Dallas did obtain Scott Williams off the waiver wire. He was in town and dressed for Saturday's game, but did not play. Denver at Dallas (January 31) The game stayed close early on and Denver scored 6 straight points to go up 14-8 with 5:40 remaining and held a single-digit lead for most of the rest of the quarter. Dirk Nowitzki hit a jumper with a minute to go and Michael Finley nailed a jumper near the end of the quarter to give Dallas a 22-21 lead after 1. Earl Boykins opened the 2nd quarter with a 3-pointer, but Finley hit a jumper and then drained consecutive 3-pointers to give Dallas a 30-24 lead with 10:20 left. Denver pulled within 34-38 on a layup by Carmelo Anthony with 5 minutes to go, but Dallas then went on a 15-2 run, with 8 points by Finley, to go up 53-36 with a minute remaining. Dallas led 53-37 at the half. Finley had 20 points in the 2nd quarter. For the half, Dallas was shooting 56% FG and Denver was shooting 34% FG. A 3-pointer by Finley gave Dallas their largest lead at 64-44 with 8:50 left. Dallas led 74-57 with 3:40 to go and the Nuggets went on a 12-2 run, with 8 points from a white hot Andre Miller, to pull within 69-76 with 45 seconds left. Dallas led 80-73 after 3. Miller had 16 points on 8-8 FG in the 3rd quarter. Dallas continued to shot well (10-20 FG) in the 3rd quarter, but Denver hardly missed in shooting 15-20 FG in the 3rd. Dallas' shooting touch completely left them in the 4th quarter and the Mavs did not connect on their first field goal of the quarter until 4 minutes in. Denver used a 7-2 run to open the quarter to pull within 80-82 with 8:15 to go. Dallas led 90-84 with 6 minutes left and their shooting woes got worse at the wrong time as they went 1-11 FG over the next 5 minutes and allowed Denver to go on a 13-2 run to take a 97-92 lead with 1:15 remaining. Steve Nash got a layup with a minute to go and Anthony missed with 40 seconds remaining. Nowitzki missed the quick 3-point attempt with 32 seconds and Don Nelson picked up a technical complaining that Nowitzki was clipped on the elbow during the shot. After Miller made the free throw, Dallas intentionally fouled and Miller hit 2 more free throws to give Denver a 100-94 lead with 26 seconds remaining. Nash drained a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left, but Denver shot 7-8 FT down the stretch to seal the win. Denver won 107-102. Well that's a choke job on a major order. Dallas got up big and decided to coast and Denver never gave up. Credit goes to Andre Miller hitting everything in sight, including some very tough ones, and blame goes to Dallas for not playing the full 48 minutes. Denver out-scored Dallas 50-28 in the last 15 1/2 minutes of the game - and it would be worse without 2 3-pointers by Steve Nash in the final 30 seconds of the game [out-scored 40-20 for a 15 minute stretch (not including the last 30 seconds of the game)]. Though some complaints can be tossed the refs way, Dallas has no one to blame for this collapse but themselves. Once again the team showed that they lack the killer instinct this season and no team is ever out of it against the Mavs no matter how big of a lead Dallas builds prior to the 4th quarter. After shooting 34% (13-38) FG in the 1st half, Denver shot 66% (25-38) FG in the 2nd half. And Dallas only shot 9-26 FG in the 4th quarter after shooting 50% or better in the first 3 quarters. Denver did have a large advantage at the line in shooting 28-35 FT while Dallas shot 12-16 FT, but that includes Denver shooting 9-10 FT on intentional fouls. Dallas played a very sloppy game throughout as they had 5 turnovers in 3 quarters and 4 in the 2nd quarter for 19 total turnovers (2nd most this season). Denver was also sloppy with 17 turnovers, but that is only 2 more than their average. No question that Andre Miller got his team back in the game with his 3rd quarter performance. He finished with 25 points (21 of which came in the 2nd half) including 11-15 FG and 6 assists. Carmelo Anthony showed a couple of nice moves and had 26 points and 8 rebounds in 34 minutes. Nene had 15 points and 7 rebounds and Rodney White had 14 points including 5-7 FG. Earl Boykins wasn't shooting well with 3-10 FG. He had 9 points and 7 assists. Marcus Camby had 9 points and 12 rebounds. Dallas wasted a hot game from Michael Finley. After scoring 33 points through 3 quarters, the Mavs went away from the hot hand and he only attempted 4 shots in the 4th - and just 2 in the last 7 minutes of the game after making his first 2 attempts of the quarter. Finley finished with 37 points including 16-25 FG and had 5 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki struggled and he had his 3rd straight poor rebounding game. Nowitzki had 16 points on 8-23 FG and 0-6 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. Antoine Walker