Dallas (37-9) at Utah (28-19) (February 3) Dallas scored the first 10 points of the game, including 2 3-pointers, before Utah joined into the fray 2 3/4 minutes in. Utah scored the next 4 points and then Dallas scored the next 10 points to go up 20-4 with 5:40 remaining. Dallas led in the teens the rest of the quarter and led 29-14 after 1. Dallas led 34-20 on a 3-pointer by Nick Van Exel with 9:20 remaining. But the problem with having such a large lead early is that it is hard to substain it, and Dallas was unable to do so. Utah scored the next 8 points to get back in the game by pulling within 30-36 with 5:25 to go. Dallas was able to hang on to a high single-digit lead and led 51-42 at the half. Both teams were shooting 47% FG. Dallas led 57-47 with 10 minutes left and Dallas' offense completely left them as the team would only score 9 points the rest of the quarter. Utah continued to score and went on a 17-7 run to tie the game at 64-64 with 2 minutes to go. Matt Harpring hit a jumper and Tony Massenburg hit 1 of 2 free throws to give Utah their first lead as the Jazz led 67-66 after 3. The game stayed close in the 4th quarter with both teams holding small leads. Harpring drained a 3-pointer and Massenburg dunked home a miss to put Utah up 81-77 with 6:30 left, but Dallas answered with 2 3-pointers by Steve Nash, 1 of 2 free throws by Nash after a flagrant foul, and a 3-pointer by Van Exel to put Dallas up 87-81 with 4:10 to go. Karl Malone hit 2 free throws and Scott Padgett hit a 3-pointer to pull Utah within 86-87 with 3:15 remaining, but Michael Finley answered with a jumper to give Dallas a 3 point lead with 2:50 left. Neither team scored over the next 1 1/2 minutes and Malone was fouled inside and hit 2 free throws with 2:15 left. Van Exel missed, Padgett missed, Nash missed, and Harpring missed. Utah got the rebound with 50 seconds remaining. Padgett missed a jumper and Raef LaFrentz got the rebound, but was hammered from behind as he grabbed it with no call and lost the ball as he fell to the floor and John Stockton picked up the loose ball and found Andrei Kirilenko under the basket for the layup to give Utah a 90-89 lead with 30 seconds left. Dallas called timeout. Van Exel drove, kicked out to Finley behind the arc, who passed to Nash (behind the arc), who swung it to Van Exel in the corner, and he drained the 3-pointer with 13.3 seconds left to put Dallas back up on top. As is their tendency in these type of situations, Utah did not call timeout and pushed the ball up the court. However, they were unable to find an open man and eventually got the ball to Matt Harpring in the corner, who was well defended, and he tried to step in to get around the defender and his leaning-in baseliner bounced off the far side of the rim and the buzzer sounded. Dallas won 92-90. Any time you go to Utah and come away with a win is a good thing. A number of players (from both teams) probably have some nice black-and-blue reminders of the game. With as physical as the game was and as little as the refs were calling, I was surprised that a fight didn't break out - Karl Malone and Shawn Bradley looked about to go at it at one point. Utah shot 12-19 FT (and thank goodness they were missing so many free throws) while Dallas shot just 6-7 FT - the fewest they've attempted in a game this season. The Mavs played a great 1st quarter and a terrible 3rd quarter to make it a close game. Dallas out scored Utah 29-14 in the 1st and Utah out-scored Dallas 25-15 in the 3rd quarter. After the 1st quarter, Utah did do a good job in shutting down the middle and, as a result, Dallas often settled for the outside shot. For the game, Dallas shot 44% FG including 12-29 3-pointers and Utah shot 48.7% FG including 4-11 3-pointers. Dallas was also lacking in going after the rebounds in only having a season low 31 while Utah had 46 rebounds. But give Dallas credit for overcoming the physical game and not getting unsettled by all the non-calls and finding a way to win. The hero of the game was the one who had the game winner - Nick Van Exel. Van Exel had 12 points and all of them came from beyond the arc. He shot 4-6 3-pointers and was 0-5 for 2-pointers. Dirk Nowitzki was almost the opposite with most of his shots coming inside the arc. Nowitzki had 25 points including 9-16 2-pointers and 1-7 3-pointers. He also had 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. Steve Nash had 20 points including 4-5 3-pointers and 6 assists and Michael Finley had 17 points and 5 rebounds. Raef LaFrentz had 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 28 foul plagued minutes and Shawn Bradley had 4 points and 3 rebounds in 16 minutes. Matt Harpring led the way for Utah with 20 points and 6 rebounds. Karl Malone had 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Scott Padgett had 13 points in 18 minutes and Tony Massenburg had 11 points including 5-7 FG and 8 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson: "What a physical game. Holy cow. I don't think there would be any players left to play the game if they were all this rough. It was just an