LA Clippers at Dallas (October 19 - pre-season) Dirk Nowitzki played the game despite suffering from a cold. You could see him sniffling and coughing during timeouts. Dallas led 1-0 on a T free throw off the annoying defensive 3 seconds (7 called in this game) and the Clippers took over the half with single-digit leads for almost the rest of the half. Dallas was struggling with their shot most of the game. The Clippers led 26-21 after 1. The Clippers were unable to pull away though as Dallas kept the game close. Dallas' next lead came as Greg Buckner hit a running, one-handed 3-pointer at the half time buzzer to give Dallas a 52-50 lead at the half. Dallas came out sluggish for the 3rd quarter the fast running Clippers opened the quarter with a 13-0 run. The Clippers out-scored Dallas 31-18 in quarter to go up 81-70 after 3. The Clippers held a high single-digit to lower double-digit lead for most of the 4th until Dallas made a surge at the end. A 3-pointer by Nowitzki cut the Clippers' lead down to just 99-96 with 1:40 left. Keyon Dooling hit a jumper with a minute left to put the Clippers up by 5 points. Nowitzki hit another 3-pointer with 35 seconds left and the Clippers' lead was just 101-99. 2 missed free throws gave Dallas one last shot of tying or winning the game. Michael Finley missed a short jumper, but the ball went out of bounds off of a Clipper, so it was Dallas ball with just 2.6 seconds left. But Nash missed and that was game. The LA Clippers won 101-99. It was an ugly ending to what was looking to be an exciting finish as the refs stuck their whistles in with some questionable calls. Dallas got possession when Finley was going out of bounds when it should have been Clippers' ball. Dallas missed and the Clippers came running back and Elton Brand lost the ball out of bounds off his foot. But the far ref, who had no view of the play, called a foul on Nowitzki while the ref who had a view of the play had simply called Dallas ball. The replay clearly showed (and it looked clear on initial viewing) that the ball was already out of Brand's hands when Nowitzki went to reach in to try to knock the ball loose. It was free throws for Brand (Dallas in the penalty), but he missed both. A short time later, Clippers scored and Dallas wanted to call timeout. Either the ref didn't hear them or just ignored them (Dallas players just stood there in disbelief), as when Nowitzki throw the ball towards halfcourt in seemingly disgust a Clipper player got the ball and called timeout and the ref granted the Clipper's timeout and possession was the Clippers. The Clippers and Dallas didn't score on those 3 plays, so none of the ref's bad calls had a real bad affect besides the loss of game time with possession of the ball. To be fair, it is the pre-season for the refs as well - but for 3 questionable things to occur in such a short period of time and at the end of the game is concerning. As for the game, the Clippers looked really good and Dallas did not. Don Nelson was extremely unhappy after the game and reportedly seriously yelled at his players. Nelson was trying to win this game and playing a shorter rotation (10 played) with the 4 starters (besides Shawn Bradley) each with 30 minutes or more. Steve Nash and Juwan Howard had terrible games with missing shots and blowing layups. Nash had 8 points including 1-7 FG, but did have 5 assists. Howard had 14 points including 4-14 FG, but did snag 10 rebounds. Bradley also did not do much as he only played 14 minutes as Nelson opted to play half the game without a true center (Evan Eschmeyer only played 11 minutes). Despite his cold (and he actually tends to play better sick), Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 21 points and 7 rebounds. Michael Finley contributed 18 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals. The Mavs are still struggling defensively (6-6 Quentin Richardson had a couple of very nice drives for layups against the taller players late in the 4th quarter) and with rebounds. The Clippers out-rebounded Dallas 55-40 including 19-10 offensive. Adrian Griffin looked nice and aggressive