley ripped into the team (and probably included himself as he didn't play well either) for their pathetic 1st half performance. Howard Eisley continued his strong performances with 22 points and 7 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki also had 22 points (14 in the 2nd half) including 10-16 FG and 11 rebounds. Finley had 15 points and 5 rebounds. Shawn Bradley had a nice game with 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 blocks. He went head-to-head with Dikembe Mutombo later in the game and won the battle. But Mutombo was dominating on the boards with 21 rebounds. He only had 6 points and 2 blocks, though. Jason Terry looked good (until Hubert Davis [yes, Hubert] did a good job of defending him and Terry got frustrated with his lack of looks) and had 19 points including 5-17 FG and 7 assists. Quotes Don Nelson: "These guys are putting more gray hairs on my head. We're capable of losing to any team in the league, and we're capable of beating any team in the league. We cannot afford to bring our B or C game, otherwise we'll go through halves like that. The 2nd half, we decided to play some defense and guard people." Nelson: "I got a technical to fire up my own team as much as anything, because we looked like a bunch of fish out there in the first half. But Mike challenged them, and I basically told them that you can lose to any team on any given night, and you can beat any team. You cannot afford to bring your B games or your C games. Otherwise, you're going to suffer like we did in the 1st half." Nelson: "In the 2nd half, we decided to play some defense and guard people. I didn't have to say anything at halftime." Michael Finley: "We didn't come out with the intensity we needed in the 1st half. We took this team for granted. We had to check ourselves at halftime. We were down but we always knew we were in the game. We've had success being down and winning ballgames." Finely: "We didn't come with the intensity that we needed. You can take a team like them for granted. They're a good, quality team, but not as good as us." Finley: "Coach can only do so much. He can't go out there and box out. He can't go out there and rebound. He can just try to motivate us as much as he can during the game. But it's up to us as players to go out there and do it." Finley on the comeback: "I hope we can learn from that. So far the only thing we're learning is we can come back." Finley on what he said at halftime: "That's between me and my teammates." Finley on the Mavs' 31-18 record: "It still doesn't mean anything until we get down to the end of the season and then we put our numbers up and see if we have one of the better records in team history. But right now it means nothing." Dirk Nowitzki: "The best thing we can say about this game is we won." Nowitzki: "We're winning a lot of ugly games where we're not playing well in the 1st half. We're really gaining a lot of confidence." Nowitzki on Finley's halftime speech: "Mike took over. He told us we needed to start playing hard and defending. We knew we couldn't leave this building with a loss. And we knew we were always in the game." Nowitzki on the 2nd half: "We came out and started defending better. We knew we could get back in this game. Everybody started making shots, it wasn't just me." Howard Eisley on Finley's halftime speech: "Fin went at us a little bit, but it was well needed. We flat out didn't show up to play and as our leader and as our captain, he came in and ripped into us a little bit and it seemed to work." Eisley: "He's our leader, our captain. He ripped into us pretty good. What can I say? It worked." Eisley: "We did a good job in the second half defending. We were really committed to stepping up our defense." Lon Kruger: "The other team is going to step up against you when you get a lead like we had. Then you have to respond." Kruger: "In the 3rd quarter, they made shots. We have to do more to step up there and contest those shots. Nowitzki and Finley really took over when they needed to. That's what good players do." Jason Terry: "It's tough. I've never been in a situation like this. We're a well conditioned team. We just don't execute in the half court. It's very discouraging. This is getting to be a habit, and we know how hard it was to break the habit [last month]." Alan Henderson: "The game went back and forth in the 3rd. I think with about 5 minutes to go [in the 3rd], we had about a 12 point lead. By the end of the quarter, we were down 2. They started hitting shots and we stopped executing. We started standing around and it didn't work for us." Matt Maloney: "We've seen this before. We get a lead, fight off one run, and then we seem to