Before the Charlotte game, Dallas activated Obinna Ekezie and placed Donnell Harvey on IR with tendinitis in his right elbow. Donn Nelson is in China trying to help secure Wang Zhizhi's release from his Chinese team so that Zhizhi can join the Mavs this season. Zhizhi's Chinese team recently finished their season, where his team won the championship. Dallas selected Zhizhi with a 2nd round draft pick in 1999. He is expected to join the team in early April. If he is placed on Dallas' active roster, he would likely only play in garbage time - he is not expected to have any impact on this team this season. The Mavs want him here to help him adjust to America and to start training him for the NBA game. Gary Trent had his left foot placed in a cast on Monday to help his injured left toe. There are 2 spots on the small tendon of his left big toe that are partially torn. He is expected to wear the cast for 2 weeks and to be out for 6 weeks (and, thus, for the rest of the season). Charlotte at Dallas (March 24) Dallas opened the game with 5 misses and 3 turnovers to help Charlotte take an 8-0 lead with 8:25 left. Steve Nash hit a 3-pointer to finally put Dallas on the board 4 minutes into the game. Charlotte led 17-12 with 4:30 left and Dallas closed the quarter with a roar going on a 22-5 run, capped by a jumper by Michael Finley just before the buzzer, to take 34-22 lead after 1. Steve Nash had a monster quarter with 14 points on 5-7 FG and 4-4 3-pointers. After missing their 5 first shots, Dallas shot 11-14 FG the rest of the quarter. Dallas' lead ranged from 10 to 15 points the entire 2nd quarter. Dallas led 57-45 at the half. Finley had 15 points. Charlotte scored 7 consecutive points to pull within 52-59 with 7:29 remaining, but Dallas answered by scoring the next 7 points to go up 66-52 with 6 minutes to go. The teams traded 2 points and Charlotte went on a 12-2 run to pull within 66-70 with a minute left. Dallas led 73-69 after 3. Dallas shot only 4-11 FT in the quarter while Charlotte shot 13-14 FT. Neither team shot well in the quarter as Dallas shot 5-17 FG and Charlotte shot 5-20 FG. Dallas was able to hang on to their lead and scored 7 straight points to go up 95-81 with 4:50 remaining. Dallas led 97-85 with 3:25 to go and it wasn't quite over as Dallas missed 3 consecutive shots and Charlotte scored 9 points to pull within 3 points at 94-97 with 1:25 left. Charlotte missed a defensive rotation and Juwan Howard found Shawn Bradley inside for the easy bucket with 1:15 remaining. Charlotte missed and Finley hit 2 free throws with 53 seconds to go. P.J. Brown made a layup, Dallas turned the ball over, and Elden Campbell got a dunk with 21 seconds left to pull Charlotte within 98-101 with 14 seconds to go. Charlotte wasted time trying to get the steal and Nash hit 1 of 2 free throws with 14 seconds remaining. Jamal Mashburn missed a jumper and that was game. A free throw by Dirk Nowitzki and a meaningless jumper by Campbell with less than a second left capped the scoring. Dallas won 103-100. Well that definitely wasn't pretty. Dallas tried to give the game away by missing 13 free throws, but Charlotte returned the favor by missing 10 themselves. The Mavs did benefit by Charlotte having played (and lost) an overtime game the night before. The Mavs got no bench help as the 3 players off the bench combined for only 5 points. Juwan Howard had a terrible game with 8 points on 3-11 FG and 2-6 FT, but did have 10 rebounds. It was driving me nuts at the end of the game when the Mavs were playing a 2-man game with Nash and posting up Howard and not going to Finley or Nowitzki. Michael Finley had a great game with 31 points including 11-12 FT, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points including 8-11 FT and 7 rebounds. Steve Nash only had 8 points after the 1st quarter and finished with 22 points, 5 rebounds, and only 2 assists. Shawn Bradley did a solid job with key plays in the 4th quarter and had 10 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 blocks. The Mavs' defense plan of shutting down Jamal Mashburn and Baron Davis worked as Mashburn only had 10 points including 3-17 FG and Davis had 6 points including 2-13 FG. However, they let Elden Campbell up his average with 25 points on 9-13 FG and 7-10 FT and 12 rebounds. David Wesley was also in the 20s with 25 points including 11-12 FT and 5 