with 10 points and 5 steals. He had great steal knocking the ball out of a Clipper's hands (who was just holding the ball) at just over the half court and took the ball in, but didn't make the layup as he was fouled (but he missed both free throws). Nelson did put out a lineup late in the 3rd quarter that I don't want to see in the regular season: Hardaway, Buckner, Griffin, Manning, and Eschmeyer. Yuch. Quotes Don Nelson: "It was a game we had no business being in, as far as I'm concerned. I'm really disappointed with our performance. It was the best team we could put on the floor and we didn't deserve to win the game on our home court. It was very discouraging." Nelson: "That locker room knew this game was important to me and that I wanted to win this game. We had at least 3 guys that didn't play up to their potential." Dirk Nowitzki: "All the time we get out-rebounded. It's going to be a tough year. We've all got to step our rebounding up." Nowitzki: "Hopefully that was a wake-up call." Los Angeles Clippers 101, Dallas Mavericks 99 at Dallas (October 19) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% LA Clippers 26 24 31 20 - 101 .465 .375 .448 .630 Dallas 21 31 18 29 - 99 .464 .294 .430 .714 Halftime: Dallas 52-50 3rd Q: LA Clippers 81-70 Technical fouls: LA Clippers defensive 3 seconds 11:16 1st, LA Clippers defensive 3 seconds 5:17 1st, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 2:28 1st, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 7:41 2nd, LA Clippers defensive 3 seconds 7:12 2nd, LA Clippers defensive 3 seconds 6:17 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 2:25 3rd Refs: Bob Delaney, Tom Washington, Pat Fraher Attendance: 16,732 (cap 19,200) Did not play due to injury: Corey Maggette Los Angeles Clippers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Elton Brand 29 7-11 0-0 5-8 19 4-7 1 3 5 1 0 Lamar Odom 32 5-11 1-5 3-5 14 2-11 3 5 2 0 2 Michael Olowokandi 24 6-10 0-0 1-2 13 5-11 1 1 1 0 1 Jeff McInnis 28 3-13 0-0 1-2 7 1-3 8 2 1 0 0 Eric Piatkowski 31 5-10 3-6 3-4 16 0-5 2 0 1 0 0 Derek Strong 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Sean Rooks 19 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 2-3 0 2 3 0 1 Quentin Richardson 24 7-15 1-4 0-1 15 4-9 3 1 1 0 0 Darius Miles 29 2-5 0-0 3-4 7 1-5 3 3 4 2 0 Keyon Dooling 19 3-8 1-1 0-0 7 0-0 2 2 2 1 0 Earl Boykins 1 0-0 0-0 1-1 1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 39-87 6-16 17-27 101 19-55 23 19 20 4 4 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 35 4-14 0-0 6-8 14 4-10 2 2 4 1 3 Dirk Nowitzki 33 8-17 2-7 3-3 21 1-7 2 2 3 0 0 Shawn Bradley 14 2-3 0-0 1-2 5 0-2 0 1 3 0 0 Michael Finley 39 8-18 0-1 2-2 18 1-3 5 2 3 3 2 Steve Nash 30 1-7 1-4 5-6 8 0-1 6 2 1 0 1 Evan Eschmeyer 11 2-4 0-0 1-1 5 1-4 0 0 2 0 2 Tim Hardaway 18 1-3 1-3 2-4 5 0-3 5 1 0 0 0 Greg Buckner 26 3-7 1-1 0-0 7 2-4 4 1 4 1 1 Danny Manning 13 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 0-2 1 0 1 1 1 Adrian Griffin 21 5-8 0-1 0-2 10 1-4 1 0 4 5 0 Totals 48 37-86 5-17 20-28 99 10-40 26 11 25 11 10 Dallas at Denver (October 20 - pre-season) (from listening on the radio) Denver opened the game shooting lights out and held a single-digit lead for the entire 1st quarter. Denver led 33-28 after 1 while shooting over 70% FG. Denver's shooting cooled off in the 2nd quarter and Dallas tied the game at 43-43 with 8:30 remaining as Dallas finished an 8-2 mini-run. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter and remained tied at 51-51 for halftime. Kevin Willis was a monster on the boards with 13 rebounds to go with his 14 points. Michael Finley had 16 points. Raef LaFrentz opened the 3rd quarter with a jumper and then Dallas went on a 12-2 run to take a 63-55 lead with 6:40 left. Dallas led 73-65 after 3. Dallas looked to be pulling away in the 4th quarter as they took their largest lead at 85-71 with 6 minutes to go. But 2 Voshon Lenard 3-pointers surrounded a George McCloud layup to pull Denver back into the game as Dallas led 85-79 with 3:30 remaining. A jumper by Danny Manning ended Denver's run. McCloud hit