Atlanta at Dallas (December 18) It was a special night at the AAC, but not because of the game. Thanks to the generosity of 48 of season ticket holders, the Mavs, American Airlines (who flew them in), and Abacus (who fed them), 137 soldiers who were injuried in Iraq and Afghanistan were treated to front row seats for the Dallas-Atlanta game. The soldiers were introduced after the 1st quarter ended and the fans gave them a standing ovation during the entire quarter break as a small sign of our appreciation. Mark Cuban greeted all of them before the game, the refs (especially Steve Javie) talked to some of them during the game, and a number of players met with them after the game. A number of other teams are considering hosting similar events. Unfortunately, they weren't treated to much of a game. Atlanta is a bad team and, to make matters worse, they were playing the 2nd night of a back-to-back during a tough scheduling stretch for them. It showed as they couldn't buy a bucket and Dallas jumped out to a 16-3 lead with 4:30 left as Atlanta shot a miserable 1-15 FG to start the game. Dirk Nowitzki had a worse time as he got popped in the mouth 3 minutes in and had his front teeth (false) knocked out and headed immediately to the locker room - he returned at the end of the 1st quarter minus the teeth, but had them glued back in during halftime. Dallas took their largest lead at 22-6 with 2:10 to go. Devin Harris had a power one-handed monster slam that electrified the crowd (and was NBATV's top play of the day) with 24 seconds left and his 3-point play was the last points in the quarter. Dallas led 27-12 after 1. Atlanta only shot 5-21 FG while Dallas shot 12-28 FG. Erick Dampier had 7 points and 7 rebounds and Josh Howard had 8 points and 5 rebounds in the quarter. A 3-pointer by Marquis Daniels gave Dallas a 32-13 lead with 11 minutes remaining. Atlanta did score the next 7 points to pull within 32-20 with 9:15 to go. Dallas led 35-22 with 6:50 left and went on a 16-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Michael Finley to go up 51-24 with 50 seconds remaining as Atlanta shot 1-9 FG and committed 4 turnovers during the run. Atlanta got a gift as the half ended as Josh Howard got a dunk put back at the quarter buzzer but it was waived off as the ref incorrectly called a loose ball foul on Howard, which gave the Hawks 2 free throws to end the quarter. Dallas led 51-28 at the half. Nowitzki had 11 points in the 2nd quarter. For the half, Dallas shot 45% FG and Atlanta shot 28% FG. Life didn't get any better for the Hawks in the 3rd quarter as they never got closer than 21 points. Dallas closed the quarter by scoring the last 11 points to take their largest lead at 77-45 after 3. Atlanta missed their last 6 shots and committed 3 turnovers in the last 3 minutes of the 3rd quarter. Needless to say, the entire 4th quarter was garbage time (though the starters did play some). It wasn't pretty garbage time as Atlanta did out-score Dallas 23-13 in the quarter, but they never got closer than 20 points. Dallas won 90-68. It's what you call a really ugly game. Fortunately, it was Atlanta that had most of the ugliness, starting with their bright yellow uniforms. 68 points tied the Dallas opponent record low for points scored [with the other being when Utah beat Dallas 68-66 when Nellie tried a gimmick and played stall ball during the lockout season]. Atlanta shot poorly through 3 quarters and Dallas played well through 3 quarters. Atlanta shot 31% FG in the first 3 quarters, but did shot 12-20 FG in the 4th quarter to up their game total to 37% FG (30-81) FG. They did not make a 3-pointer in 8 attempts. Dallas shot well through 3 quarters at 48% FG, but struggled in the 4th in shooting just 3-18 FG to bring the total percentage down to 41% (34-83) FG for the game. Dallas out-rebounded Atlanta 57-45. And Atlanta hurt themselves by committing 21 turnovers. No Mav really stood out with a strong game, though several played well in spurts. Dirk Nowitzki scored 11 of his game high 15 points in the 2nd quarter. He also had 12 rebounds. Erick Dampier played well with a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds. Josh Howard had a near double-double with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Michael Finley never found his shooting touch, but wasn't needed this night. He had 7 points on 3-13 FG, but did grab 5 rebounds. Jason Terry got the starting nod for the first time this season and had 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 steals, but did turn the ball over 4 times. Devin Harris got the nod as the backup point and played well and had 8 points, 3 assists, and 4 steals in 20 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse did not play due to a sore wrist that has been bothering him and he aggravated it during practice on Friday. Not much was shown by Atlanta. Josh Smith had some impressive moments with some monster swats and had 10 blocks. He also had 9 points including 4-11 FG and 7 rebounds. Antoine Walker greeted his former coaches before the game. He had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Predrag Drobnjak was the only other Hawk in double-digits with 11 points. Al Harrington had a really quiet night with just 6 points on 3-8 FG and 6 rebounds, and also had 6 turnovers. Rookie Josh Childress had 9 points including 3-9 FG and 9 rebounds including 5 offensive. Quotes Don Nelson: "It was what I expected after a couple days of practice. I thought we would be a little sharper offensively. Defensively we were good all night. I was very pleased with the bench. They stepped up and did a good job." Nelson on Dampier and Harris having good games: "Yes. They've both been working hard and were rewarded with a good performance tonight. We went with the rookie because he has been our best point guard in these 3 days of practice. We thought we would reward him with an opportunity tonight and he did very well." Dirk Nowitzki: "We won this game, but we can't fool ourselves. We had maybe 2 good quarters." Nowitzki on losing his front teeth: "I was lucky enough that my dentist was actually at the game. He came in and fixed it real quick. I've got to go back and see him tomorrow. It was a hard blow. I reached