Dallas (30-5) at LA Clippers (14-22) (January 12) The games stayed close in the 1st quarter as there were 3 ties and 9 lead changes and neither team led by more than 3 points until Michael Finley rattled off 6 straight points to give Dallas a 22-17 lead with 1:50 left. Dallas led 24-21 after 1. Finley had 12 points. Dallas connected on 3 consecutive buckets to take their largest lead at 34-25 with 8:45 to go, but Keyon Dooling ended the run with a 3-pointer and Dallas' lead remained in single-digits. The Clippers went on a 7-1 mini-run, with all 7 points coming from Dooling, to go up 43-41 with 3 minutes remaining. Dallas closed the quarter with an 8-1 run to go up 49-44 at the half. The Clippers twiced pulled within 2 points early in the 3rd quarter, but could not break even. Behind 3 3-pointers by Steve Nash, Dallas slowly built up a 71-58 lead with 4:25 to go. But Dallas started purely playing individual offense and the Clippers found a new sense of energy to close the quarter with a 14-3 run - Dallas only bucket during the run came on the rare occasion where the ball was passed and found Raef LaFrentz for the open 3-pointer. Dallas led just 74-72 after 3. The Clippers scored the first 4 points of the 4th quarter to re-take the lead and the game stayed close. A beautiful driving, reverse layup by Dirk Nowitzki tied the game at 81-81 with 6 minutes remaining. Nash hit a jumper to give Dallas the lead with 5:15 left and Lamar Odom missed 2 free throws. Shawn Bradley half returned the favor by only hitting 1 of 2 free throws and Odom nailed a line-drive 3-pointer to tie the game at 84-84 with 4:20 left. But Dallas had found the energy and hustle to turn the tide. Bradley blocked a shot attempt. Nash missed a long jumper, but Finley ran down the ball before it went out of bounds and, as he was going out of bounds, passed the ball back to Nowitzki who drained the 3-pointer. Odom missed and Finley missed, but Raef LaFrentz had worked baseline to get under the basket and one-handed grabbed the rebound as the ball came below the rim and power slammed it home to give Dallas a 89-84 lead with 2:45 to go. Elton Brand missed 2 free throws with 2:30 remaining and Nash drove for 2 to complete the 7-0 Dallas run. Andre Miller hit a jumper and Nowitzki hit 1-2 free throws and Dallas led 92-86 with 1:40 left. Dooling missed a 3-point attempt, Dooling had a nice block, and Dooling missed another 3-point attempt. Dallas ran the shot clock down and Nash missed a jumper with 26 seconds left, but Nash was able to get inside and grab the rebound and he was intentionally fouled. Dallas hit 4-4 free throws to seal the win. Dallas won 96-90. It wasn't a pretty game and Dallas did many things wrong that could have led to a loss. But the Clippers are a young team and were not able to capitalize on the opportunities Dallas gave them and Dallas was able to turn it up a notch at the end. The Clippers out-rebounded Dallas 46-38 including 16-11 offensive for game, but Dallas out-rebounded the Clippers 12-11 in the 4th quarter including 4 offensive rebounds. Dallas shot 45% (36-70) FG including 6-20 3-pointers and the Clippers shot 44.4% (36-81) FG including 3-13 FG. Steve Nash, Michael Finley, and Nick Van Exel were all guilty at points of playing one-on-anyone ball instead of the team game. Dallas played a big front court of Dirk Nowitzki, Raef LaFrentz, and Shawn Bradley for the last 8 minutes of the game. The big 3 carried the day. Steve Nash had a solid game with 24 points, a career high 9 rebounds, and 6 assists in 36 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki had 23 points and 6 rebounds. Michael Finley had 21 points. Raef LaFrentz was the only other Maverick in double-digits with 10 points to go with his 5 rebounds. Shawn Bradley had 4 points (just 3 attempts), 9 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Adrian Griffin had 8 points on 4-6 FG and 6 rebounds. Nick Van Exel (4 points on 2-10 FG) and Walt Williams (2 points) were not productive in their time on the court. Elton Brand had his usual double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds including 5 offensive before fouling out on an intentional foul at the end of the game. Corey Maggette played well with 18 points and 9 rebounds. He also fouled out, but did so with 4:40 left in the 4th. Lamar Odom had 17 points (including a couple of sweet moves) and 7 rebounds. Andre Miller's shooting game remains missing, but played better than the last time I saw him. Miller had 12 points including 4-14 FG, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in playing all 48 minutes. Michael Olowokandi had 9 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 3:45 left. He is one of the worst offenders for camping in the paint, but did not get a single offensive 3-seconds call. Keyon Dooling provided the only points off the bench with 15 points in 19 minutes. Quotes Don Nelson: "The Clippers gave us all we wanted. We played a pretty good game, and it was close the whole way, and it could have been anybody's ballgame." Nelson: "We searched and scratched and couldn't get anything going offensively during the 2nd half. And then we found a few wrinkles that got us to the basket. But they guarded us pretty well." Nelson: "When our big 3 all get 20, we're pretty hard to beat. We moved the ball, and we found Dirk inside a little bit." Nelson: "I love the stuff they run. I like their aggressiveness and their defensive schemes. I just think they have a really good team." Nelson on LaFrentz's putback: "That's 2 of the past 3 games when he has had the play of the game. That was big for us. We played the big lineup for the last 8 minutes because they were so dominant. It worked pretty good." Nelson: "Everybody is looking to the Sacramento game, but this was the most important game of the trip. It was either going to get us off to a good start or a not-so-good start." Michael Finley: "We tried to do something different