Walt Williams suffered a sprained left index finger during practice Thursday. He missed both Friday's and Saturday's games due to the injury. X-rays were negative (no fracture) and it is just a strained tendon. Joked Don Nelson: "If he can't catch the ball, I'm not putting him out there for defensive and rebounding purposes." Dallas activated Popeye Jones and placed Evan Eschmeyer on IR with swelling in his right knee prior to Saturday's Utah game. Dallas (46-14) at Miami (20-40) (March 7) Miami popped out to a 12-4 lead with 8 minutes left as Dallas struggled to score. Dallas then scored the next 10 points to go up 14-12 with 5:30 remaining. The game stayed close for the rest of the quarter and Miami led 21-20 after 1. The game stayed close in the 2nd quarter with neither team holding more than a 5 point lead for most of the quarter. Miami led 36-34 with 3:45 to go and scored the next 8 points to go up 44-34 with 50 seconds remaining. Miami led 44-36 at the half. Miami shot 53% FG while Dallas only shot 32.5% FG, but Dallas also had 10 offensive rebounds. An 11-2 run pulled Dallas within 47-48 with 8 minutes left, but Miami was able to maintain a single-digit lead and managed to push their lead back up to 8 points at 66-58 with 2:30 to go. But Dallas scored the last 8 points of the quarter to tie the game at 66-66 after 3. Steve Nash took the team on his back during the quarter and had 12 points. Anthony Carter converted a 3-point play to open the 4th quarter, but Dallas then scored the next 10 points to go up 76-69 with 7:30 remaining. 5 points by Shawn Bradley gave Dallas their largest lead at 86-76 with 3:20 left. Dallas led 88-79 with 2 minutes to go, but got sloppy down the stretch. Mike James converted a 3-point play, Nash missed, and Brian Grant hit 2 free throws to pull Miami within 84-88 with 1:25 remaining. Grant got a block and Caron Butler drove for 2 with a minute to go. Michael Finley missed on 2 attempts and CButler pushed the ball up the other way, but was called for the offensive foul when he ran into Nash with 11 seconds left. Miami intentionally fouled and Nash hit both free throws to give Dallas a 90-86 lead with 10.3 seconds remaining. Finley was called for a foul when James attempted a 3-pointer and he hit all 3 free throws. Miami again intentionally fouled and Nash only hit 1 of 2 free throws and it was just a 2 point game with 2.9 seconds to go. Malik Allen's jumper rimmed out at the buzzer and Dallas won 91-89. Well, that wasn't pretty. Put it down in the record book as a W and forget about it. Despite making a number of dumb errors down the stretch (though Finley's foul on a 3-point shooter was very questionable), the Mavs managed to hang on for the win. And that was despite shooting a mere 39.1% FG while Miami shot 44.7% FG. Dallas did make up for the poor shooting by rebounding in this game. Dallas out-rebounded Miami 49-37 including 18-9 offensive - and 18 offensive boards is the 2nd highest the team has had this season. With Dallas' poor shooting, the game stayed close throughout with both teams largest leads at just 10 points. It was the last road game for Dallas against an Eastern Conference team. Dallas finished 14-3 on road games in the East. With Dallas being flat for most of the game, Steve Nash picked up the team and carried them during the surge during the 3rd quarter. Nash was the high man with 22 points including 11-12 FT and 5 assists in 33 minutes - he played 20 in the 2nd half as the Mavs needed him on the court. Sporting a one-sided sunburn, Dirk Nowitzki had 21 points including a poor shooting 8-22 FG and 10 rebounds. Michael Finley also struggled in shooting at 6-17 FG, but made up for it with rebounds and 3-pointers. He shot 3-7 3-pointers and had 11 rebounds - the most he has had since November. The other hero of the game was Shawn Bradley, who picked up his performance in the 4th quarter. Bradley had 9 points including 4-5 FG and 6 rebounds including 3 offensive in the 4th and finished with 13 points including 6-8 FG and 9 rebounds. Raef LaFrentz was the 5th Mav in double-digits with 10 points and 3 rebounds. Eduardo Najera, as usual, provided