Indiana at Dallas (January 9) Dallas jumped out to an early 11-0 lead as they shoot 5-6 FG out of the gate while Indiana struggled in missing their first 6 shots. Indiana finally got on the board with a dunk by Jermaine O'Neal with 8:10 left. Dallas then joined the Pacers in missing shots as there were only 4 combined points scored over the next 2 minutes. A 3-pointer by Steve Nash gave Dallas a 16-6 lead with 5:30 remaining, but Indiana went on a 12-1 run to pull within 17-18 with 2 minutes to go. O'Neal picked up his 2nd foul with 3:30 left and sat for the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 26-23 after 1. Dirk Nowitzki had 10 points. Dallas built up a 39-30 lead with 6:50 to go, but Indiana scored the next 5 points and the game stayed close the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 46-44 at the half. Ron Artest had 17 points in the half. Dallas shot 42% FG and Indiana shot 40% FG. Dallas only had 2 fast break points. Dallas led 50-46 with 10:35 left and the bottom dropped out as the Pacers went on a 23-6 monster run to go up 69-56 with 3:30 to go. Shawn Bradley answered with a long jumper as the shot clock was running out and Antawn Jamison scored the last 5 points of the quarter. Indiana led 69-63 after 3. Only Jamison and Bradley scored over the last 10 minutes of the 3rd quarter for Dallas. Dallas shot just 7-23 FG while Indiana shot 10-17 FG in the 3rd. A dunk (yes, dunk!) by Bradley pulled Dallas within 69-75 with 8:40 remaining, but Dallas' shooting struggles continued and Indiana scored the next 9 points to go up 84-69 with 4:25 left. Dallas missed 7 shots and had 3 turnovers during the run. Dallas finally did manage to score some points and scored the next 7 points to pull within 76-84 with 2:20 left, but Indiana had an answer for every Dallas point the rest of the way and the Mavs would get no closer. Indiana won 92-80. Shooting, or lack of, defined this game. Indiana's defense does deserve some credit, but some of the things Dallas was missing was just ridiculous. The 4 starters (not counting Danny Fortson's 1-4 FG) combined to shoot a mere 14-52 FG. Ouch. Only Antawn Jamison and Shawn Bradley (yes, Bradley) had much of a shooting touch. Add to that poor rebounding and it's an easy loss. The only reason it wasn't a blow out was because Indiana also struggled with their shooting, but not as bad as Dallas. Indiana shot 43.8% (35-80) FG including 6-25 3-pointers and Dallas shot 36.8% (32-87) FG including 4-19 3-pointers. Dallas shot a dismal 14-44 FG in the 2nd half. Indiana out-rebounded Dallas 54-41 including 14-12 offensive. And Dallas never pushed the ball as they only had 4 fast break points. Just an ugly game. Ron Artest lead the way with 26 points (and didn't go wacko in this game) including 1-7 FG and 11 rebounds, but had 5 turnovers. Jermaine O'Neal had 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 blocks. And Al Harrington had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 steals as it was basically a 3-man performance. Jamaal Tinsley did have 11 points and 12 assists as the only other Pacer in double-digits. Dirk Nowitzki did have 20 points, but he did not have a good game. He shot just 7-20 FG, but did have 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. The only good performances (and even these were not great) came from Antawn Jamison and Shawn Bradley. Jamison had 19 points including 8-12 FG and 8 rebounds. Bradley had 12 points on a perfect 6-6 FG - he had a really pretty up-and-under move for a layup in addition to his rare dunk. But he only had 1 rebound in his 19 minutes. This tells you how bad it was - Steve Nash was the only other Mav in double-digits with 10 points including 3-11 FG. He also had 6 rebounds and 7 assists, but had 5 turnovers. Both Michael Finley and Antawn Jamison were horrendous. Finley had just 5 points including 2-10 FG and Walker had 5 points including 2-11 FG, but did have 9 rebounds. Quotes Rick Carlisle: "We had some adversity early with O'Neal getting in foul trouble. I thought our bench helped us hang in there during the 1st half and we stayed within a couple points at halftime. In the 2nd half, defensively we did a better job. They missed a few and we were able to get a lead and finish it off. It's a great road win for us against a team like Dallas that has really played well at home this year." Carlisle on the 7 game winning streak: "We certainly show signs in stretches, but I think we can do a little better. We turned it over a little too much tonight, but we were aggressive running, which we have to be. It's been a good run and it's going to be tough tomorrow in San Antonio. It's another challenge we are looking forward to." Ron Artest: "We were missing a few shots and we came out a little flat, but we were still