Sacramento at Dallas (October 8) Popeye Jones (sprained right ankle) and Peja Stojakovic (plantar fasciaitis) did not play. It was the first game of pre-season and it was not the ugly, non-competitive affair that I expected. I was expecting 1 quarter of good play and then lots of poor basketball, especially since Sacramento has so much camp fodder (6 players). Instead I was pleasantly surprised to get over 2 quarters of competitive basketball and most of the fodder stayed on the bench (with a few getting a couple of minutes at the end of the 4th quarter). However, the refs were in prime form and did a terrible job (I really loved the call where Raef LaFrentz was set and took an elbow to the chin and got called for blocking). Dallas came out with tall ball as Dirk Nowitzki, LaFrentz, and Shawn Bradley comprised the front line. Both teams opened the game white hot with only 3 missed shots over the first 19 attempted. Dallas led 20-19 midway through the quarter. Dallas cooled off first and then Sacramento joined with the misses and the shooting stayed poor the rest of the game. Bradley picked up 4 fouls in the quarter (2 deserved, 2 very questionable). Sacramento led 35-29 after 1. Nowitzki had 16 points on 7-11 FG. The 2nd units came in for the 2nd quarter, with LaFrentz and Mike Bibby remaining of the starters. The game stayed close and some sloppy play was seen. Evan Eschmeyer was playing with a fire and snagged 5 offensive rebounds in the quarter. Bradley came in late in the quarter and quickly picked up his 5th foul and sat back down. Adrian Griffin got a layup on the break, but Bobby Jackson drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Dallas led 51-50 at the half. Dallas attempted 13 more field goals than Sacramento thanks in part to their amazing 14 offensive boards [Dallas only averaged 11.2 offensive rebounds last season], but Sacramento was living at the line thanks to the refs. LaFrentz had 11 points and 9 rebounds. The teams came back with their starters for most of the 3rd quarter (with Eduardo Najera instead of Bradley) and it was a very entertaining quarter with many lead changes. It wasn't a quick quarter, though, as Dallas was called for their 5th team foul with over 8 minutes left in the quarter and Sacramento made a parade to the free throw line - Chris Webber still needs to work on his free throws (after one questionable call, I commented that I guess I'd rather have Webber shoot free throws than attempt a field goal - he then missed both). Sacramento subbed out Webber and Vlade Divac with 1:30 left in the quarter and the Kings up by 4 points. Dallas led 77-76 after 3. The 2nd units were back in for the start of the 4th quarter, with Finley helping out. Bradley was back in and the big question was how long before he picked up his 6th foul. Turned out to be just 12 seconds. However, he got a reprieve as the refs strangely called LaFrentz for the foul (Bradley clearly fouled Scot Pollard). Bradley took full advantage of his extra time in the quarter and was the star of the quarter - everyone was amazed. He was hitting shots, including hooks, snagging rebounds, running the court, and blocking shots. He had 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks in the quarter and did not foul out. He did get a little carried away late in the quarter as two sweeping hooks missed badly. And he was involved in a small scuffle as Corsley Edwards fouled Bradley and words were said and sour looks given and Lawrence Funderburke, who was behind Bradley, put Bradley in a headlock and some how the refs decided on a double-T on Funderburke and Bradley - how a guy in a headlock is deserving of a T is beyond me. As for the game, behind Finley, LaFrentz, and Bradley, Dallas took advantage of the Kings' lesser squad and used an 18-2 run to take control of the game. Dallas won 105-94. As I said, it was a much better game than you usually get out of a pre-season game - especially an early pre-season game. The starters and regular rotation players played almost all of the 1st and 3rd quarters. The defense of both teams was shaky to start, but their shooting was not - and that trend reversed as the game went along. The zone was effective in the 4th quarter, but didn't do so well when the opponent's strong players were on the court - on consecutive plays, the Kings found the hole in the zone and got the layup and on another occasion, the Kings got consecutive outside buckets after nice ball rotation. As for the players, Don Nelson played Raef LaFrentz and Michael Finley high minutes and everyone else had below 30 minutes. LaFrentz played well and had a double-double early in the 3rd quarter. He finished with 19 points on 9-15 FG and 15 rebounds in a team high 43 minutes. Finley was the stablizer with 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists in 36 minutes. He also got set to take the charge 2 times within a short time span, but was called for blocking in both cases (the 1st one I could see going either way, but the 2nd one was a very bad call). Dirk Nowitzki only played in the 1st and 3rd quarters, but was still the high point man with 26 points including 10-17 FG. He also had 7 rebounds in his 24 minutes. Steve Nash played even less minutes as he only played 18 minutes. And Nelson said that Nash will sit for Friday's