energy and rebounding with 8 rebounds including 4 offensive and 3 assists, but his shot is off as he only shot 1-6 FG. The youngsters stepped up for Miami in this game. Rookie Rasual Butler, starting for the injured Eddie Jones, had 20 points and 5 rebounds. Rookie Caron Butler had 16 points and 5 rebounds. And sophomore Mike James had a career high 20 points including 8-10 FT - and 11 of his points came in the 4th quarter. Malik Allen and Brian Grant had double-doubles, but neither shot well. Allen had 11 points including 4-11 FG and 10 rebounds. Grant had 10 points including 4-11 FG and 10 rebounds. [And as for as much complaining as Miami did about the offensive call against Butler (which I thought was the correct call - and it was also the way the refs have been fairly consistently calling it all season), I'll trade them that call for the non-call when Adrian Griffin was bodied going for the layup on the break and instead of 2 free throws for Griff, Miami got 2 points on a fast break the other way and and an additional point on the technical on Don Nelson for complaining about the non-call.] Quotes Don Nelson: "We're going to enjoy this win the best we can. It was an emotional win and it was a tough win. We're playing tomorrow. We'll fill it up and we'll be there." Nelson: "We weren't the smartest team down the stretch, fouling on 2 3-point shots. But we were able to execute enough to win the game." Nelson: "We knew it wasn't going to be an easy game, but somehow, some way we had to come away with a win tonight." Nelson: "There were a couple reasons why we won, and Bradley was a big part of that. He was terrific both offensively and defensively. When he comes to play like that, we're pretty good." Dirk Nowitzki on Dallas' flubs down the stretch: "We just made it hard on ourselves. We looked a little flat and we just didn't execute. We got away with one tonight." Steve Nash on Miami's last play: "They ran a bunch of guys off each other and we switched everything. I kind of looked around and realized I had Allen. I just tried to keep him in front of me and make him take a tough shot over me. He kind of dribbled into me and I just stood him up. He didn't have a lot of time, but he got a good look and he almost made it." Nash on the offensive foul against Butler: "I knew it was a charge. I don't know if my feet were 100% set, but he dropped his shoulder and was a little out of control." Nash on Bradley's play: "We're pretty tough to beat when he comes and plays. When he gets 13 and 9, we're almost impossible to beat." Eduardo Najera on the offensive foul against Butler: "It was a clear charge; I thought he had great position. Plus, he's an All-Star and Butler's a rookie, so it was a good call." Shawn Bradley: "We just had to keep applying pressure and playing our kind of ball. We needed to keep rebounding and pursuing the ball." Bradley on the calls down the stretch: "Players on this team are not dumb. We're trying to make it hard for their shooters. We were aggressive enough for the refs to make a call. We talked about it in the locker room afterward. We'll learn from this. We just have to figure out how to be aggressive, but not put the ref in a situation where he has to make a decision." Pat Riley: "Guys showed their passion tonight, passion to want to win. They're not counting ping-pong balls. That isn't where their heads are at." Riley on Rasual Butler: "He keeps growing up. Consistency is what it's all about. We see the possibilities in Caron and Rasual. We all see that potential there." Riley on the offensive foul called against Butler: "[The ref] very visibly called it. He was the one under the basket. He saw it and the other [ref], he just pointed the other way." Riley on the offensive foul: "Heat bleeped. That's tomorrow's headline. Don't leave it to me, I'm broke. I'm not doing it anymore. Write it the way you saw. Don't ask me for a response." Caron Butler on the offensive foul: "I saw the baseline official when I made my move and I saw Nash already falling in the process, so I just tried to bring it in to him and get the contact. The baseline official said 'block,' so