in the game and we were still focused. We knew we could get back in the game with our defense." Artest on Dallas scoring only 80 points: "I think we played defense, that's what we play first. We always want to get stops and play offense later, but of course, when you have guys that can put the ball in the hole. Most guys on the team can create and put the ball in the hole, so we play defense and then put pressure on them on the offensive end." Artest: "I was just playing basketball. I've been guarding Nowitzki ever since I came into the league. He's their best player, isn't he?" Al Harrington: "It's a big win. We cherish every win as a big win. It's definitely a game we wanted to win. We are trying to get 3 wins on this Texas trip and I don't think we have done that since I've been here. We are just focused on winning every game." Harrington on the 3rd quarter run: "Defense. We got stops and when we get stops, it gives us an opportunity to run. With Jamaal Tinsley out there at the helm, he is going to get us out there running and he is going to find open guys and help us get easy points." Jamaal Tinsley: "We were just playing ball. Ron Artest is just a warrior. You saw him out there. He can do what he wants to when he's concentrating on just playing ball." Don Nelson: "I don't know really don't know what to say except that we played a team that totally dominated us. We struggled in the lane to score and I certainly want to credit their defense that was outstanding. The shot block and the pressure defense and it was much like a playoff game and its good to play in those type of games. The referees aren't calling a lot of touch fouls and you have to step up and play. They just totally dominated us at both ends of the floor and that was discouraging because we finally got a Bradley showing. He actually played pretty well, probably the best player on the floor. But I'm sure as you could see, he couldn't play very many minutes and he got fatigued. But for the period of time he was in there he did a pretty good job and made shots when it was time when we couldn't make shots. I think at one time our starters missed 31 or 32 in a row. Wow, that is scary and unlike us but it certainly happened tonight." Nelson: "Before the season is over well probably see every situation that can probably arise in some form. Hopefully most of them are positive instead of negative like tonight." Nelson on the scoring problems: "A lot of it was their defense. They covered our screen-and-roll very well, they were very aggressive. We couldn't get where we wanted and the openings that we wanted. And then the shot block in the open court. Thank goodness O'Neal got into foul trouble or he would of had a triple-double with shot blocks being one of them. We were fortunate the 1st half when he picked up his fouls and they had to play periods of time without him on the floor, but of course we knew that wasn't going to last. Of course he played the whole 2nd half and never picked up his 4th." Nelson: "Some of the decisions I make whether I am going to stay around or force my opinions too much. I certainly felt this season that a technical foul might very well get us beat. At one point either way it might cost us. Although its easy to say that thats probably never the case, something else would probably would be more important on a win or a loss, but still I just tried to keep my composure tonight in a night where I could of lost it. But I had my best players on the floor for most of the time and there wasn't anyplace else to go to get something that would help us. I tried to get us to fight through it. I kept telling my players to forget about the referees and I thought they did a pretty good job of that within reason and to let me do the complaining and that didn't do any good either. I'm not blaming the referees, that's for sure. We got beat tonight handily and I'm not sure the referees would of mattered. If they would of called more fouls then obviously there would of been more fouls on both sides. Hey, they beat the crap out of us. Thats the bottom line." Nelson on Nash: "They were smart. They probably read the papers and watched our games and saw he wasn't making shots because of his back and they went below the screen and caught him on the other side. They gave him the open shot and he couldn't make them. He had a lot of good looks. He felt a lot better today than he did the last game but he wasn't effective because of the way that they played him. They had the vision of seeing a game after he got hurt and thought, 'Oh, well what do we have here. When the other guys run the offense it seems the guys can't get into their sets.' Well that's true. We try to do it both ways, but the bottom line is that when you don't have anybody on your team that isn't