game as he wants to make sure his heavy minute players are not being over-worked in the pre-season. Nash had 10 points and 6 assists in the game. As mentioned in the game write-up, Shawn Bradley had a very inconsistent game. It totaled up to 15 points and 9 rebounds. Nick Van Exel took up most of Nash's minutes, but could not find the basket as he missed all 7 shots and even missed 2 of his 4 free throws. He did have 7 assists, though. Evan Eschmeyer showed energy, but lost the shooting touch he had during Sunday's scrimmage as even the gimmee followups weren't falling (1-5 FG). All 5 of his rebounds were offensive. Adrian Griffin, Eduardo Najera, and Raja Bell had quiet performances. Avery Johnson and Derek Hood got into the game with about 2 minutes left and Adam Harrington got in with less than a minute left. Tariq Abdul-Wahad DNP-CD (he had missed the past few practices due to the birth of his son). For the Kings, only Hidayet Turkoglu played more than 30 minutes. Turkoglu started for the injured Peja Stojakovic and had 14 points and 5 rebounds. Mike Bibby continued where he left off the last time Dallas saw him and had 21 points in 25 minutes. He only had 2 assists, though. Chris Webber had 12 points and 6 rebounds in 21 minutes, but only shot 2-8 FT. Vlade Divac had 11 points and 7 rebounds in 19 minutes. No other King was in double-digits. Sign of the night: "Don't let the Clippers grab our Wang" We were listening to the radio on the drive home and they had a player on and we didn't catch the name. I didn't recognize the voice and we were wondering who it was. We both knew immediately who it was when he said, "Last year I was on a team where one player took the majority of the shots." Raja Bell played in Philly last year with Allen Iverson. Quotes Don Nelson: "Well, the first game is under our belt and it was quite a challenge for a while. We did show some signs of being more active. We picked up a lot of charges. Our team defense was pretty solid. We were pretty conservative against their good players and didn't play much zone. I was able to play a lot of guys. I thought Raef played extremely well. I was pretty happy with the rebounding game, for the most part. It was a little ragged but the good guys won." Nelson: "We had to go to a zone defense to get those [shooting] numbers looking good. We had trouble with our zone, but I don't think our man-to-man was any beautiful picture. We are working hard at it, but we made a lot of errors in our man-to-man and almost forced us to go to the zone because we were having the same problems we were having a year ago. We just couldn't contain people. The zone did work, but I don't want to hang my hat on the zone. I want to play solid man-to-man and I would say that was spotty at best." Nelson: "We went to the 1-1-3 zone late in the 3rd quarter and quite a bit in the 4th. It is an extension from last year and Shawn should be a big factor in that. He wasn't last year, but we expect him to be this year. He is in great shape and he was able to function well within that structure." Nelson on Bradley: "He was really giving it a good effort the whole game. He got into some foul trouble early, but I was really happy that he was able to do some positive things playing with his 5th foul. He played real well in the 4th quarter. He was rebounding and was a factor offensively. He went for blocks. I was very pleased with Shawn's performance." Nelson on Bradley: "We are changing the way Shawn played in the past because it didn't seem to work last year. We are doing some different things with him and I hope it will be to his benefit and to the team's benefit." Nelson on Bradley: "He got in some early foul trouble, but he played real well in the 4th quarter. I'm very pleased with Shawn's performance. We played a 1-1-3 zone in the 4th quarter, and Shawn should be a big factor and function well in that structure." Nelson on Bradley: "He was really giving an effort the whole game. I was really happy that he was able to do some positive things playing with his 5th foul. He played real well in the 4th quarter, and with his rebounding he was a factor. I'm very pleased with Shawn's performance." Raef LaFrentz: "I felt good, felt in the flow and had good rhythm tonight. With Shawn in there blocking shots that frees me up to give a little bit more help on the boards. If I don't have to challenge all of those shots, I'm 7-feet tall and I can get a few rebounds." LaFrentz on if beating Sacramento meant anything: "Not at all really. They didn't have their top lineup in there consistently throughout the game, nor did we. It's just 2 teams coming together working on what they worked on so far during the pre-season. I'm sure the coaches will go over what we did right and wrong tonight and we'll have a good long film session tomorrow and hopefully they will see a lot of positive things, more so than during our scrimmage [from Sunday]." LaFrentz on Bradley: "That 7-6 frame of his and his natural instinct to challenge the ball when it comes into the middle, he can really change the game for us when he plays like that. If he can play like that, it'll go a long way toward helping our cause." LaFrentz on Bradley "In the 2nd half, I think you saw probably the impact he can have defensively. With that 7-6 frame of his and his