Boston at Dallas (December 28) The game opened up with Dallas continually taking the ball inside and the Mavs held small leads. Dallas led 17-12 with 6:50 to go and went on a 15-2 run to go up 32-14 with 2:30 left as Boston committed 6 turnovers during the run. Jerry Stackhouse scored the last 4 points of the quarter to give Dallas their largest lead at 41-20 after 1. Erick Dampier had 12 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 11 points. Dallas shot 77% (17-22) FG and Boston shot 47% FG. Dallas also out-rebounded Boston 10-5 in the quarter with each team having 1 offensive rebound. Dallas continued to play well and led in the 20s and teens the entire 2nd quarter. Boston scored 6 straight points to pull within 40-52 with 5 minutes to go, but Dallas then rattled of the next 14 points to go up 68-40 with 2 minutes remaining as Boston committed 3 turnovers, missed 3 shots, and missed 2 free throws during the 3 minute span. Jiri Welsch nailed a 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer. Dallas led 73-49 at the half. For the half, Nowitzki had 20 points and 7 rebounds and Jason Terry had 12 assists. Dallas shot 65% FG and Boston shot 48% FG. Dallas led 82-56 with 9 minutes left and started playing sluggish as Boston went on a 17-4 run to pull within 84-73 with 3:40 to go on a jumper by Gary Payton. But Boston would then join Dallas in playing poorly and the next basket wouldn't come until the quarter buzzer as the teams combined to miss their next 10 shots and commit 5 turnovers. Dallas did hit 5 free throws (and Boston missed their one free throw attempt) during that span. Michael Finley nailed a jumper at the quarter buzzer to give Dallas a 91-73 lead after 3. Dallas only shot 5-14 FG and committed 8 turnovers during the 3rd quarter, but were only out-scored 24-18 in the quarter. Finley opened the 4th quarter with a 3-pointer and Dallas' lead would remain between 20 and 24 points over the next 7 minutes. Boston pulled the plug midway through the quarter (it was the first night of a back-to-back for them). Dallas won 113-94. For a change, Dallas came out really strong and were able to use their large 1st half lead to hang on for the win - the 3rd quarter and last half of the 4th quarter were not pretty. In the 1st half, Dallas took full advantage of Boston lacking a strong big man in the middle and continually took the ball inside. Dallas played a good team game and had a season high 31 assists (and the first time this season above 30 assists). Dallas finished shooting 53.2% (42-79) FG and Boston shot 45% (36-80) FG. Dallas out-rebounded Boston 44-35 and there weren't many offensive rebounds as Dallas had 6 offensive rebounds and Boston had 7. The game was the first of 5 straight home games for Dallas and started a string of 8 of 9 games at home (and even more cushy, those 9 games are spread over 25 days). Dallas now has a really rare 4 days off before facing Milwaukee on Sunday. Dallas finished December with a record of 9-4. Dirk Nowitzki had his 15th double-double of the season with 29 points including 10-10 FT and 11 rebounds. 2 of his 4 assists were to Erick Dampier for dunks and the other 2 were to Michael Finley for dunks. Finley had 21 points. Dampier was an offensive force inside with 7 of his 8 shots being off of dunks. He had 16 points on 8-10 FG, but only had 3 rebounds and committed 5 turnovers. 12 of Jason Terry's 14 assists came in the 1st half. He was looking more to pass than score as he had just 9 points on 4-7 FG. He also did not have a single turnover. Jerry Stackhouse opened the night by doing a good job of singing the national anthem [the surprised look on some of the Celtics' faces when Stack was introduced was funny]. He finished the game by getting tossed as the refs compounded their poor performances with the quick T whistle (9 techs called in the game). He had 14 points and committed 7 turnovers. Josh Howard was the subject of a number of the refs bizarre calls and was limited by foul trouble. He had 9 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 fouls in 23 minutes. Shawn Bradley played well with 6 points including 2-3 FG and 9 rebounds in 18 minutes - he was also the subject of the refs' ire and had 5 fouls before being tossed. Marquis Daniels sat due to his sprained left ankle. For Boston, Paul Pierce had 17 points (5 under his average), 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. Jiri Welsch also had 17 points including 6-8 FG and had 5 rebounds. Raef LaFrentz had 16 points and 5 rebounds and Marcus Banks had 14 points. Gary Payton and Ricky Davis struggled with their shots. Payton had 6 points on 3-12 FG, but did have 9 assists. Davis had 2 points on 1-8 FG and 0-2 FT and committed 6 turnovers. The refs deserve mention for their terrible performance. The only good thing to say about them is that they weren't biased - they were bad all away around. I can't tell you how many missed traveling, goaltending, fouls inside, and other non-calls I saw. And a number of the calls that they made were bizarre. Not to mention that both flagrants were bogus and Ricky Davis got tossed after getting called for an offensive foul on an obvious flop. It got to be that when they actually made a correct call (against either team), I made the comment, "Well, at least they got that one right." The reason there were so many technicals