[Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it's taken me a while to get this done. But it's really hard to watch this ugly stuff, much less take a couple of hours to write about this crap.] Dallas at Washington (November 5) The game stayed really close for the first 7 minutes of the game as neither team led by more than 4 points. Steve Nash left the game with 4:35 remaining with a strained left shoulder and did not return. A 3-pointer by Larry Hughes with 2 minutes left gave Washington their largest lead of the quarter at 25-16. Antawn Jamison got a putback at as the quarter ended. Washington led 30-25 - and Dallas had to feel lucky it was just a 5 point game with as poorly as they played. Dallas only shot 41% FG in the quarter while Washington shot 55% FG. Gilbert Arenas had 12 points on 6-9 FG. 7 straight points by Juan Dixon gave Washington their first double-digit lead at 41-29 with 8:50 to go. Dallas was trying to hang around and Washington lead 51-41 with 2 minutes left. Hughes nailed another 3-pointer, the teams traded misses, and Jamison got a jumper with 45 seconds left. Arenas answered with a layup and Dallas missed. How bad did it get for Dallas? Kwame Brown banked in a 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer - his first 3 of his career [coach Eddie Jordan wouldn't let practice end the next day until Brown duplicated the shot and it took about 20 minutes]. Washington led 59-43 at the half. Washington shot 50% FG including a lights out 8-13 3-pointers while Dallas was struggling at 37.5% FG. The Mavs also had 11 turnovers which Washington converted into 24 points. Arenas had 17 points and 7 rebounds and Hughes had 14 points including 4-4 3-pointers. Washington continued the rout by scoring the first 4 points of the 3rd quarter to go up 63-43 with 10 minutes left. Dallas did manage to pull within 16 points a couple of times and that was the margin at the end of the quarter. Washington led 81-65 after 3. Dallas scored the first 4 points of the 4th quarter, but Washington responded with 7 straight points to go up 88-70 with 8:50 left. The Wizards led comfortably the rest of the game and the only question was if Arenas would get a triple-double. Dallas did score the last 7 points of the game to make the final margin look closer than the game was. Washington won 100-90. Yuch. Dallas never looked into this game and losing Steve Nash definitely did not help. Dallas never found their shooting touch and shot just 37.6% (32-85) FG including 2-11 3-pointers. Washington was a little better at 42.7% (38-89) FG including a white hot 13-30 3-pointers. Dallas lost despite a huge advantage at the line as the Mavs shot 24-30 FT while Washington shot 11-12 FT. Washington out-rebounded Dallas 48-46, but Dallas held a 17-11 offensive rebounding edge. Both teams committed 15 turnovers, but Washington converted Dallas' turnovers into 25 points while Dallas converted Washington's turnovers into just 8 points. Gilbert Arenas did achieve his first career triple-double with 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. He also had 3 steals. Larry Hughes was red hot outside with 19 points including 5-6 3-pointers (just 2-8 2-pointers). Christian Laettner had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds and had 5 blocks. Rookie Jarvis Hayes had 13 points and rookie Juan Dixon had 11 points to complete the 5 Wizards in double-digits. Kwame Brown's 3-pointer was his only basket made (1-4 FG) and he had 5 points and 5 rebounds in 31 minutes. Antawn Jamison had a decent game with 21 points including 9-15 FG and 9 rebounds. The other Ant also played well as Antoine Walker had 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. The problem was that Michael Finley and Dirk Nowitzki were pathetic. Nowitzki was even pulled a couple of times due to his lack of play. Finley had 11 points including 3-13 FG (ouch) and 5 assists in 36 minutes. Nowitzki was worse with just 9 points including 1-9 FG (triple ouch) and just 2 rebounds in 33 minutes. The Mavs really missed Steve Nash (2 points and 2 assists in 7 minutes) as backup point Travis Best is struggling and had just 2 points (0-3 FG) and 3 assists in 27 minutes. Tony Delk had a quiet outing with just 7 points in 19 minutes. Shawn Bradley was actually one of the few Mavs who looked good. Bradley