Danny Fortson had his infected wisdom tooth pulled. He did not play in the Chicago or Sacramento games due to the tooth extraction. Dallas elected not to re-sign Mamadou N'diaye after he completed his 2nd 10-day contract on Sunday. Dallas at Chicago (January 23) Dallas decided to spot the Bulls some points early as they didn't open the game strong. The Bulls went up 8-2 with 9:50 remaining and held a lead the rest of the quarter. Chicago scored 6 straight points to take their largest lead at 26-16 with 3:45 remaining. Michael Finley hit 2 free throws and Antawn Jamison got a putback with 2 seconds left to close the quarter. Chicago led 32-28 after 1. Chicago shot 1-2 FT in the quarter while Dallas feasted on 8-10 FT in the quarter [the free throws weren't lopsided the rest of the game as Dallas shot 10-11 FT and Chicago shot 3-8 FT in the last 3 quarters - though with as poorly as the Bulls were shooting them, they might have been glad that the whistles weren't blowing their way]. Dallas opened the 2nd quarter with a 10-3 run to go up 38-35 with 9:15 remaining. Dallas led 48-43 with 2:40 left and scored the next 6 points to go up 54-43 with 1:20 to go. Kirk Hinrich nailed a 3-pointer with a minute remaining and neither team scored the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 54-46 at the half. Dallas scored the first 6 points in the first minute of the 3rd quarter to go up 62-46. Dallas led 69-53 with 7:40 left and then Hinrich went nuts in helping the Bulls score the next 13 points - Hinrich had 3 3-pointers during the run - to pull Chicago within 66-69 with 3:40 remaining. Then Michael Finley went nuts as he went on a 10-2 run, including 2 3-pointers, to push Dallas' lead up to 79-68 with 1:15 to go. Josh Howard stole the half-court inbounds pass and drained the quick 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer to give Dallas an 84-72 lead after 3. Finley had 12 points and Hinrich had 12 points in the 3rd quarter. Dallas scored 9 straight points to take their largest lead at 93-74 with 8:35 remaining. Dallas led 97-79 with 7 minutes left and the Bulls again came storming back by scoring the next 9 points to pull within 88-97 with 4:20 to go. The teams traded punches as Dallas' lead fluctuated between 11 and 9 points over the next 2 minutes. Steve Nash got a layup with 1:20 left to give Dallas a 13 point lead and neither team scored again until the final seconds of the game. Dallas won 106-93. It wasn't as easy of a win that Dallas would have hope it would have been, but part of that was rookie Kirk Hinrich going nuts - 18 of his points came in the 2nd half. Dallas did arrive in town around 4 am and had played the night before. Chicago was as sloppy with the ball as one would expect as they had 19 turnovers. The difference of the game ended up being free throws - but it was equally called after the 1st quarter. Dallas shot 18-21 FT while Chicago only shot 4-9 FT. It was the 4th straight road win for Dallas - after starting the season 4-13 on the road. Dirk Nowitzki had a solid, all-around game with 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists. Local boys Michael Finley and Antoine Walker struggled in their hometown, but Finley finally got it going in the 3rd quarter. Finley finished with 23 points. Walker never got it going and finished with just 4 points on 2-11 FG, but did have 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Steve Nash had 10 points (just 6 FGA) and 7 assists. Josh Howard had a nice game and had 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Antawn Jamison had a quieter night with 10 points on 5-6 FG and 5 rebounds. Shawn Bradley came in and had a very positive affect in disrupting Chicago and allowing Dallas to use an effective zone defense. He had 13 points including 7-7 FT, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. He again got short changed on his blocks as he was just credited with 3 blocks. Travis Best was the 7th Mav in double-digits with 10 points on 5-6 FG. Kirk Hinrich was the high man for Chicago with 23 points including 5-12 3-pointers. He also had 11 rebounds and 5 assists. Jamal Crawford had 15 points including 1-7 3-pointers and 7 assists. Eddy Curry started strong in scoring 10 points in the first 6 1/2 minutes of the game, but only had 2 points the rest of the game - Shawn Bradley seemed to bother him. Kendall Gill had 14 points and Antonio Davis had 5 points and 12 rebounds. Gill strained his right Achilles tendon at the end of the game and was placed on IR on Sunday. Quotes Don Nelson on the bench play: "That sure helps, doesn't it? We have to get