natural instincts to challenge the ball, if you get him in there, he can really alter the game defensively really like nobody else around." Shawn Bradley: "It wasn't all good. I've got improvement to do. But it was fun. As the game went on, our defense got better. It's a step." Bradley on how his game changed in the 4th quarter: "I didn't foul anymore. I said I'm going to just play until they call another cheap foul on me. I've got some improvements to do, but I had fun." Bradley on making a bucket and running down the court when a fouled was called in the 4th quarter: "All I know is I made that shot and I ran back to get back on defense, and I said, 'Hey, I'm the first one back here.' And I turned around and Nick said, 'You've got to go down to the other end and shoot free throws.' " Bradley on the double-technical: "I didn't know it was Funderburke until I turned around. I just knew somebody had me in a full-Nelson, and I'm like, 'This isn't comfortable.' So, I just got out of it. I was a wrestler in the 9th grade and I knew what a full-Nelson was. I'm like, 'This is an illegal move. We can't do this.'" Evan Eschmeyer: "We've been practicing really hard so it's nice to get out on the floor against another team and see how we measure up. We'll come back tomorrow and practice a little bit, get the games rolling and we'll be in the season pretty soon." Eschmeyer: "Defense really takes 5 guys working together and that's going to be a continual process for us. Improving our defense is not just going to happen overnight, but hopefully as the year goes on you'll see improvement down the stretch." Raja Bell: "I didn't think I'd be nervous, but I'll admit to you that maybe I was a little bit." Rick Adelman: "It's the first exhibition game. We had some good moments and some not so good moments. Obviously, these two teams are going to be good during the regular season. We have to get better production off our bench. We got real stagnant when we went to the bench and they played that zone. I am not worried about that. It's something we haven't really practiced. That usually doesn't bother us, but Dallas did a nice job with it. Those guys were aggressive." Adelman on defense: "They got up and pressured the ball a little bit. You can focus on it all you want in practice, but you go out against another team, and we are pretty good offensively too, and I expected us to struggle defensively against them and we did. We didn't rotate like we needed too, we didn't cover situations like we needed to, but that is what the exhibition season is for." Bobby Jackson on their game: "[bleep]. Straight [bleep] is how I'd describe it. We didn't do anything offensively against that zone they threw at us, but that's okay. Mike [Bibby] played pretty good, but I was terrible and so was Gerald [Wallace]." Dallas Mavericks 105, Sacramento Kings 94 at Dallas (October 8) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 29 22 26 28 - 105 .420 .400 .417 .826 Sacramento 35 15 26 18 - 94 .492 .222 .457 .718 Halftime: Dallas 51-50 3rd Q: Dallas 77-76 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 4:37 1st, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 9:56 1st, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 1:15 2nd, Chris Webber 4:29 3rd, Sacramento defensive 3 seconds 10:14 3rd, Shawn Bradley 0:45 4th, Lawrence Funderburke 0:45 4th Refs: Ken Mauer, Tim Donaghy, Tony Brown Attendance: 17,313 (cap 20,098) Did not play due to injury: Popeye Jones (sprained right ankle), Predrag Stojakovic (plantar fasciaitis), Mateen Cleaves (surgery) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Raef LaFrentz 43 9-15 1-2 0-0 19 2-15 3 2 4 2 4 Shawn Bradley 22 5-11 0-0 5-5 15 4-9 0 0 5 1 2 Dirk Nowitzki 24 10-17 3-5 3-3 26 1-7 2 2 2 2 0 Michael Finley 36 7-16 1-3 4-4 19 1-5 8 3 4 1 1 Steve Nash 18 4-10 1-2 1-2 10 2-2 6 3 3 0 0 Raja Bell 23 1-5 0-1 0-0 2 1-1 0 1 0 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 17 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 5-5 0 1 4 2 0 Nick Van_Exel 27 0-7 0-2 2-4 2 0-2 7 1 0 0 0 Eduardo Najera 13 2-5 0-0 0-1 4 0-0 0 0 3 0 0 Adrian Griffin 12 1-4 0-0 4-4 6 1-2 1 0 0 0 0 Avery Johnson 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Derek Hood 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Adam Harrington 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-96 6-15 19-23 105 17-48 27 13 25 8 7 Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Chris Webber 21 5-7 0-0 2-8 12 1-6 2 3 3 2 1 Hidayet Turkoglu 34 4-7 0-2 6-6 14 0-5 3 5 5 1 0 Vlade Divac 19 3-5 0-0 5-6 11 1-7 2 0 1 1 1 Mike Bibby 25 8-12 0-0 5-5 21 2-2 2 1 2 0 1 Doug Christie 25 2-5 1-2 4-5 9 1-1 4 0 2 1 1 Scot Pollard 18 1-3 0-0 4-7 6 2-4 0 1 1 2 0 Bobby Jackson 27 3-13 1-4 0-0 7 1-3 2 0 2 0 0 Gerald Wallace 17 0-4 0-0 0-0 0 0-3 1 2 6 0 1 Lawrence Funderburke 14 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 3-6 0 2 2 0 1 Keon Clark 21 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 1-5 0 2 4 1 1 Jason Sasser 9 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 1 0 0 0 Kiwane Garris 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Sean Chen 4 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-2 1 0 0 0 0 Consley Edwards 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 32-70 2-9 28-39 94 13-45 18 18 29 8 7 patricia