had 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 14 hustling minutes. Danny Fortson had 7 points and 5 rebounds in 11 minutes and Eduardo Najera had 3 points and 4 rebounds in 7 minutes. Rookie Josh Howard shot 0-6 FG and had 2 rebounds in 12 minutes and rookie Marquis Daniels had 4 points in 6 minutes. Quotes Eddie Jordan: "We wanted to show the NBA that we can be as up-tempo, athletic, and aggressive as the Dallas Mavericks. They're a team we admire because they play a fun, wide-open game, they have scorers all over the place and create different mismatches." Jordan: "It pretty much started with Gilbert tonight. He was pushing the ball, getting to the rim and he was truly the catalyst today." Gilbert Arenas: "I guess when I'm more aggressive, I'm more aggressive all across the board. I get people open because I'm driving and penetrating, but when I sit on the perimeter, it's not helping our team out." Arenas: "I just did what I did - just played my game and whatever came to me came to me. I rebounded, dished the ball, scored. Like a point guard - like a Jason Kidd or Gary Payton, like what they do - just help the team win." Larry Hughes: "We run the offense to get open looks and they allowed us to stand on the line and shoot 3s. We didn't have to shoot 3-pointers 2 to 3 feet back; we were right on the line shooting jump shots." Christian Laettner: "Gilbert came out aggressive and that opened things up. When the point guard does that, it opens everything else up. Once he started doing well, we started pulling for him, pulling for each other, and it blossomed from there." Jarvis Hayes: "Overall, I think we played good defense. Obviously, they are going to get some points because they have some pretty good weapons, but overall we played pretty good defense on them." Don Nelson: "I've been saying for a long time, Coach has been worried. Just because we won a few games, it doesn't disguise the fact that we have work to do, and it shows." Nelson: "The Wizards were good - they hurt our zone. And 2 of our anchors, Nowitzki and Finley, had a terrible game. They didn't shoot the ball well and when that happens, we're going to struggle." Nelson: "We haven't played without Nash in a long, long time. And I think that's just too much to ask this time." Nowitzki on Dallas' defense: "We started off in man-to-man and we couldn't really guard them. When we tried to play them zone, there were holes in the zone. They found them and made a lot of 3s." Dirk Nowitzki: "Our man-to-man defense was terrible. Our zone defense was terrible. And our shooting was terrible. We have so many scorers, and to get only 80 or 90 points is terrible." Nowitzki: "We were like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off. We didn't really know what we were doing." Nowitzki on losing Nash: "He really is the guy who leads us on the court. Without him, we looked like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off." Steve Nash on his shoulder injury: "I don't really know how it happened. I guess it got bumped. I just remembered running back down the court wondering what I did to my shoulder. I thought it might get better, but it just kept getting sorer, and finally when I went out, I couldn't make some of my normal movements. That's when I realized how limited I was." Nash: "It got real sore in the first couple minutes of the game and the rest of the quarter it just got sorer and sorer - every possession, every movement, every bump. When I came out, I couldn't even make certain movements at all, so there was really no way I could contribute." Antawn Jamison on what Dallas was worst at: "Flip a coin. If it's heads, it's offense; if it's tails, it's defense. We just didn't play well anywhere." Washington Wizards 100, Dallas Mavericks 90 at Washington (November 5) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Washington 30 29 22 19 - 100 .424 .433 .427 .917 Dallas 25 18 22 25 - 90 .405 .182 .376 .800 Halftime: Washington 59-43 3rd Q: Washington 81-65 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 11:11 2nd, Etan Thomas 9:45 2nd Refs: Derrick Stafford, Gary Zielinski, Steve Javie Attendance: 17,455 (cap 20,674) Washington Wizards REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jarvis Hayes 31 5-11 3-5 0-0 13 0-3 1 1 5 0 1 Kwame Brown 31 1-4 1-1 2-2 5 1-5 4 3 2 1 