Dallas at Seattle (April 15) Seattle scored the first 7 points of the game and held a single-digit lead for most of the 1st quarter. Seattle led 22-14 with 5:15 remaining and Dallas scored the next 10 points to go up 24-22 with 4 minutes left. Seattle scored the next 4 points. Seattle led 28-27 after 1. Dallas opened the 2nd quarter with an 11-2 run to go up 38-30 with 10 minutes to go. Dallas held a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 49-45 at the half. Dallas slowly built up its lead and led 66-54 with 4:20 remaining. Juwan Howard hit a jumper with 2 seconds left and Dallas led 70-61 after 3. Seattle cut Dallas' lead down to 72-66 with 11:10 left and Dallas scored the next 6 points to go back up by 12 at 78-66 with 9:50 to go. Dallas led 85-74 on a 3-pointer by Michael Finley with 3:45 remaining and Seattle went on a 9-2 run to pull within 83-87 with 37 seconds left. Seattle started intentionally fouling to stop the clock. Steve Nash hit 2 free throws and Brent Barry drained a 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining. Nash hit 2 more free throws with 29 seconds left and Dallas led 91-86. Gary Payton missed, Desmond Mason got the rebound and missed inside, Dirk Nowitzki got the rebound and was hacked twice with no call and the ball was knocked loose under the basket and Mason picked it up and got the layup and Nowitzki was called for the foul. Mason hit the free throw. [_Terrible_ non-call - caused a 5 point swing in a tight game (Seattle was in the penalty)]. Finley hit 2 free throws with 14 seconds left and Dallas led 93-89. Payton drove for the quick layup with 9 seconds left as Dallas did not contest, not wanting to risk a foul. Howard Eisley missed the first free throw and hit the second and it was only a 3 point game at 94-91 with 8 seconds remaining. Payton brought the ball up full court and his 3-pointer missed, but Eisley was called for hitting Payton on the elbow. Payton hit all 3 free throws and it was a tie game with 3 seconds left. Nowitzki missed a 3-pointer and we had overtime at 94-94. Nash opened the overtime with a 3-pointer. Payton answered with a jumper and Patrick Ewing hit 1 of 2 free throws and the game was tied 97-97 with 3 minutes left. The teams traded buckets before Dallas took over for the last 2 minutes of the game. Nash hit a jumper, Finley hit a jumper, Nowitzki had a monster slam, and Finley hit 2 free throws as Dallas scored the last 8 points of the game and Seattle missed their last 4 shots. Dallas won 107-99. Well, it wasn't pretty and it shouldn't have gone into overtime, but it's a win. The Mavs did not play well in this game and weren't hustling the way they'll need to in a week. At least they kicked it into another gear in overtime (but they were sleep walking in the 4th). But, hey, the Mavs actually rebounded in this game! Dallas had 60 rebounds and 16 offensive (their highest offensive total in over a month). Dirk Nowitzki struggled offensively, but did manage 22 points including 7-20 FG and 1-8 3-pointers and did have 15 rebounds. Michael Finley led the way with 26 points including 4-10 3-pointers and 5 rebounds. Juwan Howard had a poor outing with 11 points including 3-11 FG, but had 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Shawn Bradley also had a double-double with 10 points (including 4-11 FG) and 13 rebounds and Steve Nash was the 5th player with double digits with 13 points and 6 assists. As expected, Gary Payton led the way with 23 points and had 6 rebounds and 13 assists. Rashard Lewis chipped in 17 points and 7 rebounds before fouling out with 2 minutes left in overtime. Emanual Davis and Brent Barry had 15 points each. Patrick Ewing finished with 13 points including 5-16 FG and 6 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson: "I don't think we overlooked them, we just weren't mentally sharp. Physically we were there, but mentally we made a lot of mistakes. We played well in overtime." Nelson: "We didn't play real smart down the stretch." Nelson: "We are very fortunate and I'm very pleased that we won in overtime. We played very well in overtime." Nelson: "Let me commend Nate McMillan and the Sonics. Even though they are out of the playoffs, his team played hard and didn't quit. We didn't play very smart down the stretch to keep our lead." Michael Finley: "We played about as terrible as we could to still win." Finley: "We just played down to their level. They weren't that excited either." Dirk Nowitzki: "We let them hang around the whole game. We almost lost the game and we deserved to lose the game in the 4th quarter." Nowitzki: "We didn't do a good job of closing them out. We let them hang around the whole game, and I think we should have been up in the 4th quarter by 20 points." Nowitzki on the playoff standings: "I don't know if we can move up to the 4th. If not, we want the 4th. We want to go as high as we can. It's not in