Dallas activated Avery Johnson and placed Popeye Jones on IR with a sprained right ankle. AJ is now 3 games shy of 1,000 career games. He will become only the 2nd under 6-footer to have played in 1,000 NBA games and Don Nelson wants him to reach that milestone this season. Calvin Murphy was the 1st under 6-footer to have played in 1,000 games. Phoenix (36-32) at Dallas (51-17) (March 22) Michael Finley did not play due to his strained left hamstring. The game stayed really close in the 1st quarter with neither team holding more than a 5 point lead and there were 9 ties. A 3-pointer by Raef LaFrentz and layup by Avery Johnson gave Dallas a 26-21 lead with 45 seconds left. Phoenix scored the last 3 points of the quarter and Dallas led 26-24 after 1. Then came the horrible 2nd quarter. Dallas led 28-26 a minute in and Phoenix scored the next 9 points to go up 35-28 with 8:50 remaining. Each team only scored 2 points over the next 4 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki picked up his 3rd foul with 6 minutes left, but was brought back in the game a minute and a half later as his team needed him and he played the rest of the quarter without picking up a 4th foul as Phoenix did not take the ball at him. Phoenix led 39-32 with 4:10 left and used a 10-2 run that including 2 3-pointers to take their largest lead at 49-34 with 2 minutes remaining. Phoenix led 54-40 at the half. Phoenix out-scored Dallas 30-14 in the 2nd quarter as Dallas shot just 3-18 FG while Phoenix shot 12-22 FG. Shawn Marion had 15 points and 12 rebounds in the 1st half. After a halftime lecture, a different Mavs team came out in the 3rd quarter, led by Steve Nash. Phoenix led 56-42 with 10:50 to go and Dallas scored the next 9 points, with 7 coming from Nash, to pull within 51-56 with 8:40 left. Phoenix continued to hold on to a single-digit lead for the rest of the quarter. Nowitzki picked up his 5th foul with 5 minutes to go and sat the rest of the quarter. As slam dunk by Shawn Bradley cut Phoenix's lead down to just 69-67 with 2:30 remaining, but the Suns scored the next 5 points to go up 74-67 with a minute to go. Phoenix led 76-69 after 3. Nash had 15 points on 7-9 FG in the 3rd quarter. Phoenix missed their first 5 shots of the 4th quarter and Dallas opened the quarter with a 15-0 run, including 8 points by Nowitzki, to go up 84-76 with 8:30 left. Phoenix didn't score in the quarter until 8:17 remained. Dallas' lead hovered around 8 points as Phoenix could get no closer than 6 points. A 3-pointer by Joe Johnson cut Dallas' lead down to 98-91 with 30 seconds left, but Dallas hit 4-6 free throws down the stretch to preserve the win. Dallas won 102-95. If you could excluded that 2nd quarter, Dallas played a very good game. But what a dismal quarter that was. Dallas only shot 16.7% FG in the 2nd while shooting 54.5% FG the rest of the game and 5 of their 10 turnovers came in the 2nd. But the team, especially Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki, stepped up their game in the 2nd half and the Mavs came away with the victory. For the game, Dallas shot 46.4% FG (39-84) and Phoenix shot 51.3% FG (41-80). Dallas shot 17-24 FT and Phoenix shot 10-16 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Phoenix 44-39 including 12-10 offensive. It was the 2nd night of a back-to-back for Phoenix (though it was a 16 point blowout against Washington the night before). And would someone please explain to me how when a team's best player, especially when their 2nd best offensive player isn't playing, gets in foul trouble and stays on the court, you don't take the ball at him every time down the court (or at least once) to try to get that next foul??? Nowitzki played 4 1/2 minutes in the 2nd quarter with 3 fouls and all of the 4th quarter with 5 fouls, yet Phoenix never attacked him. The 2 stars of the game were who you would expect. Steve Nash carried the team in the 3rd quarter and Dirk Nowitzki carried them in the 4th. 15 of Nash's 27 points came in the 3rd quarter. He also had 13 assists. Nowitzki scored 16 points in the 4th quarter including 6-7 FG. He finished with 27 points including 10-16 FG and 11 