Dallas at Phoenix (November 26) Phoenix was playing without Shawn Marion and Dallas soon lost one of its stars. The game stayed close early and Dallas led 15-13 with 5:50 left. Phoenix scored the next 8 points to go up 21-15 with 3:45 remaining. During the run, Dirk Nowitzki suffered a sprained right ankle and did not return (Dallas was down by 2 points when Nowitzki left). Dallas scored 6 straight points over the last 2 minutes of the quarter to tie the game with 2 seconds left, but Anfernee Hardaway nailed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Phoenix a 26-23 lead after 1. As poorly as the Mavs played in the 1st quarter, they had to be happy to be just down by 3 points. Phoenix out-rebounded Dallas 14-7 in the quarter. Unfortunately, the Mavs' play did not improve and this time Phoenix took full advantage. Phoenix opened the 2nd quarter with a 9-2 run to go up 35-25 with 9:50 to go. Phoenix led 42-33 with 6:30 left and went on a 14-3 run to go up 56-36 with 3 minutes remaining. Dallas did make a mini-run with a 3-pointer by Tony Delk and 2 free throws by Antawn Jamison with 4 seconds left, but Dallas again had lax defense for the final play and Hardaway nailed a 3-point runner at the buzzer. Phoenix led 63-47 at the half. Dallas only shot 36.5% FG in the half, including 7-25 FG in the 2nd quarter, while Phoenix shot 51% FG in the half, including 13-21 FG in the 2nd quarter. To make matters worse, the Mavs were getting killed on the boards as Phoenix held a 31-13 rebounding edge. Jahidi White had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Phoenix went up 72-49 with 9:40 to go and this game was over early. Phoenix went up by 29 points 3 times in the quarter and led 95-70 after 3. Dallas would get no closer than 20 points and Phoenix finally broke the 30 point margin barrier near the end of the game. Dallas' ugly performance was superseeded by Danny Fortson committing a nasty flagrant foul on rookie Zarko Cabarkapa with 3 minutes left when Fortson gave a 2-handed shove to an airborne Cabarkapa. Fortson was ejected and will likely be suspended (and should be as it was very dangerous and stupid). Cabarkapa left the game and x-rays showed that he had a fractured right wrist and will be out 6 to 8 weeks. Phoenix won 121-90. It's amazing that something could disgust me more than the way the Mavs played this game. But Danny Fortson's flagrant did so. I don't believe he was trying to hurt Cabarkapa (and some of the Suns' quotes go overboard) - it was probably frustration and trying to prevent a dunk - but an airborne player is extremely vulnerable and actions such as Fortson's are very dangerous. Unfortunately the danger was realized and a serious injury occurred. Fortson should get at least a 3 game suspension. As for the game, it was simply yuch. Phoenix also played the night before (and a road game), so fatigue is not an excuse. Dallas did nothing right in this game. They were out-scored every quarter, were out-rebounded by a ton, couldn't shoot, and couldn't defend. Phoenix shot 54.4% (43-79) FG including 10-17 3-pointers and Dallas shot 39.5% (34-86) FG including 7-28 3-pointers. The big 5 combined to shoot just 34.7% FG. Dallas had just 15 assists while Phoenix had 26. In shades of last season, Phoenix out-rebounded Dallas 52-32. The Mavs made Joe Johnson (who has performed well this season) and Jahidi White look like stars and Anfernee Hardaway look like the player from his Orlando days. Johnson had 21 points including 9-13 FG. White had 12 points and 11 rebounds in 19 minutes. Hardaway had 20 points including 4-5 3-pointers and 5 rebounds in 26 minutes. Stephon Marbury had 18 points and 12 assists (also played some in the 4th, which was stupid - leaving stars in during garbage time is risking injury for nothing). Amare Stoudemire also got minutes during the 4th and had 10 points including 3-9 FG, 11 rebounds, and 6 turnovers. Rookie Zarko Cabarkapa was having a career game before disaster struck. He had career highs 17 points and 9 rebounds in 29 minutes. Antawn Jamison was the only one of the big 5 to have a decent game. He had 17 points and 5 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki missed both of his shot attempts before his injury 7 minutes into the game. He is listed as doubtful for Friday's game vs Minnesota. Steve Nash