I said, 'All right,' and clapped my hands. The other guy, I guess, overruled it at the top.'' Malik Allen on his last shot: "I got a good look at it. It rattled in and out. It just didn't go down for me." Allen on his last shot: "I thought it was good. It felt good. Even when it rattled, I thought I would get a good bounce." Mike James: "It definitely hurts, but that's been the tale of the season for us." Dallas Mavericks 91, Miami Heat 89 at Miami (March 7) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 20 16 30 25 - 91 .386 .412 .391 .889 Miami 21 23 22 23 - 89 .449 .429 .447 .818 Halftime: Miami 44-36 3rd Q: 66-66 Technicals: Shawn Bradley 4:28 2nd, Don Nelson 2:28 3rd, Vladimir Stepania 8:08 4th Refs: Bernie Fryer, Ken Mauer, Tony Brothers Attendance: 16,500 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Walt Williams (sprained left finger) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 41 6-17 3-7 0-0 15 2-11 4 1 1 2 1 Dirk Nowitzki 41 8-22 2-6 3-3 21 3-10 4 1 3 1 0 Raef LaFrentz 27 5-9 0-0 0-0 10 3-3 0 0 2 0 2 Steve Nash 33 5-11 1-2 11-12 22 1-4 5 3 2 1 0 Raja Bell 13 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 1-1 0 0 2 0 0 Eduardo Najera 32 1-6 0-0 0-0 2 4-8 3 0 3 2 0 Nick Van_Exel 12 1-5 1-2 0-0 3 0-0 1 3 0 0 0 Adrian Griffin 14 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 0 1 3 1 0 Shawn Bradley 22 6-8 0-0 1-1 13 3-9 0 0 3 1 0 Evan Eschmeyer 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Avery Johnson 3 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-87 7-17 16-18 91 18-49 17 11 19 8 3 Miami Heat REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Caron Butler 39 7-14 0-1 2-3 16 1-5 1 5 6 1 0 Malik Allen 35 4-11 0-0 3-4 11 4-10 0 2 4 0 2 Brian Grant 32 4-11 0-0 2-2 10 2-10 1 1 5 1 1 Travis Best 22 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 2 1 4 0 1 Rasual Butler 39 9-17 1-3 1-1 20 1-5 2 1 0 1 3 Mike James 34 5-11 2-3 8-10 20 0-0 3 1 2 3 0 Sean Marks 12 2-3 0-0 1-1 5 0-3 0 1 0 0 0 Vladimir Stepania 17 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 0 2 2 1 0 Anthony Carter 10 1-2 0-0 1-1 3 0-1 4 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-76 3-7 18-22 89 9-37 13 14 23 7 7 Utah (35-26) at Dallas (47-14) (March 8) With both teams having played tough games (Utah lost in overtime to Sacramento) the night before and arriving in Dallas in the middle of the morning, there was concern about how much energy the teams would have remaining for this game. It turned out not to be the case for one of the teams and quite the case for the other. Steve Nash banged knees with John Stockton a minute and a half into the game and left until midway through the 2nd quarter. Utah led 10-7 with 8 minutes left and Dallas scored the next 11 points to go up 18-10 with 3:40 to go. Dallas led 22-14 after 1. Neither team was shooting well as Dallas shot 40% FG and Utah shot 37% FG. Dallas found their shooting touch in the 2nd quarter and Utah continued to struggle. Dallas scored the first 5 points of the 2nd quarter to go up 27-14 with 10:50 remaining. Utah scored the next 4 points and then Dallas scored the next 5 points to retain a double-digit lead. Leading 44-28 with 3:25 left, Dirk Nowitzki hit a 3-pointer, Nash hit a 3-pointer, and Nowitzki hit a jumper to give Dallas an early commanding 52-28 lead with 2:15 left [the Jazz did not use a timeout during the run and Jerry Sloan seemed content to let his team suffer for their poor performance]. Dallas led 55-32 at the half. Dallas shot 13-19 FG including 4-5 3-pointers during the 2nd quarter while Utah shot just 7-21 FG. Dallas' lead stayed in the 20s throughout the 3rd quarter and they took their largest lead thus far at 81-53 after 3. The blowout continued in the 4th quarter where the Mavs made what I thought was their only questionable move as Nowitzki was still on the floor - he did sub out with 8:50 left. Consecutive buckets by Adrian Griffin gave Dallas their largest lead at 92-59 with 8 minutes to go. The game got really ugly at the end as the lineup Dallas had on the floor had little offensive power and Utah rattled off 10 straight points to pull "within" 77-97 with