rebounds. Eduardo Najera was the only other Mav in double-digits with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Adrian Griffin had 8 points on 4-11 FG and 7 rebounds. Dallas did not get much from their centers as Raef LaFrentz had 5 points and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes and Shawn Bradley had 6 points and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes. Nick Van Exel was not looking for his shot and had 6 points including 2-8 FG. Phoenix lost despite having a trio with 20 points. Anfernee Hardaway had 21 points and 8 assists. Shawn Marion had 21 points and 18 rebounds, but only 6 points and 6 rebounds in the 2nd half. Stephon Marbury had 20 points and 9 assists before fouling out in the final seconds. Jack Voskuhl was the only other Sun in double-digits with 14 points. Amare Stoudemire continued his poor performances against Dallas with just 9 points and 2 rebounds in 22 foul plagued minutes. The rookie sensation has had a total of just 24 points and 15 rebounds in the 3 games against Dallas, while he is averaging 13.4 points and 9.1 rebounds for the season. Quotes Don Nelson on the 2nd quarter: "That was one of the ugliest quarters we've played all season, which I had no answers or any knowledge of how to change it. We got it together at halftime and played a great 2nd half to win a very, very difficult game. I don't know all the reasons why we had a 14 point quarter, but we didn't have any energy and we just didn't look like we were interested in playing. We have so much to play for. I was pretty disappointed. The main thing is they got it together at halftime and didn't let it linger. They found a way for a winning combination and that was difficult to do that tonight. I thought Phoenix played great. We were lucky to win." Nelson: "To have such a great effort from Nash to pull this thing out and then Nowitzki down the stretch was sensational. We had a tremendous deficit from the rebounding game, the fast break game in the 1st half, but we turned everything around. You look at the columns and you would think that we played a great game. We played a very good game for 3 quarters. It was a huge win for us. As you know we still have an awful lot to play for." Nelson: "In the 2nd quarter, it looked like they were playing harder for the 8th spot than we were for the best record in the league. It just doesn't make sense. It would seem like we would have to do better than that. Maybe this is a good lesson. It's best to learn lessons when you get a win. It's tough when you lose because everybody gets depressed and down. At least they are open to seeing the mistakes we made that quarter. We are definitely going to look at that quarter, so we don't do it again." Dirk Nowitzki: "It was a big game. Nobody seemed to have any energy in the 1st half. They just outplayed us in every category but we knew what we had to do in the 3rd quarter - just come out and play a little harder and get the loose balls." Steve Nash on his 3rd quarter play: "It's a bad feeling to lose, especially in a big game, so I just wanted to go down fighting. I just gave it everything I had and luckily made some plays for my teammates and I think the energy was contagious." Nash: "We had a pretty bad attitude in the 2nd quarter, we got down, we didn't really fight as hard as we could have and we didn't get back in transition. Conversely, they got pretty optimistic and started making their shots, so we had to give it one more crack." Nash: "For us to give this one away would have been suicide. That game was all but a runaway at halftime. But we worked too long and hard this season, and we just wanted to go out there and give ourselves a chance to get back in it, and we did." Nick Van Exel on San Antonio losing to Minnesota the night before: "That's all we were thinking - that we had a golden opportunity with San Antonio losing and we were about to mess it up. Thankfully, we didn't." Eduardo Najera on the 2nd quarter: "We didn't take care of the ball, we shot poorly, and we just didn't play very good. Thankfully Dirk came through in the 4th quarter and saved the day." Najera on if anyone besides