playing worth a damn on the offensive end you are going to struggle. You think Nowitzki played well because he made 20 points? He missed 13 shots and wasn't much of a factor I didn't think. Finley has a bad game. Jamison was the most effective, at least he had good numbers, but I don't think he played well. I think all the starters played poorly. We simply couldn't get anything going." Nelson on using Delk instead of Nash at the end: "I thought Tony would have a chance to make a 3 or a shot better than Steve. I knew Steve's shot wasn't going to go tonight and it wasn't going to go the last game either. When there aren't a lot of fouls called he can't get to where he needs to go because they allow physical play and when he's hurt anyways, it's going to be a hard night for him. And thats what it was." Dirk Nowitzki: "We held them to 92. That's not bad for us. But to lose a game on offense is new for us. It was a rough night for all of us." Nowitzki: "To lose a game with our offense is new to us. Nobody could get anything going." Steve Nash: "It's very, very frustrating. We've got to keep working. We can't give up and we can't give in. We're nowhere near where we expect to be." Nash: "This one hurts. This adds to our frustration after being so average for quite a period now. It's very frustrating after improving every year to be in this position. But you have to keep fighting." Antoine Walker: "We never expect to shoot the ball that bad on our home floor. We haven't played well, but we can't let losses like this get us down. Right now, it can go either way for us and hopefully it will go on the high road." Antawn Jamison: "You can't put the weight, especially what we did offensively, on just one person because we took some bad shots and we didn't move the ball. I don't understand why all of the sudden we couldn't get it going tonight, but you have nights defensively where you don't do your job and you have nights offensively when you're off. We're one of those teams where offensively we don't have too many of these nights so hopefully we can get it going. We're playing some teams that really play defensively first. It's going to be a good test for us offensively to continue to be mentally tough because were playing some very aggressive teams." Indiana Pacers 92, Dallas Mavericks 80 at Dallas (January 9) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Indiana 23 21 25 23 - 92 .527 .240 .438 .727 Dallas 26 20 17 17 - 80 .431 .211 .368 .800 Halftime: Dallas 46-44 3rd Q: Indiana 69-61 Technicals: Indiana defensive 3 seconds 1:01 2nd Refs: Joey Crawford, Derek Richardson, Tony Brothers Attendance: 20,315 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Josh Howard (strained left hamstring) Indiana Pacers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jermaine O'Neal 34 6-16 0-1 4-4 16 1-9 1 4 3 1 4 Ron Artest 43 10-24 1-7 5-6 26 3-11 2 5 0 1 1 Jeff Foster 17 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 3-7 0 1 5 1 0 Anthony Johnson 16 1-4 0-2 0-0 2 1-1 0 2 3 1 0 Reggie Miller 31 3-10 1-7 0-0 7 2-6 2 0 0 0 1 Jamaal Tinsley 32 4-6 3-4 0-0 11 1-5 12 3 4 1 1 Al Harrington 36 5-10 0-1 6-8 16 3-10 1 3 4 5 0 Fred Jones 15 2-3 0-1 0-2 4 0-2 1 0 0 1 0 Austin Croshere 16 2-4 1-2 1-2 6 0-3 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 48 35-80 6-25 16-22 92 14-54 19 18 22 11 7 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Antoine Walker 37 2-11 0-3 1-2 5 3-9 3 2 3 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 41 7-20 1-5 5-6 20 1-7 3 2 4 1 3 Danny Fortson 11 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 1-3 0 0 1 0 0 Michael Finley 37 2-10 1-3 0-0 5 0-3 4 2 1 3 0 Steve Nash 29 3-11 1-5 3-3 10 0-6 7 5 2 2 0 Antawn Jamison 34 8-12 0-0 3-4 19 4-8 0 1 2 0 1 Tony Delk 21 2-9 1-2 0-0 5 1-3 1 3 2 1 0 Marquis Daniels 11 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 1-1 1 0 1 1 0 Shawn Bradley 19 6-6 0-0 0-0 12 1-1 2 0 0 1 1 Totals 48 32-87 4-19 12-15 80 12-41 21 15 16 9 6 Dallas at Detroit (January 11) Dallas scored the first 4 points of the game and then Detroit went on a 9-2 run to go up 9-6 with 9:30 left. Dallas scored the next 8 points and held a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 30-23 after 1. Marquis Daniels got his first career start and played very well in the 1st quarter with 9 points including 4-4 FG. Detroit chipped away at Dallas' small lead and tied the game at 35-35 with 8 minutes to go. Dallas then scored the next 6 points, but Detroit scored the next 10 points to go up 45-41 with 5:20 remaining. Detroit held a small lead most of the rest of the quarter. Antoine Walker got a layup at the quarter buzzer. The game was tied 55-55 at the half. Chucky Atkins had 12 points in the 2nd quarter. Detroit shot 6-10 3-pointers in the half. Richard Hamilton scored consecutive