assists. P.J. Brown did his usual blue collar job with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Next up, the road trip from hell. At Utah, Portland, LA Lakers, Sacramento, and Houston. At least it is every other day - no back-to-backs. Quotes Don Nelson: "The bottom line to this game was I didn't think we played our best, but we got the win. The only thing that is important is that we get this win going on this tough road trip. It just would have been very costly if we had let this slip away." Nelson on Finley: "He kind of put us in his back pocket and carried us. The one guy there every play, every time you needed him, was Michael Finley. The bottom line in that game, and the only thing that is important is getting the win." Michael Finley: "It wasn't one of our better performances but the most important thing is we got the win. We missed some free throws down the stretch and a couple of turnovers kept them in the game, but when it was all said and done we made big plays and got the win." Finley: "It wasn't one of our better performances. We didn't want to go into that road trip with 3 straight losses." Finley: "We still have confidence. We still have 40-plus wins. Not too many teams around the league can say that. We still have to keep our heads up and keep trucking and try to put more wins in the win column." Steve Nash on his 1st quarter performance: "That is fun when the ball is going in like that. You just can't wait to get the ball back in your hands. We were flowing and it's a lot of fun when that's happening and that was really the difference in the game. We kind of blew them out and got a lead and held it through the game." Nash: "It was pretty ugly in the 2nd half but a win is a win. If we would have lost this game going into this road trip, it would have been disastrous. We're all pleased with the win and now it's time to try to steal some wins on the road." Nash: "To lose 3 in a row would have been disastrous. Now, we've got to try to steal a few on the road. It's going to be a very tough trip." Nash on his injuries: "I'm okay. I didn't feel great but I'm just happy that I made it through a game and that's the most important thing to me. I feel confident that I can finish the season and the playoffs just fine." Shawn Bradley: "This was huge for us. It wasn't pretty at the end, but we did what we needed to do. This is going to be a brutal trip that will determine where we'll be in the playoffs." Paul Silas: "We gave Nash a bit too many looks early on in our switching. We weren't up on him so he got too many 3-point looks. If we could have slowed him down a bit more, which was our aim, I thought we would have had a better shot." Silas: "We felt that if we could stay within 10 points of them in the 4th quarter, that eventually they would start missing some of their shots and we would be able to get back in the game, which is what happened." Silas: "If we play like we did tonight there's no doubt in my mind we'll beat some of these teams coming up." P.J. Brown: "It is tough starting a road trip with 2 close losses. This team is good and we knew it would be tough, but we should have had the game last night in Chicago. We were trying to make up some ground on the Bucks, so the Chicago loss is more like 2 or 3 losses." Brown: "It was so inconsistent, it was a lot like parts of our season in some ways. What happened at Chicago, what happened here. We're digging ourselves a hole." Brown: "Their big 3 were hot for them tonight. They were on fire and we couldn't find a way to stop them. This team is good and we knew this would be a tough game." Baron Davis: "We were able to fight back by getting some defensive stops. But this is a tough team to fight back on because they have so many weapons. And Shawn Bradley made some key plays for them down the stretch that made it tougher for us to close the gap." Dallas Mavericks 103, Charlotte Hornets 100 at Dallas (March 24) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 34 23 16 30 - 103 .491 .368 .461 .667 Charlotte 22 23 24 31 - 100 .394 .267 .370 .783 Halftime: Dallas 57-45 3rd Q: Dallas 73-69 Technicals: Paul Silas 1:13 2nd, Elden Campbell 8:23 4th, Dallas Illegal D 7:45 4th Refs: Jack Nies, Nolan Fine, Jason Phillips Attendance: 18,187 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 38 3-11 0-0 2-6 8 1-10 3 3 3 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 