Don Nelson is back in town and ran Monday's practice. He will return to the bench for Tuesday's game vs the LA Lakers. His prostate cancer surgery took place January 4. Donn Nelson had a record of 13-8 while filling in for his dad. Michael Finley on Don Nelson's return: "He's going to be more enthusiastic. "I think he has the mentality of a player, like a player who's hurt and comes back for that first game. He's going to be excited just to come back and get back in a comfortable environment." Washington at Dallas (February 17) Dallas led 6-2 with 10 minutes left and Washington went on a 14-1 run to go up 16-7 with 7 minutes to go. Washington led 22-15 with 3:45 remaining and Dallas closed the quarter with an 11-3 run to take a 26-25 lead after 1. Michael Finley had 11 points. The game stayed close in the 2nd quarter with neither team holding more than a 6 point lead. Dallas scored the last 6 points of the quarter and led 59-55 at the half. Dirk Nowitzki had 11 points in the 2nd quarter. Dallas led 63-61 with 10:25 to go and Dallas rattled off the next 9 points, capped by a 3-pointer by Steve Nash, to take a 72-61 lead with 8:15 remaining. Dallas led 81-68 with 3:25 left and Washington scored the next 8 points to pull within 76-81 with 1:25 to go. Dallas led 86-79 after 3. Dallas was unable to build a lead larger than 10 points and Washington was unable to pull closer than 5 points as the scoring pretty much went back and forth. In fact, the teams traded 2 points (and one 3-pointer) on each possession from 7:45 to 4:50 including 3 straight baskets by Juwan Howard and 2 slam dunks by Shawn Bradley. Washington pulled within 6 points at 102-108 with 1:30 left on a jumper by Howard. The teams traded misses and Steve Nash was fouled. He hit the 2 free throws with 56 seconds remaining. Mitch Richmond missed a 3-pointer and Greg Buckner drove for a slam with 39 seconds left and that was basically game. Dallas won 112-105. Though it would have been nice for this to have been an easy one, Washington did play well, despite their poor record. The Mavs could have played better, but didn't have a poor outing. Washington's largest lead was 9 points and Dallas' was 13 points. Michael Finley had 26 points and 5 rebounds and Dirk Nowitzki had 25 points and 10 rebounds - his 28th double-double of the season. Steve Nash missed a couple of his circus shots, but a couple went in and Washington liked to foul him. Nash had 16 points on 3-10 FG and 9-11 FT and 9 assists. Dallas is such a different team with Nash at the helm. Greg Buckner had a nice game with 11 points including 3-4 FG and 7 rebounds and Shawn Bradley chipped in 10 points and 5 rebounds. No surprise with the leaders for Washington: Juwan Howard had a nice game with 27 points on 9-16 FG and 9-10 FT and 11 rebounds and Mitch Richmond had 23 points including 10-16 FG. Richard Hamilton had a quite 17 points and Chris Whitney was the hustle player with 13 points and 6 assists. Quotes Donn Nelson: "This was one that we needed to get. We expected to win. It wasn't pretty, but the end result is the important thing." Nelson on his 13-8 record: "Honestly, I'm embarrassed by all the attention this is getting. The most important thing is we didn't lose any significant ground and we kept things rolling. But I expected that coming in. This is the kind of team that can coach itself." Nelson: "We did not lose any significant ground. We seem to keep things rolling along. We just have a team that can coach itself in a lot of ways. We had all 12 guys step up and contribute in the absence of Nellie." Nelson on his coaching: "I'm just trying to get them organized and keep them from running into each other." Nelson on the team giving him the game ball after the game: "That's kind of neat. This is such a neat group of guys to be associated with." Michael Finley on Donn Nelson: "He stepped in and filled some big shoes. I think we have a lot of respect for Little Nellie. And if it could go up, it went to another level." Finley on Washington's good game: "I wasn't surprised at all. I talked to Juwan before the game and they were off yesterday so I knew they'd have their legs. Defensively we weren't as sharp as we needed to be. This wasn't one of the prettiest wins we've had, but it's a win." Finley: "I have confidence in myself. If the team is a little sluggish I demand the ball in those situations