Dallas placed Eduardo Najera on IR with a sore left knee on Friday. No one was activated to take his place. As such, he can come off IR at any time (doesn't have to wait the mandatory 5 games since his active spot wasn't filled). Dallas is going with an 11-man roster right now, but may sign a player to a 10-day contract to fill the open roster spot - teams could start signing players to 10-day contracts today. Saturday is the guaranteed contract date (all non-10-day contracts become guaranteed for the rest of the season), but that doesn't affect Dallas as only project Jon Stefansson has a non-guaranteed contract. Shawn Bradley got in a minute before halftime of the Milwaukee game and tweaked his back again and wasn't available for the 2nd half. He did dress for the Minnesota game, but did not play. Josh Howard strained his left hamstring during the 3rd quarter of the Minnesota game and did not play in the 4th quarter. He did not travel to Utah and may miss a couple of games until the injury heels. Dallas at Milwaukee (January 2) Dallas hopped out to an early 18-11 lead with 7:35 remaining, but Milwaukee scored the next 8 points to go up 19-18 with 5:10 left. The teams traded leads over the rest of the quarter and it was all tied up at 29-29 after 1. Dirk Nowitzki had 14 points including 5-5 FG. Dallas scored the first 8 points of the 2nd quarter (with 6 by Antawn Jamison) to go up 37-29 with 9:35 to go. Milwaukee finally scored 2:45 into the quarter and the game then stayed close the rest of the quarter. Milwaukee connected on 4 consecutive free throws to pull within 42-43 with 6 minutes left and neither team led by more than 3 points the rest of the quarter. Milwaukee led 59-56 at the half. Dan Gadzuric had 10 points and 7 rebounds and Jamison had 10 points on 5-5 FG. The game remained close in the 3rd quarter. Milwaukee scored 6 straight points to go up 76-69 with 6 minutes to go. Milwaukee held a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Milwaukee led 85-81 after 3. Brian Skinner had 11 points in the quarter. A 3-pointer by Damon Jones and a layup by Toni Kukoc opened the 4th quarter and gave Milwaukee a 90-81 lead with 10:50 to go. Milwaukee scored 7 straight points to go up 101-87 with 5:15 left. Dallas answered by scoring the next 10 points to pull within 97-101 with 1:45 remaining. The teams traded buckets and then traded misses and it was a 4 point game with 50 seconds remaining. Nowitzki blocked a layup attempt with 33 seconds left and Josh Howard took it quickly the other way and Kukoc was credited with a block on Howard's layup attempt instead of a foul being called and Milwaukee broke the other way and Michael Redd got a dunk with 21 seconds to go. Antoine Walker picked up 2 technicals for complaining to the ref about the non-call and Redd hit both free throws to seal the game at 107-99 with 21 seconds remaining. Milwaukee won 109-101. This game was lost inside. You know you have a problem when guys like Brian Skinner and Dan Gadzuric go nuts against you. The 2 combined for 34 points and 19 rebounds in 44 minutes. Dallas did score 48 points in the paint, but they gave up a horrendous 62 points in the paint - even outside shooter Michael Redd had fun driving to the hoop. Milwaukee out-rebounded Dallas 49-44 including 18-13 offensive. Dallas had their usual low turnover total with 11 turnovers, but Milwaukee was extremely clean with the ball with just 5 turnovers. Milwaukee's centers were the story for this game. Brian Skinner had 20 points and 7 rebounds in 20 minutes and Dan Gadzuric had 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 blocks in 24 minutes. Michael Redd was the high man with 21 points and 6 rebounds. Tim Thomas was the 4th Buck in double-digits with 17 points. Rookie T.J. Ford had a better outing this night against Dallas than the last time with 6 points on 3-3 FG, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists - and no turnovers. Dirk Nowitzki led the way for Dallas with 23 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 assists. Steve Nash had another double-double with 17 points including 4-5 3-pointers and 10 assists. Antawn Jamison chipped in 20 points including 8-10 FG and 9 rebounds. Antoine Walker had 15 points and 6 assists and Michael Finley had 13 points including 5-15 FG. For a change, Josh Howard's numbers were better than his performance. He had 10 points and 7 rebounds, but did not play well and made lots of mistakes. It was mainly a 6-man rotation as Travis Best, Marquis Daniels, and Shawn Bradley combined for 3 points and 3 rebounds in 15 minutes. Danny Fortson missed the game due to staying in Dallas to undergo oral surgery to repair a fractured tooth. Quotes Terry Porter: "We did a better job offensively. We had a better understanding of their defensive scheme. We got a lot of guys some alley-oops at the basket and we did a pretty good job against their zone." Porter: "We talked