Dallas at Boston (October 23) It was an offensive 1st quarter with both teams shooting well and both teams playing porous defense. Dallas led 34-31 after 1 and both teams were shooting above 60% FG. Dirk Nowitzki had 12 points and Michael Finley had 10 points. The shooting only went down slightly in the 2nd quarter with the 2nd units in. The game stayed close and Dallas was still up by 3 at the half at 56-53. Both teams shot above 50% FG for the half. Nick Van Exel came out in the 2nd quarter feeling it and had 11 points in the quarter. The game stayed remained close in the 3rd quarter with Dallas holding small leads and Dallas was still up by 3 points after 3 at 81-78. The game stayed close in the 4th quarter and Boston scored 7 straight points to tie the game at 88-88 with 6 minutes left. Dallas answered with a 15-4 run to go up 103-92 with 2 minutes left and the scrubs were subbed in. Dallas won 105-97. It was a very competitive game with both teams playing their regular season minute players most of the game [Dallas did go with an icky lineup of Nick Van Exel, Adrian Griffin, Eduardo Najera, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, and Evan Eschmeyer for a good chunk of time in the 2nd quarter]. The game saw the pre-season debut of Abdul-Wahad in the 2nd quarter and Walt Williams made his debut in starting the 3rd quarter - neither were impressive. The game continued to not display the defense Dallas has supposedly been working on (it did get slightly better in the 2nd half, but I'm still grumbling about Dirk Nowitzki and Eschmeyer doubling Antoine Walker halfway to the corner and Esch not cutting off the baseline which allowed Walker to drive by them baseline for the easy 2). Boston only shot 35% FG in the 4th quarter. Van Exel was really feeling it in this game. Late in the 4th, early into the Mavs run that put the game away, Van Exel hit a 3-pointer, Finley hit a jumper, and then Van Exel hit one of those "no, don't sh...good shot" quick, pull-up 3-pointers. He finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds in 24 minutes (Steve Nash played in the 1st and 3rd quarters and Van Exel played in the 2nd and 4th quarters). Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 27 points on 9-23 FG and 8-10 FT and 7 rebounds. Michael Finley was also feeling it and was draining tough shots with Paul Pierce all over him. Finley had 23 points including 10-14 FG and 6 rebounds. Nash was the 4th Mav in double-digits with 14 points including 5-6 FG and 6 assists including a nifty drive-pass to Nowitzki early in the 1st quarter (I was surprised it didn't make SportsCenter). Raef LaFrentz was plagued by foul trouble and had 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 fouls in 27 minutes. Najera had a nice outing with 4 points on 2-3 FG, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Pierce was the high man for Boston with 22 points (and got to the basket too easily too many times), 7 rebounds, and 7 assists, but also had 8 turnovers. Walker had 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Shammond Williams chipped in 17 points and Tony Battie had 15 points and 8 rebounds. Quotes Nelson: "I think it was good that we played a really good defensive team at this time. I think the players understand what I was talking about, as far as the ball movement. We did a lot of good things in that regard - making the extra pass." Nelson: "I wanted to play this as close as I could to a regular season game, and I think they did too. It turned out to be a good test. It was good that we played a really good defensive team." Nelson on Van Exel: "That's the way I want him to play. I want him to come into games thinking about being a major offensive threat first and passing second." Nelson on Walt Williams: "He's not in very good shape, as you can see. He tired pretty quickly, but you can see how he stretches the defense." Michael Finley: "It was a good game for us knowing that we have only one pre-season game left. We just have to make baby steps each and every game on the defensive end - and it's going to be helpful to us - and we did that tonight." Dirk Nowitzki: "That was an intense game for the first time this year. We were both playing hard. It was the first time [regulars] played a lot of minutes and played the rotations we want to play." Nowitzki: "We both tried to win out there. It was the first time we really played a lot of minutes, played the rotation we wanted to play. We looked all right defensively in the 1st half. They had a lot of points though. But I think we closed them down in the 2nd half, forced a lot of turnovers. And offensively we looked good today." Nowitzki: "There are a lot of other good teams. You've just got to bring it every night." Nowitzki on Williams: "His shot is beautiful. To me, he's one of the best shooters in the league and when he's in there in pressure situations, he's a money shooter." Nick Van Exel: "I thought they were trying to win it with their horses, so we tried to put our horses and tried to neutralize them. There were a lot of good stops, and we're still creating a lot of turnovers, and that's what we want to do. We want the referees to realize that this is an aggressive team to where we don't always get in the penalty early. Once we establish that type of play, we'll get a lot more respect." Van Exel: "You want to get used to it and you want the refs getting to know that this is going to be an aggressive team at the defensive end. There were a lot of good stops down at the end." Walt Williams: "I was really excited out there and my heart was racing fast. It felt good to get a game under my belt, but I'm probably going to be a lot more relaxed the next game." Tariq Abdul-Wahad on his knee: "The practices were a lot more grueling than this game was. So far, so good. It isn't sore now and it hasn't swelled up the last 3 days." Jim O'Brien: "[Dallas] made some very, very tough shots down the stretch, and we turned the ball over at inopportune times. Over the last 2 games, we've turned it over too many times. We want to get it down to 12 or 13 turnovers, and we're up around the 19 to 20 area. We did some good things, but not enough. They're a very tough team to play." O'Brien on how he wants his team to play: "Ideally, with less turnovers and a better job on the glass. I thought Tony Battie had a real good game. I thought Vin had a nice game coming off the bench. I thought Shammond was very, very solid. Just a loss in exhibition." Paul Pierce: "We need to take big steps defensively. I don't think our defense has caught up with our offense. So that's something we have to work on. We have a week left before our first game and these are the things we need to fix." Antoine Walker: "It was a good game for us. We got to be in a tight game with 5 minutes to go. It felt good to get out there and play 40 minutes, to get some regular minutes, to start to get your legs back under you. We've got a little work to do. We're feeling good. Our defense looked a lot better tonight. We're still a little weak on the glass. But we'll get that together by Wednesday." Shammond Williams: "I was able to get the shots to go in as well as penetrate and create plays for others and that's the way coach wants me to play. For my first night playing at the Fleet I wanted to get off to a good note, get familiar with the floor and help my team win. Offensively I had a good night but like I said before, I would like to have a bad offensive night and get the win." Dallas Mavericks 105, Boston Celtics 97 at Boston (October 23) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 34 22 25 24 - 105 .517 .391 .482 .800 Boston 31 22 25 19 - 97 .533 .286 .469 .600 Halftime: Dallas 56-53 3rd Q: Dallas 81-78 Technicals: Boston defensive 3 seconds 5:53 1st, Boston defensive 3 seconds 3:43 3rd Flagrant Fouls: Evan Eschmeyer 3:23 3rd Refs: Ted Bernhardt, Jim Clark, Derrick Collins Attendance: 14,065 (cap. 18,624) Did not play due to injury: Popeye Jones (back spasms), Kedrick Brown (sprained ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 34 10-14 1-4 2-3 23 3-6 3 2 3 0 0 Steve Nash 24 5-6 3-3 1-2 14 1-3 6 4 1 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 37 9-23 1-6 8-10 27 1-7 3 1 3 2 1 Eduardo Najera 30 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-5 6 0 1 1 1 Raef LaFrentz 27 4-7 0-0 0-0 8 2-6 2 1 5 1 0 Nick Van_Exel 24 6-14 3-6 2-2 17 1-5 3 4 1 0 0 Adrian Griffin 20 1-4 0-1 1-1 3 1-4 1 2 3 2 0 Evan Eschmeyer 15 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 1-4 1 2 2 0 1 Walt Williams 11 2-7 1-3 0-0 5 1-1 1 2 1 0 0 Tariq Abdul-Wahad 8 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 2 1 0 Shawn Bradley 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 1 1 Adam Harrington 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-83 9-23 16-20 105 12-42 26 19 22 10 4 Boston Celtics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Paul Pierce 40 8-17 2-7 4-4 22 0-7 7 8 4 2 0 Tony Delk 27 1-4 1-2 0-0 3 1-2 2 3 2 1 0 Antoine Walker 40 9-16 1-2 0-4 19 1-5 5 2 3 1 1 Eric Williams 34 3-8 1-3 5-7 12 0-2 3 1 2 4 0 Tony Battie 28 6-9 0-0 3-4 15 3-8 3 0 1 2 1 Shammond Williams 23 7-12 1-3 2-2 17 0-4 2 1 3 3 0 Vin Baker 19 2-5 0-0 1-4 5 1-4 1 1 1 1 0 Walter McCarty 14 2-6 0-2 0-0 4 2-3 0 0 1 0 0 Bruno Sundov 13 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 1 0 3 0 0 Tommy Adams 1 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Ruben Wolkowyski 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-81 6-21 15-25 97 10-37 24 18 20 14 2 patricia