buckets and Mehmet Okur converted a 3-point play to give Detroit a 72-61 lead with 6:30 remaining. Dallas would get no closer than 8 points the rest of the quarter as the Mavs did not have a serious run in them. A 3-pointer by Atkins gave Detroit their largest lead at 90-75 with 35 seconds left, but Tony Delk got a layup on Dallas' possession. Detroit led 90-77 after 3. Chauncey Billups got into the 3-point barrage as he nailed 3 straight 3-pointers (with a jumper by Antawn Jamison sandwiched between the 1st 2) to give Detroit a 101-83 lead with 7:50 left. Dallas didn't have a strong run left in them for this game and did not get closer then 14 points until near the end of the game. The Mavs closed the game with an 8-2 run. Detroit won 115-102. It's not often that a team beats Dallas by 3-pointers, but Detroit did. After shooting an impressive 6-10 3-pointers in the 1st half, Detroit topped that by shooting 7-10 3-pointers in the 2nd half. Both teams made 40 field goals, but Detroit had a 13-5 advantage in made 3-pointers (they also made 5 more free throws). Detroit also out-rebounded Dallas 40-35 including 13-9 offensive. Chauncey Billups was the high man with his 7-10 3-pointers (but just 2-10 2-pointers). He had 27 points and 5 assists. Chucky Atkins was the other 3-point shooter with 18 points including 5-8 3-pointers off the bench. Ben Wallace had a strong double-double with 17 points including 7-8 FG and 13 rebounds including 7 offensive. Richard Hamilton had 16 points and Tayshaun Prince had 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. No Mav broke 20 points. Both Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki had double-doubles. Nash had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Nowitzki had 14 points and 15 rebounds. Michael Finley and Antoine Walker again had poor outings. Finley had 6 points including 2-10 FG, but at least he got some rebounds this time with 7 boards. Walker had 9 points on 4-11 FG, 0-5 3-pointers, and 1-4 FT and 6 rebounds. Antawn Jamison had 15 points, but no rebounds. Rookie Marquis Daniels had a nice start with 16 points, but only had 1 assist and no rebounds. Tony Delk was productive with 16 points in 16 minutes. Mamadou N'diaye saw his first court time in a Mavs' uniform in the final minutes of the game. Quotes Larry Brown: "We made shots. They zoned us a lot. Chucky got us going, then Chauncey got hot. I thought, for the most part, our shot selection was pretty good. There were a couple of times that we shot quickly and that's a hard thing to do against them. They shot the ball well, also. That's a great win." Brown: "[Dallas] is a quality team that creates a lot of problems with match-ups. That's a great win for us. I don't think they out-ran us too much because we did make the extra pass a number of times. Then we got a lot of help. Our bench came in and Darvin, Elden, Bobby, Chucky, and Corliss really gave us a lot of energy, especially early in the game. We had a lot of guys play great. Ben played as good as you can play, I think. There were a lot of real positive things out there. Again, they are a tough team. We did a lot of good things defensively on some key players. I thought that was the difference." Chauncey Billups: "It was a good game. They are a tough team to play. They're great at pick-and-rolls and they have so many threats. But on defense, they play a zone defense and all you can do is try and get them out of that zone by making shots. We felt that if we got them into a man-on-man situation, then we could and would win this game. When they came out of the zone, Chucky and I both were hitting. That proved to be huge. [Nash] is a tough guy to cover because he is a real good player, especially with pick-and-rolls. There is really no easy way to guard him. If you step up, he'll blow around you and if you step back, he'll make the outside shot. He is a very tough defensive assignment. [Nash] still played very good but we thought we did a good job on him. I thought that this game was as close to being what we can be. We won't play like this every night, but if we can stay at a consistent level, we should succeed." Tayshaun Prince: "Offensively, we did very well tonight. Obviously it was not our best game defensively, but we made some timely stops when we needed to. Against a Dallas team like this, it's hard not to allow over 100 points. It's just going to happen with the shots they take and the players they have, and especially the way they run their offense. They move the ball up and down the floor very well. We didn't want to slow it down because that is not the way we play. It's a good win, actually, a great win for us. We did a good job on the offensive end. We especially shared the ball well on offense. All in all, it was a big win for