from day 1 about having a homecourt advantage. We take great pride in making sure teams come in here and they're going to know that they're going to have to play extremely well because we're not going to give it to them. That's something that we just continue to talk about. That we have to play hard, play smart and play with a lot of intensity and we've done it. Some quality teams have come in here. Now, the next big challenge is to transfer it over to the road." Porter: "I think we believe that we're a solid team and when we play well they can beat anybody. I don't think they have any doubt in their ability if they play the right way." Porter on Gadzuric: "He was huge for us. Everybody who came off the bench gave us a huge lift. When he's active like that, we're a better team." Michael Redd on the centers: "Great production from that position. The bigs took the challenge tonight, came in and asserted themselves." Tim Thomas: "Our focus was to get back at them in whatever way possible. That's what we did, we played better." Thomas: "When you win the majority of your home games, some how, some way, you get into the playoffs." Don Nelson on Milwaukee: "They played a great game tonight. They were more aggressive and dominated us with their inside play. Their centers killed us both on the boards and in the paint. It turned out to be a good game and they deserved to win." Nelson: "Their 2 centers just killed us, both on the boards and in the paint. They outplayed us most of the night." Nelson on early in the 4th: "I took Nash out for his regular rest, and we went from 4 down to 10 down in a minute or 2." Steve Nash: "We're small and we have no shot-blocker right now. They were either getting to the rim and scoring or crashing the boards. All 5 of us on the floor have to do a better job of keeping guys out of the paint." Nash: "They did a great job of protecting the ball. They made some shots, but I think the difference was we had no shot blocker and we had no answer for their inside game. If they didn't score on the post-up, they were going either to get an offensive rebound or spread the floor for their shooters." Antoine Walker on his technicals: "That wasn't the cause of the game. Man, talk about something else. That's over with. That ain't nothing." Josh Howard: "They prepared a little more than us and finished the game well. They attacked us and we weren't ready for that." Milwaukee Bucks 109, Dallas Mavericks 101 at Milwaukee (January 2) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Milwaukee 29 30 26 24 - 109 .507 .300 .462 .731 Dallas 29 27 25 20 - 101 .492 .429 .476 .875 Halftime: Milwaukee 59-56 3rd Q: Milwaukee 85-81 Technicals: Dirk Nowitzki 5:12 3rd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 6:48 4th, Antoine Walker 0:21 4th, Antoine Walker (ejected) 0:12 4th Refs: Jack Nies, Jess Kersey, Marc Davis Attendance: 18,717 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Danny Fortson (tooth infection) Milwaukee Bucks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Joe Smith 24 2-7 0-0 0-0 4 3-3 4 0 1 0 0 Tim Thomas 32 6-12 2-5 3-4 17 0-4 2 0 4 1 0 Brian Skinner 20 7-12 0-0 6-8 20 4-7 2 1 1 0 0 T.J. Ford 21 3-3 0-0 0-0 6 0-5 6 0 2 2 0 Michael Redd 38 8-15 2-5 3-3 21 1-6 3 0 1 0 0 Desmond Mason 17 4-11 0-0 0-0 8 2-5 0 2 0 1 0 Toni Kukoc 28 3-10 0-4 2-3 8 2-5 6 0 3 1 2 Damon Jones 27 1-8 1-5 1-2 4 0-2 5 0 1 0 0 Dan Gadzuric 24 6-10 0-0 2-4 14 6-12 0 1 4 1 5 Erick Strickland 9 2-3 1-1 2-2 7 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 42-91 6-20 19-26 109 18-49 28 5 18 6 7 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 35 4-9 0-1 2-2 10 2-7 1 1 4 0 1 Antoine Walker 36 7-16 1-5 0-0 15 2-4 6 2 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 43 9-17 2-5 3-3 23 2-14 5 2 4 1 2 Michael Finley 42 5-15 2-5 1-1 13 1-3 2 1 3 0 0 Steve Nash 36 5-13 4-5 3-4 17 1-4 10 3 3 1 0 Antawn Jamison 33 8-10 0-0 4-4 20 4-9 0 1 0 1 0 Travis Best 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 0 1 0 0 Marquis Daniels 6 1-1 0-0 1-2 3 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 39-82 9-21 14-16 101 13-44 24 11 19 3 3 Minnesota at Dallas (January 3) The game stayed close in the 1st quarter as there were 9 lead changes and neither team led by more than 5 points. Minnesota led 30-25 after 1. Gary Trent had 10 points. Dallas had to be happy that it was just a 5 point game as they shot 40% FG while Minnesota shot 50% FG. Sam Cassell opened the 2nd quarter with an 8-2 run (including 2 3-pointers) to give Minnesota a 38-27 lead with 10 minutes remaining. Dallas then went on a 15-3 run to go up 42-41 with 5 minutes left. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter with neither team leading by more than 3 points. Antawn Jamison hit a jumper near the quarter's end and Dallas led 56-54 at the half. Cassell had 10 points in the quarter. Dallas' shooting picked up a tad and Minnesota's dropped a tad as both teams were shooting around 45% FG for the half. Minnesota went on a 7-1 mini-run to go up 73-65 with 6:50 to go. Michael Finley and Dirk Nowitzki responded by combining to score the next 11 points and give Dallas a 76-73 lead with 4 minutes remaining and the game stayed close the rest of the quarter. Dallas lost rookie Josh Howard, who had been playing very well, with 2:45 left. Dallas scored the last 4 points of the quarter and led 86-80 after 3. Finley had 12 points on 5-5 FG in the 3rd quarter. Dallas led 88-83 with 9:50 remaining and went on a 17-1 run that including 4 3-pointers and 3 free throws when Nowitzki was fouled attempting a 3-pointer and took a commanding 105-84 lead with 6:15 to go. Well, not too commanding as Minnesota came storming back and Dallas started playing stall ball. Minnesota went on an 11-1 run to pull within 106-95 with 4 minutes left. Fortunately, Antoine Walker finally found his shot (he had just 5 points up to that point) and the Mavs traded buckets with Minnesota over the next 2 minutes. A 3-pointer by Finley gave Dallas a 115-101 lead with 2 minutes to go. A 3-pointer by Latrell Sprewell did make it a 6 point game, but there were just 6 seconds remaining. Dallas won 119-112. After starting off shooting poorly, Dallas found their touch and finished shooting 51.2% (43-84) including an impressive 12-24 3-pointers. They were so hot that one of Dirk Nowitzki's 3-pointers bounced off the rim, up high, and down through. Minnesota shot 47.3% (43-91) FG including 9-20 3-pointers. Dallas shot 21-28 FT and Minnesota shot 17-22 FT. Minnesota did out-rebounded Dallas 46-43 including 17-12 offensive, but Dallas played the better team game as Dallas had 28 assists while Minnesota had 20 assists. And Dallas did a better job in the paint as Minnesota only out-scored Dallas 48-46 in the paint (and Dallas held the paint lead most of the game). The big 3 came shining through for Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki had 31 points on 10-15 FG, 3-3 3-pointers, and 8-10 FT and 9 rebounds. Michael Finley had 24 points on 9-15 FG and 6-9 3-pointers. And Steve Nash had 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 13 assists. Antoine Walker struggled with his shot until late in the 4th quarter and finished with 12 points on 5-14 FG and 1-4 FT, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Josh Howard was playing very well before his injury and had 13 points and 7 rebounds. Antawn Jamison struggled with 10 points including 3-10 FG and 9 rebounds. Travis Best had 2 points and 2 assists in 7 minutes and Danny Fortson had 7 points and 4 rebounds in 11 minutes. It was a 4-man game for Minnesota as outside of Latrell Sprewell, Kevin Garnett, Gary Trent, and Sam Cassell, the Timberwolves got just 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists from the 6 other players that played. Kevin Garnett had his usual monster game against the Mavs with 27 points, 22 rebounds including 9 offensive, and 7 assists. He did struggle some in shooting 11-28 FG - my jaw dropped at some of easy for him the things that he missed. Trent again had a strong outing against his former team with 22 points on 7-8 FG and 8-10 FT and 7 rebounds. Sam Cassell was the high man (and went nuts scoring-wise a couple of times during the game) with 34 points including 14-20 FG and 5 rebounds. And Latrell Sprewell had 21 points on 8-21 FG and 5-10 3-pointers. Quotes Don Nelson: "That was a good basketball game. Both teams shot the ball well and we had an old fashioned shootout. It was a really exciting game and a big win for us. We treated this as a really important game. It didn't look good for a long period of time, but we got out at the right time and got that big lead. Even though we let our guard down a little bit, we had enough to hold on." Nelson: "What we thought would be successful really wasn't in the 1st. Our game plan didn't work so we changed it. But we came back with our game plan in the 4th quarter and it was very successful." Nelson on Minnesota: "They're the real deal. And they're about to get better with 2 of their best players coming back from injury." Nelson on Howard: "Our rookie hurt his hamstring and is not going to make the trip tomorrow. He will miss some period of time. Thats a tough break for us going into Utah. He played a really good game tonight. Much better than he did in Milwaukee, although he has been good pretty much every night." Dirk Nowitzki: "My ankles are feeling great. I'm feeling pain-free and I have more confidence." Michael Finley: "If we'd have lost this one as well as the Milwaukee game, the situation would have been a terrible thing." Finley: "When we get confident offensively, our offense is a fine tuned machine." Steve Nash: "We're for some reason able to beat some good teams, but haven't been able to really be consistent against teams that we should beat." Nash: "We obviously played a lot of zone tonight and we did