The NBA named Devin Harris and Emeka Okafor (Cha) as Rookies of the Month for November. Harris averaged 8.6 points and 2.7 assists as Dallas went 10-6. Okafor averaged 13.5 points and 10.1 rebounds as Charlotte went 3-10. Harris joined Jason Kidd (March 1995), Jay Vincent (December 1981, February 1982, March 1982), and Mark Aguirre (November 1981) as Mavs to win the award (the league started handing out a ROM for each conference in 2001-02). Look for Harris to win more ROMs as the season goes along as there really aren't any other rookies in the Western Conference getting many minutes. Houston at Dallas (December 2) Both teams came out with high octane and scoring at will. Dallas scored 8 straight points to go up 14-8 with 7:15 remaining. Dallas led 19-12 with 6 minutes left and Houston went on a 12-2 run, including 9 points by Tracy McGrady, to go up 23-21 with 3 minutes to go. The scoring came to a halt as the Rockets would only make a free throw the rest of the quarter and Dallas scored 4 points in the last 3 minutes. Dallas led 25-24 after 1. McGrady had 13 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 10 points. The scoring resumed in the 2nd quarter. A 3-pointer by Jason Terry gave Dallas their largest lead at 41-30 with 6 minutes left. But Yao Ming hit a short jumper and Andre Barrett nailed a 3-pointer to put Dallas' led back in single-digits. Dallas led 53-44 with 1:30 to go and Scott Padgett got a layup and McGrady hit a jumper and 3-pointer to make it just a 2 point game with 22 seconds remaining. Terry drained a 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer to give Dallas a 56-51 lead at the half. The 2-man duel continued as McGrady and Nowitzki had 12 points each in the quarter. Houston got into the penalty with 8 minutes left in the 2nd quarter and, thus, Dallas shot 12-14 FT in the quarter. For the half, Dallas shot 53% FG and Houston shot 50% FG. Dallas continued to hold a single-digit lead in the 3rd quarter. Jerry Stackhouse found Erick Dampier for the alley-oop to give Dallas a 71-62 lead with 3:30 to go. Nowitzki then took a needed rest and Houston took advantage of Nowitzki's absence in going on a 10-2 run to pull within 72-73 with a minute left. Stackhouse scored the last 3 points of the quarter and Dallas led 76-72 after 3. [It was a quiet quarter for the 2-man game as Nowitzki had 8 points and McGrady had 6 points in the 3rd quarter.] It was Dirk vs Houston to open the 4th quarter as Nowitzki scored Dallas' first 10 points and the Mavs led 83-77 with 6:35 remaining. Houston then scored the next 5 points as McGrady got a block and a steal and found Jim Jackson in the corner for a 3-pointer to pull Houston within 82-83 with 6:50 left. Dallas was able to hang on to the lead as Nowitzki ended Dallas' 2 1/2 minute drought by hitting 2 free throws. Dallas led 89-84 on a bucket by, who else, Nowitzki with 4:50 left, but Bob Sura hit a free throw, McGrady hit a jumper, and McGrady nailed a quick 3-pointer to give Houston a 90-89 lead with 2 minutes to go. Josh Howard hit a short jumper and Sura got a layup with 1:15 remaining. Nowitzki drove and was fouled by Yao Ming - his 6th foul. Nowitzki hit both free throws with 53 seconds left. Maurice Taylor missed inside and Dallas annoyingly could not snag the rebound as McGrady got 2 attempts inside before being fouled with 27 seconds to go. He hit the first free throw and then Dallas called timeout. The icing worked as he missed the 2nd and Marquis Daniels grabbed the rebound. Dallas used a lot of time setting up their final play and Stackhouse missed the baseline fade away with 4 seconds remaining. Houston called timeout. They got the ball in to McGrady, but Dallas had 2 defenders on him and he passed to Sura and Sura's 3-point attempt barely grazed the side of the rim at the buzzer. We had overtime at 93-93. Nowitzki had 13 points and McGrady had 11 points in the 4th quarter. And it became a 1-man show to open the overtime as Nowitzki scored the first 10 points of the extra period - a long jumper in the corner, a tough layup and the foul, 2 free throws, and a 3-pointer [a guy has 50 points and you leave him open???] - to give Dallas a 103-93 lead with 3:35 remaining. McGrady finally put Houston on the board with a 3-pointer with 3:15 left, but Terry answered with a 3-pointer with 2:25 to go. Jackson nailed a 3-pointer and McGrady found Clarence Weatherspoon for a layup to pull