our destiny since Utah has to lose 2 more but its in our destiny to take the 5th playoff spot." Steve Nash: "We were a little slow mentally and a little passive." Nash: "It's human nature to have lapses, but that's our job to come out and not allow lapses to sustain for any length." Shawn Bradley: "We didn't overlook them. I know we didn't overlook them. But we didn't come out with the mental toughness required to win the game in regulation. We are more mentally tough than we showed in the 1st half." Bradley: "We are better mentally than we showed. Seattle wanted to play spoiler and they played very aggressively." Nate McMillan on his team: "They worked. I absolutely have no problem with these guys. I hate losing, but when you give an effort and leave it out on the floor, then you have to shake the other teams' hand. The Mavericks made plays when they needed to." McMillan: "The bottom line is [that] we are out of the playoffs. We are going to continue to work hard and to win. With all the people that were missing, a lot of guys were in different positions but they worked." McMillan: "There's no question that I like Gary Payton. I like his game. I like his attitude. I like his approach to the game. Gary is going to give you at least 20, 30 wins somehow. We're a very young team - with or without Gary. [But] he takes a lot of pressure off our perimeter guys. His penetration opens up shots for our post people. So some guys are living off him right now." Patrick Ewing: "We still have to come to work. Regardless of the fact that we're not in the playoffs, we still have a job we have to do." Desmond Mason: "We waited a little too late to come alive. We were short some guys, but we had plenty of opportunities to take it." Dallas Mavericks 107, Seattle Sonics 99 at Seattle (April 15) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 27 22 21 24 13 - 107 .435 .333 .404 .813 Seattle 28 17 16 33 5 - 99 .411 .450 .419 .706 Halftime: Dallas 49-45 3rd Q: Dallas 70-61 Technicals: Dallas Illegal D 10:46 3rd, Gary Payton 3:01 3rd Refs: Bernie Fryer, Tommy Nunez, Bennie Adams Attendance: 15,194 (cap 17,072) Did not play due to injury: Vin Baker (sprained right knee), Ruben Patterson (sprained left ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 45 3-11 0-0 5-6 11 5-12 5 4 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 47 7-20 1-8 7-9 22 3-15 4 3 4 3 2 Calvin Booth 16 4-7 0-0 1-3 9 2-5 1 2 3 1 1 Michael Finley 46 8-19 4-10 6-6 26 1-5 1 2 1 2 1 Steve Nash 30 4-10 1-2 4-4 13 0-4 6 3 2 1 0 Shawn Bradley 31 4-11 0-0 2-2 10 5-13 1 2 2 0 3 Howard Eisley 28 3-6 2-5 1-2 9 0-3 3 1 3 0 0 Vernon Maxwell 22 3-5 1-2 0-0 7 0-3 2 2 1 1 0 Totals 53 36-89 9-27 26-32 107 16-60 23 21 19 8 7 Seattle Sonics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Rashard Lewis 33 5-12 3-5 4-6 17 2-7 1 4 6 1 1 Desmon Mason 34 4-10 0-1 1-1 9 2-7 1 1 3 2 0 Patrick Ewing 42 5-16 0-0 3-5 13 2-6 1 1 2 1 1 Emanual Davis 28 6-11 3-6 0-0 15 0-4 0 1 0 1 1 Gary Payton 50 10-25 0-3 3-3 23 1-6 13 2 5 1 1 Olumide Oyedeji 13 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 1-5 0 1 3 1 0 Brent Barry 38 6-12 3-5 0-0 15 0-6 3 3 4 2 0 Shammond Williams 9 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 3 0 0 Ruben Wolkowyski 18 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-4 0 2 2 0 0 Totals 53 39-93 9-20 12-17 99 8-45 19 16 28 9 4 Dallas at Golden State (April 16) The game stayed close in the 1st quarter as the Mavs did what is feared in a game like this - not take it seriously and play down to the opponent's level. Dallas held a single-digit lead throughout the 1st quarter (minus 4 early ties). Dallas led 28-25 after 1. Juwan Howard had 10 points. Don Nelson went with an international lineup to open the 2nd quarter with Steve Nash (Canada), Howard Eisley (USA), Eduardo Najera (Mexico), Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), and Wang Zhizhi (China) on the floor. Dallas maintained their single-digit lead (with a brief foray with a 10 point lead) and led 45-37 with 5:20 left. Golden State went on a 12-1 run to take a 49-46 lead with 2:25 remaining as Dallas missed 4 shots and turned the ball over 3 times. The teams traded baskets and Dallas scored the next 7 points to go up 55-51 with 40 seconds left. Dallas led 57-53 at the half. Howard had 17 points in the half. Dallas led 61-57 with 10 minutes to go and scored the next 7 points in a little over a minute to go up 68-57. Golden State answered with a 13-2 run to tie the game at 70-70 with 4:45 remaining. Michael Finley answered with a 3-pointer and Dirk Nowitzki hit 2 free throws and Dallas maintained a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 83-76 after 3. Antawn Jamison had 12 points in the quarter. Then came the quarter that would never end. Dallas led by 7 to 12 points the entire quarter, but there was no pace to the game as the whistles were blowing like crazy for a long parade to