Orlando at Dallas (October 7) Once again, Michael Finley did not play due to a strained right quad. Antawn Jamison joined Finley on the bench due to back spasms. Neither injury is serious. Orlando was missing Grant Hill (as usual) and Pat Garrity. Dallas started a lineup of Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Danny Fortson, Josh Howard, and Jiri Welsch. Orlando went with a more veteran lineup of Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue, Gordan Giricek, and Drew Gooden. Rookie JoHoward had the fun of guarding McGrady and, not surprisingly picked up 2 quick fouls in the 1st minute of the game (rookie vs all-star calls). Don Nelson left JoHoward on the court and he continued to play tight defense and played well on the other end, including a blow-by everyone drive from halfcourt that was waaay too easy - it was an impressive quarter for the youngster. JoHoward's 7 points and Nash's 6 points helped Dallas to a 17-7 lead with 7 minutes remaining. Orlando pulled within 3 points with 4 minutes left, but Dallas went to the old reliable pick-and-roll with Nash and Nowitzki and Orlando simply could not handle it - on one play, Nowitzki was so wide open it wasn't funny. An 11-2 run by Dallas that included 3 pick-and-roll buckets put Dallas' lead back in double-digits. Dallas led 36-24 after 1. Dallas shot 58% FG in the quarter while Orlando shot 44% FG. And it wasn't the usual outside barrage as Dallas out-scored Orlando 20-10 in the paint. In addition, Dallas out-rebounded Orlando 14-5 including 5-0 offensive. Nowitzki had 12 points, JoHoward had 9 points, and Nash had 7 assists. McGrady had 8 points. Nash and Nowitzki sat for most of the 2nd quarter and I feared that Dallas' 2nd unit wouldn't be able to hold the lead, especially when Orlando re-inserted their starters. And that was the case as Orlando kept chipping away at Dallas' lead and tied the game at 48-48 with 2 minutes left. Orlando even briefly took the lead when Gooden converted a 3-point play with 1:30 left, but Dallas scored the last 6 points of the quarter to go up 56-51 at the half. It wasn't McGrady who was doing the damage for Orlando as he had just 2 points on free throws in the 2nd quarter and missed 4 shots (including an airball 3-point attempt). It was Giricek, who was on fire from the outside and had 10 points in the quarter. Eduardo Najera suffered a sprained right shoulder during the 2nd quarter and did not return. The 3rd quarter belonged to Nash as he drove through Orlando's defense like butter and made them look silly with how easy it was. 2 layups by Nash gave Dallas a 9 point lead and Dallas' lead hovered around 10 points for the next 7 minutes and Dallas led 70-61 with 2:40 remaining and then both Nash and Nowitzki were off the court for the rest of the game. The reserves then scored the next 7 points before Shammond Williams ended the quarter with a humper at the buzzer. Dallas led 77-63 after 3. Shawn Bradley tweaked his knee near the end of the quarter, but stayed on the court [while I was saying, get him out of there, it's just preseason] but he did not play in the 4th quarter. It was definitely preseason ball as Dallas opened the 4th with a lineup of 3 undrafted rookies, Raef LaFrentz, and Tariq Abdul-Wahad and Orlando came with their own lineup of unname youngsters. The Mavs youngsters faired better to start as a putback by Marquis Daniels gave Dallas their largest lead at 89-68 with 8 minutes to go. I was very surprised when Jon Stefansson and then Josh Powell/Howard (can't remember which) got offensive foul calls when both made obvious flops. Guess the refs are in preseason form too. The Orlando youngsters picked up their offense a little bit and made the final margin closer. Dallas won 99-89. It was a better performance by Dallas than in the Utah game, largely due to some impressive performances from the youngsters. Steve Nash was looking more for his offense in this game and Orlando simply couldn't handle him. He had 12 points on 6-10 FG and 8 assists - and no turnovers - in 18 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki had a quiet 16 points and 5 rebounds (but 4 turnovers) in 22 minutes. Not great, but it seemed effortless. Jiri Welsch's offensive game is still not impressing