Rumors still are going crazy about Frenchman Antoine Rigaudeau. From all accounts, it is likely he will be a Mav next week - likely in Dallas on Monday and then join the team on the road trip after he is signed. He says he played in his final game last night and said goodbye to the crowd, who loves him, and the team after scoring 18 points in a blowout win. Reports from Italy (his team is in Bologna) are that he will sign a 1 year contract with a team option for a 2nd year, while the local papers are reporting a 2 or 3 year contract. He has 2 years left on his contract with Bologna and he has to first be released by his team before he join the Mavs. Nothing is finalized yet, but everyone seems to think it is going to happen. Dallas (28-5) at Atlanta (12-21) (January 8) Shawn Bradley dressed, but did not play due to right mid-thigh strain. He was available if Don Nelson needed him, but Raef LaFrentz was playing so well that Nelson was able to go the caution route and not play Bradley. Atlanta was up early at 6-3 with 9:45 left before Dallas took off and the Hawks fell to pieces. Dallas went on a 19-3 run to go up 22-9 with 4:45 remaining. 6 of Dallas' 7 baskets during the run were off of an assist and Atlanta only shot 1-9 FG during the run. Theo Ratliff picked up 2 fouls in the first 4 minutes of the game and hardly played the rest of the game. Michael Finley drained a 3-pointer near the end of the quarter and Dallas led 37-22 after 1. Dallas led 50-35 with 6:50 to go and then stopped doing everything that they had done to get such a lead - stopped taking the ball aggressively inside, playing one-on-one ball instead of team, and slacking on defense - and Jason Terry went nuts. Atlanta closed the quarter with a 23-8 run, capped by consecutive 3-pointers by Terry, to tie the game at 58-58 at the half. Terry had 17 points on 7-7 FG and 3-3 3-pointers during the run - and only had 3 points prior to the run. Shareef Abdur-Rahim opened the 3rd quarter with a bucket, to give him only 3 points for the game, and neither team scored over the next 2 minutes. Dallas then went on a 14-2 run to go up 72-62 with 7:40 left. Dallas' lead remained around 10 points the rest of the quarter. Nick Van Exel swished a long 3-pointer with less than 2 seconds left in the quarter to give Dallas an 88-76 lead after 3. Dirk Nowitzki opened the quarter with a jumper, Van Exel nailed another 3-pointer, and Nowitzki had a killer 3-pointer (after which Atlanta immediately called time) to give Dallas a 96-76 lead with 10:15 to go. Dallas led 103-80 with 8 minutes left, but Atlanta had one final push in them as they went on a 17-6 run to pull within 97-109 with 3:30 remaining. But Atlanta would go scoreless until a shot at the final buzzer and Dallas scored the next 8 points to put the game away. Dallas won 117-99. The Mavs need to stop with the 2nd quarter slumps, but played great in the other 3 quarters. Dallas allowed Atlanta to score 36 points in the 2nd quarter - the most points they have scored in a quarter this season. But, Dallas did come out strong in the 2nd half and put that lousy quarter behind them and still blew out the Hawks. For the game, Dallas shot 51.1% (45-88) FG including finally finding their 3-point touch in shooting 10-21 3-pointers - the first time in 10 games that Dallas shot better than 31% for 3-pointers. Atlanta shot 42.7 (38-89) FG including 6-21 3-pointers. Both teams made 17 free throws - Dallas on 19 attempts and Atlanta on 22 attempts. Atlanta did out-rebound Dallas 45-39, but Dallas simply made more shots. Dirk Nowitzki had a very strong game and was hitting outside and taking it inside and was unstoppable. He had 30 points including 12-21 FG and 4-7 3-pointers and 14 rebounds. However, most of the talk of the game centered around Raef LaFrentz. LaFrentz had his best game of the season, which followed his previous best game of the season (which followed a ton of lousy games), with a great game of 26 points including 11-16 FG - his outside shot was again falling - and 10 rebounds in 43 minutes. Steve Nash played well (and had a great play that I can't even begin to describe that I don't know how it didn't make SportCenter) with 19 points and 8 assists. Don Nelson has been managing Nash's minutes and he only played 29 minutes. Michael Finley had a quiet outing with 13 points including 4-13 FG, but did