Memphis at Dallas (December 14) Dirk Nowitzki did not play due to his sprained right ankle. Though he was listed as a game-time decision, Don Nelson said that they knew early in the day that there was no way he was going to play, but did not announce him not playing so that the Grizzlies would not know. He may be able to return for Tuesday's game. Adrian Griffin did play despite his partially separated shoulder and was wearing a "shoulder stabilizer" over a t-shirt (and under his jersey) - Griff received special permission from the league to wear the t-shirt (t-shirts are not allowed except for medical reasons). Dallas hopped out to a 11-4 lead early on behind the hot shooting Steve Nash. Memphis pulled within 10-13 with 7:40 remaining and Dallas zoomed ahead with an 18-3 run to go up 31-13 with 1:40 left as Memphis missed 7 straight shots, turned the ball over 4 times, and Shawn Bradley block 3 shots. Dallas led 33-17 after 1. Memphis only shot 25% FG while Dallas shot 46% FG. Nash had 17 points - he started out shooting 5-5 FG. Dallas scored 7 consecutive points to take their largest lead at 40-19 with 10 minutes to go. Memphis responded with an 11-2 run, capped by 2 3-pointers, to pull within 30-42 with 6:20 left to keep the game from being an early blowout. Dallas led 55-45 at the half. Walt Williams had 12 points in the 2nd quarter. Jason Williams scored the first 4 points of the 3rd quarter to pull the Grizzlies within 6 points, but Dallas responded to the challenge by scoring the next 11 points to go up 66-49 with 7:30 left. Memphis would get no closer than 15 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 80-65 after 3. Gordan Giricek opened the 4th quarter with a jumper, but Nick Van Exel answered with a 3-pointer. Dallas led 91-77 with 7:20 to go and used a 9-2 run to put the game away at 100-79 with 4 minutes left. The rest was pure garbage time. Dallas won 104-87. Looking at the schedule, this looked like it should be an easy win and it was, even without Dirk Nowitzki. Despite the fact that Memphis had won their 4 games prior to this one, they still had a record of 6-18 and they had played an overtime game the night before. Though they have some good young talent, they aren't very good right now and are very inexperienced. And it really surprised me when they started zoning - especially when Dallas had 3 shooters on the floor. The zone tends to clog up the middle and allow outside shots. Needless to say, it didn't work. Dallas led from start to finish. And Dallas finally had a good rebounding game and tied the season high with 18 offensive rebounds. Dallas had less than 40 rebounds in 5 of their last 8 games, yet managed 52 boards in this game. Key to the rebounding victory (out-rebounded Memphis by 13 rebounds [tied season's largest difference]), was the very strong performance by Shawn Bradley. Bradley was very active and had 18 rebounds including 6 offensive. He also had 12 points and 8 blocks. Steve Nash got the team off to a strong start with 17 points in the 1st quarter, but settled down after that (only 2 points in the 2nd quarter). He finished with a game high 26 points and 7 assists. Michael Finley had a very poor 1st half shooting just 2-10 FG, but finished well with 17 points in the 2nd half for a total of 22 points (just 8-22 FG) to go with 7 rebounds. Despite playing injured, Adrian Griffin had a nice outing with 8 points and 3 steals (seemed like more) in 21 minutes. Raef LaFrentz started in Nowitzki's place and had 9 points including 4-5 FG and 9 rebounds in 23 minutes. Walt Williams ended his string of 7 straight games in single-digits scoring with a 15 point performance. He also had 6 rebounds. Nick Van Exel had a poor outing with just 8 points on 3-9 FG, but did have 7 assists and just 1 turnover in playing 32 minutes. Pau Gasol was pretty quiet with just 16 points on 4-6 FG and 8-9 FT and 3 rebounds. Jason Williams got into foul trouble early and had 12 points and 4 assists in 22 minutes. After a strong outing against Houston the night before, Wesley Person had nothing on 0-4 FG in 21 minutes. Drew Gooden didn't go much better with 2 points on 1-4 FG and 4 rebounds in 14 minutes. Added in Lorenzen Wright's 3-11 FG (6 points), and that's 4-19 FG from 3 of their starters. Shane Battier tried to get the Grizzlies back in the game late in the 3rd and in the 4th with 3-pointers, but the Mavs had an answer each time. Battier had 13 points including 3-4 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. Gordan Giricek also tried to help his team comeback as all but 2 of his 17 points came in the 2nd half. Stromile Swift was the 5th Grizzly in double-digits with 10 points including 4-12 FG and 7 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson: "I think we were fortunate to play that team on a back-to-back. They really have been playing well. I thought it would be a tough ball game. I was surprised when we got off to a big start. I was not surprised when they came back at halftime within 10. I was again surprised after halftime that we were able to maintain that lead and I thought that would be very difficult to do tonight, especially without Dirk. Tonight belonged to Bradley. I thought this was one of his better games. He did a good job of scoring tonight. He had everything going. He anchored the team when we needed him most." Nelson: "Tonight belonged to Bradley. He blocked shots and rebounded and did the things that we would hope that he would do. Besides that, he actually