us." Chucky Atkins: "I was basically taking what they were giving me. We knew coming into the game they'd be playing 60 to 70% zone. That's what they did to us last year and they beat us pretty handily. We came with our guns loaded and were going to go down shooting. It's a different team than it was a year ago. Everybody is having fun and everybody is ready to play." Atkins on Billups: "Chauncey is my man. We give teams a different look when you got him, me, and Rip [Hamilton] out there on the court together or Chauncey, Tayshaun, and me out there. We have 2 guys who can handle the ball, 2 guys who can shoot the ball, and 2 guys who are going to be aggressive." Don Nelson: "I thought we played a terrific 1st half. I was pretty excited about it and I thought coming out we were going to get a great road win here. We couldn't sustain our effort in the 2nd half and didn't play well through a really tough 3rd quarter. They caught on fire and we really could do nothing to stop them. Unfortunately we couldn't keep the positive things going like we had in the 1st half. I really thought we made them play tonight. We made them step up and they just made the shots when they had to, they had the hot hand all night. We knew this would be a tough game coming in here. Fatigue was a big factor tonight and we just didn't do the things we needed to. Right now there are no easy wins in the NBA for this team. Every night we play it's difficult to win." Dirk Nowitzki: "They really shot the ball well tonight and were on fire from 3-point range. Our defense hasn't been stepping up and we've talked a lot about that. Detroit lit us up tonight for 115 points and that really puts a strain on our offense to try and score more and defend too. We just can't guard anybody right now. Our offense will come and go, but for us to win on the road we need to be more solid defensively. There aren't really any positives that come out of tonight, we just need to start playing better basketball as a team." Nowitzki on what Dallas needs to do to improve their defense: "I don't know. We all have to take more pride in keeping our man in front of us. We have to step up and take charges. We're never going to be a great defensive team, but we have to be solid down the stretch." Nowitzki: "We wanted to stop their winning streak. We would have taken pride in that. But they're a good team. I think them and Indiana are the teams to beat in the East so far. They have a lot of guys who can come in and contribute offensively and defensively. I like their chances in the East." Michael Finley: "The answers are in this locker room. Individually, we have to make up our mind if we want to do whatever it takes to make this team a better one. Collectively, when we come together we have to be on the same page and do the things it takes to be a better team. Until then the struggles will continue." Steve Nash: "There's a lot of frustration and disappointment. It's really hard to take. What are you going to do? The longer we get down or cry about it, the harder it's going to be for us to get over it." Nash: "It's 2 games in a row we played a good 1st half and fell behind in the 2nd and that was it. We're not the kind of team that can come back like we used to." Nash: "We'll make the playoffs for sure, but we don't feel like a contender." Detroit Pistons 115, Dallas Mavericks 102 at Detroit (January 11) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Detroit 23 32 35 25 - 115 .466 .650 .513 .733 Dallas 30 25 22 25 - 102 .593 .208 .482 .739 Halftime: 55-55 3rd Q: Detroit 90-77 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 3:10 2nd Refs: Ron Garretson, Tony Brown, Violet Palmer Attendance: 22,076 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Josh Howard (strained left hamstring) Detroit Pistons REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Tayshaun Prince 37 5-8 1-2 3-4 14 0-5 5 0 1 1 1 Ben Wallace 37 7-8 0-0 3-6 17 7-13 4 1 1 1 2 Mehmet Okur 29 3-10 0-0 1-1 7 2-3 2 0 3 2 2 Richard Hamilton 32 6-15 0-0 4-4 16 1-3 4 3 3 2 1 Chauncey Billups 31 9-20 7-10 2-2 27 0-3 5 1 2 0 0 Darvin Ham 16 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2-5 0 3 1 1 0 Chucky Atkins 27 5-9 5-8 3-3 18 0-2 4 2 1 1 0 Bob Sura 11 0-2 0-0 2-2 2 1-3 3 3 1 0 0 Corliss Williamson 5 2-2 0-0 1-2 5 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 Elden Campbell 13 2-2 0-0 3-6 7 0-2 0 1 3 0 1 Darko Milicic 2 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 2 0 0 Totals 48 40-78 13-20 22-30 115 13-40 28 16 19 8 7 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 35 2-10 0-2 2-2 6 2-7 2 0 2 0 0 Antoine Walker 30 4-11 0-5 1-4 9 2-6 2 2 2 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 33 6-11 1-3 1-2 14 2-15 3 1 3 1 0 Marquis Daniels 34 6-11 0-2 4-5 16 