Michael Finley suffered a mild strained left hamstring at the and of the 1st half of the Cleveland game. He did not play in the 2nd half and is listed as day-to-day. His status for Thursday's San Antonio game probably won't be known until shortly before the game. He did miss 13 games last season with a pulled left hamstring. Cleveland (12-53) at Dallas (50-16) (March 18) The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with both teams holding small leads, none larger than 5 points. Dallas led 28-26 after 1. The game again stayed close in the 2nd quarter with with Dallas holding small leads, none larger than 5 points. The game see-sawed back and forth over the last 3 minutes of the quarter. Don Nelson decided he had enough of Dallas' lackadaisical play late in the quarter and went to complain to the refs about a minor thing and got the ejection he seemed to want. Cleveland committed a stupid foul with 2 seconds left (and in the penalty) and Steve Nash hit 1 of 2 free throws (his only point of the half) to give Dallas a 53-52 lead at the half. Dallas shot 48.8% FG and Cleveland shot 45.5% FG. Cleveland out-rebounded Dallas 29-15. Michael Finley strained his left hamstring in the waning seconds of the quarter and did not play in the 2nd half. He had 21 points. Zydrunas Ilgauskas was a monster inside that Dallas could not stop as he had 21 points and 8 rebounds. Carlos Boozer hit 2 free throws to open the 3rd quarter and Dallas then scored the next 6 points to go up 59-54 with 10:20 left. Dallas led 63-60 with 6:50 remaining and Dallas went on a 9-2 run, with 5 points from Dirk Nowitzki and 4 from Nash, to put Dallas up 72-62 with 4:30 to go. It was Dallas' ball out of bounds on their baseline and Walt Williams set an outside screen for Nash and Nash drained the 3-pointer off the inbounds at the quarter buzzer. Dallas led 86-73 after 3. Nash had 18 points in the quarter and Nowitzki had 10 points. Dallas led 92-78 with 9:30 to go and put the game away by scoring the next 11 points, with 7 from Nowitzki, to go up 103-78 with 6:45 left. Dallas won going away 114-93. It wasn't that way in the 1st half, but it turned out to be an easy one down the stretch, thanks again to Steve Nash. It was a tale of 2 halves as Dallas only had 1 more point than Cleveland in the 1st half. Dallas shot 48.8% FG and Cleveland shot 45.5% FG and Cleveland out-rebounded Dallas 29-15 in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, Dallas out-scored Cleveland by 20 points. Dallas shot 53.8% FG including 7-11 3-pointers while Cleveland only shot 30.2% FG and Cleveland did out-rebounded Dallas, but only by 23-21 in the 2nd half. I didn't know why Don Nelson went nuts at the time and got ejected late in the 2nd quarter and figured that he had decided his ejection might motivate his team, which was playing down to the level of the competition. That probably was the real reason for his ejection, but what he was complaining about did give me a small smile - the lack of 3 seconds called on Zydrunas Ilgauskas. I had yelled for 3 seconds to be called a number of times in the 1st half (and continued in the 2nd half), but not a single 3 seconds call was made throughout the game. Coleman should sign Ilgauskas and Carlos Boozer up, because the two love to camp. No question that hero of the game again was Steve Nash. Nash only had 1 point in the 1st half, but had 18 in the 3rd quarter as Dallas pulled away and stopped with the sloppy turnovers. Nash finished with 21 points (but uncharacteristically missed 2 free throws (made 3) [and gave a loud s-bomb on the 1st miss]) and 6 assists in 30 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 28 points including 10-12 FT, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals in 32 minutes. He also got the chalupa free throw (and has had the most chalupa buckets in Mavs history with 10). Before going out with his injury. Michael Finley had 21 points including 8-12 FT in 24 minutes. His status for Thursday's game is not yet known. Raef LaFrentz chipped in 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists - including a nice alley-oop lob to Finley - in 23 minutes. Shawn Bradley did not play in the 1st half due to his sore left knee, but was put in during the 2nd half due to the problems Dallas was having with Zydrunas Ilgauskas and helped slow him down. He had 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 8 minutes. All 12 players played and all 12 scored. Tariq Abdul-Wahad missed 3 shots and finally scored with a monster jam. Adrian Griffin blew 2 open layups before making a jumper (and that from a guy who shot 6-7, 3-4, and 8-8 FG in 3 games this month). Zydrunas Ilgauskas' eyes must light up when he sees that Dallas is the opponent. After having 34 points and 14 rebounds in the last meeting, Ilgauskas again had a monster game with 30 points including 14-16 FT and 13 rebounds including 8 offensive in 34 minutes. He only had 9 points and 5 rebounds in the 2nd half, though. Smush Parker came off the bench and contributed 16 points. Carlos Boozer had 12 points including 5-6 FG and 5 rebounds. Ricky Davis had 11 points including 4-14 FG, 10 rebounds, and 6 turnovers. He was boo'ed during introductions - he had an extremely selfish play during Sunday's Cle-Uta game where he was one rebound shy of a triple-double and attempted a missed shot at Utah's basket in the final seconds to try to get that last rebound (correctly didn't