did a pretty good job scoring the ball tonight too. So, he had everything going and really anchored the team when we needed it most." Nelson on Nash: "I was looking to play well early because sometimes that discourages a young team that has a back-to-back. I was hoping that would be the case and he got us off to playing terrific basketball. He is our All-Star guard and deserves to be and proves that every night out." Michael Finley: "Ever since coach Brown has taken over, they've been playing aggressive and tenacious for 48 minutes. So we knew that no matter what lead we had, they were going to keep coming after us." Dirk Nowitzki on his ankle: "It's getting better. It's not where I want it to be. I wanted to play tonight. I tried it [Saturday morning], but it was too sore." Nowitzki on his ankle: "It's getting better, but not quite where I want it to be. It was just too sore today. I couldn't run and jump. It wasn't even close to 50%.'' Steve Nash on his strong start: "It wasn't a predetermined thing to come out and have 17 points in the 1st quarter. I just came out and tried to be aggressive." Nash on his strong start: "It wasn't something that I really thought about before the game. I just wanted to go out and play hard and be aggressive. When shots start going in like that you know that your aggressiveness has paid off and you just have to roll with it." Nash: "I just made a few shots and it went from there." Nash: "Sometimes aggressive for us is getting open for shots and sometimes it's taking it to the bucket. We can do both." Nash: "Walt was great tonight. He really came through and made a lot of shots for us. Shawn just needs to stay active and be hungry and play with enthusiasm. If he continues to do that he can be a dominant factor in every game." Nash: "We're a much better team with Dirk. He's really our best player and it's tough to play without him, but tonight we had a deep enough of a team to win without him." Raef LaFrentz: "Steve was huge. He was really focused to start the game and knew the way they were going to be playing the pick-n-roll. He had a lot of openings and he capitalize on them." LaFrentz on Williams: "He got hot and the Wiz is a shooter. He got some good looks and some not so good looks and he knocked them all down. He was hitting some tough shots out there." LaFrentz: "It's unfortunate that we have had so many injuries, but at the same time it's good that we are getting them out of the way. Hopefully we can stay clear of them from here on in." Hubie Brown: "That is why they are 20-3. They've got a lot of ammunition and they can very easily have a key guy out because they have enough scoring to step in and play." Brown on using the zone against a good shooting team: "We had to stay with it because they were carving us up." Brown on the back-to-back: "Our first group didn't have their legs." Brown: "The guy who was unsettling for us was Bradley. He was very disruptive." Brown: "The disruptive guy in this game was Bradley with the 18 rebounds and 8 blocks because we were inside a lot. But he erased a lot of good moves and that kept us from coming back." Brown on Nash: "We had no answers. He broke us down and then when the clock was down, he made things happen. He had a great game." Shane Battier: "Sometimes it seemed like we had 4 defenders out there against their 5." Lorenzen Wright: "We had a good week. The Dallas Mavericks are a good team. #1 in the NBA, right? We're not going to hang our heads. We're going to take a day off and try to start another streak." Wright: "Steve Nash came out on fire. He was the difference in the beginning." Dallas Mavericks 104, Memphis Grizzlies 87 at Dallas (December 14) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 33 22 25 24 - 104 .471 .320 .342 .875 Memphis 17 28 20 22 - 87 .417 .429 .419 .634 Halftime: Dallas 55-45 3rd Q: Dallas 80-65 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 9:40 2nd Refs: Mark Wunderlich, Nolan Fine, Phil Robinson Attendance: 19,732 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Dirk Nowitzki (sprained right ankle), Brevin Knight (sprained right ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 21 3-6 0-0 2-2 8 0-2 1 0 2 3 0 Raef LaFrentz 23 4-5 0-0 1-1 9 2-9 1 1 4 2 2 Shawn Bradley 36 6-15 0-0 0-1 12 6-18 0 0 4 2 8 Michael Finley 37 8-22 1-5 5-6 22 4-7 2 1 3 1 0 Steve Nash 33 9-19 2-7 6-6 26 0-3 7 1 1 0 0 Popeye Jones 11 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 3-4 0 1 0 0 0 Walt Williams 21 6-10 3-5 0-0 15 2-6 0 2 1 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 32 3-9 2-7 0-0 8 0-2 7 1 2 0 1 Raja Bell 18 1-5 0-1 0-0 2 1-1 1 2 2 1 0 Avery Johnson 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Adam Harrington 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 41-95 8-25 14-16 104 18-52 19 10 21 9 11 Memphis Grizzlies REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Drew Gooden 14 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 1-4 0 1 1 0 0 Pau Gasol 22 4-6 0-0 8-9 16 0-3 1 3 2 0 2 Lorenzen Wright 21 3-11 0-0 0-0 6 4-7 1 1 1 0 0 Wesley Person 21 0-4 0-1 0-0 0 1-2 2 0 1 0 0 Jason Williams 22 5-13 1-5 1-1 12 0-1 4 1 3 2 0 Earl Watson 25 3-5 0-0 1-2 7 0-5 6 2 1 2 0 Stromile Swift 27 4-12 0-0 2-2 10 0-7 1 3 1 1 2 Mike Batiste 23 2-6 0-1 0-0 4 0-0 1 1 1 0 0 Shane Battier 34 4-6 3-4 2-2 13 1-6 1 0 5 1 0 Gordan Giricek 27 5-7 2-2 5-6 17 0-3 4 3 3 0 0 Cezary Trybaniski 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 31-74 6-14 19-22 87 7-39 21 15 20 6 4 patricia