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 Steve Nash 35 8-14 2-5 0-0 18 2-4 10 3 2 1 0 Antawn Jamison 29 6-12 0-2 3-4 15 0-0 0 1 2 3 0 Tony Delk 16 5-9 2-5 4-4 16 0-0 1 0 3 0 0 Shawn Bradley 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Danny Fortson 8 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 1-2 0 0 3 0 0 Travis Best 8 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 1 0 0 1 0 Mamadou N'diaye 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 0 0 1 Totals 48 40-83 5-24 17-23 102 9-35 20 9 20 7 1 Dallas at New York (January 12) New York was playing without Keith Van Horn, who had a right knee injury. The Mavs hopped out to an early 13-2 lead with 9 minutes remaining as New York opened the game shooting 1-5 FG. The Knicks did score 7 straight points to pull within 13-18 with 6 minutes left, but Dallas answered by scoring the next 6 points and held an 8 to 12 point lead the rest of the quarter. Allan Houston nailed a 3-pointer with a few seconds left in the quarter. Dallas led 34-25 after 1. Antoine Walker had 10 points and Houston had 9 points. Dallas led between 6 and 12 points for most of the 2nd quarter as neither team mounted a serious run in the quarter. Tony Delk left the game midway through the 2nd quarter with a sprained left ankle and did not return. Antawn Jamison picked up the loose ball under Dallas' basket and got the short one-hander to go at the quarter buzzer to give Dallas their largest lead at 68-54. Jamison had 15 points in the quarter. Dallas hit 3 straight 3-pointers (with a jumper by Stephon Marbury sandwiched between 2 of them) to go up 80-63 with 8 minutes to go. Another 3-pointer by Michael Finley gave Dallas their largest lead at 89-69 with 6 minutes remaining. But New York score the next 9 points to pull within 78-89 with 3:30 left. Finley hit 2 free throws near the quarter's end to give Dallas a 101-86 lead after 3. Finley had 17 points and Marbury had 18 points in the 3rd quarter. Dallas hit 6 3-pointer in the quarter. But those shots stopped falling in the 4th quarter and Dallas let New York back in it. New York opened the 4th quarter with a 16-2 run as Dallas didn't score until 4 minutes in into the quarter and then went another 2 1/2 minutes before getting their 2nd bucket of the quarter and Dallas' lead was just down to 103-102 with 5:40 left. Steve Nash finally ended Dallas' drought with a 3-pointer and Dallas was clinging to a small lead. Nash hit a runner to give Dallas a 111-106 lead with 1:25 remaining, but Houston answered with a 3-pointer. Jamison was fouled and hit both free throws to give Dallas a 113-109 lead with 50 seconds to go. Marbury missed and Dallas ran some time off the clock before Dirk Nowitzki hit a jumper to give Dallas a 115-109 lead with 19 seconds left. New York worked the ball looking for a good look and Marbury rose for a 3-point attempt with Nash standing in front of him (not moving, with his one arm straight up) and his shot missed, but the ref crazily called a foul. The refs had been letting a ton of contact go the entire game and they made this phantom call where there was no contact. Marbury hit all 3 free throws with 10 seconds left. The ball was inbounded to Nash and Marbury reached around, without a foul called, and poked the ball away and it went right to Houston, who drained the 3-pointer to tie the game with 5 seconds left. If you look at the replay, you can clearly see that Marbury got the ball with one hand, but the other arm was wrapped around Nash's wait - I wouldn't be complaining about it having been a non-call since they were letting junk like that go all night, but the refs had just made a crappy call on no contract and then followed it up with letting a ton of contact go. The Mavs still had a shot of ending this mess in regulation, but Nowitzki's attempt was partially blocked and we had overtime at 115-115. Houston had 15 points in the 4th quarter. Dallas shot just 32% FG in the 4th while New York shot 55% FG. Shawn Bradley was brought out for the first time of the night for the jumpball and he gave the Mavs possession and Nowitzki hit a jumper to open the OT. Nash stole the ball and took it all the way back for the layup on the break to give Dallas a 119-115 lead with 4:15 to go. And Bradley got a block on New York's next possession before being subbed out. Neither team scored over the next minute. Anfernee Hardaway hit 2 free throws with 3 minutes remaining. Nowitzki missed, but Dallas got the rebound. After a timeout, Nash hit a fade away to give Dallas a 121-117 lead with 2 minutes left. The teams traded misses over the next minute. Hardaway got a layup with a minute left, but Nash answered with a jumper to give Dallas a 123-119 lead with 40 seconds to go. Hardaway missed and the rebound went to Nash with 28 seconds left and he