lose confidence and focus." Maloney: "We lose confidence. When they come hard at us, we stop doing the things we know how to do, the things that got us the lead - working the ball around, playing with pace, making good decisions. You can feel the confidence slipping. It's only natural with a young team, and we've got time to get back to playing the way we know we can." Dallas Mavericks 91, Atlanta Hawks 81 at Atlanta (February 5) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 23 13 32 23 - 91 .471 .400 .462 .789 Atlanta 24 26 16 15 - 81 .377 .333 .372 .636 Halftime: Atlanta 50-36 3rd Q: Dallas 68-66 Technicals: Donn Nelson 4:34 2nd, Atlanta Illegal D 1:12 4th Refs: Mike Mathis, Hank Armstrong, Tony Brothers Attendance: 10,771 (cap 19,445) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (sore left hamstring), Lorenzen Wright (gastrointestinal flu) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 40 10-16 0-3 2-2 22 1-11 2 2 4 2 0 Gary Trent 15 3-6 0-0 0-1 6 0-1 1 2 2 0 2 Christian Laettner 19 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 4 2 1 1 1 Howard Eisley 42 6-13 3-3 7-7 22 2-7 4 2 4 2 0 Michael Finley 41 6-14 0-1 3-4 15 1-5 3 0 0 2 1 Hubert Davis 27 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0-1 2 1 2 0 0 Shawn Bradley 28 5-12 0-0 1-1 11 0-7 0 1 3 0 6 Greg Buckner 17 4-6 1-1 2-4 11 1-4 0 1 2 1 1 Loy Vaught 6 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 1 0 1 1 0 Courtney Alexander 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 36-78 4-10 15-19 91 6-41 17 12 19 9 11 Atlanta Hawks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Alan Henderson 37 5-9 0-0 2-6 12 3-10 3 3 3 0 0 DerMarr Johnson 25 7-15 2-4 0-0 16 2-2 0 0 5 2 0 Dikembe Mutombo 44 3-8 0-0 0-1 6 7-21 1 4 3 0 2 Brevin Knight 43 4-12 0-1 3-4 11 2-8 7 4 3 3 0 Jason Terry 39 5-17 1-4 8-9 19 1-3 7 1 3 3 0 Chris Crawford 14 4-8 0-0 1-2 9 2-4 0 2 2 1 0 Dion Glover 14 1-6 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 Hanno Mottola 10 0-4 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Roshown McLeod 13 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 0-2 1 1 1 0 0 Cal Bowdler 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 32-86 3-9 14-22 81 17-53 19 15 20 9 2 Dallas at New York (February 7) The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with Dallas mostly holding small leads as the emphasis for both teams was on defense. Dallas led 20-19 after 1. Dallas led 26-24 with 10 minutes left and New York went on a 13-2 run including 3 3-pointers to go up 37-28 with 5:30 remaining. Dallas closed the quarter with a 12-3 run and it was all tied up at halftime at 40-40. The game was tied 42-42 with 11 minutes left and Dallas went on a 9-2 run to go up 53-46 with 8:15 to go. But the game remained close as New York scored the next 7 points and it was tied 53-53 with 5:10 left. Dallas led 64-61 after 3. The game stayed close in the 4th. Howard Eisley drained a 3-pointer and Greg Buckner hit 2 free throws to give Dallas a 76-70 lead with 4:20 left. Latrell Sprewell nailed a 3-pointer with 2 minutes left and Buckner hit 2 more free throws and Dallas led 78-73 with 1:46 to go. Sprewell turned the ball over, but Buckner missed a short jumper with 1:12 left. Larry Johnson drove for a layup with a minute left and Dallas' lead was only 3 points. Buckner drove to the basket and threw up a floater which Marcus Camby swatted away, but Camby slammed into Buckner after the block, but the ref did not make the call [_bad_ non-call]. Buckner went down in pain and New York head the other way playing 5-on-4. New York swung the ball around to Johnson and he nailed a 3-pointer with 37 seconds left and the Mavs called timeout. Buckner was helped from the court and subbed out [he did return to action later]. Eisley missed a layup with 31 seconds left and New York took a timeout. New York ran the clock down and Allan Houston drove towards the basket and threw up the short floater over Michael Finley and Shawn Bradley and it went in giving New York a 80-78 lead with 8.6 seconds remaining. Dirk Nowitzki missed a jumper, Sprewell got the loose rebound, but his foot was out of bounds, so Dallas had the ball under their own basket with only 0.6 seconds left. They inbounded to Finley who drained the 12-foot fade away at the buzzer. 