a good job. We kind of made it a little more difficult for them in the paint and didn't give up quite as many offensive rebounds tonight." Nash: "It was great to make some shots, but they were hot, too. It was definitely a shootout." Nash on losing Howard: "Josh has become a valuable part of our team, so well miss it if he has to sit out some games, but we've got some other guys that can step in. I think depth is one of our strengths." Antoine Walker: "A couple of us had off nights. But we've got guys who can step up and help us score 119. That's the exciting thing about this team." Antawn Jamison: "We knew this was one we had to win because we didn't want to lose another one at home. We knew San Antonio had lost and we had a chance to pick up some ground, so we had to get it going." Jamison on losing Howard: "Everybody has to step up and, hopefully, we can weather the storm until Josh comes back." Josh Howard on his hamstring: "It happened sometime in the 3rd quarter when I was going up for a rebound. I thought somebody kneed me in the back of the leg, but then it wouldn't go away." Flip Saunders: "They are a very difficult team to defend and we've been pretty good defensively, but tonight we were not very good. They had a lot to do with that, but we didn't take away penetration or perimeter. They had freedom with the way they were playing to do both. Kevin Garnett played a great game, but we didn't get solid bench play." Saunders: "We didn't take away any penetration, we didn't take away any perimeter. They made some tough shots. They get on a roll, especially in this place, and they start raining them." Saunders: "Late 3rd, early 4th, they're a very difficult team to defend. We were not very good. We didn't take away penetration; we didn't take away the perimeter. They had freedom in how they were playing." Kevin Garnett: "It was too much of a big hole to come out from." Sam Cassell: "We're learning more and more things about ourselves every game. We understand that we've got to play better defensively as a group to win games like this. This team is together in all aspects. We understand why we lost this game." Cassell: "We wanted to attack them all kinds of ways. We've got Kevin attacking them in the paint. Gary Trent played a tremendous game, so we've got all kinds of ways that we were going to attack these guys, but we needed to do a little better job stopping these guys. We allowed them just to play too freely. We live and we learn and we understand what we need to do next time." Cassell: "We have to do a better job of stopping these guys. We let them play too freely. We missed a couple of shots and they got some good looks in transition." Latrell Sprewell: "I think the thing Flip probably has to do is leave 1 of us [Garnett, Cassell, Sprewell] out there. At least 1, if not 2. It's hard when you take all 3 out. Those guys are usually looking at 1 of us to do something because they're on the floor with us. Try to see who is going well and leave that guy out there at least." Sprewell: "We were so concerned about letting them get into the paint that their perimeter guys were able to get shots off. What can you say? It's a situation where you have to do one or the other, and they hurt us." Dallas Mavericks 119, Minnesota Timberwolves 112 at Dallas (January 3) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 25 31 30 33 - 119 .517 .500 .512 .750 Minnesota 30 24 26 32 - 112 .479 .450 .473 .773 Halftime: Dallas 56-54 3rd Q: Dallas 86-80 Technicals: Gary Trent 7:28 3rd Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Ed Malloy, Leroy Richardson Attendance: 19,936 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Troy Hudson (sprained ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 30 6-10 1-2 0-0 13 3-7 3 2 2 1 0 Antoine Walker 40 5-14 1-5 1-4 12 1-6 5 4 4 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 10-15 3-3 8-10 31 1-9 4 1 3 1 0 Michael Finley 42 9-15 6-9 0-0 24 1-3 1 0 2 1 0 Steve Nash 39 7-16 1-5 5-5 20 2-5 13 1 1 0 0 Antawn Jamison 30 3-10 0-0 4-6 10 2-9 0 1 4 2 1 Travis Best 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 2 1 1 0 0 Danny Fortson 11 2-3 0-0 3-3 7 2-4 0 1 2 0 0 Totals 48 43-84 12-24 21-28 119 12-43 28 11 19 6 1 Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Latrell Sprewell 41 8-21 5-10 0-0 21 1-4 3 4 1 0 0 Kevin Garnett 46 11-28 0-1 5-6 27 9-22 7 2 3 1 0 Gary Trent 37 7-8 0-0 8-10 22 2-7 3 0 2 0 0 Sam Cassell 42 14-20 3-6 3-4 34 0-5 4 4 4 1 1 Trenton Hassell 33 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 1 0 3 0 1 Fred Hoiberg 24 1-6 1-3 0-0 3 1-4 2 1 3 1 0 Mark Madsen 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2-2 0 0 2 0 0 Oliver Miller 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 3 0 0 Keith McLeod 4 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Ervin Johnson 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 43-91 9-20 17-22 112 17-46 20 11 21 3 2 patricia