Nelson spoke during halftime: "No, we kind of saw the slow start coming because we played a really tough game the other night against San Antonio. We were a little worn out, but we bounced back in the 2nd half and got the victory and that's all that matters." Najera on Nash's 3rd quarter: "What else can I say about Stevie? He's an all-star and he's going to take over games, quarters, and he just makes big shots. Everyone has a lot of confidence in him and he just delivered tonight." Najera on the elbow he took to the chest during the 4th quarter: "He just knocked the wind out of me. Next time I'll set the screen a little harder." Adrian Griffin: "They came out with more energy in the 1st half. Actually in the 2nd quarter is when we let up. I thought we had a good 1st quarter, but they started playing well and they started hitting their shots and we missed ours. We were out of sync, but we woke up fast in that 2nd half." Griffin on halftime: "We knew how important this game was so Coach Nelson said before we throw in the towel why don't you guys go out there and give it all you've got and that's what we did." Griffin on Nash: "He puts so much pressure on the defense with his penetration. He did a great job of setting the tone in the 3rd quarter and then Dirty [Dirk] came to the rescue in the 4th quarter. Wiz [Walt] stepped up with some big 3's and it definitely was a team effort tonight." Griffin on Najera: "Eddie did a great job of giving us energy. We have really missed him being in there. It's just fun watching him play because he just lays it on the line and is a hard worker. He's my type of guy because I feed off of his energy. We're kind of the same type of player, we both like to go in there and do the dirty work." Frank Johnson: "It was 2 different halves today. They missed some shots. Part of it was our defense, part of it was because we were really running and moving the ball. They really spread it out, even against the zone. We were making some shots against the zone and took them out." Johnson: "They got in the zone in the 2nd half and we got a little stagnant. I think we came out that 3rd quarter and were walking the ball up and trying to take advantage. That's not our style. Our style is to just go and play, quick hitters, quick pick-and-rolls, swing the ball." Johnson: "We got stagnant in the 3rd quarter. We started walking the ball up and that's not our style. We're a quick-hitting team, not a grind-it-out team. We had a good opportunity here. We let it slip away. We just have to put it behind us." Anfernee Hardaway: "They were in foul trouble in the 1st half and we made shots. When I looked at the score at halftime, I said they were capable of scoring 60-70 points in the 2nd half. We are capable of putting 50-55 points on the board to keep the lead. We didn't hold up our end of the bargain. They did. They came out and made shots like we knew they were going to and we just couldn't capitalize." Hardaway on playing a back-to-back: "I was a little tired. I think I played 46 minutes, but I got tired. [Dallas] kept subbing really well, keeping everybody fresh. The bench came in and did what they were supposed to do. They came in and got a tough win tonight." Dallas Mavericks 102, Phoenix Suns 95 at Dallas (March 22) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 26 14 29 33 - 102 .508 .333 .464 .708 Phoenix 24 30 22 19 - 95 .559 .250 .513 .625 Halftime: Phoenix 54-40 3rd Q: Phoenix 76-69 Technicals: Phoenix defensive 3 seconds 5:36 1st Refs: Blane Reichelt, Gary Benson, Joey Crawford Attendance: 20,087 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Michael Finley (strained left hamstring) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 38 4-11 0-1 0-0 8 3-7 3 0 1 3 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 10-16 3-5 4-6 27 1-11 4 4 5 0 1 Raef LaFrentz 14 2-5 1-3 0-0 5 2-3 0 0 3 0 1 Raja Bell 9 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 Steve Nash 39 10-21 1-4 6-7 27 1-3 13 1 3 0 1 Nick Van_Exel 28 2-8 1-3 1-2 6 1-3 2 2 0 0 0 Avery Johnson 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 16 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 