was that players were frustrated with the bad officiating. Look for the Mavs to protest the flagrant 2 assessed to Shawn Bradley - I guess the ref thought he saw an elbow thrown, but I watched it again when I got home and there was nothing more than I saw live: it should have just been nothing more a tech on Bradley or a tech on each player. And if the refs had done their job in the first place, Bradley wouldn't have felt the need to get into Justin Reed's face to let him know that such play wasn't acceptable. Reed had very physically used his body and hands to keep Bradley from trying to go after a rebound - an easy foul to call. Thank goodness it wasn't a close game and the poor officiating had no affect on the outcome. Quotes Don Nelson (who did not address the media after the game) on the stretch of home games: "We need all 5 games. Anything less than that, to me, is going to be failure. We'll take them one at a time, because that's the only way you can play them. But I want to have a vision far greater than one game." Avery Johnson: "It was a good night for us, especially in the 1st half. We played probably some of the best Maverick basketball that I have seen all season in the 1st half. Our defense was good. We held them to 49 points. Jason Terry really set the tone for us. A lot of the things that we had been working on in practice and watching in film sessions finally clicked in the 1st." Johnson: "We probably had as bad a 3rd quarter as I have seen. We had 10 turnovers in the 3rd and 2 assists. It was a tale of 2 halves. We made some shots in the 2nd half to keep the cushion. Dampier was big for us in the 1st quarter and really got us off to a good start. He was probably as active as we've seen him all year. We've got a lot of things to watch on film. We know that this isn't a perfect game. I like our effort and intensity." Johnson: "We talked about keeping the intensity at half time. It's hard to increase 20 point leads to 40 points. It's not that easy. NBA teams have runs in them and they had a run in them and out-scored us 24-18 in the 3rd quarter. They have some terrific players on their team. With all the technicals, it wasn't a pretty game in the 2nd half." Dirk Nowitzki: "We got stops, we rebounded, we really pushed the ball. We got the ball in the open court. That's where we want to be the whole season. We haven't really been taking advantage of that." Nowitzki on the stretch of home games: "It's nice to win on the road, but we've been letting games slip away here. We have to find a way to get that right." Nowitzki on Stackhouse singing the national anthem, joking: "He sings in the locker room all the time. It's getting to the point where it's a bit much." Jerry Stackhouse: "I thought tonight we came out with a lot of energy, a lot of effort, we made shots and played good defense. We forced some turnovers and got some easy opportunities. That's how we were able to get a big lead." Stackhouse on his ejection: "I'm going to call the league. [Ref Zielinski] sat there and tried to bait me. The league always calls us when we mess up, so I'm calling them. I deserved the first tech because I said he was terrible. But I didn't get my money's worth on the second one. I think I'm right this time." Stackhouse on signing the national anthem: "I don't think I was too nervous. The only thing you worry about is forgetting the words. If I did that, I was going to pull a James Earl Jones and just read it." Jason Terry on his passing: "Basically I was just trying to set the tempo for us tonight on both ends of the floor and fortunately it was on offense tonight. We got into the lane and guys were spotting up and getting in their spots real well. We worked on that in practice and it worked out." Terry: "Our offense got in the lane. Guys were spotting up real well. When Damp comes out and plays aggressive early like that, we're really hard to stop; so that's something that we definitely need to focus in on." Terry: "We came out and set the tempo at both ends. We were able to get in the lane and guys got in their spots. It all worked out." Terry on Payton: "I definitely knew who I was playing. Gary is always a tough matchup for me, but this just wasn't a matchup between him and I. I just wanted to set the tempo." Terry on Stackhouse: "The guy sings the anthem and then gets ejected. That's a tough one. But he did kind of spark us, I think." Terry on Nelson's comments on the point guards: "Nellie always wants to motivate us. It was another way to get us going. He hasn't been particularly happy with any of us. It's never personal. He wants everybody on this team to do better." Terry on what the team needs to work on: "Just overall consistency and that's on both ends of the floor. We need to play our style of play and that's pushing the ball up and down and creating early offense for ourselves. Defensively, it's just being aggressive. When we play aggressive, control the boards, and get out on transition, we're tough to beat." Terry on the stretch of home games: "We need to play each game one at a time, but we do have a goal set and I won't tell you what that is until after we're finished, but one at a time." Doc Rivers: "We played [bleep] and it's my fault. I really screwed them up. We worked all day on the pick-and-roll coverage that we are going to play all the time. Right before the game, I