Houston at Dallas (January 12) Not only was Dallas still without Marquis Daniels, but Josh Howard was unavailable due to an upper respiratory infection - and Dallas could have used the usual solid defense from either player as neither team played much defense all game long. As such, it was a high-scoring and high-shooting affair. Both teams held single-digit leads in the 1st quarter. Houston took their largest lead of the 1st quarter at 20-14 with 5:50 remaining, but Shawn Bradley hit a jumper and Dirk Nowitzki drained consecutive 3-pointers (the 2nd after a nice steal by Jason Terry) to put Dallas up 22-20 with 5 minutes left. Dallas' largest lead of the quarter was 5 points. David Wesley hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left. Dallas led 35-34 after 1. Nowitzki had 11 points, Bradley had 8 points as Erick Dampier got into foul trouble early, Jason Terry had 8 points and 5 assists, and Juwan Howard had 11 points. Houston was white hot in shooting 72% (13-18) FG, 3-6 3-pointers, and 5-5 FT and Dallas shot 65% (15-23) FG, 5-7 3-pointers, and 0-0 FT (Dallas would get their first free throws 50 seconds into the 2nd quarter). Dallas held a single-digit lead throughout the 2nd quarter. 3 free throws by Jerry Stackhouse and a jumper by Michael Finley (his _only_ field goal until near the end of the game) gave Dallas their largest lead at 52-43 with 4:45 to go, but after a timeout Tracy McGrady hit a 3-pointer and Dallas' lead would get no larger than 6 points the rest of the way. Dallas led 61-47 at the half. Stackhouse had 10 points in the 2nd quarter. The teams' shooting slacked off some as Dallas shot 8-17 FG and Houston shot 6-16 FG in the 2nd quarter, but there were lots of free throws shot - 12-13 by Dallas and 9-10 by Houston. A jumper by Dampier gave Dallas a 67-61 lead with 9:15 left but a Houston timeout was again productive as the Rockets came out of the timeout with an 11-2 run to go up 72-69 with 6:30 to go. Nowitzki drove strong for 2 to pull Dallas within 78-79 with 3:40 remaining, but a 3-pointer by Wesley kicked off a 10-1 run by Houston and the Rockets led 89-79 with a minute left. Stackhouse was fouled with a little over a second remaining in the quarter and hit both free throws. Houston led 94-85 after 3. McGrady had a quiet 1st half with just 7 points as he said his big toe was bothering him, but came alive and was aggressive in the 3rd quarter with 13 points and 8 assists in the quarter. Wesley had 12 points in the quarter. Houston out-scored Dallas 37-24 in the 3rd quarter as the Rockets shot almost 70% (16-23) FG including 5-6 3-pointers. Dallas pulled within 95-101 with 9 minutes left, but McGrady (5 points) and JuHoward (6 points) went on an 11-2 run (with 3 assists by Jon Barry) to go up 112-97 with 6:50 to go. A 3-point play by Yao Ming sealed the win in giving Houston a 119-105 lead with 1:30 left. Finley finally found his shooting touch and hit 3 3-pointers over the rest of the game, but it was far too late. Houston won 124-114. It was a terrible defensive performance by a team that had been playing well. No matter how hot Houston was, there was no excuse for the many, many open looks the Mavs gave them. It was poor straight-up defense and worse rotation and help defense. Give Houston credit for passing to the open man (35 assists), but Dallas also did not put out much of a defensive effort. Dallas gave up a season high 124 points (besting the previous opponent high of 113) to a team that struggles on offense in averaging just 91.6 points and 43.5% FG. In this game, Houston shot 61% FG including 12-25 3-pointers. Dallas' offensive was fine in shooting 47.6% FG including 12-22 3-pointers, but it was their complete lack of defense that killed them. Tracy McGrady gets all the publicity, but it was Juwan Howard and David Wesley that the Mavs were unable to locate. Howard hit open outside jumper after outside jumper - most of his shots were not in the paint. He had 29 points including 14-19 FG and 6 rebounds. It seemed whenever Dallas would look like they were increasing their lead or pulling close to Houston, David Wesley would drain a 3-pointer. He had 21 points including 4-11 3-pointers to go with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. McGrady was the high man and leader on the court [if it was just McGrady, Dallas could have survived, though]. Despite his sore toe, McGrady finished with 30 points on 12-19 FG and 6-8 3-pointers - no free throws as he would get open looks or passed the ball when a defender or 2 or 3 would approach - 11 assists, and 5 rebounds. 