Dallas at Atlanta (December 22) The game stayed close early on with Dallas mostly holding small leads. Dallas scored 6 straight points to go up 15-9 with 5:50 left. But Atlanta scored 6 straight points to tie the game at 17-17 with 2:40 remaining. Atlanta closed the quarter by scoring the last 9 points, with 7 points from Antoine Walker. Atlanta led 28-22 after 1. Walker had 15 points. The Hawks continued their run by opening the 2nd quarter with a 6-1 run to go up 34-23 with 9:30 left - Dallas finally connected on a field goal 3 minutes into the quarter. Atlanta led 46-36 with 3 minutes to go and Dallas closed the quarter with a 10-2 run, with 8 of those points coming from free throws including 2 from Josh Howard who was fouled behind the 3-point line at the quarter buzzer. Atlanta led 48-46 at the half. Atlanta shot 49% FG and Dallas shot 45.5% FG. Dallas had the advantage at the line in shooting 14-18 FT while Atlanta shot 3-5 FT, but Dallas also turned the ball over 15 times. Dallas managed to tie the game twice in the first 2 minutes of the 3rd quarter, but was unable to take the lead. Atlanta went on a 16-6 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Kenny Anderson, to take their largest lead of the quarter at 75-63 with 2:15 to go. Dallas then scored the next 7 points. A 3-pointer by Tony Delk capped the scoring for the quarter. Atlanta led 78-70 after 3. Dallas' struggles and lack of defense continued in the 4th quarter as the Mavs were unable to put a run together and Atlanta's lead hovered between 9 and 14 points over the next 10 minutes. Jason Terry hit a 3-pointer to pull Dallas within 97-106 with 1:20 left, but Al Harrington answered with a layup. Michael Finley then converted a 3-point play with a minute to go, but Dallas would not score again in missing their last 5 shots. Atlanta won 113-100. Dallas was in the Christmas spirit of giving - giving sloppy turnovers, giving easy buckets, giving slam putbacks by not blocking out, and just giving up way too many points to a team that struggles to score. It was an effortless performance by Dallas. One night after showing how good they could be, Dallas came out and showed how bad they could be. Atlanta had all the hustle and effort and took advantage in everything Dallas so generously gave them. The Hawks were ready to play and got their revenge for the huge tail kicking Dallas had giving 4 days prior. Not only was Atlanta's 113 points a season high for the team, but it was the first time Atlanta broke 100 points in a non-overtime game (the only other time being a 109-110 overtime loss to New York). Atlanta shot 53.5% (46-86) FG while Dallas shot 44% (33-75) FG. And as well as shooting better than the Mavs, the Hawks out-rebounded Dallas 47-39 including 17-13 offensive. Atlanta had an amazing 66 points in the paint (Dallas had 38 points in the paint). Dallas was sloppy with 24 turnovers. Just a really effortless night for Dallas. Where as in the last Dallas-Atlanta game Atlanta only had 2 players in double-digits (with the highest being just 13 points), this night Atlanta had 6 players in double-digits. Antoine Walker was the high man with 25 points and 10 rebounds, but also had 7 turnovers. Al Harrington struggled in the 1st half in missing 3 shots, but turned it on in the 2nd half in shooting 8-10 FG. He finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. The rookies performed well with Josh Smith having 14 points and 9 rebounds including 4 offensive and Josh Childress having 16 points including 6-9 FG, 5 rebounds including 4 offensive, and 3 steals. Both had a number of dunk-putbacks as the Mavs failed to boxout. And the vet played well as Kevin Willis had 12 points. Tony Delk had 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. The Mavs lost despite having 3 players with 23 points - but it was the team's lack of defense and rebounding that hurt the most. Josh Howard had 23 points including 9-11 FT and 5 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki had 23 points and 7 rebounds before fouling out at the end of the game. Jason Terry had 23 points including 9-14 FG and 4-7 3-pointers - 9 of his points came in the 4th quarter. He also had 4 assists and 4 steals, but also turned the ball over 6 times. Michael Finley struggled all night in shooting just 4-13 FG and 1-6 3-pointers. He had 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. Marquis Daniels did play despite his ankle bothering him and had 10 points including 4-4 FG and 3 rebounds in 16 minutes. Erick Dampier had 4 points including 1-4 FG and 8 rebounds in 29 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse again did not play (and this time did not dress) due to his sore right hand. Quotes Mike Woodson: "I thought that everybody that played gave tremendous effort tonight. Our defense has been pretty good the last 9 games and tonight we were really solid and found our offense." Antoine Walker: "I wanted to be aggressive. I think the last couple of games, I haven't been aggressive. I was able to get it going early." Walker on Atlanta's young players: "I think it's great. They are the future of this team and we need them. They catch a lot of teams by surprise because some teams don't know what