performance off our bench because we have to burn those minutes up." Nelson: "We had a nice supporting cast from our reserves. We had 3 [bench] players in double figures. Bradley also made an appearance tonight." Michael Finley: "It's always fun to come home. It's more fun to come home and get a win. It was a great homecoming." Steve Nash: "We're certainly not claiming arrival at this point. We realize we have a ways to go." Nash: "It was sluggish. Our concentration and cohesiveness are starting to get better when it counts. It's the biggest difference from earlier in the season." Antawn Jamison: "The most important thing for us is not to come out of here disappointed. We weren't going to be denied. That's happened to us a couple times this season. We sure know how it feels." Shawn Bradley: "We knew it was going to be a grind. Scott Skiles is smart and I'm sure he knew when we got in. His guys came at us early. One thing about this team is we didn't sit down." Bradley: "We went into our zone and we kept the ball out of [Curry's] hands with deflections and [rotations]. We ... didn't want him to have a big game. When he does, it goes well for the Bulls." Bradley: "We know we're going to need contributions from everyone, but we know it's going to be a grind." Travis Best: "You have to be mentally strong to be ready. As you get older, it gets a little bit more tough to come off the bench - especially when you're not getting any minutes. You have to do what you have to do to stay ready." Scott Skiles: "I thought we had pretty good life overall. Right at the beginning of the game, as we have been of late, we had good ball movement, a lot of unselfish play, knocked down some shots. But then we have a tendency to get away from it." Skiles: "When I look at this, the first thing I look at is [Hinrich] played 40 minutes of all-out basketball. You'd be hard pressed to find another guy ... that played as hard as him on that court tonight and got 0 free throws. That's what really sticks out to me and I have a really hard time understanding that. We don't go to the line a lot. You can attribute that to them playing their zone most of the game and we turned into a jump shooting team. But 9 free throws? You can get that by accident." Skiles on Hinrich: "He had a great game. Kirk is having a phenomenal rookie season." Skiles on Gill: "He'll be out for a little while." Skiles on Curry: "Eddy was a factor in the first few minutes, but as soon as Shawn came in there, we had trouble getting the ball in there to him." Skiles on Bradley: "He has made a career out of changing the game, being active in there. He just reached around Eddy and punched the balls away. He changed so many shots when we did go in there, that we stopped going in other than Kendall and Kirk." Kirk Hinrich: "I'm trying to stay focused and keep approaching the game trying to have fun. But the losses are taking the fun out of it." Eddy Curry on Bradley: "He took away our inside game and it got real frustrating not being able to get the ball." Curry: "It was definitely kind of frustrating. We were firing early, had the lead early. We showed we can - for a quarter or 2 - play with any team in this league. The other 2 quarters always kill us. If we can somehow find a way to play a whole game, we will be a contender. But it's kind of frustrating because we don't know why we can't do that." Antonio Davis: "We went in there and competed. They were just the better team tonight." Dallas Mavericks 106, Chicago Bulls 93 at Chicago (January 23) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 26 30 22 - 106 .556 .286 .488 .857 Chicago 32 14 26 21 - 93 .557 .269 .471 .444 Halftime: Dallas 54-46 3rd Q: Dallas 84-72 Technicals: Michael Finley 1:11 1st, Kendall Gill 1:11 1st Refs: Anthony Jordan, Derrick Stafford, Jim Clark Attendance: 18,761 (cap 21,711) Did not play due to injury: Tony Delk (sprained left ankle), Danny Fortson (tooth infection), Marquis Daniels (flu), Eddie Robinson (left groin strain) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 28 4-9 1-2 1-2 10 2-7 3 0 2 1 3 Antoine Walker 35 2-11 0-3 0-0 4 1-6 4 3 1 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 40 10-23 2-8 4-4 26 2-11 5 0 1 1 2 Michael Finley 36 8-17 3-7 4-6 23 2-3 4 3 2 0 1 Steve Nash 32 4-6 0-1 2-2 10 0-1 7 3 1 1 0 Shawn Bradley 29 3-6 0-0 7-7 13 2-4 0 0 0 4 3 Travis Best 16 5-6 0-0 0-0 10 0-1 1 2 2 0 0 Antawn Jamison 23 5-6 0-0 0-0 10 2-5 2 2 2 2 0 Mamadou N'diaye 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 41-84 6-21 18-21 106 11-38 26 13 12 9 10 Chicago Bulls REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Ronald