Josh Howard (back spasms) and Marquis Daniels (sprained ankle) are improving and both may return to action this week. Philadelphia at Dallas (January 29) Philadelphia played the night before in losing to lowly New Orleans and were playing again without Allen Iverson, but that did not prevent Dallas from coming out and laying an egg. The Mavs never looked sharp in the 1st half. Josh Howard sat out again with back spasms. Dallas held small leads in the 1st quarter, but none larger than 5 points. Philadelphia connected on consecutive buckets to tie the game with 18 seconds left, but Michael Finley drained a jumper at the quarter buzzer to give Dallas a 25-23 lead after 1. Erick Dampier had 6 points and 8 rebounds. Philadelphia scored the first 4 points of the 2nd quarter to take their first lead of the game. Philadelphia led 36-34 with 6:10 remaining and went on an 8-1 run to go up 44-35 with 4:40 left. Philadelphia led 52-43 at the half. John Salmons had 11 points in the 2nd quarter. Dallas only shot 5-21 FG in the 2nd quarter as Philadelphia out-scored the Mavs 29-18 in the quarter. Philadelphia continued to lead in the 3rd quarter, though no larger than 10 points and Dallas got no closer than 3 points. Dampier collected his 18th rebound of the game on a missed putback attempt at the quarter buzzer. Philadelphia led 75-70 after 3. Kyle Korver opened the 4th quarter with a 3-pointer. Philadelphia led 80-73 with 10:30 left and Dallas scored the next 11 points (thanks in part to a blatant goaltend by Dampier that wasn't called that resulted in a 24 second violation) to go up 84-80 with 4:50 remaining. But Philadelphia responded with a 7-1 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Korver, to go back up 87-85 with 3 minutes to go. Jerry Stackhouse hit a jumper and Korver hit 2 free throws with 2:20 left. The teams then exchanged miss after miss as the teams combined to miss their next 6 shots and Philadelphia still led by 2 points with a minute remaining. Dampier fouled Corliss Williamson and he hit both free throws to give Philadelphia a 91-87 lead with 45 seconds to go. Dallas called timeout and Jason Terry then hit a long jumper with 40 seconds left. Salmons drove to the basket and Dampier got the block and Finley picked up the ball and Dallas used their last timeout. Dallas got the ball to Dirk Nowitzki and he passed across the court to Terry and he stepped in but missed the baseliner and Korver grabbed the rebound and he was intentionally fouled with 11 seconds remaining. He hit both free throws to clinch the win. Philadelphia won 93-89. It was an ugly game and Dallas only played halfway decent for a quarter and a half - and even then they still struggled with their shot. I don't know if it was a letdown in intensity and focus with the knowledge that Allen Iverson wasn't playing or if it was just one of those nights. Whatever the reason, it was a game in no way, shape, or form Dallas should have lost - even if Iverson had played. Give the Philly players credit for stepping up with their star out, but give Dallas blame for their poor performance. Neither team shot well in the 4th quarter as Philadelphia shot 5-16 FG and Dallas shot 6-23 FG. For the game, Philadelphia shot a poor 40.7% (35-86) FG including a great 6-10 3-pointers and Dallas shot a pathetic 36.7% (33-90) FG including 4-15 3-pointers. Dallas hurt their cause by missing 6 free throws - 19-25 FT, while Philadelphia only missed 1 free throw - 17-18 FT. The rebounds were near even with Philly having 51 and Dallas having 50 and both teams had 18 assists. Dallas did have 15 blocks, 1 off the team record. It was a balanced attack for Philadelphia as no one player dominated. Kyle Korver was key in the 4th quarter where he scored 12 of his 16 points, including 9 points in the last 5 minutes of the game. He also had 10 rebounds. John Salmons did most of his damage in the 2nd quarter where he had 11 of his team high 19 points. He also had 6 assists. Kenny Thomas was questionable for the game, but responded with 12 points, 9 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 4 assists. Corliss Williamson had 13 points. Andre Iguodala, Willie Green, and Marc Jackson missed a lot of shots, but also got a lot of rebounds. Iguodala had 9 points on 4-11 FG, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. Green had 9 points on 4-12 FG and 8 rebounds. Jackson had 8 points including 3-12 FG and 7 rebounds. It was a shame that Dallas wasted a great performance by Erick Dampier. Dampier was a monster on the boards and had a career high 26 rebounds (4th most in team history) including 10 offensive. He also had 14 points and 7 blocks. Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley never found their shooting touch all night and combined to shot just 13-48 FG. Nowitzki had 25 points on 7-25 FG and 11-14 FT. He also had 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and a career high 6 blocks. Finley had 14 points on 6-23 FG and 0-0 FT [if your shot is not going, take it inside!], 6 rebounds, and no assists. Jason Terry had 15 points, 7 assists, and 4 steals. Jerry Stackhouse started and had 16 points and 5 rebounds. With Stackhouse starting due to Josh Howard being out, Dallas got nothing from their bench. The 4 bench players combined for just 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in 34 minutes. Quotes Jim O'Brien: "I thought our defense was smothering against a team that's hard to guard. Our traps and challenges were good, we pursued loose balls and rebounds. It was a very, very solid basketball game for us. I think it's without a doubt one of our best defensive efforts. To hold a team like that, with so many weapons, to under 37% shooting - that's a great effort. Everybody on the court for us played their heart out." O'Brien: "Our bench set another tempo defensively early in the game. They were strong and what they gave us early in the 1st half really carried us through the rest of the game." O'Brien on the lost to New Orleans: "We were not happy with our start to the game last night, nor the way we finished. We talked about stringing 4 good quarters together. We needed consistent play from everybody who walks onto the basketball court. We needed to be aggressive to win games like we did tonight." Kyle Korver: "I just focused on improving on last nights performance. We're always playing small ball - everyone is always bigger than us so we have to scrap to win. We got some big shots tonight, we made our free throws, and had a lot of players come up big for us. We scrapped out this win. I hadn't gotten a lot of good looks early on. I knocked down the open looks I got and I really focused on rebounding and guarding my man. I feel like I had a good night." Korver: "I tried to rebound, I tried to guard, I tried to do it all. We wanted to come out and play hard and we got the win. We were just going at them and challenging them and it worked." Korver on Dampier: "He was a monster, 26 rebounds! We've had a number of guys have big nights against us, we've faced a lot of adversity this season. We just wanted to come out and play hard and we got the win. That's all that matters." John Salmons on missing Iverson: "We were without our leading scorer, so everyone else had to step up and be aggressive. AI wasn't there to bail us, so we had to make our shots and chip in as a team. We always play as a team, but with Allen out, we have to really come closer as a team. No one can score like AI can, so we all came together to cover that loss." Salmons on the loss to New Orleans: "That's one thing about the NBA, you can always redeem yourself. We've got another one on Monday. We need to put this behind us and keep playing well. Last night, we didn't come ready to play, we took it for granted. Today, we knew we had to play 48 minutes of good basketball." Avery Johnson: "Tonight was a tough night for us. Philadelphia really played an outstanding game. They got a lot of production off of the bench. We couldn't get into the game mentally, especially in the 1st half. I think we tried in the 2nd half, but we couldn't turn the corner. We couldn't get to the free throw line like we wanted to at the end of the game." Johnson: "You have to take your hat off to the defense. They were playing real physical. They were all over us. Shots that normally go down for us, weren't going down. I have to find better ways of getting those guys some wide-open shots. Thats my responsibility." Johnson on Iverson not playing: "If AI was there, you never know how the game was going to go. It's not about who's on the court. We need to win basketball games. I don't know if it was a letdown, but the 2nd quarter was probably one of the worst 2nd quarters I've seen us play offensively and defensively." Michael Finley: "This was a terrible game all around. Not taking anything away from Philadelphia, we just didn't play well. On the defensive end, on the offensive