the free throw line. Golden State pulled within 7 points twice at 91-98 with 5:45 left and at 95-102 with 3:35 left, but Dallas answered each time by scoring the next 4 points. Jamison was accidentally hit in the face by Howard with less than 3 minutes left and had to leave the game and get stitches. Dallas won 110-101. Well, that was really ugly. And the 4th quarter was even worse than the rest of the ugly game with all the free throws (not hard fouls - it wasn't that physica of a game). Dallas shot 10-11 FT and Golden State shot 13-21 FT in the 4th quarter alone. Gag. I've wasted enough time on this ugly game already (staying up past midnight on a work night to watch this???), so let me just mention the two performances worthy of note. Juwan Howard had a very nice game with 30 points including 12-18 FG and 6 rebounds and Antawn Jamison (31 points including 13-18 FT) is the only thing Golden State has going for them. Dallas finished the season with a road record of 25-16 - shattering the previous best road record in team history (20-21 3 times). With Dallas' win and Phoenix's loss to the LA Clippers, the Mavs clinched the 5th spot in the Western Conference for the playoffs. The Mavs will face Utah in the first round of the playoffs. There is a slight chance that Dallas and Utah (currently at the 4th spot) could swap places, giving Dallas homecourt advantage, but Utah would have to lose the last 2 games (vs LA Clippers tonight and at Phoenix tomorrow night) and Dallas would have to win their last game (vs Minnesota Wednesday). Dallas and Utah split the series with both teams winning 2 games on the road. The playoffs will start Saturday or Sunday for Dallas [that sounds so neat saying that]. Quotes Nelson: "The Warriors played well tonight, they really made a game of it. It wasn't an easy game for us, but we did enough to win." Nelson on Wang: "He played well. We know he can play. He's very comfortable, he can pass and shoot, and he's big." Don Nelson on the playoff position: "This locked us in. At least we know who we'll be playing. [Utah is] a good opponent for us, because they're a veteran team." Nelson: "I think it's good we know who we're playing. Utah will be difficult to play in the playoffs because they're a veteran team and what we're trying to do is get our team to learn. And you couldn't learn any more than against Utah." Nelson on the season: "When you think about where we started and the expectations, 52 wins and 25 road wins is unbelievable. That's an amazing number." Dirk Nowitzki on Dallas' performances on the road: "We think we can beat anybody on the road. When we make shots, defend and rebound, we're tough to beat even on the road." Dave Cowens on Dallas' turnaround: "They were very bold to go with Nowitzki and thinking ahead on [Wang Zhizhi]. They've been able to keep guys around. They've done a nice job. They've stockpiled some players to the point where they could spend Hubert Davis and Courtney Alexander to get Howard." Corie Blount: "They can take the ball to the hole. They're an exciting team to watch with Dirk and Michael." Blount: "We'll try to get through the next game as fast as possible and call it a season. I just hope we don't have to go through this again next year." Dallas Mavericks 110, Golden State Warriors 101 at Golden State (April 16) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 29 26 27 - 110 .500 .636 .522 .795 Golden State 25 28 23 25 - 101 .436 .167 .417 .714 Halftime: Dallas 57-53 3rd Q: Dallas 83-76 Technicals: Dallas Illegal D 5:40 2nd, Dallas Illegal D 11:20 4th Refs: Luis Grillo, Hank Armstrong, Rodney Mott Attendance: 13,393 (cap 19,596) Did not play due to injury: Mookie Blaylock (sprained right hand), Larry Hughes (sprained right thumb), Marc Jackson (strained left groin), Bob Sura (strained lower back) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 34 12-18 0-0 6-7 30 3-6 0 5 4 0 3 Dirk Nowitzki 34 2-8 0-2 10-13 14 2-4 4 1 6 0 1 Shawn Bradley 18 3-3 0-0 4-4 10 0-9 0 2 3 1 3 Michael Finley 45 8-18 3-5 2-5 21 1-6 4 0 2 1 1 Steve Nash 32 6-9 3-3 2-2 17 1-4 6 6 1 0 0 Calvin Booth 26 1-3 0-0 2-2 4 0-4 3 3 4 0 2 Howard Eisley 26 3-4 1-1 2-2 9 0-2 6 0 6 3 0 Wang Zhizhi 9 1-3 0-0 3-4 5 1-1 0 1 2 0 0 Eduardo Najera 10 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 1 1 2 0 0 Vernon Maxwell 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 36-69 7-11 31-39 110 8-38 25 21 33 5 10 Golden State Warriors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adonal Foyle 32 1-5 0-0 1-2 3 4-6 1 1 5 1 1 Antawn Jamison 43 9-19 0-2 13-18 31 3-8 2 3 3 3 1 Erick Dampier 20 3-7 0-0 0-0 6 1-7 2 2 6 0 0 Vonteego Cummings 43 6-18 1-2 9-11 22 0-2 10 1 2 2 0 Chris Porter 37 7-14 0-0 7-9 21 3-5 1 0 4 1 0 Corie Blount 33 5-11 0-0 0-2 10 4-9 3 3 5 1 2 Adam Keefe 20 4-6 0-0 0-0 8 0-2 0 1 2 2 0 Chris Garner 12 0-4 0-2 0-0 0 0-0 1 3 2 1 1 Totals 48 35-84 1-6 30-42 101 15-39 20 14 29 11 5 patricia