had a miserable outing as he missed all 5 of his shots in the 1st half and finished with just 2 points on 1-8 FG and 4 assists in 24 minutes. Michael Finley had 14 points including 5-14 FG and 2-8 3-pointers and just 1 rebound and 1 assist in 27 minutes. Antoine Walker had 14 points including 6-14 FG and 8 rebounds in 27 minutes. Danny Fortson started and only attempted 1 shot and had 4 rebounds in 13 minutes. Travis Best did have a nice little outing with 7 points on 3-4 FG including his first 3-pointer of the season (after 8 misses in earlier games), 3 assists, and 2 steals in 24 minutes. Shawn Bradley hit all 3 of his shots for 6 points and had 3 rebounds in 14 minutes. Tony Delk struggled shooting with 4-13 FG and 1-7 3-pointers and had 12 points. Eduardo Najera didn't do much with 3 misses and just 1 rebound in 15 minutes. Marquis Daniels had 8 points and 2 rebounds in the 4th quarter. Josh Howard had 10 points, including an impressive skying rebound-putback, and 5 rebounds in 18 garbage time minutes. Quotes Frank Johnson: "Obviously a big win, but we lost Zarko Cabarkapa for 6 weeks. He broke his wrist. Jerry [Colangelo] came and told me that he went and talked to Coach Nelson, with their relationship, and told him that he's going to go at [Fortson] from a league standpoint with everything he's got. That was just a flat out dirty freaking play. To end like this, the kid was just beginning to come around. To have a game like this and then have to be faced with that. Absolutely thuggish. He should be suspended for the rest of the year." Johnson: "Penny started with those 2 buzzer beaters during the 1st [half] and then our zone worked. We were trying to figure out something that would contain them. We started playing the zone and they started missing. They looked confused and we definitely know that feeling. It was certainly a great team effort." Stephon Marbury on the flagrant: "Hell yeah, that [bleep] was intentional. That was a [bleep] play." Anfernee Hardaway: "We had it tonight. We talked about it and we came out ready to play. We came out with the mindset and the attitude from the beginning that we wanted it, and it showed." Hardaway on his quarter ending 3s: "Those 3s worked out great, but the play [at the end of the half] was actually for Stephon. But they told me that if I could not find Steph that I should look for Googs and he would give it back to me. It just happened to be the right time for me to just take the shot. Once I saw daylight I just threw it up there and it went in. Everything just happened to go our way tonight." Hardaway on the flagrant: "I thought it was terrible. I don't think Danny tried to hurt him, but he didn't want to get dunked on. I think he kind of lost focus on Z being as high as he was and pushed him, and he lost his balance. But it's bad to push somebody while they're airborne." Zarko Cabarkapa: "The whole team played really good, they had a strong and intense game. Plus, I feel good about my game tonight, there are some things that were unexpected that happened that I could never have expected. I got hurt and that's basketball. It happens all of the time. I did see Fortson coming and saw him push me, but it is a part of basketball and those things happen." Joe Johnson: "It's the NBA and we came out yesterday and lost by 30. Tonight we came out and handed Dallas a similar defeat." Johnson: "It's the NBA, man. We came out yesterday and, as everybody knows, we basically got our asses kicked. We turned around and we kicked Dallas asses. That's just part of a good team bouncing back, staying focused on what we need to do." Johnson: "We were knocking down shots, but our main thing was our defense. We were moving in the zone and just being real active, which led to a lot of fast break opportunities." Johnson on Cabarkapa: "He was good [tonight], man. He came out and played a great game. He knocked down shots, big shots at that. He was rebounding, playing good defense. He did everything that we could of asked him to do. You know stuff like that happens in the game. It's the NBA. But I really feel sorry for him because he broke his wrist. It's tough, man. Its a key loss for us." Don Nelson: "First of all, I'd like to apologize to the Phoenix Suns organization on that last play by Danny Fortson. I don't condone those kinds of things. It