decided to changed the pick-and-roll coverage. I thought it threw the team into a flux. They didn't have any confidence in the pick-and-roll defense. I take the blame for that. It was a gamble, a bad gamble. I didn't think we could get to Nowitzki in time. Maybe that's too much off time where the coach is thinking too much. Sometimes thinking hurts the team. Tonight it did." Rivers on the technicals: "I thought the refs were trying to clean it up. That's the one thing you have to say, and I thought they did. I don't know why there were short tempers. It's not like it was a 1 point game. I have seen 1 point, 2 point games where guys lose their tempers, but this was a 20 point, 30 point game and we are getting ejections, flagrant fouls, and all that stuff." Paul Pierce: "We had trouble with our pick-and-roll defense. They really put you in a bind with Dirk Nowitzki at forward because he's really like a guard, moving well with out the ball and shooting the ball from anywhere on the court. He's a tough guard. You get confused when he sets pick-and-rolls. We had trouble with it in the 1st half and that was why we got behind so much." Gary Payton on the pick-and-roll: "We didn't play it right. You let somebody score 73 points in a half, you can't get back from that. We didn't play it right. We didn't communicate right. So they torched us with it." Jiri Welsch on the pick-and-roll defense and Dallas' fast start: "It was part of it. But I still think we could do a better job in the 1st when it comes to defense and executing. We were worried about Dirk Nowitzki too much and they just were dancing behind pick-and-rolls and when we were trying to go under, they were dancing behind pick-and-rolls and picking us apart. We changed that and in the 2nd half, we were trapping the guy with the ball ad it was much better." Raef LaFrentz: "They exploited our defense. It took them 2 possessions to figure out what we were doing and then they went to work. We made adjustments and made a run in the 2nd half, cutting it to about 12. We'll come back against you, but Finley got a little hot, and that was it." LaFrentz: "They saw how we were playing it and exploited it. It took about 2 possessions to see what we were doing and they went to work. Having a guy like Dirk on the floor, you spend so much time trying to get up in his face - trying to make his looks difficult - that that often pulls players away from the rim. We just didn't have enough protection down there." LaFrentz on Dallas' defense: "I think they definitely have the athletes to play. They have good players on the wings. Finley has always been a solid defender. When they bring Shawn Bradley in, they have a solid zone. They are such a good offensive team and there are only so many possessions in a basketball game that giving them and another NBA team so many possessions as well, they are going to score a high amount of points. I think that is what slips through the cracks a little bit is other teams have so many possessions against the Mavericks that they are bound to score points." Dallas Mavericks 113, Boston Celtics 94 at Dallas (December 28) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 41 32 18 22 - 113 .600 .316 .532 .885 Boston 20 29 24 21 - 94 .516 .222 .450 .600 Halftime: Dallas 73-49 3rd Q: Dallas 91-73 Technicals: Boston defensive 3 seconds 5:54 1st, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 8:36 2nd, Don Nelson 5:40 2nd, Josh Howard 8:07 3rd, Gary Payton 3:25 3rd, Jerry Stackhouse 2:56 3rd, Ricky Davis (ejected) 6:51 4th, Justin Reed 5:18 4th, Jerry Stackhouse (ejected) 0:45 4th Flagrants: Erick Dampier (level 1) 8:37 3rd, Shawn Bradley (level 2, ejected) 5:18 4th Refs: Monty McCutchen, Gary Zielinski, Marc Davis Attendance: 20,499 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Marquis Daniels (sore left ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 38 8-14 3-7 2-3 21 0-3 3 1 1 2 0 Jason Terry 35 4-7 1-4 0-0 9 0-3 14 0 1 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 39 9-18 1-2 10-10 29 0-11 4 2 2 2 1 Josh Howard 23 4-7 0-1 1-1 9 0-3 2 1 5 1 1 Erick Dampier 25 8-10 0-0 0-0 16 1-3 0 5 3 0 2 Jerry Stackhouse 26 4-9 1-4 5-6 14 0-3 2 7 4 1 1 Shawn Bradley 18 2-3 0-0 2-2 6 1-9 1 2 5 0 1 Devin Harris 14 0-1 0-0 3-4 3 1-2 3 1 2 1 0 Alan Henderson 14 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 2-5 0 2 0 1 1 Calvin Booth 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 1 2 0 Darrell Armstrong 3 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 2 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 42-79 6-19 23-26 113 6-44 31 21 24 13 7 Boston Celtics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Paul Pierce 31 6-13 2-6 3-7 17 0-5 1 2 3 3 0 Gary Payton 27 3-12 0-1 0-0 6 0-0 9 3 3 0 0 Jiri Welsch 27 6-8 1-3 4-4 17 1-5 2 2 2 1 0 Raef LaFrentz 27 7-13 0-3 2-2 16 2-5 0 0 0 1 0 Mark Blount 26 2-5 0-0 1-2 5 1-5 0 3 0 0 1 Ricky Davis 26 1-8 0-2 0-2 2 1-2 2 6 5 2 1 Marcus Banks 23 4-7 1-1 5-6 14 0-4 0 1 2 1 1 Al Jefferson 15 4-5 0-0 1-2 9 1-5 0 3 1 0 2 Tony Allen 12 2-4 0-0 0-1 4 0-1 1 1 2 2 0 Walter McCarty 12 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0-0 2 0 2 0 0 Justin Reed 7 1-1 0-0 2-4 4 0-1 2 1 0 0 0 Kendrick Perkins 7 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 1 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 36-80 4-18 18-30 94 7-35 20 22 21 10 5 patricia