had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Steve Nash was quiet for most of the game and his 2 late 3-pointers put his scoring in double-digits. He had 14 points and 4 assists. Antawn Jamison had a poor outing with just 8 points including 1-4 FG and 5 rebounds and his night got worse when he and Dirk Nowitzki collided when the 2 tried to intentionally foul a Nugget in the waning seconds and Nowitzki landed on Jamison. Jamison was visibly woozy coming off the court and needed 4 stitches to close a gash on his chin. Quotes Jeff Bzdelik: "Our basketball team showed great character and heart. They fought back in a very tough environment and I'm very proud of them. There were a lot of little things that we didn't do in the 1st half. We didn't get back in defensive transition very well. We were playing a little selfishly and we had some defensive breakdowns that allowed them to get to the rim and get easy layups. We corrected that at halftime. We stopped them from getting layups, easy transition points. We shared the ball and we made some key shots when I counted down the stretch." Bzdelik: "We talked about correcting all the little things that have kept us from beating the elite teams as of late. That's a couple of breakdowns defensively that allow layups. A couple of times we only have 3 or 4 guys back in defensive transition instead of 5. Making that extra pass. It just seems like there's a lot of little things that add up over the course of a game, as happened in the 1st half. For us to take the next step, we need to be rock solid in all phases of the game." Bzdelik: "You have to remember where they came from last year. We've had some tough losses and we've had some great wins and their character is great. They've stuck together, they are coachable, and they play very hard." Bzdelik: "We are a young basketball team. Carmelo's 19, Nene's 21. They are growing and getting better. We have 6 new faces on this team since the beginning of the year, so that's half the team and it takes a while to grow and develop." Carmelo Anthony: "We kept our focus. We buckled down defensively and tried to get a basket every time down the court. They left us open. NBA players are supposed to make those." Anthony: "When Andre gets hot, he starts hitting any and everything. That's what happened today. He was driving to the hole and he was hitting everything he put up." Andre Miller: "I was just trying to be aggressive. I mean, they were playing zone, so I didn't want to sit there and stand on the wing and try to shoot the ball. I just tried to be aggressive and get in the paint and make plays." Marcus Camby: "It was just about pride and heart. We being down, we could have easily folded in the tent and said this game is too hard. But we just kept fighting and scrapping and eventually pulled out the win." Camby: "That's the best win I've been a part of in Denver. We kept fighting. We had the whole arena against us, but we weathered the storm. It was about pride and heart." Camby: "We felt we had these guys the last couple of times, but coming down the stretch we weren't mentally tough enough to get the job done. Today it was just reversed." Rodney White: "Had some shots and I made them. I just had an aggressive offensive mind." Jon Barry: "This is a catapult-type victory where I'm sure no one gave us a chance. Certainly down 20 in the 3rd it looked pretty bleak." Don Nelson: "I guess you have to take some bad with the good. We've been good for a long time. We let our guard down in the 2nd half. They snuck up on us and then we got one of those cold spells and we couldn't do anything. I'm pretty disappointed with our 2nd half. We played so well in the 1st half and I keep assuming that it's going to continue. Sometimes it doesn't." Nelson: "They out-played us in the 2nd half. They were better, more physical, made more shots, rebounded better, and made their foul shots." Nelson: "We got the ball where we wanted it [at the end]. We turned the ball over too many times. We had 18 turnovers. That's not like us. We didn't make any of the shots we normally make, but they pressured us on the shots." Nelson on not going to Finley down the stretch: "Finley had 25 shots, that's not bad for a hot man. A hot man can't shoot every time or you'd never win a game. You have to share the wealth." Nelson: "That's the first time I'm really disappointed in our bench in a long time. When we needed a lift, it wasn't there." Nelson on if Nowitzki was fouled on his 3-point attempt near the end: "No question, several times in the game. That's why I got the technical. I'd asked them to look for that. They were going after our arms. Between [Nowitzki] and [Finley], they couldn't stop our shots, so they went after our arms and there were no calls." Nelson on Scott Williams: "He hasn't played