unbelievably physical game. But all I can tell you is we hung in there." Nelson on the last shot: "We finally got some good ball movement. We found the open guy in the corner, and Nick's the hot guy right now. He's been shooting the ball well and with confidence and that was the ballgame. Isn't it ironic that Nick had the first look at it, moved it, and we found him back in the corner after about 3 passes?" Dirk Nowitzki: "You saw our advantage at the end of the game. We kept passing the ball around and they kept running at guys. Nick was wide open and he made it." Nowitzki on the celebration after the game: "We had to have a group hug after that one. It's always great to come here and get a win because you know it's going to be physical and you're going to have to overcome a lot of adversity. It's like winning a playoff game, that kind of intensity." Nowitzki: "We're still not doing a good job rebounding. And it almost cost us the game." Nick Van Exel on the last shot: "I knew once I got inside that the outside would be open. I just happened to be the last guy over there. I felt good. I thought it would be a little long, but someone was with me tonight." Van Exel: "It was either Steve or I for the shot. 2 guys rotated to Steve, and I just happened to be open." Van Exel on the physical game: "In Utah, nothing surprises me. We had to battle more than just their team, but we did it. We knew coming in to expect questionable calls and to expect the close calls to go to Utah. The crowd, once they started crying, the refs tend to feed to that. They say we're crybabies, but they do all the booing." Raef LaFrentz: "It was a battle. It wasn't an easy game." Phil Johnson: "We made some defensive errors down the stretch and Van Exel got a 3 on us. One of the things we didn't want to do was give up a 3 the last possession of the game. We over-ran some of our defensive help and didn't get back to their shooter. So little critical things cost you the game." Johnson: "They can be impossible to defend." Johnson: "We did a lot of things right. You can't let them have layups - those are 100%. But they can take you off the dribble, so you've got to help. Then you've got to get back too, and we just couldn't get there." John Stockton on Van Exel's game winner: "You never want to be helter-skelter on defense, but when he drove, we were out of position from then on, running at guys. They found the open man, just like you're supposed to." Andrei Kirilenko on Dallas' last shot: "We lost concentration and that 3 in the corner killed us. They are not only a 3-point shooting team. We need to take care of the open floor and the 3-point line, so it's pretty hard." Kirilenko on free throw shooting: "Last 5 games, I got 1-2, 2-4, 0-3. It's crazy because I've got like 80% [FT] but I can't score on a free throw." Scott Padgett on Utah's last shot: "Having Matt Harpring take that shot, I can live with it because he's going to make it 70% of the time. It shouldn't have come to that." Padgett: "I saw Matt open and kicked it over. Worst-case scenario, he at least gets a shot off. He got a good one. We could have been in overtime." Tony Massenburg: "This year we have been a 2nd half team. Tonight was one of those nights when you just can't afford to let that other team get ahead of you. They are too good." Dallas Mavericks 92, Utah Jazz 90 at Utah (February 3) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 29 22 15 26 - 92 .455 .414 .440 .857 Utah 14 28 25 23 - 90 .508 .364 .487 .632 Halftime: Dallas 51-42 3rd Q: Utah 67-66 Technicals: Nick Van Exel 7:15 2nd, Karl Malone 0:09 2nd Flagrant fouls: Walt Williams 8:44 4th, Tony Massenburg 4:20 4th Refs: Bill Spooner, Greg Willard, Ed Mallory Attendance: 19,130 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Raja Bell 20 2-6 0-2 0-0 4 0-2 4 0 1 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 45 10-23 1-7 4-4 25 0-5 3 2 0 3 4 Raef LaFrentz 28 3-7 2-3 0-0 8 3-6 2 1 5 1 3 Steve Nash 31 7-12 4-5 2-3 20 0-3 6 2 1 2 0 Michael Finley 42 8-16 1-5 0-0 17 0-5 1 1 1 0 2 Nick Van_Exel 29 4-11 4-6 0-0 12 1-4 2 0 1 0 0 Adrian Griffin 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 2 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 16 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-3 0 1 3 1 1 Walt Williams 13 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 3 0 1 Antoine Rigaudeau 9 0-4 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 3 1 2 0 0 Totals 48 37-84 12-29 6-7 92 8-31 21 11 17 8 11 Utah Jazz REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Matt Harpring 37 8-19 2-6 2-4 20 2-6 2 3 1 2 1 Karl Malone 35 5-11 0-0 8-8 18 2-6 5 2 4 1 0 Greg Ostertag 21 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-6 0 2 3 0 1 John Stockton 31 3-7 1-2 0-0 7 1-3 5 1 1 2 1 Calbert Cheaney 30 3-8 0-0 1-2 7 1-6 3 1 1 0 0 Andrei Kirilenko 29 5-8 0-0 0-3 10 2-3 1 2 1 2 3 Mark Jackson 17 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 4 1 1 0 1 Scott Padgett 18 6-10 1-3 0-0 13 2-4 1 1 1 0 0 Tony Massenburg 22 5-7 0-0 1-2 11 3-8 2 0 2 0 1 Totals 48 37-76 4-11 12-19 90 14-46 23 14 15 7 8 patricia