was just a bad basketball play that shouldn't have happened and Danny and I will talk about it tomorrow." Nelson: "It was a game that, for whatever reason, we just didn't show up. I'm very disappointed with the performance. About the time that I think were starting to turn a corner, we lay an egg like this. It's very disappointing. Those things happen in the league. The game was out of reach early." Nelson: "I don't like games like this; I hate them. We never played well enough to give ourselves a chance to get back into the game." Nelson: "You know at the end of the year, you're going to have some good wins and some close losses. You're also going to have some ugly wins and some bad losses. You just have to hope you have more positives than negatives." Dirk Nowitzki on his sprained ankle: "It swelled up, and it's a little worse than the last couple of times I've sprained my ankle. The X-rays look fine, so I don't think it'll be too long. But I don't know about Friday." Steve Nash: "I think it's one of those nights. That's my story, one of those extremely depressing nights. It's tough. We didn't see that coming. We didn't have any energy and couldn't get anything going. It was like the Harlem Globetrotters with amnesia or something. We couldn't do anything wrong last night and tonight we forgot all about it. Hopefully we bounce back." Antawn Jamison: "We couldn't do anything right out there, whether it was the offensive end or the defensive end. I don't know what the final tally was on rebounding, but they really killed us. It was just one of those nights. We didn't play with the energy we have played with the last 4 or 5 ball games. We didn't play with any kind of urgency whatsoever. And they got rejuvenated after their loss last night. They knew it was a big game tonight and they came out prepared and more ready to play then we did tonight." Danny Fortson on the flagrant: "It was a bad play. But I was more concerned about getting in trouble with my defensive position. By the time I put my hands on him, he was flying through the air and I knew it could be ugly. There was no evil intent. Considering that it's me, I expect the worst [suspension wise]. I've had a lot of flagrant fouls in my career. But I do apologize. I wouldn't want to be hit like that." Fortson on the flagrant: "Considering it's me, I expect the worst. I do apologize for it. I wasn't trying to hurt the guy." Phoenix Suns 121, Dallas Mavericks 90 at Phoenix (November 26) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Phoenix 26 37 32 26 - 121 .532 .589 .544 .833 Dallas 23 24 23 20 - 90 .466 .250 .395 .789 Halftime: Phoenix 63-47 3rd Q: Phoenix 95-70 Technicals: none Flagrants: Danny Fortson (level 2 - ejected) 2:58 4th Refs: Bill Spooner, Gary Benson, Joe Forte Attendance: 17,205 (cap 19,023) Did not play due to injury: Shawn Marion (sprained left ankle) Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Zarko Cabarkapa 29 6-11 1-4 4-4 17 1-9 1 1 2 1 1 Amare Stoudemire 40 3-9 0-0 4-4 10 4-11 1 6 3 2 1 Jahidi White 19 4-9 0-0 4-6 12 5-11 0 3 4 0 1 Stephon Marbury 33 7-12 0-1 4-5 18 0-3 12 0 1 0 0 Joe Johnson 41 9-13 2-3 1-2 21 0-2 4 1 2 2 0 Tom Gugliotta 12 0-2 0-0 2-2 2 3-5 0 0 0 0 0 Anfernee Hardaway 26 7-13 4-5 2-2 20 1-5 4 2 1 1 0 Jake Voskuhl 20 3-4 0-0 1-2 7 2-4 1 1 3 0 0 Casey Jacobsen 16 4-6 3-4 3-3 14 1-2 1 2 2 0 0 Leandro Barbosa 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 2 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 43-79 10-17 25-30 121 17-52 26 17 18 7 3 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 7 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 2 1 0 0 Antoine Walker 27 6-14 1-5 1-1 14 3-8 0 3 1 2 1 Danny Fortson 13 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-4 0 0 4 1 0 Steve Nash 24 1-8 0-4 0-0 2 0-0 4 2 1 0 0 Michael Finley 27 5-14 2-8 2-2 14 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 Travis Best 24 3-4 1-1 0-0 7 0-1 3 0 2 2 0 Shawn Bradley 14 3-3 0-0 0-0 6 1-3 0 0 2 0 1 Antawn Jamison 37 5-11 1-1 6-8 17 3-5 2 1 2 2 0 Tony Delk 22 4-13 1-7 3-4 12 1-2 1 0 1 0 0 Eduardo Najera 15 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 2 0 1 1 0 Josh Howard 18 4-7 0-0 2-2 10 3-5 1 2 1 0 0 Marquis Daniels 12 3-6 1-2 1-2 8 2-2 1 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-86 7-28 15-19 90 15-32 15 12 17 8 2 patricia