The real world got busy and I've fallen way behind on my game writeups. Instead of falling further behind, I went ahead and did the writeup for the Orlando game (blowouts are easy to do). Michael Finley missed the Indiana, Miami, and Orlando games with a sore right calf. He is expected to play in tonight's game. Dallas at Orlando (March 28) Michael Finley again sat out, but the Mavs had a big advantage as Orlando was missing Tracy McGrady. And the Mavs took full advantage in this game, for a change. The Mavs went with small ball (and Don Nelson said that he is going to go with small ball for the rest of the season) with Steve Nash, Marquis Daniels, Josh Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, and center Antoine Walker. A layup by Nowitzki gave Dallas a 14-6 lead with 6:30 remaining and the Magic got no closer than 3 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 28-23 after 1. Dallas led 40-32 with 8:20 to go and the Mavs scored the next 8 points to go up 48-32 with 6:50 left. A jumper by Nowitzki gave Dallas their first 20 point lead at 60-40 with 2:30 left. Dallas led 43-62 at the half. Dallas shot 67% FG in the half. A dunk and layup by Daniels gave Dallas a 77-52 lead with 7 minutes to go. Orlando then scored the next 10 points, capped by a 3-pointer by Tyronn Lue, to pull within 62-77 with 2:50 remaining. But the Mavs then went on a 7-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Daniels, to go up 84-64 with 50 seconds left. Britton Johnsen hit a jumper at the quarter buzzer. Dallas led 88-69 after 3. Consecutive 3-pointers by Dallas gave the Mavs a 97-73 lead with 9:50 remaining and Orlando got no closer than 20 points the rest of the way. Dallas won easily 118-88. It was an easy win that the Mavs really needed. Granted, it was against the worst team in the league and they were missing their best player. But with the way things had gone with Dallas lately, nothing was given. Each Mav player, except Scott Williams, shot 50% FG or better, while Orlando had 6 players shoot less than 35% FG. As a result, Dallas shot 55.6% (50-90) FG including 6-12 3-pointers and Orlando shot 35.2% (32-91) FG including 5-15 3-pointers. Add to that Dallas out-rebounding Orlando 53-43 and it is easy to see why this game was a blowout. Dallas had 34 assists and Orlando had just 13 assists. It's a team game - Dallas is 25-3 in games where they have 25 or more assists. Dallas out-scored Orlando 64-32 in the paint and had 22 fast break points while Orlando had just 4 fast break points. It was a balanced outing for the Mavs with 6 players in double-digits. The rookies played well. Marquis Daniels had 20 points including 9-16 FG, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. Josh Howard had 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 25 points including 11-19 FG and 9 rebounds. Steve Nash was looking to dish more than score and had 12 points and 11 assists in 28 minutes. He had the highlight of the game with a behind the back pass on the break. Antawn Jamison chipped in 21 points including 9-13 FG, 9 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 3 steals in 27 minutes off the bench. Antoine Walker continued his quiet month of March with just 10 points (on 5-11 FG). He did have 9 rebounds and 4 assists, though. Drew Gooden had a nice outing for Orlando with 20 points including 9-16 FG and 10 rebounds. Tyronn Lue had 19 points and 5 assists. Juwan Howard did have a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but he shot just 6-17 FG. No other Magic was in double-digits. Keith Bogans had 9 points on 4-13 FG and 1-7 3-pointers and 6 rebounds and DeShawn Stevenson had 8 points including 3-15 FG and 5 rebounds. The Mavs finished their 5 games road trip out East with a disappointing 2-3 - winning the first and last game of the trip. Meanwhile, Memphis continues to roll and passed Dallas in the standings. Dallas is currently 6th in the standings and it will take being almost perfect for the remaining 9 games for the team to even have a shot at home court in the first round. Quotes Don Nelson: "It's nice to win, but I wouldn't get too excited about this one." Nelson: "At this point, we're looking for anything positive, to be honest. We really struggled lately, so to have a good defensive and good offensive effort on the same night makes it nice." Nelson: "We got in the open court and we did a lot of good things with the small lineup. It gives us a lot more options with Walker playing