Houston within 101-106 with 1:35 left. Terry found Daniels for a layup and McGrady nailed another 3-pointer and Dallas led 108-104 with a minute remaining. Nowitzki missed, but the rebound skittered to the side and Daniels snagged the ball on the baseline and drove for the easy 2 with 35 seconds left. Jackson got a layup with 20 seconds left and Stackhouse was intentionally fouled. He hit 1-2 free throws and Dallas led 111-106 with 17 seconds remaining. McGrady missed a 3-point attempt with 9 seconds left and 2 more free throws by Stackhouse capped the scoring. Dallas won 113-106 in overtime. It wasn't the prettiest basketball, but it sure was entertaining with the 2-man game of Dirk Nowitzki vs Tracy McGrady. Some of the shots that those 2 hit were just unbelievable, especially when they drained a shot despite good defense. Forget the team points per quarter, how about the player points per quarter: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final Nowitzki 10 12 8 13 10 - 53 McGrady 13 12 6 11 6 - 48 Nowitzki shot 15-32 FG, 2-5 3-pointers, and 21-22 FT. McGrady shot 19-36 FG, 6-13 3-pointers, and 4-7 FT. And the 2 weren't pure offense. Nowitzki had 16 rebounds, 3 steals, and 4 blocks. McGrady had a near triple-double with 9 rebounds including 5 offensive and 9 assists and had 3 blocks. Nowitzki's 53 points is the most ever by a Mavs player, surpassing the 50 points scored by Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn in 1994 (and both also in OT games). As for the team numbers, Dallas shot 48.1% (38-79) FG including 6-16 3-pointers and Houston shot 41% (41-100) FG including 11-33 3-pointers. Dallas had a big advantage on the free throws (evenly distributed throughout the game except the 2nd quarter when Houston got in the penalty so early). Houston fans may want to complain about that, but the refs were generous in not calling obvious fouls on Yao Ming 3 separate times during the 2nd quarter when Yao already had 2 fouls - the refs did blow their whistle each time, but gave the foul to the nearest Rocket not named Yao. Dallas shot 31-39 FT (including 4 intentional in the overtime) and Houston shot 13-20 FT. Offensive rebounding hurt Dallas as Houston had 20 offensive boards. The total number of rebounds was even with 51 a piece. For the other Mavs players, when Houston decided to double Nowitzki as soon as he caught the ball in overtime (after his 10 points), other Mavs stepped up and made key plays to preserve the win. Jason Terry and Marquis Daniels had key assists and buckets in the overtime. Terry continued playing despite tweaking his ankle during the game (he left the game early in the 4th quarter in pain, but returned 3 minutes later). He had 14 points on 6-9 FG and 2-3 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists, but did have 4 turnovers. Marquis Daniels scored Dallas' last 2 field goals of the game as part of his 14 points. He shot 6-9 FG and had 8 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse's shooting woes continued, but he played a very solid, well-rounded game and got to the line by attacking the basket. He had 13 points on 3-12 FG and 7-10 FT, 7 rebounds, and a team high 7 assists. Stack also had an impressive block on Yao Ming. Erick Dampier didn't have many numbers but played well in bothering Yao and clearing a path for Mavs buckets (even when he struggles, he normally has a uncredit assists to a couple of Mavs points by screening out a defender or two). He had 5 points and 9 rebounds. Josh Howard had 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals. Devin Harris continues to get yelled at for various mistakes and didn't spend much time on the court in playing just 16 minutes. For Houston, Jim Jackson chipped in 17 points including 3-10 3-pointers and 4 rebounds. He also had 4 turnovers. Yao Ming struggled mightily and was not a strong presence. All his shots came within 15 feet, yet he only shot 4-15 FG. He did have a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds including 6 offensive before fouling out late in the 4th quarter. Bob Sura had 7 points including 3-9 FG and 8 rebounds. No other Rocket had more than 6 points. Quotes Don Nelson: "That was an incredible thing to win this. I really enjoyed it, but not until the very end. Some incredible shot making from 2 guys that deserve to be All-Pro and All-Star. Usually you don't get that from the same game. It was a lot of fun