and he got pulled a couple of times for his play. He had just 2 points on 1-4 FG and 3 turnovers, but did snag 7 defensive rebounds in 21 minutes. Josh Howard had a very nice game on both ends of the court. The promising and poised rookie had 12 points and 7 rebounds including 3 offensive in 26 minutes - and played with foul trouble. After picking up 2 fouls early in the 1st quarter, he didn't pick up his 3rd until early in the 2nd quarter (and played all of the 1st). Danny Fortson snagged a number of rebounds and picked up a lot of fouls (fouled out in the 4th), but (happily) knows his range. He had a couple of opportunities to shot outside of 7 feet, but passed up them all. He had 10 points including 4-5 FG and 4 rebounds in 23 minutes. Marquis Daniels was another rookie who impressed in this game. He had a team high 17 points (8 in the 4th) and 6 rebounds. He was aggressive and took his shots and did some defensive duty on McGrady. Jon Stefansson didn't impress. He's got a high dribble that's going to result in some steals (none this game) and I'm surprised he didn't get called for carrying at least once. He had 2 points on 1-7 FG (granted, on one of the misses, he was raked on the arm with no call) and 1 assist in 18 minutes. Josh Powell showed flashed and a lot of rookie mistakes. He needs a lot of work and shouldn't have come out of school early - the potential to make it in the NBA is there, though. He had 4 points and 3 turnovers in 10 minutes. Tariq Abdul-Wahad was again being hesitant in his shooting (most of his attempts came in the 4th where he was amongst a bunch of youngsters and the Mavs really needed him to shoot). He only shot 3-10 FG, so that's not going to increase his confidence. He finished with 8 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals in 27 minutes. Travis Best played 12 quiet minutes and had 9 points, 0 rebounds and 1 assist. Raef LaFrentz had a nice outing with 7 points including 3-4 FG and 9 rebounds (and 5 fouls) in 23 minutes. Shawn Bradley and Eduardo Najera hardly played. For Orlando, none of their youngsters caught my eye. Gordan Giricek was deadeye and had me groaning every time he caught the ball outside with a bit of daylight. He had a game high 21 points including 5-7 3-pointers in 29 minutes. Drew Gooden managed 15 points and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes. After a decent 1st quarter, Tracy McGrady didn't do anything. He finished with just 10 points including 2-11 FG, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals in 24 minutes, but shot 0-7 FG and just had 2 points after the 1st. No other Magic player was in double-digits. Quotes Don Nelson: "It was good to give the young guys a chance to play. I thought they did well and the more comfortable they got, the better they played. We played very well in the 1st when Steve and Dirk were on the floor. We continued to do good things even when the rookies were on the floor, so we think there is a lot of young talent on this team and they are going to be good players some day." Nelson on Howard and Daniels: "On the defensive end I thought Howard really did well. Both have the ability to be good defenders. They're pretty darn good basketball players. I think Marquis has the ability to be a point-forward and that is what I've been looking for for as long as I've been here. He will have to develop into that, but I think that is his future." Nelson on Howard and Daniels: "I think you probably saw that and they play differently. They are different players and have different skills in different areas. The bottom line is that they both defend. You can also throw Powell in there as well. He's a rookie too and got his chance and I thought played pretty well. He's not ready now, but I think he will be someday and have a chance to be in the NBA." Nelson on Stefansson: "He did some good things too. Again, he's not ready yet. He knows that and so do we. I like him. He's very active, strong and will eventually be a big point guard." Nelson on Fortson: "He's in good shape. He needs to get thinner. He's worked very hard on it and will continue to work on it. He's done all the work. He can run and play, but I like quicker guys. I think he needs to be a little lighter and when he's lighter I