with the big lineup, and it was a nice change. The Clippers played us tough. It was just good to get the win and move on." Dirk Nowitzki: "We love close games. We can battle in there, do our game, make shots, and in the end, we believe in ourselves." Nowitzki on the big lineup: "It worked. They are a tough inside team, and we had to have some big guys in there battling." Nowitzki on Dallas lossing leads: "We get a little sloppy, we don't really execute as well anymore offensively and defensively. We knew they were a dangerous team. We've got to do a better job protecting leads." Nowitzki: "We've lost a lot of leads so far this year, and we've got to do a better job of protecting leads. But it was a team effort down the stretch, and we all made some big plays, especially defensively." Nowitzki when asked if he was an MVP candidate: "I've always said this team doesn't have an MVP. We have so many guys who can take over and win games for us. Teams like us and Sacramento don't have MVPs; [we] have so many weapons and we're so deep. If you have to give an MVP award out to somebody, it's got to be probably a guy like Jason Kidd." Steve Nash: "They responded well to us. We made a run in the 3rd quarter and got ourselves a big lead and they came right back at us. We were pretty sloppy, but you have to give them a lot of credit because they definitely stood their ground." Nash: "I know people talk about me as part of the big 3, but I hope they don't forget that I take pride in doing the little things like that, the hustle and energy plays." Raef LaFrentz on the big lineup: "It worked pretty good tonight. It's kind of a strange lineup. We're able to do that because of Dirk playing as a 3. But that's 3 7-footers in there and it can create matchup problems." LaFrentz on the putback: "I was just moving toward the goal because Elton Brand drifted away from me. When I saw a soft shot floating up there, I just reacted." Alvin Gentry: "I thought that we played with the effort and intensity that we had to to win the game. They're a great team, they've got the best record in the NBA and they've got so many guys that are difficult to match up with. For the most part I thought we did a really good job defensively. We just have to find a way to get the ball in the basket and we have to find a way to come up with rebounds." Gentry: "I thought that we played with the type of effort and intensity that we needed in order to win the game. Once again, the things that hurt us were we had a couple of breakdowns that allowed them to get offensive rebounds, and we have to step to the line and make free throws." Gentry: "If you're going to beat a team of that caliber, you can't afford to miss free throws. We just have to step to the line and we've got to make them. We were right there until the end." Gentry: "That team is the best team in the NBA right now if you look at their record and the way they play. I think it's important for our guys to understand that if we can play with that team and we can continue to play with the same kind of intensity and effort, we should be able to play with any team in this league." Gentry: "The only thing that matters now are wins and losses. This game here does us zero good. Yeah, I'm happy with how we played, but the bottom line is it still counts as a loss." Gentry: "They're a great team. They've got the best record in the NBA and they've got so many guys that are difficult to match up with." Lamar Odom: "You miss free throws and that hurts. But in a game like this, you could look at 10 other things that we could have done that could have helped us win." Odom on if Nowitzki is an MVP candidate: "First half of the year, he's a candidate, because he's the best player on the best team. So you can put him down for MVP." Michael Olowokandi: "They are a very good basketball team. In this game we played well defensively. We are coming up on some tough games and we want to come out and play hard." Keyon Dooling: "They made plays when it was time to and we didn't. We put ourselves in a position to win the game but we came up short. Dallas is the best team in the league." Dooling: "We had chances, and we didn't take advantage of them. But the effort is there and we're doing things the right way." Dallas Mavericks 96, Los Angeles Clippers 90 at Dallas (January 12) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 24 25 25 22 - 96 .500 .300 .450 .750 LA Clippers 21 23 28 18 - 90 .485 .231 .444 .714 Halftime: Dallas 49-44 3rd Q: Dallas 74-72 Technicals: Andre Miller 4:57 2nd, LA Clippers defensive 3 seconds 2:48 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 1:06 2nd, LA Clippers defensive 3 seconds 0:39 2nd, Refs: Ed Mallory, LeRoy Richardson, Tom Washington Attendance: 18,216 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Quentin Richardson (sprained left ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 33 4-6 0-0 0-0 8 2-6 3 0 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 9-17 1-5 4-6 23 1-6 2 1 3 1 0 Shawn Bradley 33 1-3 0-0 2-4 4 1-9 1 0 5 0 5 Steve Nash 36 7-18 3-5 7-7 24 3-9 6 4 0 1 0 Michael Finley 42 9-19 1-4 2-3 21 2-3 4 2 0 1 1 Raef LaFrentz 29 3-5 1-2 3-4 10 2-5 2 0 5 1 1 Nick Van_Exel 18 2-10 0-3 0-0 4 0-0 2 1 1 0 0 Walt Williams 8 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 Totals 48 36-80 6-20 18-24 96 11-38 20 9 18 4 8 Los Angeles Clippers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Lamar Odom 42 8-14 1-4 0-2 17 2-7 3 3 3 0 0 Elton Brand 38 8-16 0-0 3-6 19 5-12 2 0 6 1 0 Michael Olowokandi 41 3-6 0-0 3-4 9 4-10 2 3 6 0 0 Andre Miller 48 4-14 0-0 4-4 12 1-5 5 2 1 0 1 Corey Maggette 34 7-17 0-2 4-4 18 4-9 4 1 6 2 2 Tremaine Fowlkes 11 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 Keyon Dooling 19 6-11 2-7 1-1 15 0-2 1 1 2 0 1 Melvin Ely 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Sean Rooks 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 36-81 3-13 15-21 90 16-46 18 13 25 3 4 patricia