they're good at." Walker: "Having a couple days of practice really helped us because we had a chance to work on our offensive execution." Al Harrington: "1st half, I played as bad as I could. In the 2nd half, I just tried to be aggressive." Harrington: "Antoine came in at halftime and said, 'Al, we're going to ride on your shoulders.' He allowed me to get a shot at it and he let me make it happen." Josh Smith: "We wanted revenge because they beat us so bad. Hopefully this game set the tone for how we should play." Smith: "They came out and kicked our butts, but we did the same here. We wanted revenge. They beat us so handily. Everybody had a chip on their shoulder." Smith: "We had to play hard and crash the boards in order to win. We wanted to allow them one shot most of the time." Don Nelson: "We went from playing one of our best halves to one of our worst games. I called timeouts because I didn't like what I saw and it never got better. I thought I was going to get a good effort and just didn't get anything. The Hawks played pretty well. We gave them a lot of energy in the 1st quarter and they thought they could win. And we never got better. Turnovers killed us and it led to easy baskets. I'm just disappointed with everybody to be quite honest with you." Nelson: "It's been like this all season. About the time I start feeling good - boom! - something happens and things go the other way. Maybe it's going to be like this all year. I hope not because that's a frustrating way to go through the year." Nelson: "It goes to show you I can't predict what is going to happen with this team." Dirk Nowitzki: "We weren't ready to play. Now we have to try to have a merry Christmas with this on our back. Maybe it's good to sit down and see that we have to play a lot harder than this. We all know we're not where we want to be. We've lost a lot of home games, and to lose one here is ridiculous. I don't know how good we can be or how good we are with outings like this." Nowitzki: "We just weren't ready to play. It didn't help that we beat them by 30 at our place. ... The bottom line was we weren't ready to play. We could have been beaten by anybody tonight." Nowitzki: "We just weren't ready to play. It certainly didn't help that we just beat them in our place by 30. It certainly didn't help that we had one of our best outings last night. All that and I guess we just kind of relaxed. We thought it would just keep going. You can't think that way in the NBA. You can't take any wins for granted." Michael Finley: "It got to the point where we couldn't do anything right." Jason Terry: "We just tried to win the game, bottom line. We had way too many turnovers. Me personally, I turned the ball over in some crucial situations. To let a team like that score 100 points, means you're not playing defense out there." Terry on Josh Smith: "The guy is tremendous. He's going to be a star in this league. It's amazing how he can turn a game around." Terry on facing his former team: "It was just another game to me. It felt good to see friends and family, but at the same time, we came here for one thing only, and that was to win the game." Alan Henderson: "It's unfortunate. That's a game we're capable of winning. Too many layups, dunks. We didn't do what we were supposed to do tonight." Henderson on playing against his former team: "It was a different feeling. I was here 9 years and coming as the opposition tonight. I wish we could have gotten a win." Atlanta Hawks 113, Dallas Mavericks 100 at Atlanta (December 22) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Atlanta 28 20 30 35 - 113 .597 .214 .535 .581 Dallas 22 24 24 30 - 100 .471 .375 .440 .806 Halftime: Atlanta 48-44 3rd Q: Atlanta 78-68 Technicals: none Refs: James Capers, Mark Ayotte, Mike Callahan Attendance: 12,765 (cap 19,445) Did not play due to injury: Jerry Stackhouse (sore right hand) Atlanta Hawks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Al Harrington 34 8-13 0-0 1-3 17 0-10 7 2 3 1 0 Antoine Walker 38 10-17 1-4 4-9 25 4-10 3 7 1 1 1 Jason Collier 11 1-2 0-0 1-1 3 1-2 0 1 1 0 0 Royal Ivey 16 2-3 0-0 1-2 5 0-1 0 2 4 2 0 Josh Smith 33 5-9 0-0 4-8 14 4-9 3 1 4 1 1 Predrag Drobnjak 11 0-2 0-0 2-2 2 1-2 3 1 3 1 0 Tony Delk 27 6-16 1-6 1-2 14 2-5 5 0 1 1 0 Kenny Anderson 17 2-5 1-1 0-0 5 0-0 1 0 3 3 0 Josh Childress 31 6-9 0-2 4-4 16 4-5 4 0 3 3 0 Kevin Willis 22 6-10 0-1 0-0 12 1-3 0 1 2 1 0 Totals 48 46-86 3-14 18-31 113 17-47 26 16 25 14 2 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 40 6-12 2-2 9-11 23 2-5 1 4 3 2 1 Dirk Nowitzki 41 7-19 2-5 7-8 23 0-7 3 3 6 1 1 Erick Dampier 29 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 3-8 2 3 5 1 0 Jason Terry 29 9-14 4-7 1-2 23 2-3 4 6 3 4 0 Michael Finley 37 4-13 1-6 1-1 10 0-3 4 3 4 1 0 Marquis Daniels 16 4-4 0-0 2-3 10 2-3 2 2 0 1 0 Alan Henderson 18 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 3-6 0 2 2 0 0 Devin Harris 7 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 12 0-5 0-3 2-2 2 1-3 2 0 3 0 0 Calvin Booth 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 48 33-75 9-24 25-31 100 13-39 18 24 26 10 3 To all who celebrate it, forget about this game and spend time with family and friends and have a wonderful Christmas! patricia