get the rebound credit). Darius Miles only had 7 points including 3-11 FG and 5 rebounds, but he was playing with a sore shoulder. [It was interesting to see that Miles went over and shook hands with Don Nelson and Del Harris prior to the jumpball; you usually don't see players do that. (And I joked that he said to them, "Please get me out of here!") Miles also stepped off the court while shooting around in the pre-pre-warmup to have his picture taken with a fan.] Next up for Dallas is the big San Antonio game on Thursday. San Antonio lost to New York on Tuesday night, so they are now 3 games ahead in the loss column with 16 games left for the Spurs and 15 for the Mavs. Thursday's game is key as it counts for a loss for one team and a win for the other in the race for best record in the league (and #1 seed instead of #3 seed - with the #3 seed likely having to face the Lakers in the 1st round and then (if they beat the Lakers) the Kings (if they win in the 1st round) in the 2nd round. The #2 seed goes to the team with the best record in the Pacific Division (read Sacramento - the Kings are 3 up on Portland in the loss columns with 21 losses, and the 5 more losses they have than Dallas are not likely to be overcome for best record in the league). Dallas is also one win or a Phoenix loss from formally clinching a playoff berth - the most Phoenix and Houston (both are 35-31 in tied for 8th spot in the Western Conference) can win this season right now is 51 games and Dallas holds the tie breaker with Houston and has split the 2 games against Phoenix so far. Quotes Donn Nelson: "It was a tale of 2 halves. We needed a wake-up call and Nellie gave it to us. For whatever reason we started out sluggish and we kind of needed a kick in the trousers. After Nellie got tossed, we took it up to another level with special performances by Dirk, Steve. Really everybody played well. The tough decision tonight was Raef and Shawn and Raef gave us a terrific performance in the 2nd half. Shawn was struggling with an injury and wasn't quite sure if we should go with him. He ended up giving us a monster 2nd half. Defensively he really bothered Ilgauskas and I thought that was a big key to the game. Hats off to that team. They are a really exciting team and I think in very short order they can turn that thing around. I am a big fan of Keith Smart. I had the pleasure of coaching him at Golden State and he is going to be a terrific, young coach. They have a lot of really good young players up there. The future is definitely in Cleveland." [Don Nelson does not address the media in games in which he is ejected.] Nelson: "Finley went down with a strained hamstring. We don't think it's a significant strain, but they are evaluating it now. At this point it is day-to-day." Nelson on Finley's injury: "We don't think it's a significant strain. We don't know about the San Antonio game." Nelson on the slow start: "I think it was a combination of their front line being dominant, athletic and we have always had trouble with Ilgauskas. He is one of the premier centers in the NBA and tonight he played like it. We couldn't do anything to stop him. The closest thing we did was in the 2nd half, where Shawn gave us a lift and neutralized, but he is going to be a power for many, many years to come in the league." Nelson on Cleveland: "Their offensive sets are much different. In a lot of ways it is a completely different team and I think that is a good young coach putting his signature and his mark on the team. They run a lot of countersets and they are swinging the ball and involving a lot of people. Instead of being a being a dominant post team, they are spreading the wealth a little bit. They have a lot of good, young players and they can hurt you in a lot of different ways. I think they are a lot more versatile and they can hurt you with their different weaponery." Nelson on Nash: "Stevie has just been a monster player for us as of late. I think that he sensed with Nellie being out and, like great players do, he stepped up to the plate and got us rolling. I don't know if there is another point guard in the league right now that has played as well as he has. It is a testament to him and the rest of the players on the squad." Michael Finley on taking it inside: "The last few games I was settling for too many jump shots and that's not really my game. I just wanted to be aggressive going to the basket." Finley on straining his hamstring and not playing in the 2nd half: "I was just running and somebody pulled at me from behind and kind of threw off my stride. It was more precautionary. I tweaked it a little and they didn't want me to push it and make it worse." Dirk Nowitzki: "The energy wasn't there in the 1st half. That's pretty normal after a big, emotional win on Sunday. The 2nd half, we made it look at little more easy." Steve Nash: "It was a really poor 1st half for us. We really needed to win this game just as much as we needed to win the Sacramento game. It was important for us, especially with Mike out, to take the game over and really be assertive and not allow them to keep rolling." Nash on his 3rd quarter play: "Well, I just wanted to be really aggressive and not allow them off the hook. I wanted to put pressure on the defense and be assertive and make plays for my team." Nash: "For the past few months now I've been shooting the 3 a lot better than at the start of the season. It really