have 7 assists. Nick Van Exel's shooting touch seems to have returned and he was the 5th Mav in double-digits with 14 points. Adrian Griffin had 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in 39 minutes and Walt Williams had 7 points on 3-4 FG in 12 minutes. Jason Terry carried the team for a quarter, but did not get much help. He finished with 27 points including 5-10 3-pointers. Glenn Robinson and Shareef Abdur-Rahim stunk it up and did not have their usual stellar games. Robinson had 16 points including 6-21 FG and 6 rebounds. Abdur-Rahim's string of consecutive games in double-digits ended at 48 games as he had just 7 points including 2-8 FG and 6 rebounds. Alan Henderson and Nazr Mohammed each had 11 points and rookie Dan Dickau had 10 assists to go with his 8 points (only shot 2-9 FG, though). Theo Ratliff only played 9 minutes. Quotes Don Nelson: "One thing Atlanta has been doing is playing really hard. I just wanted to make sure we had control of the game, and we really couldn't do it without Raef's big game. I was very disappointed with our 2nd quarter. For whatever reason, I went to the bench and didn't get any solid contributors. I brought that to their attention at halftime, and Nick started playing really good defense." Nelson: "Everyone wants to talk about Dirk, and that's not a bad guy to talk about, but from where LaFrentz was coming from, I really thought he had a breakthrough game. I thought he played well the last game, and he was even better this time. He seemed to have a good rhythm. I think the extra work really paid off for him. We didn't have Shawn tonight, so we really needed a good game out of him." Nelson on LaFrentz: "I just want him to have an all-around good concept of what we're doing, be where he's supposed to be defensively and have some confidence on the offensive end. I think the extra work has given him the confidence like Shawn Bradley has, and we give him a lot of credit for getting to this position as quickly as he has. I didn't think we'd see that this early. I thought it would be another week or 2, but I'll take it when we can get it." Nelson on LaFrentz: "I didn't think we'd see it from him this quickly. We've given him extra work in practice, and I expected it to take longer for him to get back to the way he can play. What we're looking for is good, solid play from him. If he has an off shooting night, that's not going to bother me. But we still need him to do other things well, like staying active at both ends of the court and blocking a few shots." Nelson on Nowitzki: "When he was player of the week, I really didn't think Dirk was playing that well. But this was a game. This is what we've grown accustomed to from him. He played a total game." Dirk Nowitzki: "We had a bad 2nd quarter and we talked about it at halftime. Coach really let us know about it - he got loud. We let down after the 1st quarter. We had to come out with more energy, especially defensively. We gave up wide open 3s in the 2nd quarter and we let them get their confidence back. Nowitzki: "They sort of played the running game with us, and that's where we're at our best." Nowitzki: "We took the ball to the basket. We started passing the ball and got some wide open shots." Nowitzki on LaFrentz: "The last 2 games he's been playing well. His confidence seems to be there. He looked great today, battling on the boards and everything." Nowitzki on LaFrentz: "The last couple of weeks he's been hesitating with his shot, and you can't do that in this league. But his confidence seems to be there, and when he's open, he's shooting it and he's not thinking about it." Michael Finley on the 3rd quarter: "We were more aggressive defensively and offensively we were sharing the ball. We just did all the things we did when we started the game. We wanted to make sure we came out in the 2nd half and did the same thing. We took it upon ourselves to come out and be aggressive in the 2nd half." Finley: "We're okay right now. Our upside is real good, but at this point in the year, we're just okay." Nick Van Exel: "This is what we expect, so we just want to keep this thing rolling, knowing that it's going to get tough in the days to come. So there's no reason to get all excited, because we haven't done anything." Van Exel: "We didn't want to give them a chance to get back in the game. We had a pretty good