1 Christian Laettner 37 5-10 0-1 3-3 13 6-13 3 4 5 2 5 Larry Hughes 30 7-14 5-6 0-0 19 0-3 2 1 5 0 0 Gilbert Arenas 38 11-25 3-11 0-0 25 2-12 10 4 3 3 0 Jared Jeffries 19 2-7 0-1 2-2 6 1-5 3 0 1 0 1 Etan Thomas 18 0-3 0-0 4-4 4 1-2 0 0 2 1 1 Steve Blake 10 2-4 0-1 0-0 4 0-1 4 0 1 1 0 Juan Dixon 14 5-10 1-4 0-1 11 0-3 2 0 0 1 0 Brendan Haywood 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 2 0 0 Chris Whitney 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-89 13-30 11-12 100 11-48 29 15 26 9 9 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Antoine Walker 35 8-16 2-6 0-0 18 2-8 5 1 1 0 1 Michael Finley 36 3-13 0-1 5-7 11 0-4 5 2 0 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 33 1-9 0-1 7-8 9 0-2 3 2 2 2 0 Tony Delk 19 2-6 0-1 3-4 7 1-2 2 1 1 2 0 Steve Nash 7 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 2 2 2 1 0 Travis Best 27 0-3 0-0 2-2 2 1-4 3 0 3 0 0 Antawn Jamison 33 9-15 0-1 3-4 21 5-9 1 3 0 0 0 Danny Fortson 11 3-5 0-0 1-1 7 3-5 0 2 4 0 0 Josh Howard 12 0-6 0-1 0-0 0 0-2 1 2 0 1 1 Shawn Bradley 14 2-5 0-0 2-2 6 1-3 0 0 2 0 3 Eduardo Najera 7 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 3-4 0 0 0 0 0 Marquis Daniels 6 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 32-85 2-11 24-30 90 17-46 22 15 15 8 5 Dallas at Toronto (November 6) Steve Nash did not play due to his strained left shoulder. And, man, did Dallas miss him. Dallas did jump out to an 11-2 lead with 8 minutes left (and should have gone home then). Toronto scored the next 6 points and the game stayed close the rest of the quarter, with Toronto once briefly taking a 1 point lead. Dallas led 22-20 after 1. It was mainly a 2-man game as Dirk Nowitzki had 11 points and Vince Carter had 12 points. The game stayed close early in the 2nd quarter with the teams trading leads a few times. A 3-pointer by Morris Peterson gave Toronto their largest lead at 41-34 with 1:45 remaining. Nowitzki closed the quarter with a 6-1 mini-run. Toronto led 42-40 at the half. Both teams were struggling in shooting around 42% FG and Dallas had 9 turnovers (5 by Antoine Walker in the 1st quarter) and Toronto had 11 turnovers. Nowitzki had a monster half with 23 points including 10-15 FG and 8 rebounds. Carter hardly played in the quarter and did not score. The poor shooting continued in the 3rd quarter and the game remained close with the teams trading leads 10 times. 6 straight points by Dallas, capped by a monster slam by Eduardo Najera, gave Dallas a 55-50 lead with 5 minutes to go. But Dallas would not score again for 4 more minutes and Toronto scored the next 6 points to go up 56-55 with 1:35 left. Both teams scored a bucket over the last minute of the quarter and Toronto led 58-57 after 3. The teams combined for only 33 points in the quarter. Dallas opened the 4th quarter with a 8-2 run to go up 65-60 with 10:30 remaining. Dallas then went through another scoring drought where they did not score for over 5 minutes and Toronto scored 8 consecutive points to go up 68-65 with 6:30 to go. The game remained close with both teams struggling to score and Toronto clinging to a small lead. 2 free throws by Michael Finley pulled Dallas within 71-72 with a minute left. Carter found Peterson on the pretty backcut for the layup as the shot clock was running out to give Toronto a 3 point lead with 38 seconds remaining. Walker missed a 3-point attempt with 24 seconds left and Dallas intentionally fouled Carter. Carter missed both free throws to give Dallas another chance. Dallas called timeout and advanced the ball to midcourt. But Nowitzki took his eye off the ball on the inbounds and it flittered off his finger tips and Carter grabbed the loose ball and was fouled. This time he hit his first free throw to make it a 2 possession game. He missed the 2nd, but Dallas missed their shot. 2 free throws by Peterson capped the scoring. Toronto won 77-71. Triple yuch. It was the 11th lowest score in Dallas team history and the lowest score since February 1999. 