a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to cut Dallas' lead down to 92-88, but Steve Nash hit 2 free throws to seal the win. Dallas won 94-88. Though it is a win, this game was much closer than it should have been as Dallas is a _much_ better team than these Nuggets that are missing their best player (McDyess). Rebounding still hurts Dallas even though they were only out-rebounded by 3 boards (39-42). But they only snagged a very poor 6 offensive rebounds - and the team shot only 43.1% FG [granted, Denver only grabbed 9 offensive boards and shot 40.7% FG). Michael Finley was the high man with 23 points and 6 assists. Steve Nash had 17 points and 6 rebounds and Dirk Nowitzki had 16 points and 7 rebounds. Both Finley (40) and Nowitzki (44) were in the 40s for minutes played. Kevin Willis wasn't able to substain his dominating 1st half as he only had 2 points and 5 rebounds in the 2nd half for a still impressive total of 16 points and 18 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson: "I think we tried harder on defense than we did the game before [vs the Clippers] and we did some good things." Steve Nash on Dallas shooting 43% FG: "Sometimes it's hard to get a real rhythm going." Dan Issel: "I didn't think our defense was that bad, but we couldn't score. It's a complete turnaround from last year. Last year, we scored a lot but we couldn't stop anybody. We've got to stop helping each other. We don't have any one-on-one players on this team." Issel on Kenny Satterfield and Omar Cook, who are battling each other for a roster spot: "Instead of looking to score every time down, Kenny really ran the offense and tried to create some shots for some other people. Omar passed the ball pretty well, and he was part of that group in the 4th quarter that finally started to execute some plays and get some shots for one another. So I would say that both of them had their best games to this point." Dallas Mavericks 94, Denver Nuggets 88 at Denver (October 20) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 23 22 21 - 94 .433 .417 .431 .844 Denver 33 18 14 23 - 88 .426 .350 .407 .750 Halftime: 51-51 3rd Q: Dallas 73-65 Technical fouls: Denver defensive 3 seconds 8:57 2nd, Dan Issel 1:42 2nd, George McCloud, 9:17 4th, Donnell Harvey 9:17 4th, Donnell Harvey 8:52 4th (ejected) Refs: Ron Olesiak, Mike Callahan, Gary Zielinski Attendance: 6,320 (cap 19,099) Did not play due to injury: Antonio McDyess, Calbert Cheaney, Avery Johnson Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 22 4-12 0-0 0-2 8 2-7 3 2 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 44 4-10 1-2 7-8 16 0-7 2 3 2 0 3 Shawn Bradley 24 5-7 0-0 2-2 12 0-6 0 0 1 0 0 Michael Finley 40 8-18 2-2 5-5 23 1-3 6 0 4 1 0 Steve Nash 31 5-8 1-3 6-7 17 1-3 6 0 0 1 0 Evan Eschmeyer 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 1 0 Greg Buckner 16 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-5 1 1 4 0 0 Adrian Griffin 21 0-4 0-1 3-4 3 2-7 0 2 2 1 0 Tim Hardaway 17 1-6 1-4 4-4 7 0-0 2 4 0 0 0 Danny Manning 15 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 0-1 1 0 2 0 0 Donnell Harvey 7 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 3 1 1 Totals 48 31-72 5-12 27-32 94 6-39 21 12 22 5 4 Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK James Posey 14 0-3 0-0 1-2 1 0-2 1 1 2 1 0 Kevin Willis 34 8-15 0-0 0-0 16 4-18 0 0 2 1 1 Raef LaFrentz 32 4-10 0-3 3-3 11 1-5 1 2 4 1 4 Tariq Abdul-Wahad 21 1-6 0-0 1-2 3 0-1 1 0 0 1 0 Nick Van_Exel 28 6-16 2-6 0-0 14 0-3 10 3 1 0 0 Voshon Lenard 22 4-8 3-5 2-2 13 0-2 1 2 2 1 0 George McCloud 28 5-10 2-4 6-7 18 1-3 3 2 5 0 0 Cedric Ceballos 10 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 1-3 1 2 1 0 0 Kenny Satterfield 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 2 0 0 0 0 Isaiah Rider 12 0-2 0-1 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Zendon Hamilton 9 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 0-2 0 0 4 0 0 Omar Cook 12 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 1-2 4 2 3 1 0 Ryan Bowen 10 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 48 33-81 7-20 15-20 88 9-42 24 15 27 6 5 patricia