Dallas signed Vernon Maxwell for the rest of the season to a minimum contract. Because he was signed before March 1, he is eligible to be on the Mavs' playoff roster. Maxwell becomes the 5th guard for Dallas (Steve Nash, Michael Finley, Howard Eisley, and Greg Buckner being the other guards on the roster). Oh gosh. Those who know me or have been reading my stuff for a while should not be surprised with my reaction. Stupid, stupid, stupid - and driving me nuts. What's next? Anthony Mason? Latrell Sprewell? Isaiah Rider? Bringing back Rodman? The sad thing is that Maxwell is the worst of those 4 and has the least talent left. Vernon Maxwell is a bad character with a terrible history. Obviously the Mavs did not learn their lesson from the Rodman fiasco that chemistry does matter. They brought in a guy that can disrupt this (and any) team. All the arguments that I've heard in support of this move are the same ones that occurred a year ago when Rodman was signed [what can it hurt, he fills a need, he doesn't cost much, we can just cut him if something goes wrong, ...] You would have thought that they would have learned. But, noooo. Winning is not every thing and there are lines that should not be crossed no matter what. Maxwell is one of those lines. And his history is not the distant past - he was sentenced in January for assault and got in a lockerroom fight with Gary Payton last season. He also has served time for drug possession. Even if you can somehow look past the character issue, the guy is 35 years old and hasn't shown much of a game in a number of years. He has a career averaged of 40% FG and hasn't even shot that well in 7 seasons. About the only thing he can do is hit 3-pointers - he doesn't give much rebounds or assists. And he is a pure shooting guard - he doesn't like to play point. And don't even think about "brings playoff experience". This is the guy that walked out on his team during the playoffs for Houston in 1995 and the team eventually cut him [and won the championship without him]. The only non-negative I see in this is that he shouldn't be part of the regular rotation. The Mavs did need to pick up another guard [but why, oh, why this guy???]. Hopefully he won't hurt the team and hopefully he won't be playing much. In any case, I won't be cheering for him. Dallas at Vancouver (February 27) The game stayed close over the first 4 minutes and it was all tied up at 12-12 with 8:10 remaining. Dallas went on a 12-2 run to go up 24-14 with 5:30 left. Dallas led 32-22 with 2:45 left and scored the next 9 points to go up 41-22 with 36 seconds to go. A jumper with 4 seconds left by Shareef Abdur-Rahim made it 41-17 Dallas after 1. The Mavs were shooting incredible at 18-22 FG (Dallas hit 11 straight shots at one point) while Vancouver shot 10-11 FG. Dirk Nowitzki had 13 points, Michael Finley had 10 points, and Abdur-Rahim had 11 points. Well, turn about is fair play. Dallas led 44-28 with 10:30 remaining and the Grizzlies went on a 16-4 run to pull within 44-48 with 6:30 to go. Dallas held a single digit lead the rest of the quarter and a monster slam by Juwan Howard with 2 seconds remaining gave Dallas a 65-57 lead at the half. Dallas "only" shot 11-23 FG in the 2nd quarter while Vancouver shot 12-20 FG. Abdur-Rahim had 15 points in the 2nd quarter, giving him 26 for the half. Dallas led 69-62 with 9 minutes left and Vancouver scored the next 8 points to take a 70-69 lead with 6:30 remaining. The teams traded baskets and Dallas went on a 14-4 run to go up 85-76 with a minute to go. Eduardo Najera slammed the ball home with 30 seconds left, but Stromile Swift got a layup with 5 seconds left and Erick Strickland stole the Mavs' inbounds pass and fed Mike Bibby for the 3-pointer at the buzzer. Dallas led 87-83 after 3. The game stayed close in the 4th quarter with neither team holding more than a 4 point lead until the last 10 seconds of the game. A layup by Bibby gave Vancouver a 100-97 lead with 5:25 remaining, but Grant Long fouled Nowitzki shooting a 3-pointer and he made all 3 free throws to tie the game. The game was tied at 104-104 with 3:15 left and Nowitzki missed a jumper, but got the rebound and Steve Nash got a layup with 2:50 remaining. Bibby missed a 3-pointer and Shawn Bradley hit 2 free throws to give Dallas a 108-104 lead with 2:15 left. Bibby got a layup and Nowitzki hit 2 free throws. [Vancouver was not intentionally fouling, but they were legitimate fouls.] The teams traded misses and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf did an awesome behind-the-back, between-the-legs dribble and nailed the 5-foot jumper with 54 seconds to go to pull Vancouver within 108-110. On a screen-and-roll, Nash feed the open Howard drained the open 10-foot jumper with 35 seconds remaining. Bibby hit a jumper and Nash hit 2 free throws with 21 seconds left and Dallas led 114-110. Bibby missed a 3-pointer, Nash hit 2 more free throws, and Bibby hit a meaningless jumper with 3 seconds remaining. Dallas won 116-112. Wow. What a game. Wish it was a blow-out like it looked like it was going to be in the first, but you aren't going to maintain 80+% FG shooting for a game. Both teams shot really well for the game with Dallas shooting 59% FG and Vancouver shooting 57.5% FG [and, as an interesting side affect, Dallas tied the team record low for rebounds (24) and the 2 teams tied the Mavs' 2-team record low for rebounds (59)]. The 4th quarter was won due to free throws. Dallas shot 16-19 FT in the 4th - they only shot 2-3 FT in the first 3 quarters. [Vancouver shot 3-3 FT in the 4th and 9-12 FT in the first 3 quarters]. Steve Nash enjoyed his likely last NBA basketball game in his hometown with 22 points and 7 assists. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man for Dallas with 31 points on 9-15 FG, 4-6 3-pointers, and 9-9 FT and 6 rebounds. Juwan Howard had his best game of his early Mavs career with 20 points on 10-16 FG [got to work on the free throws, though - 0-3 FT] and helped control Abdul-Rahim in the 2nd half as Abdul-Rahim was Howard's defensive assignment in the 2nd half (Greg Buckner had him for a good chunk of the 1st half). Michael Finley played the all-around game with 16 points on 8-12 FG and a season high 11 assists. Shareef Abdur-Rahim was the man in the 1st half with 26 points, but only had 10 points in the 2nd half. He also had 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Mike Bibby was the man in the 4th quarter with 17 points, but only had 26 points for the game. He did dish out 9 assists, but committed 8 turnovers, some of which were really sloppy. Bryant Reeves chipped in 14 points including 6-8 FG in 21 minutes. Quotes Don Nelson: "We were rolling in the 1st quarter, I didn't even want to make a substitution. Instincts said to let these 5 guys play the whole game until they wear out because they were playing so well, and I enjoyed watching them. I only called a couple of plays the whole time." Nelson: "This was a huge step winning this game and not letting it get away. I was worried about this game, even when we played a great 1st quarter." Nelson: "I told the team this was a huge step. Winning this game, not letting this game get away, and reaching our goal to be a playoff team. This could have easily gone the other way even after we played a great 1st quarter. It was a hard fought game and a huge game for us." Nelson: "This was a huge step in our development as a playoff team. This could have easily gone the other way and slipped out of hands." Nelson on the free throws in the 4th: "We had one of the leaders in Steve Nash, who is able to make all of his free throws. When we get teams in the bonus, it's a big factor in the game." Nelson on Nash: "He gave me whatever he had and I think he really wanted to win here tonight. He loves to put up a performance in front of his home fans. He's a Canadian through and through, and he loves it here." Steve Nash: "I had little focus at the start of the game with all the distractions and emotions. But I got it together in the 2nd half." Nash on his likely last game in Vancouver: "It's sad. It's more than disappointing. I can't believe this will be the last time I play here. I'm biased obviously, but it's an unbelievable city that is very important to me." Nash: "It's very sad that this may be my last game here, but it went as well as I could've imagined. The fans here are so nice to me, they are so supportive. Most likely, I'll never play here again and I wanted to come out of here with a win. I wasn't going to accept anything but a victory here tonight." Juwan Howard: "As the new guy, you don't want to go out there and do things that are not within the team concept. But with this team, coach gets upset when I pass up shots, so I just went after it." Shawn Bradley: "Any positive thing we can feed energy off of is a good sign this at this time of the season. It's a good mark to see where we are in our development." Sidney Lowe: "1st quarter we didn't defend, didn't take on the challenge and they scored pretty much whenever they wanted to. 2nd half, we got great contributions from our bench - and we were actually in a position to win the ball game. We hurt ourselves because we fouled on 4 possessions in a row." Shareef Abdur-Rahim: "Eventually, we have to start finishing teams off like this and get those close wins. You can't continue to get into a hole like that after the 1st quarter. We need to play hard in the 1st and not allow that to happen." Abdur-Rahim: "They just made more big plays down the stretch. They focused in and made the bigger plays. We lost focus of what we were supposed to be doing and that hurt us." Dallas Mavericks 116, Vancouver Grizzlies 112 at Vancouver (February 27) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 41 24 22 29 - 116 .580 .667 .590 .818 Vancouver 24 33 26 29 - 112 .623 .421 .575 .800 Halftime: Dallas 65-57 3rd Q: Dallas 87-83 Technicals: Dallas Illegal D 5:46 4th Refs: Jack Nies, Leon Wood, Greg Willard Attendance: 12,977 (cap 19,193) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Greg Buckner 27 5-8 0-0 0-0 10 0-1 1 0 3 1 0 Juwan Howard 39 10-16 0-0 0-3 20 2-4 2 2 5 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 40 9-15 4-6 9-9 31 1-6 4 3 2 4 2 Steve Nash 35 8-13 0-1 6-6 22 0-4 7 4 4 2 0 Michael Finley 42 8-12 0-0 0-0 16 0-2 11 1 2 1 0 Howard Eisley 21 2-6 2-2 1-2 7 0-0 1 1 1 2 0 Eduardo Najera 17 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 1-3 0 1 1 2 1 Shawn Bradley 19 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 0-4 0 0 2 1 0 Totals 48 46-78 6-9 18-22 116 4-24 26 12 20 14 3 Vancouver Grizzlies REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shareef Abdur-Rahim 48 14-20 2-2 6-7 36 3-7 5 4 5 3 1 Grant Long 34 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-7 4 1 4 0 0 Bryant Reeves 21 6-8 0-0 2-2 14 1-3 1 2 1 0 0 Mike Bibby 38 11-18 4-9 0-0 26 2-3 9 8 5 0 0 Michael Dickerson 31 5-10 1-2 0-0 11 0-3 2 2 4 1 0 Erick Strickland 19 1-8 0-3 1-2 3 1-2 4 2 1 1 0 Tony Massenburg 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf 12 4-6 0-0 0-0 8 0-1 3 1 0 0 0 Damon Jones 12 1-2 1-2 1-2 4 0-3 3 1 1 0 0 Stromile Swift 17 2-4 0-1 2-2 6 0-4 0 1 2 1 0 Totals 48 46-80 8-19 12-15 112 8-35 31 23 23 6 1 patricia