71 points from a team that scored 83 points just 4 months ago in a _half_. Yuch. How did it happen? Dallas only scored 31 points in the 2nd half while shooting 28.6% FG (which made their 42.5% FG 1st half shooting look good). Neither team shot well and the point difference actually came from the line (not blaming the refs, who I thought did an okay job, just pointing out the numbers). Overall, Dallas shot 35.4% (29-82) FG including 4-12 3-pointers and Toronto shot 39.7% (29-73) FG including 4-9 3-pointers. Dallas shot 9-11 FT and Toronto shot 15-20 FT. The rebounds were even at 44 a piece and Dallas had 5 more offensive. Both teams were sloppy with the ball as Dallas had 19 turnovers (and a good sign that they missed Steve Nash) and Toronto had 18 turnovers. Vince Carter was fairly quiet after the 1st quarter where he had 12 of his 19 points. He also had 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Antonio Davis had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. After being invisible in Toronto's first 3 games, Morris Peterson contributed 12 points including 4-6 FG and 2-3 3-pointers. Milt Palacio was the 4th Raptor in double-digits with 11 points, 7 assists, and 3 steals. Dirk Nowitzki's numbers looked solid with 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks, but he was invisible in the 2nd half. He only attempted 5 shots in the 2nd half (3 in the 3rd and 2 in the 4th). Antoine Walker had a very schizophrenic game - he was both very good and very bad. He had 14 points, but shot 6-20 FG (just 1-4 3-pointers as he has refrained from jacking a ton up like he did last year). He had a monster 17 rebounds including 8 offensive and a team high 7 assists as he played some point-forward with Nash out, but he also had a disgusting 9 turnovers. Michael Finley was the only other Mav in double-digits with 11 points, but he shot just 4-13 FG and didn't contribute in other ways, as he has been with his shooting struggles. Eduardo Najera started and had 9 points and 8 rebounds. Tony Delk had 6 point including 2-7 FG and 7 rebounds, but only 3 assists in starting at point guard. Travis Best only played 12 ineffective minutes and had 2 points on 1-6 FG and 2 assists. Antawn Jamison was also ineffective with also 2 points on 1-6 FG and 2 rebounds in 20 minutes. Those were Dallas' only 4 points that they got from the bench. Quotes Kevin O'Neill: "Let's be fair to them - they're playing without Steve Nash, they're playing the 2nd night of a back-to-back but they lost last night. I'm not taking anything away from our guys because Dallas played very hard, I'm sure they felt like that was a must win for them; we just hung around long enough to give ourselves a chance to win and we did it by playing great defense. I thought Chris Bosh played exceptionally well for a rookie on those 2 guys, he did a heck of a job. He got beat a couple of times, he got tricked a couple of times, but I thought he did a heck of job. I thought our guys at the end did a good job of taking away shots and forcing them to take some shots they probably didn't want to take. What you hope is that you can develop your bench to be in that situation so your guys can get rest. It allowed Vince to get ample amount of rest and he was able to come in and guard Nowitzki and do a reasonably good job. We wanted to give Nowitzki a little bit of a different look at the end because he was settling in against some of our big guys. We were trying to wear on them a little bit and wear them down and our reserves gave us an opportunity to be able to do that." Vince Carter: "Regardless if our offense is not up to par, the defense has to keep doing what it has been doing. That means holding teams to below their average, and that is our goal, to just defend. From there, our offense will follow. Our first 3 games have been slow starts and we fought just to catch back up. With this team, you can't do that because they have so many weapons that can score. Once they are on top of you, they really stomp on you and blow you out of your arena. It was important to do the job at both ends." Morris Petterson: "The one thing I try to do is let the game come to me. I thought we played hard defensively and we fought a tough team. Down the stretch, I thought we made some big plays, had some big steals, and that was the outcome of the game. They were coming off a loss to Washington and I think at the end they got a little tired. With a team like Dallas, they like to run, push the ball up the court, and they like to shoot a boat-load of 3s. I think that gives us an opportunity to score at the other end with fast breaks. With their team, their primary goal is