and the coach usually calls my number. It worked out for us tonight and and it usually does." Dirk Nowitzki: "We had no let up after Big Nellie was gone. We played good basketball, won a lot of games. Hopefully, Big Nellie comes in and it goes back to the old way he was." Steve Nash on winning Donn Nelson's last coaching game: "It's great, it's fitting. He did such a great job in a tough situation." Nash: "It's fitting because he did such a great job in such a tough situation. For us to win and be on a positive is very special." Nash: "He did a great job. He stepped in confidently. He was able to be himself. That's an incredible attribute to have when there's a lot of pressure on you. He did a great job of keeping us right in the playoff race." Nash on beating Washington: "Even though they have one of the worst records, it's a big win because to lose that game would be a huge loss. It would be devastating for our playoff chances. So we took care of two we had to win." Greg Buckner: "We've got guys on this team that have really changed the image of the Dallas Mavericks, guys that want to come in here and win. We're a close-knit family, and we take care of business on the court." Lenard Hamilton: "We got beat by a team that continued to execute when the game was on the line. Their offense was a bit better than our defense. We seemed to be able to match them well offensively, but we couldn't get the stops we needed down the stretch." Hamilton: "They made several surges on us that we had to battle back from and we couldn't quite get over the hump. Nowitzki hit some big shots, Finley hit some big shots and they found Bradley in the interior. The baskets he made seemed like critical baskets." Hamilton: "We played with a very determined attitude, but we came up just short. It wasn't from a lack of effort." Juwan Howard: "We shot 50% for the game and did a pretty good job rebounding but having 17 turnovers, we have to do a better job taking care of the basketball. We had a few stretches where they surged because we had a few defensive letdowns and that really hurt us." Howard: "They were able to penetrate and Bradley got a couple inside that hurt us. Finley hit some tough shots. That got the crowd into it." Richard Hamilton: "The run that they made at the beginning of the 3rd quarter hurt us. We spent a lot of energy to come back. The NBA is a game of runs, and when we made our runs, they made their runs." Hamilton on Dallas: "With a team like that, it's really hard to stop just one player because they've got so many guys who can score. That made it difficult. You really can't double-team or anything like that." Dallas Mavericks 112, Washington Wizards 105 at Dallas (February 17) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 26 33 27 26 - 112 .571 .250 .520 .816 Washington 25 30 24 26 - 105 .590 .176 .500 .750 Halftime: Dallas 59-55 3rd Q: Dallas 86-79 Technicals: Jahidi White 4:56 3rd, Dallas Illegal D 3:54 2nd Refs: Ed F Rush, Blane Reichelt, Phil Robinson Attendance: 18,187 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Rod Strickland (sore hamstrings) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 43 12-24 0-3 2-4 26 1-5 2 3 3 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 37 8-13 1-1 8-9 25 4-10 2 2 4 2 0 Christian Laettner 20 3-3 0-0 0-0 6 0-3 3 0 4 1 0 Howard Eisley 32 3-8 0-3 1-1 7 0-4 5 3 2 3 0 Steve Nash 30 3-10 1-3 9-11 16 1-2 9 4 3 1 0 Gary Trent 10 2-3 0-0 2-2 6 1-2 0 1 2 0 1 Greg Buckner 27 3-4 0-0 5-7 11 2-7 2 0 3 1 0 Loy Vaught 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 26 3-5 0-0 4-4 10 3-5 0 0 2 0 0 Hubert Davis 12 2-5 1-2 0-0 5 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 39-75 3-12 31-38 112 12-39 23 13 24 10 1 Washington Wizards REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 40 9-16 0-0 9-10 27 2-11 3 2 5 1 1 Mitch Richmond 33 10-16 1-6 2-2 23 2-3 2 4 4 3 0 Jahidi White 29 3-5 0-0 5-8 11 5-9 0 3 3 0 2 Richard Hamilton 41 8-14 1-3 0-0 17 2-5 4 5 5 2 0 Chris Whitney 30 4-10 1-3 4-4 13 0-1 6 0 6 0 0 Tyrone Nesby 27 2-10 0-5 2-2 6 0-3 1 0 2 1 1 Gerard King 14 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 1-2 0 2 0 0 0 Popeye Jones 12 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 2-3 1 0 3 0 0 Michael Smith 14 0-0 0-0 1-4 1 4-6 2 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 39-78 3-17 24-32 105 18-43 19 17 29 7 4 patricia