80-80 - overtime on a clutch shot. There were 4 misses to start the overtime as both teams continued to struggle offensively. Camby got a layup a with 3:50 left and was fouled. He hit the free throw to give New York an 83-80 lead. New York still led by 3 with 1:21 remaining on a jumper by Sprewell. Neither team could score as Eisley missed one, Houston missed one, and Nowitzki missed one with 39 seconds left. New York ran the clock down and Buckner stripped a driving Johnson to get Dallas the ball back with 15.3 seconds left. Nowitzki missed a 3-pointer from the corner with 6.6 seconds left, but Finley tapped the rebound out and Buckner shoveled the loose ball out behind the arc where Eisley picked it up and drained the 3-pointer with 1 seconds left. Glen Rice missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer and it was into double overtime at 87-87. Houston opened the 2nd overtime with a jumper to give New York the lead with 4:43 left. Nowitzki made a layup and was fouled. He hit the free throw to give Dallas a 90-89 lead with 4 minutes to go. The teams again slumped as there were 5 misses over the next 2 minutes before Rice got 2 up close to put New York back in front at 91-90 with 2 minutes left. The teams again missed shots over the next minutes and Nowitzki drained a 3-pointer with 57 seconds remaining and Dallas was back in front at 93-91. Houston answered with a jumper with 48 seconds left to tie the game. Finley threw the ball away and Sprewell was fouled on the break. He hit the 2 free throws with 24 seconds left to put New York up 95-93. Dallas used their last timeout. Finley missed an ugly jumper with 8.6 seconds left and Sprewell was quickly fouled. He hit the first to give New York a 3-point lead, but missed the second. Loy Vaught snagged the rebound, paused for a few seconds looking for someone to outlet the ball to, and passed to Finley at halfcourt. Finley took a dribble and was smartly intentionally fouled by Houston before he could get a shot off. There was only 0.8 seconds left and Dallas was down by 3. Finley missed the first and intentionally missed the second, trying to cram it off the rim, but missed the rim so it was New York's ball. New York used a timeout to advance the ball to half court. The Mavs did not defend the inbounder, so he just bounced the ball off the back of Hubert Davis' leg and time ran out. New York won 96-93. Ouch. Well, it was a great, exciting game. But it was ugly in that there were a number of sloppy turnovers and poor shooting. The Mavs should have won in regulation, but did not close it out. The Camby body slam non-call did hurt not only with the 2 free throws that Buckner would have received but also for the fact that the Mavs played 4-on-5 and I don't think Johnson would have had the open 3-pointer that he did. I don't blame the loss on that, but it was a really bad non-call [and I would be complaining about it even if Dallas won]. As I said, the shooting was poor. Dallas only shot 8-32 FG in the 4th and 2 overtimes. New York was slightly better at 12-31 FG. Michael Finley was down on himself after the game. He did have 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, but did not have a point in the overtimes and missed 4 shots. He played a team record-tying for 2 overtimes 57 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki had a very poor regulation (6 points, 2-14 FG), but came on strong in the overtimes with 10 of Dallas' 13 points. Despite his poor game, he had no turnovers in his 51 minutes - tying a team record for most minutes without a turnover. Howard Eisley had 17 points and Greg Buckner was the only other Mav in double-digits with 12 points. Latrell Sprewell was the high point man for New York with 20 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, and 8 turnovers. Marcus Camby had a nice game with 15 points including 6-9 FG and 15 rebounds. Allan Houston had 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. It was Dallas' first loss of the season when leading after 3 quarters (had won 26). Quotes Jeff Van Gundy: "We took some daggers. I thought we did a great job getting ahead after trailing 76-70. I thought Latrell, who had not been playing much at the point, did a good job of getting a sense of things. Allan made some shots and we hung in. We played mentally tough, which is a good sign." Van Gundy: "I don't think we obviously played real well. We took some daggers to get tied up. We played bad, but we played mentally tough, and that's a good sign." Allan Houston: "It was a huge win for us, actually, since I understand Milwaukee and Philly lost. This was a game where we could have been deflated by those [game tying] shots, but Jeff kept saying 'Put it behind you.' We really wanted this game going into the [All-Star] break, and we refused to let those shots get us down." Houston: "It was a huge win for us. We just found a way to do it. Dallas made some great shots at the end of regulation and at the end of the 1st overtime." Houston: "This was a game where we really could have been deflated. On the bench, Jeff and all