10th Anniversary: Hard to believe, but I started doing Mavs News reports 10 years ago. With my move to Austin in the summer of 1993, I had more access to Mavs information and could (if the reception wasn't too bad) listen to the games on the radio and started the Mavs News reports. The first one I did was a writeup of the open practice in Waco [disaster as I got the time wrong and showed up to see just 15 minutes of practice, a number of players were injured so Buckner made it a short practice anyways, and Mashburn had finally signed that day so he wasn't there - but Terry Davis was really cool and stayed out so long talking to the fans after practice that they started turning the lights out on us]. First the Mavs News were only posted to rec.sport.basketball.pro (alt.sports.basketball.dallas-mavs didn't exist then). A short while into the 93-94 season, I created a distribution list (only I sent mail to the list) for the Mavs News and a handful of people joined that. A year later, I got my netcom account and created the Mavs mailing list (others could send to the list - I even got a couple of complaints about it not just being me sending to the list). And a year after that came my move back to the Dallas area and the creation of my web pages. So to any of you who remember way back to my Mavs News during the Buckner horror year, congrats, you're a 'net old fogy. Dallas signed Jon Steffansson to a bizarre 5 year contract. None of the years are guaranteed and each is at Dallas' option. Stefansson is a 6-5 guard from Iceland. Dallas signed Josh Powell and Rod Gregoire to the training camp roster. Gregoire has already been released. Powell participated in Dallas' summer league and is a 6-9 forward who came out of school 2 years early. Dallas already has 15 players under contract and only Powell's and Steffansson's contracts are not guaranteed - and with Steffansson's bizarre contract so Mav friendly, Powell is likely not going to be on the roster by the start of the season (though a slim chance if the Mavs trade away Mills and don't get a player in return). Chris Mills is expected (if he hasn't already done so) to undergo surgery on his left ankle, which will keep him out a number of months. Dallas isn't going to use him, so it doesn't affect the team. Dallas vs Utah at Mexico City (October 5) Michael Finley did not play due to a sore right quad and will probably sit out Tuesday's game as well. Nothing serious, just nothing worth the risk of making it worse for a preseason game. Well, it was what you would expect for the 1st preseason game. Some flashes of good play, especially in the 1st half, and lots and lots of ugly play, especially in the 2nd half. As expected, local boy Eduardo Najera got the start (though he didn't jump like Nelson said he would) and was cheered throughout the game. However, the refs - especially Jason Phillips - didn't like him and he kept getting whistled for fouls. He came out playing well and aggressive and scored 8 points in the 1st quarter. The 1st quarter actually wasn't too ugly with neither team leading by more than 5 points and Dallas scored the last 4 points of the quarter to tie the game at 24-24 after 1. Dirk Nowitzki also had 8 points in the quarter and Matt Harpring had 9 for Utah. Nowitzki and Steve Nash sat for the 2nd quarter and Dallas' 2nd unit was sporadic, but better than the mass rotation that Utah was using. Dallas held a small lead most of the quarter and led 50-46 at the half. Nowitzki returned and scored 8 of Dallas' first 10 points of the 3rd quarter to give Dallas a 60-50 lead midway through the quarter. He and Nash sat for the rest of the game a short time later. Dallas led 68-59 after 3. It got really ugly in the 4th as Dallas struggled to score and kept turning the ball over. Utah was able to take advantage of a 5 minute scoring drought by Dallas and scored 10 straight points (first 8 from free throws) to go up 77-73 with 3:40 left. Dallas finally started scoring again, but couldn't make the defensive stop needed. A pretty driving layup by Travis Best pulled Dallas within 84-86 with 45 second left. Best picked up his 6th foul with 25 seconds left. Raul Lopez only hit 1 of 2 free throws and Shawn Bradley was fouled rebounding the miss. Bradley also hit only 1 of 2 free throws, but Dallas rebounded. Jamison had the ball in the corner and, with slight contact, lost the ball out of bounds off his foot with 10 seconds left. Utah hit 3 more free throws for the final margin. Utah won 90-85. It wasn't pretty and I think all, except for the fans in attendance in Mexico, were happy it didn't go into overtime. Amazingly, one of Dallas' strengths cost the Mavs this game - free throws. Dallas shot a terrible 15-30 FT. Dallas played 11 players and Utah played an amazing 19 players. As such, I don't have anything to say about the Utah players, except Andrei Kirilenko had a terrible game (0-5 FG). Raul Lopez and Aleksandar Pavlovic each had 10 points and the rest of the Jazz players were in single-digits. The 2 were also the only Jazz players to play more than 20 minutes. For Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki looked very good with 16 points and 6 rebounds in just 19 minutes. He had a couple of wow moves that you just knew were going to result in a basket and/or