to put up points and tonight, I think we matched their intensity on offense." Don Nelson: "I thought our effort was good from our standpoint but our play was terrible. All the turnovers that we made and the missed shots right around the basket, you hope that you can make those. In the NBA, players you would hope could make those shots but we didn't make them tonight and again we had our hard knocks on the road as we're trying to come together as a team." Nelson: "We're just snakebit a little right now." Nelson on Toronto's defense: "Obviously you have to give some credit there, for sure. I think they really work hard at it and they didn't make those shots easy and then they really tightened up down the stretch. We really had a hard time scoring anything down the stretch but we still had a lot of opportunities around the basket. We killed ourselves with the turnovers. I thought the decisions that we made with the ball were terrible." Dirk Nowitzki on his turnover at the end: "We didn't lose the game on the that play. We were down 3 and it should have never have come to that point. It's just our offense - there wasn't any rhythm to the offense. And actually, on the defense, we clamped down. If you would have told me we would have held them to 77 points and we lose, I would say you're crazy. I just wasn't ready for the ball and didn't catch it." Nowitzki: "71 points with our high-powered offense is bad. It shows there is no rhythm to our offense, there is no flow. We're not shooting the ball well. We're just struggling." Nowitzki on missing Nash: "He's our MVP. He gets us fired up to play every night. He gets our running game going and of course you miss your star point guard. But you have to find a way to win without him." Michael Finley: "It's a struggle. It's tough to win any ballgame when 2 of your main guys aren't a part of it, and that's Steve Nash and myself [referring to his poor play]. Offensively, we just couldn't get anything going." Antoine Walker: "We played very hard and with very good defense. Something we have been searching for this season. We got it done defensively, but we were sloppy with the number of turnovers - that cost us. You can't turn the basketball over like that in crucial points in the game and expect to win. The effort was definitely there. It's tough without all-star point guard Steve Nash because he gets everyone included. We have to continue to battle." Walker: "We missed Steve down the stretch. He gets us organized and in our sets. You can't win a basketball game like we played. We have to take care of the basketball." Eduardo Najera: "Ugly kind of game. They make it look like that with the way they play their defense. A bad game to watch but it's a long year and we're still going to get better. With good coaches ahead of us, we just have to do what they say." Najera on playing the 2nd night of a back-to-back: "I could tell because of the misses that we were tired. It was a factor but you have to give credit to Toronto." Najera: "We're going through a tough time. We just have to stay together and keep working at it. It'll come back." Toronto Raptors 77, Dallas Mavericks 71 at Toronto (November 6) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Toronto 20 22 16 19 - 77 .406 .444 .397 .750 Dallas 22 18 17 14 - 71 .357 .333 .354 .818 Halftime: Toronto 42-40 3rd Q: Toronto 58-57 Technicals: none Refs: Matt Boland, Mike Callahan, Scott Foster Attendance: 17,556 (cap 19,800) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (strained left shoulder) Toronto Raptors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Curry 19 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-1 1 0 2 0 0 Jerome Williams 23 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 3-6 0 1 3 0 0 Antonio Davis 34 4-10 0-0 5-6 13 5-12 2 3 2 2 2 Vince Carter 32 7-16 0-1 5-8 19 1-5 6 2 3 2 1 Alvin Williams 17 2-9 0-0 0-0 4 0-2 0 2 0 0 0 Chris Bosh 30 2-7 0-0 2-2 6 2-9 0 0 1 2 2 Milt Palacio 31 5-12 1-1 0-0 11 0-2 7 4 1 3 0 Lamond Murray 24 1-8 1-4 1-2 4 0-3 5 3 3 2 1 Jerome Moiso 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 0 0 1 0 Morris Peterson 23 4-6 2-3 2-2 12 1-3 0 1 4 2 0 Totals 48 29-73 4-9 15-20 77 12-44 22 18 19 14 6 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 42 11-20 1-2 4-4 27 0-5 3 4 4 0 3 Antoine Walker 39 6-20 1-4 1-1 14 