of us were saying, put it behind us. Whenever somebody makes a heartbreaking shot like that, you've got to move forward. At the beginning of each overtime we got quick plays which kept our momentum going, which helped, instead of getting down." Houston on intentionally fouling Finley at the end of the 2nd OT: "We're up 3, so rather than give them a clear shot at a 3-pointer we make them shoot some free throws. We were fortunate that a lot of time came off the clock, because they didn't have much time. They held the ball for a couple of seconds before seeing Finley at halfcourt, so that cost them." Latrell Sprewell: "It was a great win. We had some defensive letdowns at the end. You have to live with that sometimes. They made big shot after big shot. We were able to hold them off to get the victory." Marcus Camby: "I've never been a part of a game like that, double-overtime, it going back and forth like that." Camby: "Those guys never quit. We never quit also. We hung tough. Luckily we were able to squeeze it out." Donn Nelson: "You saw us as what we are - cardiac kids, push it to the wire and get into these overtime situations. We just weren't able to close it." Nelson: "I thought we played hard. Obviously we didn't play well enough to win. But I'm really proud of all our guys, because I thought they laid it all out there as far as the effort and energy." Nelson on Nowitzki's poor game: "I wish you guys could have seen Dirk at his best. It wasn't there tonight. Certainly, the Knicks' defense had something to do with that. I am really proud of all of our guys because they laid it all out there as far as the effort and energy." Michael Finley: "It was a tough loss to swallow. A game that I think we should have won in regulation. It went to overtime and gave them life. And they played with energy in the two overtimes. That's why they won." Finley on the loss: "Very disappointing, I'm very disappointed with it." Finley: "It never should have gone to overtime. Then once it got to overtime, I know I personally didn't do anything that I should have done for my team to win. I couldn't make a basket, [committed] crucial turnovers. Just a lot of little nit-picking things that I can pick out for myself that I didn't do, and to be a leader of this team I have to do those in crunch time situations, and I didn't come up tonight. But I'm man enough to accept the loss." Finley: "I wish we had another game tomorrow. But with the break coming up, it's something I have to think about this weekend, but it just makes me anxious to get back on the court after the break." Dirk Nowitzki: "It was a great game. It was fun to be a part of. Unfortunately, we couldn't score anymore in the 1st and 2nd overtime. We just had a hard time scoring." Nowitzki on his game: "It was a bad performance. The whole game was kind of going by me. If I had been there [earlier], we would have won in regulation." New York Knicks 96, Dallas Mavericks 93 2OT at New York (February 7) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT 2OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% New York 19 21 21 19 7 9 - 96 .508 .304 .453 .688 Dallas 20 20 24 16 7 6 - 93 .484 .292 .430 .800 Halftime: 40-40 3rd Q: Dallas 64-61 Technicals: None Refs: Jess Kersey, Scott Foster, Derek Richardson Attendance: 19,763 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (sore left hamstring) New York Knicks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Larry Johnson 49 5-11 2-5 1-2 13 2-7 5 1 3 0 0 Latrell Sprewell 50 7-17 1-2 5-6 20 2-11 5 8 0 2 1 Marcus Camby 46 6-9 0-0 3-6 15 5-15 1 2 5 0 4 Allan Houston 47 9-20 0-3 0-0 18 0-5 7 5 6 2 0 Charlie Ward 18 2-5 1-3 0-0 5 0-1 2 1 0 0 0 Kurt Thomas 19 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 1-4 0 1 0 0 1 Glen Rice 32 3-12 2-8 2-2 10 3-7 0 3 2 0 0 Chris Childs 28 4-8 1-2 0-0 9 0-1 6 2 0 2 0 Luc Longley 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 58 39-86 7-23 11-16 96 13-51 26 24 16 6 6 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 57 9-22 3-5 0-2 21 0-5 5 4 4 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 51 5-19 1-7 5-5 16 0-7 2 0 2 3 0 Christian Laettner 21 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 3-8 2 3 3 0 0 Greg Buckner 46 3-10 0-1 6-6 12 2-6 3 3 4 6 1 Howard Eisley 44 7-17 3-10 0-0 17 0-0 4 2 3 4 0 Gary Trent 14 4-4 0-0 1-2 9 1-3 1 3 1 1 0 Hubert Davis 23 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-1 2 0 0 0 0 Courtney Alexander 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 26 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 1-3 0 1 2 0 2 Loy Vaught 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 58 37-86 7-24 12-15 93 7-34 19 16 20 15 3 patricia