free throws. Antawn Jamison had an up and down game. He looked really good when he took the ball inside and showed off his funky flip-ins. But he looked really bad outside 18-feet [already has me yelling to get inside] and was horrendous at the free throw line where he missed all 6 attempts. Ouch. He finished with 16 points and 3 rebounds in 27 minutes. Steve Nash wasn't looking to score as he only attempted (and missed) 2 shots in 18 minutes, but did have 5 assists. Eduardo Najera was given a heros welcome by everyone except the refs. He fouled out with 5 minutes left in the game. All 8 of his points came in the 1st quarter and he had 3 rebounds and 3 steals in a game high 33 minutes. Jiri Welsch was a surprising starter (didn't start the 2nd half) and looked like a rookie. He showed a couple of flashes, but mostly looked lost and I kept wondering why the ball kept ending up in his hands during the 4th quarter as he kept missing or fumbling it away. Welsch had 8 points including 2-11 FG, 4 rebounds, and 3 turnovers in 26 minutes. With Nash playing so few minutes, Travis Best saw 30 minutes on the court. He mostly looked good, with 2 very pretty drives during the game, but also dribbled into trouble and passed the ball to the wrong person and got burned defensively by younger legs a couple of times. He had 10 points, 5 assists, and 3 turnovers before fouling out near the end of the game. Raef LaFrentz looked comfortable with his shot and had 10 points on 4-6 FG and 2-2 3-pointers and 5 rebounds in 22 minutes. Shawn Bradley looked like Shawn Bradley. He hit a couple of straight-up 15-footers and a nice putback, but botched a number of bunnies. He had 7 points including 3-7 FG and 4 rebounds in 17 minutes. Tariq Abdul-Wahad showed some nice defense, but was lacking offensively and then got hesitant with his shot. He had 2 points on 1-5 FG, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in 22 minutes. Rookie Josh Howard looked very good offensively, including a dive-pull-up that swished and a pretty spin move, but needs lots of work defensively. He had 8 points and 3 rebounds in 18 minutes. Danny Fortson didn't get the nod until the 4th quarter and looked big. I mean flabby. But he did have some aggressive rebound snags and had 3 rebounds in 8 minutes (didn't attempt a shot and missed both free throws attempted). Marquis Daniels, Josh Powell, and Jon Steffansson did not play. [I'm not including coaches and players quotes as there weren't many of them and none of them were insightful and it's preseason.] Utah Jazz 90, Dallas Mavericks 85 at Mexico City (October 5) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Utah 24 22 13 31 - 90 .492 .143 .457 .735 Dallas 24 26 18 17 - 85 .471 .250 .447 .500 Halftime: Dallas 50-46 3rd Q: Dallas 68-59 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 10:27 2nd, Utah defensive 3 seconds 2:59 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 5:05 3rd, Utah defensive 3 seconds 8:33 4th Refs: Mark Wunderlich, Sean Corbin, Jason Phillips Did not play due to injury: Michael Finley (sore right quad) Utah Jazz REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Matt Harpring 9 4-7 0-1 1-1 9 1-1 1 1 1 2 0 Jarron Collins 11 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-2 0 2 2 0 0 Greg Ostertag 13 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 1-6 1 1 1 0 0 Carlos Arroyo 10 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 3 0 2 0 0 DeShawn Stevenson 10 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 0-1 1 0 0 1 0 Keon Clark 11 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-3 1 1 2 0 2 Curtis Borchardt 10 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 1 0 1 0 0 Andrei Kirilenko 18 0-5 0-3 1-2 1 0-5 2 4 1 2 1 Raul Lopez 25 2-7 0-0 6-8 10 0-1 4 2 0 0 0 Raja Bell 14 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 1 0 0 1 0 Michael Ruffin 9 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 Paul Grant 6 2-3 0-0 2-2 6 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Aleksandar Pavlovic 21 4-5 0-0 2-2 10 0-2 2 2 4 0 1 Lavor Postell 13 2-5 0-0 2-2 6 1-2 0 1 1 0 0 Maurice Williams 10 0-3 0-2 2-2 2 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Ademola Okulaja 9 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 1 1 2 0 0 Ben Handlogten 15 2-4 0-0 0-2 4 2-6 0 2 4 0 0 Jermaine Boyette 14 1-2 0-0 5-6 7 0-1 4 0 3 2 0 Demetrius Alexander 12 2-3 1-1 3-5 8 0-3 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 32-70 1-7 25-34 90 9-41 23 19 26 8 4 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Antawn Jamison 27 8-13 0-1 0-6 16 2-3 2 2 3 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 19 5-12 0-1 6-7 16 2-6 1 2 1 0 0 Eduardo Najera 33 4-6 0-0 0-0 8 2-3 1 3 6 3 1 Steve Nash 18 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 5 2 3 1 0 Jiri Welsch 26 2-11 0-3 4-6 8 0-4 2 3 3 0 0 Raef LaFrentz 22 4-6 2-2 0-0 10 1-5 0 1 2 1 1 Travis Best 30 4-7 0-0 2-4 10 0-1 5 3 6 0 0 Josh Howard 18 3-7 0-1 2-3 8 0-3 0 1 4 1 1 Tariq Abdul-Wahad 22 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 1-5 3 0 2 0 0 Shawn Bradley 17 3-7 0-0 1-2 7 2-4 1 0 1 1 1 Danny Fortson 8 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 1-3 0 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 34-76 2-8 15-30 85 12-38 20 18 34 9 4 patricia