40 8-16 3-6 8-11 27 1-7 2 1 3 2 0 Shawn Bradley 28 4-8 0-0 2-2 10 3-12 1 0 5 0 5 Michael Finley 45 10-18 0-2 11-12 31 1-10 7 5 3 1 0 Steve Nash 36 8-13 4-7 2-4 22 2-5 2 3 4 1 0 Calvin Booth 19 1-3 0-0 1-4 3 1-4 1 2 3 0 0 Greg Buckner 17 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 4 0 4 0 1 Howard Eisley 17 1-7 0-4 0-0 2 0-1 2 0 3 0 0 Totals 48 35-76 7-19 26-39 103 9-50 22 15 28 4 7 Charlotte Hornets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK P.J. Brown 34 3-6 0-0 7-8 13 3-11 2 1 4 3 2 Jamal Mashburn 41 3-17 2-5 2-2 10 1-9 2 2 3 2 1 Elden Campbell 34 9-13 0-0 7-10 25 3-12 2 1 3 1 1 Baron Davis 35 2-13 0-5 2-5 6 0-1 4 1 5 2 1 David Wesley 39 6-14 2-4 11-12 25 2-3 5 1 5 2 1 Jamaal Magloire 14 4-8 0-0 3-5 11 2-4 0 0 2 0 0 Eldridge Recasner 10 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 2 0 0 Eddie Robinson 11 2-7 0-0 0-0 4 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Hersey Hawkins 10 0-0 0-0 4-4 4 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 Otis Thorpe 12 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-5 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 30-81 4-15 36-46 100 12-48 17 8 26 10 6 Dallas at Utah (March 26) The game stayed close in the physical 1st quarter with both teams' largest lead only 4 points and it was all tied up at 18-18 after 1. Karl Malone threw an elbow which hit Dirk Nowitzki's chin 4 minutes into the game, but the ref only gave Malone a technical, instead of the automatic ejection that comes with an elbow connecting above the shoulders. Both teams were struggling to find the basket as Utah shot 8-19 FG and Dallas shot 6-21 FG, including 9 straight misses. Dallas continued their cold shooting and Utah began finding the basket. Utah lead 31-29 with 4 minutes left and scored the next 10 points to go up 41-29 with 1:30 remaining. Utah led 46-35 at the half. Utah out-scored Dallas 28-17 in the 2nd quarter. Utah shot 11-25 FG while Dallas shot a mere 5-17 FG - that's only 28% FG for the half. Michael Finley was trying to carry the team as he had 16 points on 7-14 FG. The rest of the Mavs shot 4-24 FG. Disgusted with the excessively physical play the refs were allowing, Don Nelson picked up his 2nd technical and was ejected with 3:21 remaining in the 2nd quarter. The Mavs talked about the physicalness of the game during halftime and came out in the 3rd quarter prepared to play through it. Michael Finley opened the quarter with a monster slam. Utah led 51-39 with 10:15 to go. John Stockton and Jerry Sloan got Ts for their complaints about non-calls and those free throws started a 9-0 run by Dallas to pull the Mavs to within 48-51 with 8:20 left. A lineup including shot blockers Shawn Bradley and Calvin Booth was affecting Utah. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter and Utah led 66-62 after 3. The game stayed close in the 4th quarter with neither team able to build a much of a lead. The game was tied 84-84 with 2:35 left and every thing changed. Nowitzki was fouled hard driving to the basket on the break with 2 minutes to go. His shot, amazingly, went in (the contact occurred as Nowitzki was releasing the ball) and Donyell Marshall was assessed the flagrant foul. Nowitzki missed the first free throws and hit the second. Marshall blocked Nowitzki's shot and Utah went running the other way, but Bryon Russell missed the layup on the break and Dallas headed the other way. Nowitzki drained the fade-away jumper and was fouled. He hit the free throw to give Dallas a 90-84 lead with 1:14 remaining. Utah missed and Nowitzki hit 2 more free throws with a minute left. Marshall drained a 3-pointer and Nowitzki hit 2 free throws and Marshall nailed another 3 to pull Utah within 90-94 with 30 seconds left. Utah fouled Steve Nash to stop the clock and Nash hit both free throws. Utah missed and Nowitzki hit 2 free throws to cap the scoring. Dallas won 98-90. First, this should have been a completely different game than it was. The rule book clearly stats (in fact, in more than one place) that if an elbow connects an opponent above the shoulder (and Dirk's chin is above his shoulders) then that player is _automatically_ ejected. There is no judgement. The ref obviously saw the elbow as that is why he gave Karl Malone the technical. For whatever reason, the ref chose to ignore the rule. Malone should have been ejected 