a minute left. I had started saying with about 2 minutes left that I didn't know if the Mavs would make 100 points, but a steal by Griffin and bucket by Raja Bell with 30 seconds left and then another steal by Griffin and his dunk on the break with 12 seconds left gave the fans chalupas. Dallas won 101-77. Well, it was the reverse as what was expected - the Miami game was the tough game and the Utah game was the easy game. And what an easy game it turned out to be. The Utah games tend to be the tough, physical, grind them out kind, and this game had none of that. Utah seemed to be really affected by the back-to-back while Dallas showed no after effects. The sloppy end of the 4th did bring Dallas' shooting down to 47.6% FG while Utah's run in the 4th brought their shooting up to 43.1% FG. Dallas again out-rebounded an opponent in grabbing 43 rebounds including 13 offensive while Utah had 38 rebounds and 8 offensive. Utah also committed 20 turnovers. Dallas has 20 games remaining in the regular season. With the blowout, no Mav played high minutes. Dirk Nowitzki had 21 points and 6 rebounds in 25 minutes. Michael Finley had 14 points and 5 rebounds in 31 minutes. Steve Nash had 12 points including 3-4 3-pointers in just 16 minutes. Making the most of garbage time and being one of the few guys able to score in that clean-up bunch, Adrian Griffin had 16 points on 8-12 FG, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals, including a sweet snatch from John Stockton. Shawn Bradley chipped in 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 17 minutes (sat all of the 4th). Nick Van Exel was the 6th Mav in double-digits with 10 points. With the blowout, none of the Jazz played well. Karl Malone was the high man with 16 points and 4 rebounds, but started the game shooting a mere 1-9 FG. Andrei Kirilenko had 2 points through 3 quarters, but picked 9 more in garbage time. He also had 5 rebounds. Carlos Arroyo was the only other Jazz in double-digits with 11 points and 5 assists (high man for assists). John Stockton had just 7 points and 4 assists in 18 minutes. Ouch: With the blowout, seldom used John Amaechi played and shot 0-4 FG to extend his poor shooting streak to a dismal 3-32 FG in the last 14 games he's played. Quotes Don Nelson: "It was a game you would hope to have when the Mavs are tired. We played a tough game the night before and flew all night. We thought it would be a fair deal because we both had tough games. We just hoped we would have longer legs and that is the way it turned out - although every time I say that, they come up and beat us. I got to play the reserves and rest the guys that are tired. We will take a day off tomorrow and get ready to play the toughest part of our schedule for the remainder of the season. We have 20 games left now and we just want to continue to play at a high level and see what we can do and where we end up." Nelson: "It's the kind of game you hope you have when your lads are tired. We hoped our legs were a little younger than theirs, and I think that's the way it worked out." Nelson: "Back-to-back games are just not fair to the fans or anybody else. When you don't have that recovery time, the quality of play usually isn't very good." Nelson on the bench: "They played real well until the very end and then I didn't have a lot of good shooters in the game. The offense struggled a little bit. They tried to execute what we wanted and we tried to use that as a teaching tool. They are a big part of what we do, but we don't play them all together. I usually have 2 or 3 good shooters in there with them and that usually makes the offense look better. You can see the difference of when you don't have good shooters in the game, it can be kind of an ugly game." Nelson on Nash's injury early in the game: "He knocked kneecaps with Stockton and Stockton's kneecap won." Nelson on Najera: "I wish Eddie's offensive game would pick up a little bit. He's really struggling there, but you still have the great hustle. I'm glad I got the chance to play him tonight." Dirk Nowitzki on if the game was easier than expected: "Yeah, they looked a little tired and they