center on offense. Anyway, let's see what happens coming up. We'll definitely go with it the rest of the regular season and then see how it's working." Nelson on the road trip: "We're losing ground at the wrong time. Another win would have made it decent." Dirk Nowitzki on the road trip: "We wanted to turn this thing around on this trip and get all 5, but it's been a disaster." Nowitzki on the road trip: It's been a disaster. We lost a lot of games that we would usually win." Steve Nash: "We have a habit of playing down to the level of our competition. This was by no means a foregone conclusion." Antoine Walker on Howard and Daniels: "They are rookies who can play. They have tremendous talent. I think the whole rookie class is good, from Carmelo and LeBron on down." Walker: "It wasn't the road trip we wanted. It's disappointing, but we have to try to finish strong. To lose those games we did was the story of our season on the road." Antawn Jamison: "We really have to make up some ground at home." Marquis Daniels: "Trying to fill in for Mike is a big thing. He is a great scorer for us and brings a lot of intensity. My thing is to play defense for the team and get points when they need them from me." Daniels on playing in front of his hometown: I was a little nervous at first, but it was great for me. It has been a big adjustment for me from not being drafted to coming to a team that people thought I wasn't going to make to being able to contribute this late in the season." Johnny Davis: "We have to play each game and come out with a commitment to win it. No one's going to feel sorry for us." Davis: "In the 1st quarter we competed, but beyond that I thought the game got away from us. We never responded to try to make a game of it, but it's difficult when you're not scoring and they're laying the ball up." Davis on McGrady: "I know he warmed up before to see how it felt, but he had mentioned to me yesterday that he didn't think he would be able to go. But it's day-to-day, so obviously it didn't feel healthy enough or right enough, so he didn't play." Drew Gooden: "It's more of a feeling of being embarrassed than anything. I usually don't get on everybody, but today was a time I felt like I had to. We never really had a vocal leader on this team." Gooden: "It's going to be an ugly situation this summer. Guys are going to be shipped in and out. Last year we had a completely different team. This year we had a completely different team and next year we're going to have a completely different team. It's like you never get to grow." Keith Bogans: "We're still playing, we're not going to give up - didn't look that way today, though." Dallas Mavericks 118, Orlando Magic 88 at Orlando (March 28) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 34 26 30 - 118 .564 .500 .556 .800 Orlando 23 20 26 19 - 88 .355 .333 .352 .792 Halftime: Dallas 62-43 3rd Q: Dallas 88-69 Technicals: none Refs: Bob Delaney, Derrick Stafford, Kevin Fehr Attendance: 16,248 (cap 17,283) Did not play due to injury: Michael Finley (strained right calf), Tracy McGrady (sore left knee) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 42 8-16 1-2 2-2 19 1-12 5 1 6 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 34 11-19 3-3 0-1 25 1-9 2 0 2 3 2 Antoine Walker 33 5-11 0-4 0-0 10 2-9 4 2 4 0 0 Marquis Daniels 44 9-16 1-1 1-2 20 3-5 7 0 2 1 2 Steve Nash 28 4-8 0-1 4-4 12 0-2 11 2 0 0 0 Antawn Jamison 27 9-13 1-1 2-2 21 5-9 2 1 1 3 1 Danny Fortson 5 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 1-1 1 2 2 0 1 Eduardo Najera 10 2-2 0-0 1-2 5 0-2 1 1 0 0 0 Travis Best 7 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-3 1 1 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 3 Scott Williams 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 50-90 6-12 12-15 118 13-53 34 10 19 9 9 Orlando Magic REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Keith Bogans 41 4-13 1-7 0-2 9 1-6 1 1 2 0 0 Drew Gooden 32 9-16 0-0 2-2 20 3-10 0 4 1 0 1 Juwan Howard 34 6-17 0-0 4-4 16 3-10 1 1 2 0 0 DeShawn Stevenson 38 3-15 1-2 1-2 8 2-5 2 3 2 1 0 Tyronn Lue 38 6-12 3-4 4-4 19 2-4 5 2 1 1 0 Britton Johnsen 25 1-8 0-1 2-2 4 1-3 2 0 2 0 0 Reece Gaines 6 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Andrew DeClercq 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Zaza Pachulia 9 1-5 0-0 2-4 4 3-4 0 1 0 0 0 Sean Rooks 12 1-4 0-1 2-2 4 1-1 2 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 32-91 5-15 19-24 88 16-43 13 13 12 2 1 patricia