4 minutes into the game. The ref should be fined for not doing his job. It was a very tough physical game and the refs did little to control the game. They let the physical play go and it resulted in a lot of frustrated players on both sides - all the technicals after Malone's were from frustration with the contact that was being allowed and the two flagrants were a result of frustration. This was a terrible officiating job by all 3 refs and luckily no fights broke out and no one was injured [crossing fingers that Dirk's wrists are all right]. It was a tale of 2 halves and a key 4th quarter. Dallas shot only 28.9% FG in the 1st half and shot 44.7% in the 2nd half. Meanwhile, Utah went ice cold in the 4th. They went 7 minutes from 8:05 to 51 seconds left without connecting on a field goal. The Jazz completely went away from Karl Malone as he only had 2 field goal attempts in the 4th. The Mavs were focusing on him defensively and allowing Utah to beat them from the outside, which they failed to do. Michael Finley was the warrior throughout the game, but Dirk Nowitzki carried the team in the last 2 minutes. Nowitzki scored 12 of Dallas' last 14 points. He finished with 27 points on 5-18 FG and 15-17 FT and 13 rebounds. He landed hard after the flagrant foul and his wrists were bothering - he had ice on them after the game. Finley was the high man with 33 points including 5-8 3-pointers and 12 rebounds. Juwan Howard was the only other Mav in double-digits with 10 points - he did not have a good game, but was defending Karl Malone most of the time. Steve Nash was terrible offensively (9 points including 2-11 FG), but did have 9 assists and 6 rebounds. Calvin Booth was very nice with 8 points on 4-5 FG (2 of those off of offensive putbacks) and 2 blocks in 13 minutes. For Utah, Karl Malone led the way with 21 points on 7-11 FG and 7-10 FT and 10 rebounds, but was hardly heard from in the 4th quarter (largely his teammates fault). Donyell Marshall was the only help Malone got with 17 points (though 6 of those came in the last minute of the game) and 12 rebounds. Danny Manning was the only other Jazz player in double-digits with 10 points in 14 minutes. The Jazz starting guards were terrible as John Stockton and John Starks combined for 3-23 FG. Stockton, on his 39th birthday, had 8 points including 1-10 FG, 6 rebounds, and 12 assists. Dallas has now won 20 road games. That ties the team record for most road wins in a season. Quotes Del Harris: "Several of these guys haven't been involved in the playoffs, and certainly not recently if they've been on our team. This is how it's going to be. You can't be complaining about the refs, or looking for breaks, because they're not going to happen." [Don Nelson does not talk to the media after games he is ejected] Harris: "The worst thing we want to be called in this league is soft." Harris: "It's probably too ironic to think that both teams' shooting was off. This was a hard-played, playoff-quality game." Harris: "This is a huge win for us and one we're obviously proud of because any time you get a win against the Utah guys you've got to feel good about it. We have the greatest respect for them as a basketball team." Michael Finley on his dunk to open the 3rd quarter: "We took the 1st half personal. Utah was trying to over power us, disrespect us, and I guess you could say challenge our manhood. I took it personal to try to be aggressive right from the jump." Dirk Nowitzki: "Everyone played hard. They beat us up in the 1st half, and then we came in at halftime and said we had to step it up. You don't get a break, especially on the road against a good team. That's why you've got to play better, be more physical and take it to the hole." Nowitzki: "It was a tough game and a very physical game, but we were able to stand up to them." Nowitzki: "We told each other we have to step it up. It felt good to finish the game strong." Nowitzki: "We got that flagrant foul and it kind of ignited us down the stretch. I think we scored 6 or 8 unanswered points and they had to start fouling and I just happened to be the one they fouled. I think any one of our guys would have been efficient at the foul line." Nowitzki on his 4th quarter performance: "Nothing was going in for me most of the game, so I felt I needed to make something happen there at the end." Steve Nash: "It was a statement we needed