0-4 1 2 3 0 0 Walt Williams 23 3-6 1-4 0-0 7 0-2 1 0 1 0 0 Eduardo Najera 29 4-10 0-0 6-9 14 4-9 3 1 1 1 0 Totals 48 39-84 7-21 17-24 102 12-44 27 10 18 4 3 Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shawn Marion 47 10-20 1-4 0-2 21 5-18 2 3 4 1 2 Amare Stoudemire 22 3-6 0-0 3-3 9 1-2 1 1 4 1 2 Bo Outlaw 21 3-3 0-0 1-1 7 0-5 1 3 2 0 1 Anfernee Hardaway 47 10-19 0-2 1-2 21 1-4 8 0 3 2 0 Stephon Marbury 38 9-18 0-0 2-2 20 1-3 9 1 6 0 0 Joe Johnson 35 6-12 2-5 0-0 14 1-4 2 1 0 0 0 Jake Voskuhl 21 0-0 0-0 1-4 1 1-3 0 3 5 0 0 Casey Jacobsen 7 0-2 0-1 2-2 2 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 Scott Williams 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 41-80 3-12 10-16 95 10-39 23 14 25 5 5 Dallas (52-17) at Denver (15-55) (March 24) Once again, Michael Finley sat out due to a strained left hamstring. Denver was also missing Marcus Camby (as they have been most of the season) due to a sore right hip and Junior Harrington only played 5 1st half minutes due to the flu. Unlike most Denver games, the offenses were flowing in the 1st quarter and the pace was an up-tempo one. Dallas scored 8 straight points to go up 16-9 with 7:35 left. Dallas led 22-15 with 6:10 remaining as a jumper by Raef LaFrentz gave him 12 points already (unfortunately, he picked up his 2nd foul 30 seconds later and sat most of the rest of the game) and Denver then scored the next 8 points to go up 23-22 with 3 minutes to go. The lead see-sawed and Nick Van Exel scored 5 consecutive points to give Dallas a 33-27 lead with 1:20 remaining. Dallas led 33-30 after 1. Van Exel opened the quarter with a 3-pointer and a lob to Tariq Abdul-Wahad for the alley-oop and Dallas led 38-30 with 11 minutes to go. Denver did not have a run in them and Dallas continued to lead for the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 56-49 with 4:10 left and closed the quarter with a 9-1 run (which including an ugly almost 2 minute stretch where neither team scored and 8 shots were missed) to go up 65-50 at the half. Denver really hurt themselves by committing 7 turnovers in the 2nd quarter. For the half, Dallas shot 47% FG and Denver shot 48% FG. The lead and playing a poor team had an adverse affect on Dallas as they came out of halftime playing very poorly with lots and lots of dumb and forced shots - with Dirk Nowitzki being a big culprit as he shot 0-7 FG. Despite the poor play, Dallas did take their largest lead at 71-54 with 9 minutes left and would hold a 17 point lead 2 more times. Dallas led 79-62 with 5 minutes remaining and Denver finally took advantage of Dallas' poor play by scoring the next 8 points, capped by a 3-pointer by Shammond Williams (his only points of the game) to pull within 70-79 with 3:15 left. Only 6 total points were scored over the rest of the quarter and Dallas led 83-72 after 3. Yuch. Dallas only shot 8-23 FG in the quarter (thank goodness Denver was the opponent, otherwise Dallas would have been in deep trouble after a quarter like that one). The 4th quarter continued to be a struggle for Dallas, but Denver did not have a run in them. The Nuggets again pulled within 7 points on a 3-point play by Donnell Harvey, but Van Exel answered with a jumper and Steve Nash drained a 3-pointer to put Dallas up 96-84 with 5:50 left. Denver would get no closer than 9 points the rest of the way, the last time being within 95-104 with 1:45 left and then Van Exel made consecutive drive, short shots to seal the win. Dallas won 108-96. It definitely wasn't a pretty game, but it goes down in the W column and that is all that counts in the long run. After the strong 2nd quarter, Dallas seemed to put their game on cruise control in the 3rd quarter and were fortunate that Denver did not take full advantage of Dallas' sloppiness. Denver really hurt themselves at the free throw line where they shot 18-28 FT while Dallas shot 28-30 FT. The free throws ended up being the big difference as Dallas shot 45% (36-80) FG including 8-20 3-pointers and Denver shot 47% (38-81) FG including 2-9 3-pointers. Dallas out-rebounded Denver 41-40 and Denver had a slight edge on the offensive boards with 14-13. In reversing an earlier trend, it was the 8th time in the last 10 games that Dallas has out-rebounded an opponent. The hero for this game came off the bench to a chorus of boos. Nick Van Exel stepped up his game in an atmosphere he loves with 24 points, including 8 in the 4th quarter, in 28 minutes. He had a sweet drive where he split 2 defenders to put up the floater. The Nuggets crowd booed him when he came in and when ever he touched the ball. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man on a very poor outing with 25 points on 6-23 FG, 1-8 3-pointers, and 12-12 FT (the only thing he consistently did right) and 8 rebounds. Steve Nash had 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in 28 minutes. Raef LaFrentz was the only other Mav in double-digits with 14 points - 12 of which came in the first 6 minutes of the game - including 5-7 FG and 4 rebounds in 15 foul limited minutes. Juwan Howard led the way for Denver with 25 points and 5 rebounds. Rodney White had his first career triple-double with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. Nene Hilario was an offensive machine inside, but showed his current limitations at the line. Hilario had 23 points on 9-11 FG and 5-9 FT. Donnell Harvey seemed to be everywhere going after the boards and had a double-double with 13 points including 5-7 FG and 10 rebounds including 5 offensive. Quotes Don Nelson: "They have given us quite a game every time that we have played them and this was no exception. We survived and I am very, very happy about that. Dirk was not hitting his outside shot. Nick responded to the pressure very well and found a way to penetrate and we found a way to win." Nelson: "They've given us quite a game every time we've played them. This was no exception. With 8 minutes to go, I was a worried coach and it forced us to execute down the stretch." Nelson: "In golf, we would call that ham-and-egging it. You just have to find a way to win. You make a shot, then you hope your partner makes a shot." Nelson: "We really needed Nick coming on big tonight. It wasn't an easy game for anybody. He found a way to get in and get some of those tough shots to go in the basket. I put the ball in his hands down the end because Dirk wasn't making many outside shots. Nick found a way to penetrate and made some good holes for himself and us." Nelson: "I thought Nick responded well to the boos. We needed Nick to come on big and score, and he did." Nelson on not playing Finley: "They tell me, I don't tell them. They know a lot more about it than I do. I don't try to ever force a guy to come back early. I just think that's the dumbest thing a coach can do. So they tell me." Michael Finley: "The more we win, the easier it is to sit out. I'm looking at Portland, I hope." Dirk Nowitzki: "I was off and Nick and Steve had a great shooting night. It was a great team effort. I don't think it was a pretty win but at least we won." Nowitzki: "It was not a pretty game. But we found a way to win. Nick's been playing great. We needed someone to step up with Mike out and Nick's done a fantastic job." Nowitzki on the 3rd quarter: "We couldn't make any shots. They have been giving us fits all year and we were fortunate to beat them all 4 times." Steve Nash: "This race is so tight that every game is equal. No longer are we waiting and anticipating games against the best teams in the West. We have to win them all, no matter who they are against." Nick Van Exel: "They are a good team. They keep teams in the 80s and 90s. We had to find a way to get over 100, and we got it done. It is important that we make the plays that keep their fans out of the game and keep them from getting the momentum." Van Exel: "We had to find a way to get our score in the 100s. We figured if we did that, we'd have a good chance to win." Van Exel: "I never look forward to coming here, especially to get booed. I do not know why they boo me, but they are still making signs and everything. I am used to it. When I come here I expect to get booed and I just focus on getting the win." [If you tell a team you don't want to play there any more, the fans tend not to take it well.] Van