to coach and watch the game. They have suffered some tough losses at home and my worst fear came true that they had a great game. They were really into the game and I thought both teams competed extremely hard." Nelson on Dallas' offense: "We changed our play call a little bit. I think whenever we did, it was a positive. We just kept the ball in Nowitzki's hand and that wasn't a bad idea when he was that hot. It's also not a bad idea to keep it there when he's cold. Nelson: "Dirk definitely can carry us. There will be a day I hope he can do it with his passing as well as his shot." Nelson on Yao fouling out: "I wasn't sure that was going to be a positive for us. I thought Damp did a really good job on him and didn't get rewarded with that much offensive calls. He really jammed it up. He was good in our zone, good in our man-to-man. I thought it would probably hurt us as opposed to help us when he fouled out. It was harder for us to match-up." Dirk Nowitzki: "It was a great night. I made my first couple of shots and that usually gets my confidence up and I was just trying to be aggressive. We've been in a slump the last couple of games in a row and we had to get back on track. I'm just glad we won to be honest. It was so close and a tight game with 4 seconds to go and they still had the ball. We're just glad that we won." Nowitzki: "I'm just glad we won to be honest with you. It was so close and we had lost a couple of bad games. We decided to do whatever it took to win the game." Nowitzki on he and McGrady: "It was a great showdown. We winked at each other a couple of times. After the game, he came over and congratulated me. I congratulated him too." Nowitzki on McGrady: "It was amazing. He made some unbelievable shots from all over the court. We doubled-teamed him and he just jumped over them and made some shots from all most half court. To me, he's one of the best perimeter scorers the game has and it was fun to watch." Nowitzki: "There are always nights where the basket is a lot bigger than it usually is and there are nights when nothing drops. There are nights where you can't even make the easiest layups and the basket has a lid on it. I felt it was going to be a good night and stayed aggressive all night long and got to the line. That was big. I got to the line like 20 times. On a night like that you can't just settle for the jumper all day, you've got to drive and make them pay the price when they body up on you. I tried to mix it up and it worked really well today." Nowitzki: "On nights like that you just can't settle for the jumper. Guys were leaning all over me so I drove inside and made them pay from the line." Jerry Stackhouse: "It was a fun game, a great game to be a part of. Just a shootout. Both guys made a concerted effort to get the ball and both delivered." Stackhouse on Nowitzki: "He was magnificent." Jason Terry: "We came out on the winning end and that's the most important thing. It was good to see [Nowitzki] score all those points, we needed every single one of them, but more importantly we needed the win." Terry on going to Nowitzki when he's hot: "Oh yeah, we're definitely looking for him. You may be sprinting down on the break and have something open and then you see him and you still want to get it to him just to watch another go down. It's not surprising to me, I see the hard work that he puts in and you knew he was due for a game like this." Terry on Nowitzki: "That's why he is the franchise player. He's one of the best superstars in the league right now. He's one of the best pure shooters in the league by far. His jumper doesn't touch anything. And give credit to T-Mac, every time Dirk hit a shot he'd come down and match him. That was something to see." Terry: "This was a classic shootout. Like Bird-Jordan, Dominique-Jordan, just big classic. 