to make. It kind of set the tone that we don't care whose building we're playing in or who we're playing against." Juwan Howard: "This is a big win for us. A huge win. When you play a great team like Utah and win - it helps get you ready for the playoffs." Howard: "You've got to give credit to our defense. To come out here and still find a way to win a ballgame, it shows a lot of character." Howard: "It was our defense. We played defense by committee in the 4th quarter and tried to take [Stockton and Malone] out of their stuff." Jerry Sloan: "We couldn't stop their fastbreak, they beat us down the floor in situations where they pushed it down the floor and buried shots on us. They certainly deserved to win." Sloan: "They kept after us. They came in here with a great deal of enthusiasm and they came at us hard." Sloan: "We start the 3rd quarter and instead of executing, we start hanging out." Sloan on the team's sticking to the outside instead of going in: "We've got to take 3-point shots for some reason. It wasn't just one guy." Sloan on Marshall's flagrant foul: "I don't think that's necessary. I didn't see all of it, but that's not part of basketball." John Stockton: "We're obviously not getting the job done. We've had leads, but we aren't taking care of them. We've done good things that have gotten us leads, then the bottom falls out." Stockton: "I thought we lost our composure a little bit. We did things that are uncharacteristic for us." Stockton: "Nobody was making shots, so everybody else was open. They were paying a lot of attention to [Malone]. I think for the most part guys had decent shots, open ones, late anyways, and we just weren't able to knock any down to loosen things up for him." Donyell Marshall: "A tough night. I had a couple of shots - layups - go in and out. But there's nothing we can do about it now." Marshall on his flagrant foul: "That was pretty much frustration. A couple of times he'd thrown elbows my way; it was a frustration foul. But you don't mean to try and hurt anyone." John Starks: "We let it get away, we did it to ourselves. We don't have anybody to blame but ourselves." Starks: "We started to get caught up with the referees and how they were calling the 2nd half, and not focusing on the Dallas Mavericks. When you do that, you lose concentration." Starks: "We have to play a full 48 minutes and I don't think we've been doing that against these contending teams." Dallas Mavericks 98, Utah Jazz 90 at Utah (March 26) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 18 17 29 34 - 98 .373 .389 .376 .931 Utah 18 28 20 24 - 90 .358 .353 .357 .774 Halftime: Utah 46-35 3rd Q: Utah 66-64 Technicals: Karl Malone 8:29 1st, Don Nelson 3:21 2nd, Don Nelson (ejected) 0:43 2nd, Dirk Nowitzki 10:21 3rd, John Stockton 8:22 3rd, Jerry Sloan 8:22 3rd Flagrant fouls: Michael Finley 2:51 3rd, Donyell Marshall 1:59 4th Refs: Ron Garretson, Derrick Stafford, Leon Wood Attendance: 19,911 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 34 5-9 0-0 0-0 10 1-4 0 1 5 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 5-18 2-8 15-17 27 1-13 2 1 3 1 0 Shawn Bradley 28 2-6 0-0 4-4 8 2-7 0 0 1 0 4 Steve Nash 36 2-11 0-0 5-5 9 0-6 9 3 4 1 1 Michael Finley 48 13-28 5-8 2-2 33 3-12 3 1 1 0 0 Howard Eisley 16 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 1 0 0 Mark Bryant 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Vernon Maxwell 7 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0-1 1 0 2 0 1 Calvin Booth 13 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 2-3 0 0 1 0 2 Greg Buckner 12 1-3 0-0 1-1 3 0-2 2 0 4 1 0 Totals 48 32-85 7-18 27-29 98 9-50 18 8 23 4 8 Utah Jazz REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Donyell Marshall 25 7-17 2-3 1-2 17 4-12 0 2 5 0 2 Karl Malone 36 7-11 0-0 7-10 21 1-10 1 3 3 0 0 Olden Polynice 21 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 3-5 0 1 1 0 0 John Stockton 28 1-10 1-4 5-5 8 1-6 12 2 3 2 0 John Starks 28 2-13 2-5 2-2 8 1-3 1 0 4 1 0 Jacque Vaughn 25 4-8 0-1 0-0 8 0-2 4 0 1 0 0 Bryon Russell 32 2-9 1-3 2-4 7 1-4 0 0 3 0 1 Danny Manning 14 4-6 0-0 2-2 10 0-2 0 0 2 0 0 Greg Ostertag 20 2-6 0-0 3-4 7 3-5 1 0 3 0 3 John Crotty 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 2 0 0 0 0 David Benoit 5 0-2 0-1 2-2 2 0-1 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 30-84 6-17 24-31 90 14-51 21 9 25 4 6 patricia