8-17 7 9 0 1 2 Eduardo Najera 31 4-7 0-0 1-2 9 3-8 0 1 2 2 0 Michael Finley 40 4-13 1-3 2-2 11 1-3 1 2 2 0 0 Tony Delk 36 2-7 1-2 1-2 6 2-7 3 1 4 2 1 Travis Best 12 1-6 0-1 0-0 2 1-1 2 0 1 1 0 Antawn Jamison 20 1-6 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 3 0 1 0 0 Marquis Daniels 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 1 3 0 0 Shawn Bradley 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 2 0 1 Josh Howard 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 48 29-82 4-12 9-11 71 17-44 20 19 19 6 8 Dallas at San Antonio (November 8) San Antonio was still playing without stars Tim Duncan and Tony Parker and Dallas was very happy to have Steve Nash return after a 1 3/4 game absence. San Antonio popped out to a 6-0 lead as Dallas started sloppily by committing 3 turnovers in the first 2:20 of the game. But Dallas then rolled off the next 12 points to go up 12-6 with 6:40 remaining. The game remained close as 6 points would be the largest lead of the quarter. Neither team scored over the last 1:15 of the quarter (6 combined missed shots) and Dallas led 27-21 after 1. Despite missing their last 3 shots of the quarter, Dallas shot 57% FG in the 1st quarter. Dallas scored the first 4 points of the 2nd quarter to take their first double-digit lead at 31-21 with 10:40 to go. A 3-pointer by Shane Heal pulled San Antonio within 27-33 with 8:45 remaining, but Dallas answered with a 7-2 mini-run to go up 40-29 with 7 minutes left. A runner by Eduardo Najera gave Dallas their largest lead at 52-38 with 1:15 remaining, but the Spurs closed the quarter with a 6-1 mini-run. Dallas led led 53-44 at the half. Dallas shot 48% FG and 4-7 FT while San Antonio shot 36% FG and 11-14 FT. Dallas also held the rebounding edge at 27-21. Malik Rose was having a great game with 14 points and 11 rebounds already. Dirk Nowitzki opened the quarter with a jumper, the teams traded some misses, and then the refs gave 2 gifts to the Spurs. Don Nelson was upset about a foul that was called on Steve Nash, Nash said something to Nelson, and then the ref called a technical on Nash. Nash had a stunned looked on his face and he commented to a teammate (reading lips), "I was just trying to calm Nellie." A few seconds later, the ref issued a T to Nelson, who was just standing in the coaching box and staring. After a blocked shot by Michael Finley, Nash drove for 2 and then Dallas' shooting touch completely vanished. Dallas led 57-46 with 10:40 remaining and it would be over 5 minutes before Dallas scored again (including 2 missed free throws by Nowitzki). The Spurs took advantage of Dallas' drought in scoring 15 straight points to go up 61-57 with 5:45 left. Despite the lack of scoring on both sides the rest of the quarter, the game stayed close and San Antonio led 67-65 after 3. It was the rebounding that killed Dallas in the 3rd quarter as San Antonio out-rebounded Dallas 21-6. Dallas only scored 12 points in the 3rd quarter while shooting 5-19 FG. Tony Delk suffered a strained left hamstring near the end of the quarter and did not play in the 4th. Both teams' offense continued to struggle in the 4th quarter as Dallas' first field goal of the quarter did not come until 2:45 into the quarter and the Spurs' first field goal did not come until 7:10 into the quarter. Dallas used a 7-1 "run" (in this half, that was a run) to go up 72-68 with 7:25 left. But 4 points was Dallas' largest lead of the quarter. Dallas led 77-73 with 2:40 left and Rose hit an outside jumper and Bruce Bowen drained a 3-pointer from the corner (his only 3 of the game) to put San Antonio up 78-77 with 1:30 to go. Nash answered with a long 2 on Dallas' possession to put Dallas back up. Finley dropped down to help defensively on Rose, who was posting up, and Finley slapped the ball away to get the steal with 50 seconds remaining. Antoine Walker missed a 3-pointer, but Finley rose to snag the offensive rebound and give Dallas another possession with 28 seconds to go. Nash held the ball up top, running the clock down, drove, missed the high arcing layup attempt, but Antawn Jamison was right in front of the basket to get the putback and give Dallas a 81-78 lead with 4.9 seconds left. San Antoino called timeout and advanced to ball to halfcourt. Finley had slagged down towards the paint and the long inbounds pass