got it to Finley, who dribbled the ball into the front court and then stood there waiting to be fouled. The chants of "Fire Chaney" rained down as the Knicks wasted 11 seconds before committing the intentional foul. Finley hit both free throws with 17 seconds remaining to make it a 6 point game. Marbury missed and Nowitzki got the rebound and was fouled. His 2 free throws and a meaningless layup by Marbury capped the scoring. Dallas won 127-121 in overtime. This team can't do it the easy way for some reason this season. They had the game in hand and never gave the crushing blow, which allowed the Knicks to get back in it (granted with some help from the refs at the end of regulation, but it should have never got to that point). Fortunately, the Knicks were ice cold in overtime in shooting just 2-9 FG (which includes the last uncontested layup). Dallas shot 4-8 FG in OT. Despite going into overtime, Dallas did lead the entire game. The Mavs had just 1 turnover through 3 quarters, but had 6 in the 4th quarter (and 1 at the end of OT). With 4 players having 20+ points and a 5th having a triple-double, the team better win. Unquestionably, the hobbling Steve Nash saved the day. Nash is still bothered by his back, but playing through the pain. He scored 7 points in the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter and 6 points in overtime. He finished with 28 points including 12-16 FG, 8 assists, and 3 steals in 45 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man for Dallas with 31 points and 10 rebounds in 47 minutes. Michael Finley played all 53 minutes and had 25 points including 4-10 3-pointers, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Antawn Jamison had 23 points and 4 rebounds (all offensive) in 38 minutes. And Antoine Walker has his first triple-double as a Mav with 14 points (just 6-18 FG), 12 rebounds, and 11 assists in 47 minutes. I listed the minutes because Dallas did play the night before. Marquis Daniels had his 2nd start, but had a quieter night. He did sneak inside for a couple of good layups on nice passes with 4 points on 2-3 FG and had a couple of pretty assists (3) in his 22 minutes. Tony Delk only played 3 minutes before his injury and Travis Best played 9 minutes in giving Nash a small rest. Shawn Bradley had a good minute and a half to start overtime with winning the jumpball and getting a block before returning to the bench on the first possible substitution. Stephon Marbury was a monster all night, until overtime. He had 38 points including 14-24 FG and 14 assists in playing all but 1 minute. He was quiet in overtime (1-2 FG) as for some reason the Knicks didn't go to him. Allan Houston had a solid game with 29 points including 6-12 3-pointers, but didn't score in overtime. He played 47 minutes. Anfernee Hardaway had 19 points including 1-7 3-pointers and 7 rebounds in 47 minutes. Kurt Thomas had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds in 45 minutes. Dikembe Mutombo started, but only played 13 minutes as it was a faster paced game. Othella Harrington got most of his minutes in playing 38 minutes. He had 11 points including 4-5 FG and 11 rebounds. The officiating was horrendous all night long. Okay, not horrendous as they were somewhat consistent in letting a ton of contact go the entire game, but I prefer watching a clean game and this crew was not calling one. The problem with not calling contact is that the players never know when they are actually going to call something. I had to laugh at one point during the 4th quarter after a non-call for Dallas and then a fouled called on the Knicks got the fans booing loudly as there were at least 4 fouls (both teams were fouling - one Mav got hammered by 2 Knicks trying for the rebound) before the refs remembered what their job was supposed to be. Quotes Don Nelson: "You need to win the next game no matter what. There is no pressure the longer you lose. I felt really bad that it took an overtime after we had the game in hand." Nelson on overtime: "It's not easy when you get your heart broken. Normally, you don't win that game. Luckily, we did." Dirk Nowitzki: "It never should have gotten to that point. We were up 20 in the 3rd. The next thing you know they were right back in it. We make some mental mistakes. That's why we've been losing games on the road. Little mistakes add up." Nowitzki on Nash: "I knew he was hurt and he was struggling. I didn't know he had that much left in the tank." Michael Finley: "Right now any win, whether it's at home or on the road, is a big one. For us to come in off a back-to-back situation and win this game, an ugly game, and come out victorious is tremendous for us." Finley on what he said to the team before overtime started: "I said in the next 5 minutes to do what we've been doing early