The NBA announced the All-Star starters yesterday and it was no surprise that no Mav was voted as starter by the fans. Dirk Nowitzki did come within 7,355 votes of getting the starting nod (Kevin Garnett had 1,086,780 votes for 2nd place in Western forwards voting and Dirk had 1,079,425 votes for 3rd place). Steve Nash finished 3rd in Western Guards (his 786,923 votes was well behind 2nd place finisher Steve Francis' 966,669 votes) and Michael Finley finished 6th with 464,740 votes. Thus, it is up to the Western conference coaches to do the right thing and vote the big 3 as reserves. Nowitzki is likely a lock to make the team. But coaches tend not to like to vote for 3 players from one team and will probably split their votes for Nash and Finley and I fear one of the two won't be selected, even though all 3 are deserving of being on the All-Star team. The NBA will announce Tuesday who the reserves are. Dallas (32-8) at Philadelphia (22-20) (January 23) Philadelphia had played the night before and was suffering from injuries and only had 9 players dressed with Derrick Coleman and Kenny Thomas unavailable, and it was really only 8 players and Brian Skinner was only able to play 4 minutes due to his sprained left ankle. Dallas had their shooting touch going again and took advantage of Philadelphia's missing players and scored 8 straight points to go up 14-4 with 8:30 left. Dallas' lead hovered around 10 points the rest of the quarter. Shawn Bradley's bucket as the quarter ended gave Dallas a 31-18 lead after 1. Dirk Nowitzki had 13 points. Greg Bucker got 2 inside a minute into the 2nd quarter and Dallas then scored the next 7 points, capped by a steal by Michael Finley and breakaway dunk by Raja Bell, to go up 38-20 with 9 minutes to go. Philly responded, as each of the big 3 subbed out for rest, with an 11-2 run to get back into the game at 31-40 with 6 minutes left. With the big 3 back on the court, Dallas pushed their lead back up to 46-33 with 4 minutes remaining, but Philadelphia scored the next 7 points. A driving hook by Steve Nash in the wanning seconds of the quarter gave Dallas a 48-40 lead at the half. Dallas shot 44% FG and Philadelphia shot 43% FG. Philly was getting some home cooking as they shot 10-16 FT while Dallas shot just 5-5 FT (all in the 1st quarter). Philadelphia scored the first 5 points of the 3rd quarter to pull within 3 points, but Dallas answered with a 9-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Nowitzki, to go up 57-47 with 9 minutes to go. Dallas' lead hovered around 10 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 79-67 after 3. The 3rd quarter was dominated by 2 players as Nowitzki had 11 points and Allen Iverson had 13 points. Philly opened the 4th quarter with 4 guards on the court and Dallas had to be salivating with playing small ball as the team excels at that type of game. Dallas matched up with the smaller lineup and opened the 4th quarter with 3 3-pointers (including a _long_ one by Nick Van Exel) and 2 free throws by Nowitzki gave Dallas' their largest lead at 90-69 with 8:50 left. Philadelphia did keep Dallas' lead in the teens after that and pulled within 86-100 on a 3-pointer by Keith Van Horn with 4:10 to go, but went scoreless over the next 2 1/2 minutes. All of Dallas' starters were on the bench with 2 minutes left (Philly's injury situation kept some starters on the floor). Dallas won 107-94. It is a much easier game when you can make your shots. Add Dallas hitting their shots to Philadelphia's injuries and it was an easy game for Dallas, despite the lopsided free throws. Dallas shot 49.5% (42-85) FG including 12-22 3-pointers while Philadelphia shot 45.1% (32-71) FG including 1-7 3-pointers. Dallas shot just 11-11 FT while Philadelphia shot 29-35 FT. Shooting was the difference in this game - Dallas' offense was clicking and Philadelphia's defense could not stop it (Dallas shot 69% FG in the 3rd quarter). The announcers said that Larry Brown told his team during halftime that he wanted to keep Dallas in the 80s to have a chance of winning. Dallas had 79 points after 3 quarters. The big 3 all had good games. Dirk Nowitzki had 30 points including 12-19 FG and 14 rebounds in 35 minutes. Steve Nash was driving like crazy and either dishing out or shooting a circus shots and finished with 21 points including 8-20 FG and 13 assists. Michael Finley had 19 points and 5 assists. Shawn Bradley played well and his height visibly affected Philadelphia on a number of plays. Bradley had 8 points, 9 rebounds including 4 offensive, and 5 blocks in 24 minutes. Nick Van Exel had his shooting touch going and had 16 points including 4-5 3-pointers in 22 minutes. Walt Williams also had the touch with 11 points