found a wide open Robert Horry near the corner, but his 3-point attempt went long and Nowitzki grabbed the airball and time expired. Dallas won 81-78. Well, it was still ugly but at least Dallas got a win out of it. Dallas did play well in the 1st half, but the 2nd half was just ACK. Dallas only shot 30.8% FG in the 2nd half - but that was better than the Spurs as San Antonio shot a mere 28.9% FG in the 2nd half. San Antoino "out-scored" Dallas 34-28 in the 2nd half. For the game, Dallas shot 40% FG including 5-20 3-pointers and San Antonio shot 32.5% (27-83) FG including 3-16 3-pointers. And if Dallas just had hit more of their (rare) free throws, the game would have been long over before the final buzzer. Dallas shot a mere 8-15 FT and San Antonio shot 21-26 FT. [The officiating was pretty bizarre throughout and both teams had plenty to complain about.] Despite the lopsided rebounding in the 3rd quarter, Dallas was only out-rebounded by a total of 4 boards - 49-45 including 16-13 offensive. Again, it wasn't a good performance by Dallas and San Antonio was missing the best player in the game in Tim Duncan and starting point guard Tony Parker, but as miserably as Dallas has been playing, any win is a good win. The win was Don Nelson's 1,100th career coaching win. Antawn Jamison had a great game off the bench with 20 points and 9 rebounds including 4 offensive. The injury didn't seem to bother Steve Nash as he had 15 points and 6 assists. Dirk Nowitzki had 15 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals, and 5 turnovers - including 2 very pathetic throw aways. Michael Finley continued to struggle with just 7 points including 2-8 FG, but he did have the key plays down the stretch. He also had 5 assists and 4 steals. Antoine Walker had a quiet night with just 9 points on 4-12 FG and 8 rebounds including 4 offensive. Tony Delk played well defensively (he had Manu Ginobili) before leaving with a strained hammy. He had 12 points in 28 minutes. Travis Best continued to be nonexistent with shooting 0-5 FG and 0 assists in 10 minutes. Eduardo Najera had his usual hustle and non-stats with 2 points and 5 rebounds in 14 minutes. Shawn Bradley and Danny Fortson played a handful of minutes each and didn't do much. For San Antonio, Malik Rose had an awesome game and was all over the boards. He had a 20-20 with 20 points including 8-10 FG and 22 rebounds including 9 offensive. Manu Ginobili contributed 17 points, 7 assists, and 3 steals. Rasho Nesterovic was the only other Spur in double-digits with 10 points. He also had 7 rebounds. Outside of his 3-pointer near the end of the game, Bruce Bowen had a miserable outing with 5 points on 2-11 FG. Robert Horry was only slightly better with 7 points including 3-12 FG. Add in Hedo Turkoglu's 1-7 FG shooting and it's is no wonder the Spurs could manage just 78 points. Quotes Don Nelson: "That was a hard game for us. We hung in there and finally got some breaks. We got some rebounds off our misses and thought we had some good interior passing. This game really could have gone either way and we really got lucky." Nelson: "We got a little lucky at the end and they didn't." Nelson: "We didn't execute our plan defensively at the end and got lucky that they didn't hit that open look at the end. We wanted to foul whoever got the ball right away and we didn't get that done." Nelson: "We are a tired team right now. I am shocked at how well Nash played. He had to play those last 8 minutes of this game at full throttle and he really did play at a high level. He got some easy baskets at a time when easy baskets were hard to come by." Nelson on winning despite Duncan and Parker not playing: "It really doesn't [matter]. We're just talking about stopping the bleeding somehow." Dirk Nowitzki: "Another ugly game. Defensively it wasn't that bad. It's the offense that can't seem to find a rhythm. In the 2nd half there was a stretch were we couldn't get anything to fall. But we'll take the win and move on. There is really nothing else to say about that." Steve Nash: "I felt all right. I was a little out of sorts but I was good enough. I took some nice shots out there. I thought I had a concussion at one point. I couldn't see for about 5 seconds. I just had to shake it off and clear my head." Nash: "I haven't missed a game in 2 1/2 years. I've