in the game." Finley: "We just wanted to keep everybody positive. They didn't win on a 3-point bucket. We still have 5 minutes to play good basketball and that's what we did. We came out and got some key stops." Finley on the delay of being fouled near the end of overtime: "I don't know if they knew the circumstances or the clock differential or what have you. In the heat of the moment sometimes you lose focus of those things." Steve Nash: "I was just lucky to get it going. I was self-confident and had a sense of desperation. I desperately wanted to win the game." Nash on the "foul" that gave Marbury 3 free throws near the end of regulation: "That was frustrating, but in a lot of ways I think we felt it was very unjustified. It gave us a feeling of us against the world. We were able to come out and get a lead. That was very important after the end of regulation." Antoine Walker: "It's unfortunate it happened like that when they got back in the game. We thought it was pretty much sewed up. They called a freak foul and they got a turnover where we thought we got fouled, but we stayed focused and made some big shots." Antawn Jamison: "We haven't been playing too well on the road and we knew this was a different Knicks team than started the season." Shawn Bradley on his 1 minute: "Get a block, get the tip, and sit down." Don Chaney on Marbury: "He was excellent on both ends. It's obvious that he scored well. He did some great things on the defensive end as well. He played a very well balanced game." Chaney on the delayed foul near the end of overtime: "It was bad communication. I'll take the blame for that." Stephon Marbury: "You have to stay positive. We are going to get better. When you get down [20] points it is tough, especially against a team that can shoot." Marbury: "I'm just so happy to be playing here. The Garden elevates my game. It brings a lot of things out of me." Marbury: "We are getting better. I am getting to know the guys. We are going to be fine. We just need to stay focused, stay positive, and stay together." Marbury on his high minutes: "I didn't even pay any attention to it. It was just like playing in the park. I was just having fun out there. This is what it's all about." Allan Houston: "It was almost like going into overtime, we were still exhaling a little bit instead of getting ready for overtime. They made the first punch and that hurt us and took the momentum right away." Houston: "The biggest thing is that we fought back. But what kills us is that we had many missed opportunities. You can always point to one thing, but it is never just one thing." Houston on the delayed foul near the end of overtime: "I wasn't really thinking like I should have. I got a mental block, honestly, because I thought we may have been down 3 and I didn't look on the clock. I was kind of waiting on someone telling me to foul and I should have been aware. I should have known we were down 4. That's really my fault for waiting until the ball got that far, and here I am looking at everybody when I should have fouled him." Dallas Mavericks 127, New York Knicks 121 OT at New York (January 12) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 34 34 33 14 12 - 127 .528 .414 .495 .789 New York 25 29 32 29 6 - 121 .567 .385 .516 .882 Halftime: Dallas 68-54 3rd Q: Dallas 101-86 4th Q: 115-115 Technicals: New York defensive 3 seconds 2:02 3rd Refs: Bernie Fryer, Luis Grillo, Rodney Mott Attendance: 18,230 (cap 19,763) Did not play due to injury: Josh Howard (strained left hamstring), Keith Van Horn (right knee injury) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 53 8-21 4-10 5-6 25 2-10 6 1 1 1 0 Antoine Walker 47 6-18 2-5 0-1 14 3-12 11 1 3 1 1 Dirk Nowitzki 47 12-24 3-9 4-4 31 1-10 1 2 2 1 0 Marquis Daniels 22 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-4 3 0 4 1 0 Steve Nash 45 12-16 3-5 1-1 28 0-3 8 2 5 3 0 Antawn Jamison 38 9-17 0-0 5-7 23 4-4 1 2 3 2 0 Tony Delk 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Travis Best 9 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 53 50-101 12-29 15-19 127 11-44 30 8 19 9 2 New York Knicks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Anfernee Hardaway 47 8-20 1-7 2-2 19 1-7 3 1 5 1 2 Kurt Thomas 45 5-9 0-0 0-0 10 4-12 2 1 5 1 1 Dikembe Mutombo 13 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 4-5 0 1 2 0 1 Allan Houston 47 11-25 6-12 1-1 29 0-4 2 2 2 0 0 Stephon Marbury 52 14-24 2-6 8-9 38 0-3 14 4 3 1 0 Othella Harrington 38 4-5 0-0 3-3 11 2-11 1 4 4 0 0 Shandon Anderson 13 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 0-2 0 2 1 0 0 Frank Williams 7 3-4 1-1 0-0 7 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 Mike Sweetney 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 53 48-93 10-26 15-17 121 11-45 24 15 23 3 4 patricia