in a while. We'll have him practice Monday. Take a look at him and see how out of shape he is. We know what he can do when he's in shape. He'll be part of our rotation." Dirk Nowitzki on his 3-point attempt near the end: "I thought I got fouled, but it shouldn't have ever gotten to that point where we're down 3 in the last minute. We should have had an easier day." Nowitzki: "We're not that good that we can turn it off and on whenever we want. We're not that good of a defensive team." Nowitzki: "There were running at us, they got open shots, and they got 3s. They got whatever they wanted." Michael Finley: "No excuse. They beat us." Finley: "I think offensively we were still getting the looks we wanted, but definitely they were more aggressive and, as a result, they were making big shots they needed to. It was a complete opposite of the 1st half for them and for us and, as a result, they came back and got us." Finley: "It's kind of an [illusion] when everything offensively is coming easily and you think that's the way it's going to be the whole game. But when they turn up their defense a little, you have to turn up your defense. We relaxed on the defensive end. Whatever they wanted to do, they did." Steve Nash: "There's no excuse. We just quit playing. Once you give them confidence, the momentum swings. We played like the clock was going to run out and we were going to win." Antawn Jamison: "We couldn't really knock down any shots in the 4th quarter. They got a lot of fast break opportunities and easy baskets. They got to the foul line a lot and I think it was the little things like that. Andre Miller really caught on fire. He was the one that was really killing us from the field, but just them defensively making it tough for us." Jamison: "They looked more like the veteran team than we did." Jamison: "It's definitely a bad taste, especially being up 20 at home. That's something that you would not expect us to do, but we're going to learn from it. We just have to be really hungry and ready to play come Tuesday when we play against the Warriors." Jamison: "I was impressed with those guys. Normally when a team is down 20, a team will try to get it all at once. But those guys stayed poised, ran the offense." Josh Howard: "They cut it to 5, then cut it to 3. Before we knew it, they were up with a minute and a half to go. We tried to come back, but we just couldn't do it today. They hit a lot of open shots and we missed too many shots at the end and that was it." Scott Williams: "Right now, they're a team just coming off a 9 game win streak. They were like, 'Okay, we've got it rolling again, we're up 20' and we kind of let off the gas a bit. There was a little bit of a relaxed atmosphere there in the 2nd half. Everyone is a little down right now, but we'll take tomorrow off, watch the Super Bowl, come back and get ready to work on Monday." Williams on what he brings: "Rebound and defense without a doubt. We've got obviously enough offensive firepower on this team. For me, it's just a matter of helping out on defense if someone gets beat, get an occasional block shot, draw a charge and plug the driving lanes, and obviously get on the glass." Denver Nuggets 107, Dallas Mavericks 102 at Dallas (January 31) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Denver 21 16 36 34 - 107 .522 .333 .500 .800 Dallas 22 31 27 22 - 102 .545 .286 .483 .750 Halftime: Dallas 53-37 3rd Q: Dallas 80-73 Technicals: Don Nelson 0:29 4th Refs: Kevin Fehr, Ron Olesiak, Steve Javie Attendance: 20,463 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Voshon Lenard (right quad strain), Eduardo Najera (sore left knee) Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Carmelo Anthony 34 9-20 1-3 7-8 26 2-8 1 4 4 1 1 Nene Hilario 39 4-8 0-0 7-8 15 0-7 4 3 1 1 0 Marcus Camby 38 4-7 0-0 1-4 9 2-12 3 3 2 3 1 Earl Boykins 33 3-10 1-1 2-2 9 0-3 7 2 0 1 0 Andre Miller 39 11-15 0-0 3-3 25 1-4 6 3 3 0 1 Jon Barry 17 1-5 0-4 2-2 4 0-1 2 0 1 1 0 Rodney White 21 5-7 1-1 3-4 14 0-1 1 1 4 1 0 Chris Andersen 16 1-3 0-0 3-4 5 2-3 0 1 1 1 2 Francisco Elson 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-76 3-9 28-35 107 7-39 24 17 16 9 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 22 4-6 0-0 1-2 9 2-4 0 2 1 4 0 Antoine Walker 36 7-14 0-3 2-3 16 4-10 6 4 4 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 43 8-23 0-6 0-0 16 0-6 4 3 2 1 2 Michael Finley 42 16-25 4-7 1-1 37 1-5 1 2 5 2 1 Steve Nash 34 6-13 2-4 0-0 14 0-0 4 2 1 1 1 Antawn Jamison 21 1-4 0-0 6-8 8 1-5 2 1 4 0 0 Travis Best 13 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 2 3 1 1 0 Danny Fortson 17 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 2-8 0 1 3 0 1 Shawn Bradley 12 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-4 0 0 2 0 3 Totals 48 42-87 6-21 12-16 102 12-43 19 19 23 9 8 patricia