including 3-3 3-pointers in 13 minutes. Allen Iverson did not go off and had 25 points in 42 minutes. Keith Van Horn also had 25 points. Eric Snow had 14 points and 5 rebounds and Todd MacCulloch had 10 points and 10 rebounds. John Salmons had most of Philly's assists with 9 to go with his 4 points. Dallas has now played 41 games to reach the halfway mark of the season. The team has the best record at the halfway mark in team history at 33-8. The pervious best record was last season at 29-12. The team has held the best record in the league all season so far and leads the league in scoring with 102.3 points and is 11th in defense in allowing 92.2 points. In a more important stat, Dallas is 8th in field goal percentage at 44.8% FG and 5th in defensive field goal percentage in their opponents shooting 42.4% FG. Dallas also leads the league in free throw percentage at 83.9% FT (2nd place is Orlando at 79.2% FT). No surprise that the big 3 are the stat leaders for Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki is averaging 22.5 points and 10.4 rebounds. Michael Finley is averaging 19.5 points and 6 rebounds. Steve Nash is averaging 18.7 points and 6.8 assists and leads the league in free throw percentage at 92.7% FT. Quotes Don Nelson: "I thought we played a pretty poor 2nd quarter. [I was] pretty disappointed we blew an 18 point lead. But Larry was in between a rock and a hard place. He ran out of players basically. He only had 2 big players on the floor. When he went small ball, I matched up with him. I thought that my small team could certainly match his. And it ended up a midget game. It was kind of fun I think. [Brown] certainly made us move the ball and make shots." Dirk Nowitzki: "They tried to go small on us because they had a lot of guys hurt. That was pretty much their only chance. I still think my post game is not where it should be. I try to take advantage more and more. I should be able to punish the little guys down there a little more. I just have to keep on working at it and I should be fine." Nowitzki: "We got a great small lineup with Steve and Nick at the guards, Mike at small forward, somebody at power forward, and me at center. That's about as good as it gets in the NBA for small ball." Nowitzki: "I think we're a very deep team. We're not Sacramento, but we can get a lot of help from our bench, especially the way Nick was hitting tonight." Nowitzki on his good games in Philly: "I don't know why I shoot so well here. It's a good shooting building and the back side of the bucket always looks good. But I don't have any other reason." Nowitzki: "Our main focus was to get better for the playoffs. It will be good to get home-court advantage, especially in our division. The whole season doesn't mean much if we don't perform in the playoffs." Steve Nash: "I think we did a really good job to start the game. We played with a lot of energy defensively. We were able to spread the floor, get some easy buckets in transition and get ourselves open for some jump shots. Then they made a run at us and then we really had to pick it up in the 2nd half and play well to win." Nash: "We've done a really good job. But none of you guys will care if we win 60 games and we don't win a championship. That's the same with us. That's the nature of this league. We can win 68 or 69 games, and if we don't win a championship, it doesn't mean that much." Raef LaFrentz: "It was great that we jumped out to a lead, and when the time came to close them out, we closed them out. We've had trouble doing that in the past." LaFrentz: "Our guards are better than theirs." Larry Brown: "I was really pleased with the way we finished the half, after getting down. I was really enthused most of the 3rd quarter. I'm not into moral victories. I can't fault our effort. I thought everybody tried to do the right things, but I've been with teams before that have been shorthanded. We didn't come out the 1st quarter and play the way we talked about playing. I pointed out a stat before the game. Dallas has shot almost 800 3-pointers and their opponents are well in the 700's. I said we couldn't come down and quick shoot against them with the lack of depth and understanding, that that's not our game. Lo and behold, the first 10 trips we shoot with 1 pass or less. That really disappointed me." Brown: "They're a great team. There are a lot of great teams out West, but they are a great team. They have great players, they are well coached, and the guys all know their roles." Brown: "Aaron's not 100%, Todd hasn't been 20%, Derrick Coleman has been a work in progress, Monty Williams hadn't been out on the court, Samuel Dalembert hadn't been out on the court. I think the solution to me is not one