really didn't look ready to play. They had a tough loss last night at home against Sacramento. So they were a little flat and we jumped on them early and played great defense from the beginning on and we just put them away. We never let up on them tonight. We talk about how we have been losing leads, we lost the lead last night in the last 2 minutes when we were up by 10. We need to protect leads better and we did a good job of that tonight." Nowitzki: "We contested every jump shot, we rebounded the ball well, and out-rebounded them tonight. It was an all-around great effort and we earned a day off tomorrow and we'll be ready to play on Monday again." Steve Nash on getting rest: "Yeah, it was great. It was good because any time you can get some rest this time of year it really helps. I took a thigh bruise last night so before the game I didn't know how I was going to feel. I finally got loosened up and felt okay at the start of the game and then a few minutes in I got kicked in the other knee. That's kind of frustrating, but Utah had a tough night tonight and gave us a chance to get some rest." Nash: "We did a good job defensively, but the Utah team that we are accustomed to didn't make it here tonight. They are a lot better than they showed tonight." Nash: "In light of our recent record of not holding leads, this was a good showing. But they didn't have anything left in the tank, so it might not be a true indication." Nash on rebounding: "We're putting in the effort and we're emphasizing it and that's the biggest thing. Really that's all you can do and hopefully we can continue to head in the right direction, create some positive habits and match other teams on the boards." Nash on banging his kneecap early in the game: "It must have been a nerve or something, because I just couldn't put any pressure on it for about 5 minutes. It didn't scare me. I knew I'd be fine, because I knew what it was. It was just frustrating, because I just couldn't do anything about it. I had to just wait it out." Adrian Griffin: "Whoever came out with the most energy tonight was going to win the game. And we came out with a lot of energy." Griffin on getting the chalupa bucket: "I've been pretty good with the chalupas this year. I got the chalupas the last game, so I think I'm going to start cashing in on the chalupas myself and get me one of those certificates." Avery Johnson: "I'm really proud of our team tonight, especially coming off a back-to-back game. A team like Utah, if you can get them down early, with the way it takes them time to execute their offense, you can pretty much keep a lead and sustain a lead against them." Jerry Sloan, not using the back-to-back as an excuse: "We had a tough time and we said 'Oh wow, we have a game today.' Nobody has to do that. That's ridiculous. There's 24 hours in everyday, hasn't changed and there should be 8 hours in there for sleep. If you work at it, I think you can get 8 hours of sleep out of the day. The longest flight is probably 5 hours and we didn't fly for 5 hours. I never understood that fatigue should be a factor. Now we have a couple of older guys that may have gotten them a little bit. I've never been that old and played. But the other guys have to step up. I don't like to see that because it's a sign that guys don't like to compete. If you're a competitor, you have to like to come back and play this game. We know they are a great team. We have all the respect in the world for them, but to go out and appear that it's not important, that you're tired. That's half our business." Sloan: "When you don't execute and you take tough shots, they are going to fall short and this team doesn't allow you to execute. They played us hard and didn't back away. We gave them a lot of space to do what they wanted and you don't have much of a chance to do it that way." Sloan: "Boy, they just wore us out. I looked all the way down the bench a few times to see if we could come up with a little bit of life." Sloan: "They pick-and-rolled, they shot the ball on the perimeter, they drove us to the basket, shot layups. Just whatever they wanted to do. They had control of it