up with my tongue and felt it was loose right away." Jason Terry on the 2 days of practice: "That was a key for us. We weren't playing particularly well and we saw that on the tape. We were real disappointed. I know the coaches were really disappointed. We had to get back to the way we were playing early on in November on the defensive end. We did that tonight, but now the key is to come back and do that again against New York." Terry: "We needed a game where we came out defensively and played the way we practice. We did that tonight." Terry: "The last 3 home games we let the other team get confidence. This is our home and we played like it." Terry on playing well against his former team: "It's always nice. I don't want to say too much because we have to see them one more time in Atlanta. It would be nice to beat them again. It was good to get the win tonight. The win came just in time because we definitely didn't want to drop another one at home." Terry on Josh Smith: "I watched that kid all summer when I was in Atlanta and the kid's just tremendously athletic. If he can just continue to work on his game, he's going to be a dominant factor in this league." Josh Howard: "We had to jump on those guys and run them up and down. They've been playing a lot of games the last couple of weeks and we wanted to jump on them." Marquis Daniels: "We did all right. We wanted to focus on this one and we did a pretty good job. Any time you get a break between games it helps with your legs and everything else. We knew we had to take advantage of it." Mike Woodson on playing Dallas again next week: "I think that's good because you have a feel for what the team you just played is doing and they are probably not going to change a whole lot. We will go back and look at some tapes. We just have to make some shots. We have to have confidence when we shoot the ball. I thought we had some good looks, but we just couldn't make shots." Woodson on Atlanta's slow start: "They weren't scoring a whole lot either early in the 1st quarter. It was 6-1 for a stretch and then they took off a little bit. I wasn't real concerned because I figured we would start making some shots soon, and then in the 2nd quarter we didn't get much better. We just couldn't make shots, but our defense was solid. I thought we played pretty good defense. You hold a team like that to 90 points. That's pretty good defense. I know they were shuffling guys in and out when they got a bigger lead, but I thought we played better the 2nd half. Offensively, I have to help us get better because we have struggled." Woodson: "Our offense is struggling right now. I can't control the free throw part of it. That's been a thorn in our side all year. I thought we had some good looks, but we just couldn't make shots. I don't know what the problem is. I don't know if our guys have lost confidence in shooting the basketball, but I got to help them get that back through practice and patting guys on the butt and saying, 'It's okay.' I'm not telling guys not to shoot the ball. ... We've got to get our offense back clicking somehow." Woodson on Josh Smith: "I thought he had more energy than anybody on the floor tonight. I told him that at halftime, that if everybody plays with the effort he's playing with, we'd be okay." Antoine Walker on playing Dallas against next week: "We can play them and play them much better. We gave up too many points in the paint. We should want to play them. If you are a team and you have pride and have pride in yourself, you should want to play them again just to redeem yourself because we are much better than what we showed tonight. We just gave up too many points in the paint; let them get what they want." Walker on playing against his former team: "It was nice to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while, but I wish the outcome had been better. We've got to start playing better basketball. We're better than the way we played tonight." Josh Smith: "I think we did well defensively. We just struggled on executing our offensive plays. It's a little frustrating. We just have to practice more on our offense. I think our defense is there. We have to concentrate on scoring the ball more on offense." Smith on his blocks: "I was just trying to contribute on the defensive end and trying to spark some energy into my teammates so we could execute on offense." Smith: "We did well on defense. I was just doing my part. I came over from the weak side and got a couple of blocks. We need more offense." Dallas Mavericks 90, Atlanta Hawks 68 at Dallas (December 18) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 27 24 26 13 - 90 .471 .133 .410 .645 Atlanta 12 16 17 23 - 68 .411 .000 .370 .444 Halftime: Dallas 51-28 3rd Q: Dallas 77-45 Technicals: none Refs: Kevin Fehr, Steve Javie, Violet Palmer Attendance: 20,068 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Jerry Stackhouse (sore right hand), Kevin Willis (flu) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 37 3-13 1-5 0-0 7 0-5 1 1 2 1 1 Jason Terry 29 4-9 0-1 4-6 12 2-4 4 4 1 5 0 Josh Howard 32 6-13 0-2 1-2 13 3-9 2 3 3 0 2 Dirk Nowitzki 32 5-12 0-1 5-10 15 0-12 3 2 3 2 1 Erick Dampier 33 3-8 0-1 4-6 10 5-13 2 1 1 0 1 Devin Harris 20 3-6 0-2 2-3 8 0-1 3 2 2 4 0 Marquis Daniels 21 5-7 1-2 0-0 11 0-0 1 1 0 2 1 Alan Henderson 16 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 1-6 0 0 3 0 1 Calvin Booth 12 4-7 0-0 0-0 8 3-5 0 0 1 0 1 Darrell Armstrong 5 0-3 0-1 4-4 4 1-1 1 1 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 34-83 2-15 20-31 90 16-57 17 15 18 14 8 Atlanta Hawks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Smith 34 4-11 0-0 1-2 9 2-7 4 3 0 0 10 Boris Diaw 10 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 1 1 0 Al Harrington 37 3-8 0-0 0-2 6 2-6 1 6 3 3 2 Antoine Walker 34 6-15 0-5 1-4 13 0-11 3 2 4 0 0 Jason Collier 21 4-7 0-0 1-2 9 0-2 0 0 4 0 1 Predrag Drobnjak 27 5-10 0-0 1-2 11 3-4 1 2 1 1 0 Josh Childress 26 3-9 0-0 3-4 9 5-9 0 0 2 0 0 Tony Delk 21 4-13 0-2 0-0 8 1-4 2 3 0 3 0 Royal Ivey 18 0-3 0-0 1-2 1 0-1 3 1 4 2 0 Kenny Anderson 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 1 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 30-81 0-8 8-18 68 13-45 16 21 22 10 13 patricia