I know of right now. We're in every game. Tonight we weren't in this game, but we're in every game. We have a chance to win every game and that's commendable, but I don't have a solution. Some guys are improving defensively, some guys simply can't. I think as a team we've made some progress in that respect." Allen Iverson: "It is a big letdown because we just won a game and had some momentum. We played tough defense last night - it was a great defensive effort. We knew it was going to be tough coming in as shorthanded as we were. As basketball players you still think you have a chance to win. We cut the lead to 5 in the 2nd half and we thought that was when things were going to turn around. Unfortunately, they didn't." Iverson on Dallas: "It is really hard for me to really judge it because we were so shorthanded. We had mismatch problems all over the court. At times Aaron and Greg Buckner had to play the 4 position. Their natural positions are 2 and 3. It was hard to tell because we didn't get the match-ups we really wanted and we weren't healthy. But I'm not taking anything away from them. I think they are a great team. They are going to be a tough team to beat in the West." Eric Snow: "Look at the standings. We're still one of the top 8 [in the East] going into the All-Star Game. Take what we did in the Detroit game and try to do that, wash this one out." Keith Van Horn: "First of all, you can't make any excuses because you're shorthanded. We still had 8 NBA players out on the floor tonight. Second of all, they put us in tough situations, as they do all teams. They really spread you out with a lot of shooters and they try to penetrate to get you to help, then they kick the ball out. That's what they do. We didn't do a good job in covering that tonight." Van Horn: "It's hard to guard and it's hard to help out teammates when you are concerned with shooters. They are a very unique team." Van Horn on Nowitzki: "Most power forwards I can defend, but they're not that big. He's so long and he shoots the ball so well, he's really tough." Van Horn: "First of all, I think the passion we played with at the beginning of the season is lacking. Second of all, we made some changes in the lineup. We tried to incorporate new people and we had injuries. I don't think we've really played together as a team. I think there are a lot of reasons for that. I think that the past 2 weeks we've really been making some big strides. We've gotten some nice wins. We are starting to come together as a team. If we continue to play hard the way we have been, then good things will start to happen." John Salmons: "I have to go out there and do my best, and put it in God's hands. Coach Brown told me when I'm at the point to make sure I get the whole team involved with the offense. I have to out there and play my best. Once I get more comfortable, everything will take care of itself." Dallas Mavericks 107, Philadelphia 76ers 94 at Philadelphia (January 23) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 31 17 31 28 - 107 .476 .545 .494 1.000 Philadelphia 18 22 27 27 - 94 .484 .143 .451 .829 Halftime: Dallas 48-40 3rd Q: Dallas 79-67 Technicals: Nick Van Exel 5:58 2nd Refs: Jack Nies, James Capers, Marc Davis Attendance: 20,027 (cap. 20,444) Did not play due to injury: Derrick Coleman (right finger injury), Kenny Thomas (right thigh injury), Efthimios (gastroenteritis) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Raja Bell 41 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 0 5 2 1 Dirk Nowitzki 35 12-19 2-5 4-4 30 2-14 2 3 1 0 1 Shawn Bradley 24 4-7 0-0 0-0 8 4-9 0 2 1 2 5 Steve Nash 37 8-20 2-5 3-3 21 1-4 13 1 3 1 0 Michael Finley 40 8-14 1-4 2-2 19 1-3 5 2 1 1 0 Nick Van_Exel 22 5-8 4-5 2-2 16 0-2 3 1 3 1 0 Adrian Griffin 12 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 1 0 0 0 0 Walt Williams 13 4-6 3-3 0-0 11 1-2 0 0 2 0 0 Raef LaFrentz 7 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 4 0 0 Antoine Rigaudeau 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 2 0 0 Avery Johnson 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 42-85 12-22 11-11 107 9-39 24 10 22 7 7 Philadelphia 76ers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Aaron McKie 42 2-11 0-1 2-2 6 0-5 2 0 0 1 0 Keith Van_Horn 35 8-14 1-3 8-8 25 2-5 1 3 4 0 1 Todd MacCulloch 26 4-8 0-0 2-4 10 2-10 1 1 3 0 1 Eric Snow 37 4-9 0-1 6-7 14 1-5 1 1 3 1 0 Allen Iverson 42 9-17 0-2 7-8 25 0-4 3 2 2 2 0 Greg Buckner 25 4-8 0-0 0-0 8 2-7 1 2 4 3 1 Brian Skinner 4 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 2-2 0 2 1 0 0 John Salmons 25 0-3 0-0 4-4 4 0-2 9 2 1 2 0 Kenny Satterfield 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 32-71 1-7 29-35 94 9-40 19 15 18 9 3 patricia