rhythm, but we let them back in the game." Raef LaFrentz: "I'm not going to sit here and say, 'Oh, yeah, I'm over the hump and I'm back.' It's just another game, a game where I did my job." LaFrentz: "I was consistent at being active. The more active I am, the better I am for this team. So much attention is given to our big 3 on this team that there are a lot of holes out there. It's my job to find those holes." LaFrentz: "I expect to have that type of performance more times than I expect to have the type of performances I've been putting out there the last couple of weeks. I'm not going to say I'm going to be able to duplicate this all the time, but my legs are feeling better and my body is feeling better." LaFrentz: "I expect to have these types of performances more often than the kind of performances I have been having the past few weeks. My legs feel better, and my body feels better. I'm not going to say I'm back. But it was another game when I felt good." Terry Stotts: "They are the best team in the league for a reason. They have a lot of offensive weapons. They come at you a lot of different ways - penetration, 3-point shooting, transition. But we defended them well in spots. But a team with that many offensive weapons is difficult to sustain." Stotts: "It seemed that every time we shot the ball they were taking it out of the basket. They're always dangerous, anywhere on the court, any time." Stotts: "In the 1st half, we got in kind of a shooting contest with them, played well and got some transitions, made some 3s. [Terry] got hot. And I think the 3rd quarter, we got a little anxious, a little overzealous. I thought the team played hard, but like I said, that was a good team." Stotts: "Those shots right there at the end of the 3rd and at the start of the 4th were very deflating. They got us on our heels." Jason Terry: "They were just knocking down shots and didn't allow us to get into our transition game." Terry: "They were a little more aware in the 2nd half [defending Terry]. They were just knocking down shots. That allowed them to set their zone up. They took away the outside shot and made us do other things. They spread the floor. That kind of offensive is very tough to guard. They have 5 shooters on the floor." Theo Ratliff: "They're a great offensive team. They knew the things that we were trying to do. They made adjustments. They got up out of their zone and started playing man-to-man. We couldn't get good looks. They made adjustments and we didn't. They came back in the 2nd half like they started the 1st half and continued to penetrate the middle." Dallas Mavericks 117, Atlanta Hawks 99 at Atlanta (January 8) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 37 21 30 29 - 117 .522 .476 .511 .895 Atlanta 22 36 18 23 - 99 .471 .286 .427 .773 Halftime: 58-58 3rd Q: Dallas 88-76 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 11:26 1st, Theo Ratliff 9:51 3rd Refs: Gary Zielinski, Jack Nies, Mark Wunderlich Attendance: 10,997 (cap 19,445) Did not play due to injury: Shawn Bradley (strained right thigh), Chris Crawford (inflammed left knee) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 39 3-7 0-0 2-2 8 0-4 4 0 2 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 40 12-21 4-7 2-3 30 1-14 2 1 0 0 0 Raef LaFrentz 43 11-16 1-3 3-3 26 4-10 3 1 5 1 2 Steve Nash 29 6-14 0-1 7-7 19 0-3 8 1 1 2 0 Michael Finley 40 4-13 2-5 3-4 13 2-3 7 2 2 0 0 Walt Williams 12 3-4 1-1 0-0 7 0-2 0 0 1 1 0 Nick Van_Exel 26 6-11 2-4 0-0 14 0-2 4 2 1 0 0 Raja Bell 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 1 2 0 0 Avery Johnson 2 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 45-88 10-21 17-19 117 8-39 28 8 14 7 2 Atlanta Hawks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Glenn Robinson 35 6-21 1-5 3-4 16 1-6 4 2 1 1 0 Shareef Abdur-Rahim 28 2-8 0-0 3-4 7 1-6 1 1 1 0 0 Theo Ratliff 9 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 3 0 1 Jason Terry 39 11-21 5-10 0-1 27 1-3 4 3 1 2 0 Ira Newble 21 4-6 0-1 1-1 9 2-3 1 0 0 0 0 Dion Glover 16 2-8 0-1 0-0 4 3-6 2 1 0 0 0 Alan Henderson 26 4-5 0-0 3-4 11 3-7 1 0 3 0 1 Dan Dickau 32 2-9 0-4 4-4 8 0-2 10 3 2 2 0 Nazr Mohammed 14 4-6 0-0 3-4 11 2-6 0 2 2 1 0 Darvin Ham 20 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 1-5 1 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 38-89 6-21 17-22 99 14-45 24 13 14 6 2 patricia