peeks your focus when you need to win games and we certainly need to win games right now. Hopefully we'll continue to get our rest and be fresh enough to have a good performance on Thursday. We really need to limit our losses and that's what the whole thing is about right now, winning our division." Nash on San Antonio losing to New York: "Yeah, any time that happens it's a bonus. We can't worry about if they are going to lose. We just have to expect that they are going to win every night and therefore we're going to have to try to win every night." Nick Van Exel: "We were a little lackadaisical out there in the 1st half, a lot of turnovers and just playing sloppy. We knew in the 2nd half that we needed to come out and play a lot better." Van Exel: "Steve really did it again. He really picked up the tempo in the 3rd quarter, made shots, got to the basket and created shots for the team. He really put us on his back again." Van Exel on San Antonio losing: "It was a big surprise because the last time I looked they were up by 9 points. I guess New York didn't give up. It was something we needed, but we really need to make them pay for it on Thursday then it will really mean something." Keith Smart: "Our guys played a good half of basketball; played good halfway through the 3rd, but they started to make some shots. They stepped up their intensity. Their big time players stepped up and made some big time shots, and that got the game under control. We knew we would really have to play close to a perfect game to keep Nash and Nowitzki under control. Then the other guys are going to step up; Nick Van Exel came in. You have Nick Van Exel backing up Steve Nash, who's been a big time player, doesn't get rattled by runs. They just have a lot of pieces they can put together to win a basketball game." Smart: "The turnovers were back and we didn't make shots. We played a good 1st half and we made shots in the 1st half. We didn't do those things in the 2nd half." Smart: "To go against a team of this caliber, you have to play 48 minutes. We played very good basketball in the 1st half but didn't make a lot of shots in the 2nd." Smart: "We always teach the game is 48 minutes. You are playing against a team that is one of the teams predicted to get to the finals, so it wasn't going to be an easy task. We had to play a great game on the road in a building that not a lot of teams around the league have had success in." Zydrunas Ilgauskas: "They have a great team; the best in the NBA right now. We knew that for us to come in here and get a chance to win, we better play close to a perfect game. We played pretty well in the 1st half. They had a lot of turnovers and that helped keep us in the game. In the 3rd quarter, they just came out and started hitting shots." Ilgauskas: "Dirk and Nash started making some shots in the 2nd half and we didn't have enough firepower to match them. They have some great offensive players; they have played together for a long time. They're like an All-Star team." Ilgauskas: "The whole season has been frustrating, but we have a young team. Obviously, we're going to make some mistakes." Carlos Boozer: "They had a big 3rd quarter. They got confident in the 3rd quarter and started hitting some big shots. Dirk and Steve hit some big shots in the 3rd and we were trying to play catch-up after that. They just started hitting some shots, and we missed some shots; had a couple turnovers. Next thing you know, it is a double-digit lead." Dallas Mavericks 114, Cleveland Cavaliers 93 at Dallas (March 18) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 25 33 28 - 114 .508 .529 .513 .767 Cleveland 26 26 21 20 - 93 .433 .200 .379 .719 Halftime: Dallas 53-52 3rd Q: Dallas 86-73 Technicals: Don Nelson 2:48 2nd, Don Nelson (ejected) 2:48 2nd, Keith Smart 1:56 3rd Refs: Bill Spooner, Ed F. Rush, Jason Phillips Attendance: 19,952 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Dajuan Wagner (sprained right knee) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 24 8-12 0-0 5-5 21 1-2 3 0 1 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 32 8-14 2-4 10-12 28 1-8 4 2 2 3 2 Raef LaFrentz 23 4-9 2-3 0-0 10 0-3 3 0 3 1 1 Raja Bell 22 1-2 1-1 0-0 3 2-4 1 1 4 0 0 Steve Nash 30 8-16 2-4 3-5 21 0-2 6 2 2 1 0 Popeye Jones 13 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 0-3 0 1 4 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 24 3-6 1-1 0-0 7 0-1 5 2 0 1 0 Adrian Griffin 15 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-3 0 1 0 1 0 Eduardo Najera 23 3-4 0-0 1-2 7 1-2 0 2 2 3 3 Walt Williams 14 2-6 1-4 1-2 6 1-3 2 1 2 2 1 Tariq Abdul-Wahad 12 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 2 1 2 0 0 Shawn Bradley 8 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 0-3 1 0 2 1 2 Totals 48 41-80 9-17 23-30 114 6-36 27 13 24 13 9 Cleveland Cavaliers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Carlos Boozer 25 5-6 0-0 2-2 12 2-5 2 0 1 1 0 Darius Miles 29 3-11 0-0 1-2 7 0-5 2 1 2 0 1 Zydrunas Ilgauskas 34 8-16 0-1 14-16 30 8-13 3 2 4 1 0 Milt Palacio 32 3-8 0-0 0-0 6 1-3 5 3 5 0 0 Ricky Davis 39 4-14 2-7 1-4 11 2-10 4 6 2 1 0 Smush Parker 21 5-11 2-5 4-4 16 0-1 4 3 3 2 0 DeSagana Diop 14 1-1 0-0 0-2 2 3-5 0 2 1 1 1 Jumaine Jones 20 0-8 0-6 1-2 1 0-6 2 1 0 3 0 Chris Mihm 18 4-10 0-1 0-0 8 2-4 1 1 4 0 0 Michael Stewart 8 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 1 Totals 48 33-87 4-20 23-32 93 18-52 23 19 24 9 3 patricia