10 of his points came in the 4th quarter. The only knock was that he did turn the ball over 5 times. Yao Ming was the 4th (yes, 4th) player with 20+ points. Yao had 20 points including 10-13 FT, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks - his first good game vs Dallas this season after 2 duds. Bob Sura had 12 points and 8 assists. Houston did only get 12 points off the bench, but they didn't need much of a bench with the way their starters performed against Dallas' poor defense. Dallas lost despite having 3 players with 20+ points [broken record, it was their defense that was a problem]. Dirk Nowitzki had 28 points including 5-7 3-pointers, but the ball did not go through him enough - he would hit a couple and looked to be on a roll, but the ball wouldn't see him again for a while, especially in the 4th quarter. And he only had 3 rebounds - none in the 1st half [though he is primarily a defensive rebounder and there would not be many of those with Houston's strong shooting, but still he wasn't aggressive in going after rebounds]. Jason Terry had a strong 1st quarter with 8 points and 5 assists, but he wouldn't have another assist until a minute and a half into the 4th quarter and finished with 7 assists. He was scoring and had 21 points and 3 steals (but also turned the ball over 5 times, including 2 really lazy passes). Jerry Stackhouse had a nice outing off the bench with 26 points including 10-11 FT and 7 assists. Michael Finley's game was completely off and he got pulled twice in the 1st half without any improvement. He shot 1-10 FG until hitting 3 3-pointers in the last 1:30 of the game to finish with 14 points. He did grab 5 rebounds. Darrell Armstrong got the starting nod in Josh Howard's place (with Terry playing shooting guard and Armstrong the point), but didn't do much with 3 points and 4 assists in 23 minutes. Erick Dampier picked up 2 fouls early and never got his game going. He had 6 points and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes. The surprise performance came from Shawn Bradley, who was hitting his shots early and grabbing rebounds. He finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds in 22 minutes. Dallas finished an easy schedule of 5 home games in 18 nights with a 4-1 record. That's the end of the easy stretch as they only have a maximum of 2 days off between games the rest of the season, except for the All-Star break. Up next is a stretch of 7 games in 13 nights, which includes 3 back-to-backs. Quotes Jeff Van Gundy: "We're trying to play good basketball, get everyone involved and look for good shots. We're a lot quicker now. When you make 61% of your shots, you're going to do well. Both teams played well and it was definitely a high scoring game, what the NBA likes." Van Gundy: "Good passing leads to good shooting. Tracy did a good job at the point when we sat Bob [Sura] down and Bobby did a really good job himself. He helped get Tracy get going in the 2nd half. They ran a real nice pick-and-roll and then Juwan got going too. We were on a little bit of a roll." Van Gundy on Wesley: "He played the whole 2nd half and did a really good job. He made some nice defensive plays to start the 3rd quarter when we were sort of stuck in the mud. He did a real good job of getting us into transition. He's got great lateral quickness to play guard guys off the dribble. We had trouble in the past with that." Van Gundy on Wesley: "He made a real big defensive play when we were sort of stuck in mud to start the 3rd quarter. He read a pass that got us a layup; then he got another layup in transition, so I thought he did a really good job. Defensively, he's got enough lateral quickness to be able to guard some of their guys off the dribble. ... We've had trouble guarding them off the dribble." Tracy McGrady: "I was in one of those zones. I felt like every time I came off the pick-and-roll and saw any daylight, I was going to knock the shot down. I play well in this building." McGrady: "Juwan Howard was unbelievable tonight. I just felt like getting him the ball every trip down the court, no matter what spot he was in. He was feeling it tonight." McGrady on his injured big toe: "When I went to the bench [during the 2nd quarter], I was going to shut it down, because I was in so much pain just sitting there. It was a throbbing feeling. I padded it up and tried to give it a go, but that still didn't work. But at halftime, we put ice on it and more padding in my shoe. It wore off a little bit, but I was still in pain." Yao Ming: "Our players are ready to shoot when they get the ball. We have very good scorers on this team and they got the opportunity tonight to do what they did best. Shooting 61% from the field is excellent." Yao: "We're starting to play much better as a team. I think we ran our offensive sets very well tonight and Tracy seemed to be hitting all of his shots. Juwan had a great game and I was very pleased with how I played. I did feel like we gave up too many points though on the defensive side though." Juwan Howard: "You have to give credit to our guys for moving the basketball around, getting open shots, just taking what the defense gave us. We tried to be patient on the offensive end and sure enough, we got some good looks and made some open shots." Howard: "We know as a supporting group, Yao and Tracy have to be our nucleus. Those 2 have to carry us. But we have to ... take advantage when we get open looks. Tonight we did that, with Wesley hitting shots in the corner and myself hitting jumpers when the defense was sagging down on Yao." Bob Sura on Wesley: "We've been waiting for that since he got here. He was big today." David Wesley: "I had fun out there. Guys were hitting shots, spreading the floor. When they tried to double-team Yao or Tracy, that freed up the rest of us. I should have hit more than 4 [3-pointers]." Wesley: "When you've got guys hitting like we were hitting, it really spreads the floor. You try to double. You try to run guys at Yao and Tracy. And it's about the rest of us hitting our shots." Wesley: "We took good shots. We weren't making circus shots. We took what they gave us. We penetrated well, we rebounded the ball well, and that always gives us a chance to score a lot of points." Wesley: We got good shots. It wasn't like we were hitting amazing shots, fadeaway 3s. Tracy hit some amazing shots, but he does that. The rest of us, we were taking the shots we get when we took what they gave us. We were penetrating when we had to. We were rebounding the basketball. And that's going to give us chances to get out and run and get transition baskets." Wesley: "I'm getting more comfortable. I get out of place sometimes, but tonight was a good night and I got into a good rhythm. I was able to score some points in transition. Things are coming along really well. It helps our team to run and I'm trying to encourage guys to get out and run the ball. Coach Van Gundy seemed really pleased with our transition game tonight." Don Nelson: "We were outplayed tonight. There wasn't a whole lot we could do to stop them. They shot 61%. They were a hot team and had a lot of openings. I thought our defense let us down a little bit. I'm not sure that it mattered that much. They were making every shot. They had a real good rhythm and flow to their game and we didn't. It just happens that we got our behinds beat at home by a hot team." Nelson: "We got our behind beat at home. I don't like it, but it happens. Hey, I wanted to win them all. But I'm not going to cry about it. We still have to find out what kind of team we are." Nelson: "They had a better rhythm in the 2nd half. We couldn't get Mike on track. He was going to be playing a lot of minutes. He just seemed to be indecisive. I don't know why, but it happens sometimes. We couldn't get the ball to Dirk or didn't get it to him and that's why we were playing catch up. They are responsible for all that. Not only did they guard pretty darn well, but offensively they were quite a machine. They had all their guys not only passing, moving the ball, but making shots when they were open." Dirk Nowitzki: "We can't let a team come in and score 120 points on our home court. It's a little embarrassing, but it happened and we've got to move