Dupree 19 3-10 0-0 1-2 7 2-5 3 3 4 0 0 Antonio Davis 36 2-5 0-0 1-2 5 4-12 3 2 0 0 0 Eddy Curry 27 6-8 0-0 0-0 12 2-4 1 2 2 0 1 Jamal Crawford 30 7-16 1-7 0-0 15 1-4 7 4 3 1 0 Kirk Hinrich 40 9-18 5-12 0-0 23 2-11 5 3 5 1 0 Kendall Gill 29 7-14 0-2 0-0 14 2-3 2 1 4 1 0 Marcus Fizer 15 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 2 0 2 0 0 Corie Blount 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Jerome Williams 20 2-4 0-0 2-5 6 0-1 1 1 3 3 0 Scottie Pippen 8 2-6 0-3 0-0 4 0-2 0 1 2 0 1 Rick Brunson 7 2-2 1-1 0-0 5 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 41-87 7-26 4-9 93 13-43 24 19 25 6 2 Sacramento at Dallas (January 25) One of the more entertaining matchups was on board for the day and it did not disappoint. Sacramento went up 12-5 with 7:15 left, but their lead would get no larger the 7 points. Sacramento led 21-16 on a 3-pointer by Mike Bibby with 3:45 remaining, but Dallas closed the quarter with a 9-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Michael Finley. Dallas led 25-21 after 1. The game stayed close - and got a little sloppy at times - in the 2nd quarter. Dallas scored 6 straight points to go up 38-32 with 6:25 to go, but 6 points was the largest lead of the quarter. Dallas led 40-34 with 4:45 remaining and the Kings went on an 11-2 run to go up 45-42 with 2:15 left. Dallas scored the last 6 points of the quarter, capped by a layup by Antawn Jamison with 2 seconds left, in the last minute of the quarter to go up 50-47 at the half. Neither team was shooting great with Dallas shooting 42.3% FG and Sacramento only slightly better at 43.5% FG and both teams already had a lot of turnovers with Dallas having 9 turnovers (7 in the 2nd quarter) and Sacramento having 10 turnovers (6 in the 2nd quarter). Once again, the game stayed close in the 3rd quarter as each team held a 5 point lead at one point for their largest lead of the quarter. Dallas led 57-52 on a 3-pointer by Steve Nash with 10:30 to go. Sacramento chipped away and tied the game twice before regaining the lead. A layup by Bibby gave the Kings a 72-67 lead with 3:30 remaining. Dallas answered by scoring the next 9 points, capped by a 3-pointer by Finley, to go up 76-72 with 1:15 left. Bibby answered with a 3-pointer and neither team scored in the last minute of the quarter. Dallas led 76-75 after 3. Peja Stojakovic had 10 points in the first 6 minutes of the 3rd quarter. Antoine Walker scored 6 straight points to give Dallas their largest lead at 87-77 with 7:40 to go, but their lead would get no larger. Consecutive 3-pointers by Bobby Jackson made it a new game at 94-94 with 2:50 remaining. Walker nailed a 3-pointer, but Bibby answered with a 3. Finley drained a 15-foot fade-away with 2 minutes to go to give Dallas the lead. Stojakovic turned the ball over, but Brad Miller blocked a shot attempt, and Jackson missed the quick jumper with 1:35 to go. Dallas came running back and Steve Nash found Dirk Nowitzki under the basket and Nowitzki got the layup and was fouled. He hit the extra to give Dallas a 102-97 lead with 1:30 left. The teams traded misses and Bibby missed inside with 36 seconds remaining and the Kings started intentionally fouling. Dallas hit 6-6 FT down the stretch to seal the win. Dallas won 108-99. That was fun! If only all games could be like that. It wasn't the prettiest of games, but it was exciting, especially with the teams trading punches in the 4th quarter. Both teams did get control some of their sloppiness as they combined for just 11 turnovers in the 2nd half after having 19 in the 1st half. The refs called the game loosely, but it never got overly physical. The game basically came down to which team would hit the key shots down the stretch - and for this night it was Dallas. For the game, Dallas shot 46.8% (44-94) FG including 7-16 3-pointers and Sacramento shot 41.7% (40-96) FG including 9-26 3-pointers [they missed a number of 3s during the 4th (3-10 in the 4th, and not all of them were at the end)]. It was the 8th straight win for Dallas. The big 3 all had 20+ points and the 2 Ants were in double-digits. Michael Finley had 23 points including 10-17 FG and 8 rebounds. Steve Nash had 21 points, 13 assists, and 3 steals. Dirk Nowitzki had 20 points and 12 rebounds. Antoine Walker rebounded from his poor outing vs Chicago with 17 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals - but did have 6 turnovers, including some of the sloppy ones in the 1st half. Antawn Jamison struggled with his shot for the first time in 10 games (59.3% FG in the previous 10) in shooting just 6-17 FG. He