done most of the ball handling and creating shots for my teammates. And to get injured, the team has been playing one style with one guy for so long, that's a difficult situation to put the guys in, especially a new group. You add all these new pieces and take away one of the old foundations, that's tough for the guys." Nash on hitting big shots: "That's the fun part about playing sometimes. When you get a shot that really makes the difference between winning and losing. In those situations it's nice to see it come your way and be able to ignore everyone else and get a shot up." Gregg Popovich: "It was a tough game. The guys played well. It was a tough loss down the stretch. We just couldn't get it down. It was a couple of tough possession [by Dallas] at the end. It's hard to fault this group. They're learning on the fly and doing good things. We're getting better." Popovich on Rose: "He's somebody who takes his job seriously. He does all he can to help us win. All the guys do. They push hard. It's encouraging." Popovich: "The thing for us, that we must do to be successful, especially in the playoffs, is defense and rebounds. For us to play well against a team like Dallas is huge. I hope that when Tim and Tony come back, we still play as well. We can't assume that when they come back we will be even better." Malik Rose: "It's another frustrating night. We played hard, as always, and competed but it's just discouraging to lose another game. We played a tough Western Conference team and we had a chance to beat them. Yeah, I see we are taking steps in the right the direction. We are improving and guys are catching on. It's still frustrating to lose. It would have felt great to beat those guys, but it just didn't happen. I try to lead by example but we have a lot of guys on the team that know what it takes to win. It was nice to collect 20 rebounds, but we still lost." Bruce Bowen: "I think we are still trying to understand what we are about. Each game like this is a test for us, whether we are playing well collectively, as a team. That's the goal and we are starting to do that. It's difficult playing without all the guys healthy. But the show doesn't stop. We still have to play. Nobody's going to come in and say 'They don't have Tim or Tony so we aren't going to play as hard.' It's good that we are learning from the losses. If we were losing in a different way, where we weren't competing and not playing together as a unit it would be disappointing, but it's just disappointing that we are losing. We are playing the right way." Dallas Mavericks 81, San Antonio Spurs 78 at San Antonio (November 8) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 27 26 12 16 - 81 .446 .250 .400 .533 San Antonio 21 23 23 11 - 78 .358 .188 .325 .808 Halftime: Dallas 53-44 3rd Q: San Antonio 67-65 Technicals: Del Harris 10:53 1st, Steve Nash 11:12 3rd, Don Nelson 11:03 3rd Refs: Joe DeRosa, Monty McCutchen, Scott Wall Attendance: 18,797 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Tim Duncan (sprained left ankle), Tony Parker (sprained left ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 36 2-8 1-3 2-2 7 1-3 5 0 3 4 1 Antoine Walker 36 4-12 1-4 0-0 9 4-8 1 3 3 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 40 7-18 1-7 0-2 15 0-11 3 5 2 3 0 Steve Nash 37 6-12 2-3 1-2 15 0-3 6 3 4 0 0 Tony Delk 28 6-12 0-3 0-1 12 2-4 1 1 2 1 0 Travis Best 10 0-5 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Antawn Jamison 32 8-15 0-0 4-6 20 4-9 1 0 1 0 0 Eduardo Najera 14 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2-5 1 1 1 1 0 Shawn Bradley 4 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0-1 0 1 1 0 0 Danny Fortson 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 34-85 5-20 8-15 81 13-45 18 14 19 9 2 San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bruce Bowen 32 2-11 1-4 0-0 5 0-6 2 1 3 0 1 Malik Rose 41 6-14 0-0 8-10 20 9-22 1 4 5 0 0 Radoslav Nesterovic 32 5-10 0-0 0-0 10 3-7 0 3 2 2 2 Jason Hart 35 3-8 0-0 1-2 7 1-5 1 1 3 2 1 Emanuel Ginobili 37 6-16 1-4 4-4 17 0-1 7 2 2 3 1 Robert Horry 24 3-12 0-2 1-2 7 1-4 2 1 1 0 1 Hidayet Turkoglu 21 1-7 0-2 5-6 7 1-2 1 0 1 1 0 Shane Heal 12 1-4 1-4 0-0 3 0-0 1 2 0 0 0 Devin Brown 6 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 1-2 0 1 1 1 0 Totals 48 27-83 3-16 21-26 78 16-49 15 16 18 9 6 patricia