on." Nowitzki: "We didn't lose the game on the offensive end. We lost it defensively. [For Houston] to score 130 on our home court, that's embarrassing." Michael Finley: "Offensively, we didn't have any rhythm. Defensively, we didn't have any rhythm and they just exploited us on both ends." Finley: "We missed Josh. We needed that guy who would be able to slash through their zone defenses and make them pay on the offensive boards. We didn't really have that from anyone tonight." Jerry Stackhouse: "They made a lot of shots. Juwan Howard played great for them. We knew [McGrady] was going to hit a groove as some point, but we didn't count on the other guys doing that and we were fortunate to really be in the game. When a team shoots such a high percentage on you and we shot a pretty decent percentage ourselves, but it was just their night. We ran into a hot team and they took advantage of that." Stackhouse on Houston inside-out game: "We feel like we can match up with that, but Damp got into a little early foul trouble tonight. Yao had some buckets tonight, but he wasn't the main factor tonight. Tracy demands so much attention because he shoots the ball from deep and he can put the ball on the floor and score. They kind of spread us out a bit and he got other guys open shots." Shawn Bradley: "Houston shot almost 70% in the 2nd half? It's hard to overcome that. We've got work to do in practice and we've got another test on Friday and hopefully we can pass that with a passing grade rather than what we did tonight." Bradley on the 3rd quarter: "I don't know if it's defensive breakdown. We didn't play as good of defensive as we wanted to and that's reflective in their shooting percentage. It's not like we haven't been working on defense the past few days in practice. Guys have been really focused and watching video and going over schemes on the court, but they are a different team since the last time we played them. They've got guys now that can hit that outside shot when you're double-teaming Yao or double or tripling teaming McGrady or whatever you do to try to stop that guy. They are doing a lot better job of getting the ball to the open man and hitting those shots." Bradley on Friday's game vs San Antonio: "We got another big test coming up. Hopefully, we can pass that one better than we did tonight." Houston Rockets 124, Dallas Mavericks 114 at Dallas (January 12) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Houston 34 23 37 30 - 124 .673 .480 .610 .818 Dallas 35 26 24 29 - 114 .452 .545 .476 .917 Halftime: Dallas 61-57 3rd Q: Houston 94-81 Technicals: Houston defensive 3 seconds 1:54 2nd Refs: Danny Crawford, Phil Robinson, Mark Wunderlich Attendance: 20,365 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Josh Howard (upper respiratory infection), Marquis Daniels (sore left ankle) Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK David Wesley 44 8-16 4-11 1-2 21 0-6 4 0 2 2 2 Bob Sura 29 4-8 2-5 2-2 12 0-4 8 4 1 1 1 Tracy McGrady 45 12-19 6-8 0-0 30 0-5 11 5 1 2 0 Juwan Howard 37 14-19 0-0 1-1 29 3-6 4 0 3 0 0 Yao Ming 32 5-8 0-0 10-13 20 3-6 1 2 2 1 4 Jon Barry 21 1-2 0-1 2-2 4 1-4 6 0 2 2 0 Dikembe Mutombo 11 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-6 0 1 2 0 1 Ryan Bowen 9 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 0-2 1 0 3 1 0 Maurice Taylor 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Andre Barrett 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 Reece Gaines 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 47-77 12-25 18-22 124 7-40 35 14 18 9 8 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 42 8-15 1-4 4-4 21 2-2 7 5 3 3 0 Darrell Armstrong 23 1-2 1-1 0-0 3 0-0 4 1 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 45 10-18 5-7 3-4 28 1-3 0 1 4 2 0 Michael Finley 39 4-14 3-6 3-3 14 0-5 0 1 3 1 0 Erick Dampier 19 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 1-5 0 1 3 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 32 7-15 2-3 10-11 26 1-3 7 0 1 1 1 Shawn Bradley 22 6-13 0-0 0-0 12 3-8 1 0 4 1 2 Devin Harris 12 2-3 0-1 0-0 4 0-1 2 0 0 0 0 Alan Henderson 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2-2 0 1 0 0 0 Calvin Booth 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-84 12-22 22-24 114 10-29 21 10 20 9 3 patricia