had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Josh Howard had a non-stat nice outing and positive affect. He only had 6 points including 2-8 FG, but did have 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals and spent a lot of time trying to keep track of Peja Stojakovic. Shawn Bradley also had a very nice outing and positive affect on the game. He only had 6 points and 6 rebounds, but bothered the Kings on the defensive end and came in at one point where the Kings were killing the Mavs with their lineup of Brad Miller and Vlade Divac and that duo was no longer effective with Bradley on the court. And you knew it was going to be a Bradley night when shortly after he came in, he got a flying (and I mean coming from nowhere) rebound that left most going, "Bradley???" Travis Best was the only other Mav who played and he somehow managed to get 3 rebounds in his 13 minutes. Other reason Dallas won is that Peja Stojakovic never really got it going outside of a stretch early in the 3rd quarter. He had 24 points including 9-23 FG and 2-8 3-pointers. He also had 10 rebounds and 5 steals. Mike Bibby had 23 points including 4-9 3-pointers and 6 assists. Bobby Jackson came off the bench to contribute 18 points including 2-8 3-pointers, but he missed 4 shots in the last 2 minutes of the game. Brad Miller struggled shooting, but went crazy on the rebounds. He had 11 points including 4-11 FG and a career high 17 rebounds. He also had 3 blocks. Vlade Divac had 12 points and 6 rebounds. Doug Christie was a non-factor with just 4 points on 2-3 FG, 2 rebounds, and 4 assists in 28 minutes. Quotes Don Nelson: "It was a playoff atmosphere. They're probably the best team in basketball next to the Lakers." Nelson: "We had a great effort from everybody. Everybody didn't play great all the time, but they certainly played hard all the time." Nelson: "As we've won, we've gained confidence. And as I kept telling you, injuries have healed themselves. At least we're able to get those people on the floor now." Nelson on the rumors that proceeded the 8-game winning streak: "This winning streak would have happened whether that stuff happened or not. Being healthy is the biggest thing." Nelson on Finley: "He's on fire. He made tough shots with a defender around. He's been a sensational player for several weeks now." Nelson on Bradley: "He's been a big factor the last few games. As he gets more healthy, he's able to get some rebounds and block shots and be active like he was last year. Certainly, his body is fresh because I haven't played him that much." Dirk Nowitzki: "Down the stretch we got some nice stops and made some big stops and big plays. It's been fun to watch. I think we are coming together a little bit. Against Sacramento, we match up against them very well and it's always fun games." Nowitzki: "We're finally finding ways to win games at the end." Nowitzki: "I don't really believe in statement games, but that was a big win for us." Nowitzki on Bradley: "He's finally healthy and he's moving well. He's just more confident right now with his body, and it's been great. He's changing a lot of shots, he's blocking some. Offensively, he's getting some rebounds and he's just more active. Nobody's winning games, especially in the playoffs, if you don't have a presence in the middle, so we really need Shawn to step up." Michael Finley: "Although they made their run, we kept our heads up and found a way to stop them." Steve Nash: "Any time you play the good teams, it feels good to win. It feels good to play at their level or better." Nash: "We were taking the streak whether it was Sacramento or a CBA team every night. Wins haven't been that easy for us this year, at least compared to our expectations. We don't care who we beat right now. We just want to win." Antoine Walker: "We're getting more comfortable as a team. At the beginning of the year, we didn't know where everybody was going to be. Things are starting to come together for us real well." Walker on Bradley: "The zone defense is working for us now. It wasn't working early. Shawn makes a difference, without question, because we can funnel a lot of things to him. When it's not going well with our man-to-man, we can go to a zone and bring in Shawn." Walker on Bradley: "He's been an inside presence that we need on the defensive end to force teams to kick it out and not finish around the basket. I think they missed a lot of shots around the basket tonight, and that's because of him." Antawn Jamison on the rumors that proceeded the 8-game winning streak: "Guys just got tired of hearing about it. We decided we wanted to see where this team