2 young superstars in the league shooting it out, trying to do what they can do to will their team to victory." Terry: "This one will be on ESPN Classic." Terry: "I'm still battling this ankle. I'm just trying to do what I can to contribute out there. We're still down a little bit. Everyone is playing through something. I'm out there for the long haul." Terry on his ankle: "I tweaked it, but they said that's part of the healing process - you're going to tweak it from time to time. But I'm going to still be out there." Josh Howard: "I'm glad I'm part of history. This game is probably going to be an instant classic." Howard on Terry: "He did a wonderful job. He came in with poise when Devin was out and he led us to victory." Marquis Daniels on Nowitzki and McGrady: "It was cool. They're stars and that's what they do. Tracy's a great scorer. He's done that to a lot of guys. That's why he and Dirk are elite players in this league." Devin Harris on Terry: "He did a great job. When we were going through some rough spots, he got us some buckets, he ran the plays to perfection, and all-around he managed the game beautifully toward the end of the game." Jeff Van Gundy on McGrady: "He was just playing. I thought he was very assertive, and that was good." Van Gundy on trying to stop Nowitzki: "We doubled him some, but we have to be able to guard better than we did tonight. You have to give him a lot of credit. He played great." Tracy McGrady: "That was exciting. It was fun. I think that was good basketball right there - 2 guys going at it at a high level. I hope the fans enjoyed it." McGrady on defending Nowitzki: "You just have to step up to the challenge. When a guy like that has it rolling, I don't care what kind of defense you put on him, he is going to find a way to score. He had it rolling and I thought I fouled him hard enough that he wouldn't be able to get the ball up. Somehow it went in anyway. It was one of those type of nights." McGrady on where he would rank this game in games he has played in: "This is #1. I've never been part of a game when another guy scored 50. Just to be a part of that was an honor." Yao Ming on his 6th foul: "From my first day playing basketball, my coach told me when people come into drive, to stay in front and put a body in front, put my hands up and draw a charge. That's what I did. I think I'm there. Whatever. They called a foul." Jim Jackson on McGrady and Nowitzki: "The shots that he was hitting; just like what you saw with Dirk. When you have guys hitting like that, it is exciting to be a part of. I just wish it would have come out differently on the result." Jackson on having a 50-point night: "You don't really know it until you start getting into the 30s and it is still early in the game and you are rolling. Dirk had 25 or so at the half. You get an indication if you are able to keep rolling. You don't think about scoring 50. You just keep playing and playing, especially when you are a key guy, you are going to get touches. You will get to the free throw line and continue to score. Tracy is the same way. I don't think it is anything you prematurely feel, but as you get to the threshold over 30 in the 3rd quarter, it's a good likelihood if you keep rolling." Dallas Mavericks 113, Houston Rockets 106 OT at Dallas (December 2) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 25 31 20 17 20 - 113 .508 .375 .481 .795 Houston 24 27 21 21 13 - 106 .448 .333 .410 .650 Halftime: Dallas 56-51 3rd Q: Dallas 76-72 Technicals: none Refs: Derek Collins, Derrick Stafford, Monty McCutchen Attendance: 19,524 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 44 3-8 0-2 0-1 6 0-6 1 2 5 5 0 Dirk Nowitzki 49 15-32 2-5 21-22 53 4-16 2 1 2 3 4 Erick Dampier 36 2-4 0-0 1-2 5 4-9 1 2 4 0 2 Marquis Daniels 34 6-9 1-3 1-2 14 1-8 0 2 2 1 0 Devin Harris 16 1-3 1-2 0-0 3 0-0 3 1 3 1 0 Jerry Stackhouse 36 3-12 0-1 7-10 13 1-7 7 2 1 0 1 Jason Terry 37 6-9 2-3 0-0 14 1-3 4 4 3 0 0 Shawn Bradley 6 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Calvin Booth 4 1-1 0-0 1-2 3 0-1 0 0 3 0 0 Alan Henderson 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 53 38-79 6-16 31-39 113 11-51 18 15 24 10 7 Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 23 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-3 1 1 2 1 0 Jim Jackson 45 7-18 3-10 0-0 17 0-4 0 4 4 0 0 Yao Ming 36 4-15 0-0 5-7 13 6-14 0 2 6 3 1 Tracy McGrady 49 19-36 6-13 4-7 48 5-9 9 2 3 2 3 Bob Sura 33 3-9 0-3 1-2 7 4-8 1 2 3 1 0 Andre Barrett 21 2-7 2-6 0-0 6 1-1 3 0 2 1 0 Reece Gaines 15 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-1 1 0 2 0 0 Dikembe Mutombo 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Maurice Taylor 21 1-6 0-0 1-2 3 1-5 0 2 5 0 0 Scott Padgett 11 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 0-2 0 0 1 0 0 Bostjan Nachbar 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Clarence Weatherspoon 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 2-3 2 0 2 0 0 Totals 53 41-100 11-33 13-20 106 20-51 17 14 30 8 4 patricia