Exel: "I never look forward to coming here, especially when I know I am going to get booed. It's suppose to bother me, but I'm not really worried about the fans. We got the win and that was the most important thing." Jeff Bzdelik: "Dallas just tries to out-score you. I think we showed good effort against the #1 team in the league. Our 2 big problems were our transition defense and our free throw shooting. We were able to improve on our transition defense in the 2nd half. They shot 93% from the free throw line and we shot 64% and that makes it extremely hard to win." Bzdelik: "We battled all the way back. Our transition defense was very poor. They had 20 fastbreak points in the 1st half and they wound up with 20. We corrected that in the 2nd half." Bzdelik: "That was a nice effort by Rodney, who has worked hard over the past couple of weeks. I can't say the same about our transition defense in the 1st half and our inability to handle the basketball and shoot free throws." Bzdelik: "Rodney has really corrected his work habits and that is why he is playing so well right now. You can see a commitment that I did not see at the start of the season and that is a credit to Rodney." Bzdelik on Junior Harrington: "Junior was very sick all day. He was vomiting all day and during the game. That was enough." Juwan Howard: "We are improving offensively, especially in the past 25 games. We are scoring more consistently. Our problem is turnovers. If we improve there, the sky is the limit. Our turnovers tonight hurt us, just giving Dallas more and more opportunity to score." Howard: "Right now we are playing with pride. No one is making vacation plans early. I feel we can spoil some teams' plans if we continue with the effort." Rodney White: "They have so many weapons. I thought we played pretty good defense and we were active, but Nowitzki is so tough and Van Exel hurt us off the bench." White on his triple-double: "Obviously, it's a great honor. I'm happy it happened. I wish it could have happened with a win. But it's a pretty good step." White on his triple-double: "It is pretty good stuff. I wish I could have got it in a win." Adam Harrington: "Nick Van Exel had a huge game. He lives for this kind of game, with the crowd and everything." Dallas Mavericks 108, Denver Nuggets 96 at Denver (March 24) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 33 32 18 25 - 108 .467 .400 .450 .933 Denver 30 20 22 24 - 96 .500 .222 .469 .643 Halftime: Dallas 65-50 3rd Q: Dallas 83-72 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 0:14 1st Refs: Gary Zielinski, Jess Kersey, Mark Wunderlich Attendance: 14,714 (cap. 19,099) Did not play due to injury: Michael Finley (strained hamstring), Marcus Camby (sore right hip) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Eduardo Najera 34 2-3 0-0 1-2 5 3-5 2 1 4 4 3 Dirk Nowitzki 40 6-23 1-8 12-12 25 1-8 2 3 2 2 2 Raef LaFrentz 15 5-7 2-3 2-2 14 0-4 0 0 3 0 1 Adrian Griffin 30 3-10 0-0 2-2 8 2-7 1 1 4 2 0 Steve Nash 28 5-8 2-2 4-4 16 3-5 5 0 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 26 2-3 0-0 2-2 6 4-6 2 2 4 1 3 Nick Van_Exel 28 9-17 2-4 4-4 24 0-2 4 3 1 0 0 Tariq Abdul-Wahad 17 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-4 1 1 1 0 1 Walt Williams 17 2-6 1-3 1-2 6 0-0 0 1 5 2 0 Avery Johnson 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Raja Bell 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 36-80 8-20 28-30 108 13-41 17 14 24 11 10 Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 36 9-19 0-0 7-9 25 2-5 1 2 1 1 0 Nikoloz Tskitishvili 27 2-9 0-0 0-0 4 3-3 1 1 4 0 0 Nene Hilario 26 9-11 0-0 5-9 23 0-3 2 2 3 3 0 Rodney White 39 8-14 1-3 0-0 17 1-12 10 4 2 1 1 Shammond Williams 35 1-6 1-3 0-0 3 0-0 8 2 4 0 0 Chris Andersen 12 0-4 0-0 1-4 1 2-3 2 1 0 0 0 Donnell Harvey 30 5-7 0-1 3-3 13 5-10 1 0 4 1 1 Junior Harrington 2 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 0-1 2 1 3 1 0 Predrag Savovic 9 2-5 0-1 1-1 5 1-1 0 1 0 0 0 Jeff Trepagnier 12 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 2 0 0 0 Adam Harrington 12 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-81 2-9 18-28 96 14-40 27 17 21 7 2 patricia