think he will be even better. I liked him in the game." Josh Howard on defending McGrady: "He's a guy I've watched all my life, and here I was having to play him. But after it started, I knew I had a job to do. It was a great ice-breaker." Marquis Daniels: "I feel pretty good. I was a little nervous out there in the 1st half playing in my first NBA game even though it was preseason, but I stayed focused and tried to be aggressive." Danny Fortson on getting into basketball shape: "I'm a basketball player and I've been playing this game my entire life so it's not going to take me that long. I need to just go out there and continue to work hard in practice and that should take off a lot of that rust." Doc Rivers: "I was still disappointed in our defense. We have to be a better defensive team. I know it's the 1st game and they did have the advantage of already playing 1 preseason game, which helps. We just have to help each other better on defense and keep the ball in front. Those are the 2 things that stood out to me. The 1st quarter we came out and played as passive on defense as we possibly could, and then we decided to grind it in the 2nd quarter and it was great. I thought Tracy McGrady and Donnell Harvey led that charge. We went with that big lineup for a while and got some good stops. I was shocked we scored that much in the 1st half. I told them I could care less about your offense. I don't care if you score 50 points. I know that if we are going to be a good team, we all have to commit to defense all the time, and I didn't think we did it." Rivers: "I thought there were many times tonight when we could have stayed in front of the ball and then help, but we didn't do that. The other thing that stood out was that they had 15 offensive rebounds and they shot 49%. That's just too many chances." Dallas Mavericks 99, Orlando Magic 89 at Dallas (October 7) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 36 20 21 22 - 99 .513 .167 .488 .667 Orlando 24 27 12 26 - 89 .431 .350 .408 .727 Halftime: Dallas 56-51 3rd Q: Dallas 77-63 Technicals: none Refs: Derek Collins, Derrick Stafford, Ron Olesiak Attendance: 18,759 (cap 19,200) Did not play due to injury: Michael Finley (sore right quad), Antawn Jamison (back spasms), Grant Hill, Pat Garrity, Zaza Pachulia (sprained left ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 25 3-8 0-0 6-8 12 3-7 1 1 5 1 1 Dirk Nowitzki 22 6-12 0-1 4-4 16 0-5 2 4 4 1 2 Danny Fortson 23 4-5 0-0 2-3 10 3-4 0 0 6 0 0 Steve Nash 18 6-10 0-0 0-0 12 2-2 8 0 0 1 0 Jiri Welsch 21 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 0-7 2 3 0 0 0 Tariq Abdul-Wahad 27 3-10 0-0 2-4 8 1-7 1 1 0 4 0 Travis Best 12 3-5 1-1 2-2 9 0-0 1 0 2 0 0 Raef LaFrentz 23 3-4 0-1 1-2 7 1-9 2 2 5 1 1 Eduardo Najera 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 1 0 0 Marquis Daniels 27 8-13 0-1 1-4 17 3-6 0 2 3 1 0 Shawn Bradley 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 2 0 0 0 1 Jon Stefansson 18 1-7 0-1 0-0 2 0-2 1 1 3 0 0 Josh Powell 10 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-1 0 3 1 0 0 Totals 48 40-82 1-6 18-27 99 15-52 20 17 30 9 5 Orlando Magic REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Drew Gooden 25 6-10 0-0 3-3 15 1-5 1 6 2 1 1 Gordan Giricek 29 7-12 5-7 2-2 21 0-0 1 1 1 0 1 Juwan Howard 23 1-2 0-0 4-4 6 1-3 0 3 3 1 0 Tracy McGrady 24 2-11 0-5 6-7 10 0-4 4 2 4 3 0 Tyronn Lue 20 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-3 3 1 3 0 0 Donnell Harvey 18 2-5 0-0 1-1 5 3-6 3 2 3 1 0 Keith Bogans 11 0-4 0-2 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Steven Hunter 20 2-6 0-0 2-3 6 1-4 0 0 1 1 1 Shammond Williams 13 3-3 1-1 0-0 7 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 Reece Gaines 13 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0-0 1 3 2 1 1 Andrew DeClercq 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 0 2 0 1 Rick Apodaca 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Britton Johnsen 12 2-2 0-0 2-4 6 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 Alton Ford 9 1-3 0-0 2-6 4 1-4 0 1 1 0 0 Derrick Dial 7 2-3 1-1 0-0 5 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Jeryl Sasser 5 1-4 0-1 2-3 4 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 29-71 7-20 24-33 89 7-34 15 20 25 9 5