end, nothing seemed to be clicking for us." Finley: "You have to give Philly credit, they made us work for our baskets. We had a lot of shots near the end of the shot clock, which are tough shots. Credit their defense for taking us out of things we normally do. ... This was a terrible game for us all the way around. Nothing seemed to be clicking for us." Finley on missing Howard: "The guys that dressed tonight were more than capable of playing. We had enough guys to win this ballgame." Jerry Stackhouse: "I don't think it was a thing of us taking them lightly. They just got off to a good start and they played pretty well last night, even though they lost. They came in here with a little bit of a rhythm and it took us a little while to find our rhythm. They just made timely shots all night long and every time we were able to get ourselves back into the game and make a run, they would make a timely shot and kind of break our momentum." Stackhouse: "A lot of the shots that we took tonight were good rhythm shots that we usually make and some guys had an off night. That happens and we can't expect to shoot the ball well every night, but your staple has to be on defense. For the most part we played good defense in the 2nd half, but we were kind of dragging through things in the 1st half." Stackhouse on Dampier: "It's a shame that we had to spoil a night like that for Damp because he was huge tonight. Every rebound that came down he had his hands on and fighting for every offensive rebound and giving us an extra opportunity. When guys were getting beat off the dribble, he was right there to block shots and clog up the middle. It was a huge night for him and hopefully he'll continue to play like that for us." Jason Terry on his last shot: "Dirk drew a lot of attention and he made a good pass. I was there, I had a good look at it. It didn't fall." Erick Dampier: "We didn't play the defense we're capable of until the 4th quarter. They had a lot of shots around the basket in the teeth of our defense." Dampier: "It's very frustrating. This is a game we could have won. This is a game we should have won." Dampier: "It would have been lovely to get a victory, but we can't start the game the way we started. I just went out there and played and got every rebound I could. We didn't come out with a win tonight, but we waited too late to try to play and we can't do that." Dampier on his performance: "It was my best so far, but it's very frustrating. It's a game we should have won at home. But we have to come out ready to play from the start, not just in the 4th quarter." Dampier: "I just felt like I always could have done a little more, even though I had a career high in rebounds. Whether it was blocking a shot here or getting another couple rebounds here and there, I just felt like I could have come up with some extra plays." Philadelphia 76ers 93, Dallas Mavericks 89 at Dallas (January 29) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Philadelphia 23 29 23 18 - 93 .382 .600 .407 .944 Dallas 25 18 27 19 - 89 .387 .267 .367 .760 Halftime: Philadelphia 52-43 3rd Q: Philadelphia 75-70 Technicals: none Refs: Bennie Adams, Blane Reichelt, Greg Willard Attendance: 20,432 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Allen Iverson (strained left rotator cuff), Josh Howard (back spasms) Philadelphia 76ers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kenny Thomas 27 6-16 0-0 0-0 12 5-9 4 1 3 0 0 Kyle Korver 33 5-8 2-5 4-4 16 1-10 1 1 4 1 2 Samuel Dalembert 18 1-3 0-0 3-4 5 1-4 0 1 5 0 1 Andre Iguodala 39 4-11 1-1 0-0 9 1-5 3 3 2 3 0 Willie Green 23 4-12 1-2 0-0 9 0-8 1 3 1 0 1 Marc Jackson 25 3-12 0-0 2-2 8 1-7 1 1 3 0 0 Aaron McKie 20 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 1 0 1 0 1 Corliss Williamson 26 5-12 0-0 3-3 13 1-3 1 3 4 0 0 John Salmons 29 6-11 2-2 5-5 19 1-4 6 3 0 1 1 Totals 48 35-86 6-10 17-18 93 11-51 18 17 23 5 6 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 44 7-25 0-2 11-14 25 2-9 4 4 3 2 6 Jerry Stackhouse 42 6-14 0-1 4-5 16 0-5 2 2 1 2 1 Erick Dampier 45 6-11 0-0 2-4 14 10-26 2 0 4 0 7 Michael Finley 39 6-23 2-6 0-0 14 1-6 0 0 2 0 0 Jason Terry 36 6-12 1-4 2-2 15 0-1 7 3 5 4 0 Devin Harris 5 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 13 1-2 1-1 0-0 3 0-0 2 1 2 0 0 Shawn Bradley 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Alan Henderson 14 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 1 0 3 0 1 Totals 48 33-90 4-15 19-25 89 14-50 18 10 21 8 15 patricia