could go, and we put all that other stuff behind us." Jamison: "It's good to start the winning streak and you get a couple of wins, but I haven't forgotten a month ago where we were, and I don't think guys are going to forget that. Guys are going to continue to stay level-headed, continue to come in and work and know the importance of winning on the road, as well as at home." Shawn Bradley: "I feel like I'm contributing in a positive way, and that's what my goal is. We've got the thoroughbreds out there doing what they need to do." Bradley: "I just try to contribute so that when I come off the court the guys say I did a good job. But it's been rough. This is the healthiest I've been for 2 years. I had knee surgery, then more knee surgery, then earlier this year more problems. It's hard because I know that when I play like this, I can make a difference." Rick Adelman: "For the first 3 quarters we were just too casual with the ball. We played hard, but you can't make mistakes like we made with the ball on the road." Adelman: "We struggled against the zone, but really, we shouldn't have. We were too impatient and turned the ball over trying to make great plays instead of solid ones. I thought we really made some poor decisions. We've shown time and time again that when we move the ball and move ourselves, we take apart zones. And we talked about getting the ball into our big men and playing off them against the zone. But we kept passing the ball around the perimeter and then made mistakes. We were just too casual with the ball and turned it over too many times and gave them too many transition points off our turnovers." Adelman on turnovers: "That's not something we usually do. But we did it against Memphis and then again in the first 3 quarters here, so it's something we have to address. It's something you just can't do, especially on the road against good teams because they will quickly turn them into points. It's not like us to force passes usually, but when you do that, then you get yourself into a hole and you're hoping a team misses shots so you can catch up." Adelman on Walker's 3-pointer late in the 4th quarter: "That was a defensive mistake. We have to get somebody out there to him on that play. In a game like this, you have to make stops in those situations, and we didn't do it." Adelman on Dallas: "They're going to be one of the top teams in the West. That's the type of talent they have." Vlade Divac on Bradley: "Obviously Shawn changed the game. He made our guards change their shots and the tempo was not what we wanted. We did not do a good job attacking him, especially late in that 3rd quarter." Brad Miller: "We just didn't finish throughout the game." Miller on Bradley: "He's 7-6, so you can't go right into him because he's a good shot blocker. I could have taken him outside a little bit more, probably." Bobby Jackson on his misses near the end of the game: "I know I couldn't ask for better shots than those 2, and I expect to make shots in those situations." Dallas Mavericks 108, Sacramento Kings 99 at Dallas (January 25) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 25 25 26 32 - 108 .474 .438 .468 .867 Sacramento 21 26 28 24 - 99 .443 .346 .417 .909 Halftime: Dallas 50-47 3rd Q: Dallas 76-75 Technicals: none Refs: James Capers, Scott Wall, Tom Washington Attendance: 20,284 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Tony Delk (sprained left ankle), Danny Fortson (tooth extraction), Lawrence Funderburke (left knee surgery) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 24 2-8 0-0 2-2 6 2-7 3 2 4 2 3 Antoine Walker 34 7-15 2-3 1-2 17 1-3 5 6 3 3 0 Dirk Nowitzki 38 8-17 1-4 3-3 20 1-12 3 1 1 2 2 Michael Finley 42 10-17 3-5 0-0 23 2-8 2 2 2 0 1 Steve Nash 36 7-13 1-3 6-6 21 0-1 13 1 3 3 0 Antawn Jamison 33 6-17 0-1 1-2 13 4-10 2 1 1 2 1 Travis Best 12 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-3 1 1 2 0 0 Shawn Bradley 21 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 2-6 0 0 2 1 2 Totals 48 44-94 7-16 13-15 108 13-50 29 14 18 13 9 Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Predrag Stojakovic 44 9-23 2-8 4-4 24 2-10 2 3 0 5 0 Brad Miller 43 4-11 0-0 3-3 11 3-17 4 0 4 0 3 Vlade Divac 34 6-12 0-0 0-0 12 3-6 3 3 1 0 0 Mike Bibby 41 9-21 4-9 1-2 23 0-4 6 2 3 1 0 Doug Christie 28 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-2 4 4 3 2 2 Bobby Jackson 28 8-17 2-8 0-0 18 0-3 2 1 2 0 0 Darius Songaila 12 0-4 0-0 2-2 2 3-6 0 1 2 2 0 Anthony Peeler 7 2-4 1-1 0-0 5 0-0 1 1 1 0 0 Gerald Wallace 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 40-96 9-26 10-11 99 12-49 22 16 17 10 5 patricia