right from the beginning, and we never could compete at all against them." Sloan: "We looked like little kids [who] want someone to feel sorry for you. Your mom has to come pick you up and drag you back in and straighten you out." Sloan on not playing Jackson much: "Mark's foot was bothering him before the game and we were struggling a little bit and I just thought that I needed to give Carlos an opportunity. It wasn't anything against Mark. He was there to play too. I just felt like we didn't have energy and I felt Carlos had a little bit more energy and he needs to play more. It's tough to play all 3 guys at that position. When we are trying to win and all games are important to us, I just didn't feel we had the energy, not necessarily from Mark, I just felt like it was an opportunity to give Carlos a chance to play to see if we could come up a little bit and see where he is. I mean, I looked all the way down the bench a few times to see if we could come up with a little bit of life. They are tough to deal with even if you have everything in the world going for you. It's not by accident that they won all those games." Karl Malone: "Well, I think their whole part of their game was excellent tonight. Like I say, I can't really judge from one game, but I think tonight they did everything. They helped each other, guys came off the bench and did their job." Malone: "They are a good team and did everything they wanted to do tonight. These are the kind of games you have to reach down and see what you're made of. And you have to give them credit." Calbert Cheaney: "You can't play a team like that with the energy we had. With the scoring potential that they have, they got too far out in front and we made too many mistakes and weren't able to recover." Cheaney on Dallas' defense: "They don't zone as much. The bottom line is that we didn't execute the way we wanted to execute. We missed some shots early." Greg Ostertag: "Dallas got back here later than we did, so it was a good old-fashioned butt-kicking." DeShawn Stevenson: "I was really surprised it got away from us in the 1st quarter. It seemed like everything Nowitzki and Nash put up was going in." Dallas Mavericks 101, Utah Jazz 77 at Dallas (March 8) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 22 33 26 20 - 101 .492 .412 .476 .762 Utah 14 18 21 24 - 77 .429 .500 .431 .667 Halftime: Dallas 55-32 3rd Q: Dallas 81-53 Technicals: Utah defensive 3 seconds 8:20 3rd Refs: George Toliver, Leon Wood, Ted Bernhardt Attendance: 20,123 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Walt Williams (sprained left finger) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 31 5-12 2-2 2-2 14 2-5 3 0 1 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 25 8-15 2-6 3-4 21 1-6 3 2 3 0 0 Raef LaFrentz 19 2-3 0-0 1-2 5 1-3 0 0 4 0 4 Raja Bell 31 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 1 0 2 2 1 Steve Nash 16 4-7 3-4 1-1 12 1-4 4 2 1 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 20 4-9 0-3 2-2 10 0-4 3 4 1 0 0 Eduardo Najera 34 2-6 0-0 2-4 6 3-4 1 0 3 3 1 Shawn Bradley 17 4-7 0-0 3-3 11 2-6 0 0 1 0 3 Adrian Griffin 27 8-12 0-2 0-0 16 0-6 2 3 1 5 0 Avery Johnson 11 1-5 0-0 2-3 4 0-0 1 2 1 0 0 Popeye Jones 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2-3 0 0 1 1 0 Totals 48 39-82 7-17 16-21 101 13-43 18 13 19 11 9 Utah Jazz REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Matt Harpring 25 3-8 0-0 2-2 8 1-3 1 3 2 0 0 Karl Malone 25 6-16 0-0 4-6 16 0-4 2 2 2 2 0 Greg Ostertag 16 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-3 1 0 2 0 2 John Stockton 18 3-5 0-0 1-2 7 2-4 4 2 0 2 0 Calbert Cheaney 24 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 0-3 1 1 1 1 0 Tony Massenburg 7 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 2 1 0 0 Mark Jackson 9 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 2 1 1 0 0 Andrei Kirilenko 23 4-7 0-0 3-4 11 2-5 1 0 3 2 0 Scott Padgett 25 3-6 1-1 0-0 7 1-7 0 1 3 0 0 DeShawn Stevenson 26 3-6 0-0 1-3 7 1-2 2 3 2 1 0 John Amaechi 20 0-4 0-0 0-0 0 1-4 1 1 2 0 0 Carlos Arroyo 22 4-9 0-0 3-4 11 0-1 5 3 1 0 0 Totals 48 31-72 1-2 14-21 77 8-38 20 20 20 8 2 patricia