Dallas at Seattle (February 13) Dallas was again without Jerry Stackhouse as he aggravated his strained groin injury during his play during the Sacramento game and Marquis Daniels remained out while recovering from an appendectomy. Seattle was without Danny Fortson, who was serving the 2nd game of a 2 game suspension. Seattle scored 7 straight points, capped by a 3-pointer and a dunk by Rashard Lewis, to go up 7-4 with 7:50 remaining. Dallas then scored the next 10 points to go up 14-7 with 5:30 left. The Mavs led 20-12 with 2:50 to go and Seattle closed the quarter with a 7-1 run. Dallas led 21-19 after 1. Dallas held a small lead for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd quarter, none larger than 6 points. Seattle pulled within 38-39 with 3:45 to go and Dallas closed the quarter with a 12-4 run to go up 51-42 at the half. Dallas shot 47.5% FG and Seattle shot 40.5% FG in the half. Dirk Nowitzki hit a jumper to open the 3rd quarter and give Dallas their first double-digit lead. Dallas led 65-55 with 5 minutes to go and then went ice cold in missing their last 6 shots as Seattle closed the quarter with an 11-1 run to tie the game at 66-66 after 3. Seattle out-scored Dallas 24-15 in the 3rd quarter. The game was tied at 70-70 with 10:15 left and Seattle went on a 13-3 run to go up 83-73 with 6:40 remaining. Erick Dampier scored the next 5 points, but Seattle drained consecutive 3-pointers to go up 89-78 with 5:15 to go. But it was Seattle's turn to collapse as they would not connect on a basket the rest of the way. It became a game of free throws over the next 3 minutes as Dallas hit 8-8 FT and Seattle hit 3-3 FT and Seattle led 92-86 with 2:10 left. Michael Finley nailed a jumper, Seattle missed and Jason Terry hit 1-2 FT to pull Dallas within 89-92 with 1:20 remaining. Seattle missed again and Nowitzki drove for 2 to make it a 1 point game with 50 seconds to go. Antonio Daniels missed as the shot clock was running out and Finley got the rebound. Terry passed to Nowitzki on the wing, but he passed it back as 2 defenders came, and Terry passed it back to Nowitzki, and Nowitzki passed it to the cutting Josh Howard and he had to elevate to get to the pass and touched passed it back to an open Terry behind the arc and Terry drained the 3-pointer with 8.7 seconds to go to give Dallas a 94-92 lead. Seattle called timeout. Daniels drove baseline and Howard was there to meet him and blocked Daniels' shot attempt out of bounds with 3.8 seconds remaining. Daniels was inbounding the ball on the baseline, looking for Vladimir Radmanovic who was covered and didn't see an open Luke Ridnour cut through the paint or Ray Allen get briefly open, and he passed in to Lewis who turned around and threw up a bad shot that bounced off the rim and over the backboard with .6 seconds left. Dallas called timeout to advance the ball to midcourt. Darrell Armstrong was intentionally fouled on the inbounds with .3 seconds left. He hit the first free throw and intentionally missed the 2nd free throw and time expired on the rebound. Dallas won 95-92. Wow. What an exciting finish by Dallas and what a collapse by Seattle. Seattle missed their last 10 shots they attempted as Dallas' zone defense seemed to bother them. And it was one-and-done on those shots as Dallas got the rebound on 9 misses (the only one they didn't get was when Josh Howard's block went out of bounds). And Dallas hit the last 3 shots they attempted. The late misses dropped Seattle's shooting percentage down to 39.3% (35-89) FG for the game while Dallas shot 46.7% (35-75) FG. Seattle shot 8-24 3-pointers, including 6 made in the 2nd half. Dallas shot 3-9 3-pointers. Dallas shot 22-30 FT and Seattle shot 14-21 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Seattle 49-40 and Seattle had 13 offensive rebounds and Dallas had 10 offensive rebounds. The win gave Don Nelson 330 wins as Dallas' coach, as he passed Dick Motta with the most coaching wins in Mavs history. Jason Terry was having a lousy homecoming with just 1 make in the game, coming at the end of the 2nd quarter, and 6 misses until draining the 3-pointer that gave Dallas the lead with less than 9 seconds left in the game. It was the 2nd consecutive game that he made the basically game winner. He also had 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 31 points including 13-23 FG. He also had 11 rebounds and 6 assists. Michael Finley had 23 points and a season high 11 rebounds. Dallas is 12-0 this season when Nowitzki and Finley both score 20+ points (and 58-8 over the last 4 seasons when they both score 20+ points). Erick Dampier continued his solid play with his 7th double-double in his last 8 games with 19 points and 14 rebounds including 5 offensive. He gets kudos for shooting very well from the line at 9-11 FT - far above his season average of 61% FT, much needed in this game. Damp also had 3 blocks. Josh Howard's numbers were not flashy with 10 points and 5 rebounds, but he again played good defense and was part of the reason Ray Allen had a season low 10 points. Darrell Armstrong missed all 4 of his shots, but did have 6 assists and 3 steals in his 22 minutes off the bench. And, as usual with Jerry Stackhouse out, Armstrong's numbers were about it for the bench production. 4 others played and they combined for just 5 points and 1 rebound in 23 minutes. Rashard Lewis was the high man for Seattle with 18 points including 4-8 3-pointers. He also had 7 rebounds. Luke Ridnour had 17 points and 8 assists. Ray Allen really struggled with a season low 10 points on 4-17 FG, 1-8 3-pointers, and 1-2 FT. He had 4 rebounds and 3 assists in his 38 minutes. Reggie Evans had 5 points and 12 rebounds. Antonio Daniels chipped in 14 points off the bench and Nick Collison had 10 points including 3-10 FG. Quotes Don Nelson: "I think we were the recipient of the Sonics having 2 great wins and then getting stuck with travel and a whole bunch of stuff that really helped us win this game. I don't know that we could have won it otherwise if they had a fresh team with fresh legs. I don't think we should be too proud of ourselves on this one. We fought hard and we played well enough to win. You are going to have to play better than we played tonight if you are going to win in Seattle under normal circumstances." Nelson on the last play: "We were going down low to Nowitzki and when he kicked it out the 2nd time we walked into the long 3. Terry has been making that shot. He has made big shots for us all season long. That is the 2nd game in a row where he has made the game winner and he has to be pretty proud of that." Nelson on Terry's game winner: "He should be proud of that because I didn't think he played all that well the whole game. That big shot gave him the reprieve from the coach." Nelson: "We went to the zone defense and we are vulnerable for the 3 point shot but at least we took them out of their offense. We did not allow them to run the screen-and-roll or run the normal offense. They had to attack the zone and I think we got a little lucky that they missed shots. They had a couple of good looks and missed them." Nelson on Howard's defense: "I hope some people start giving Josh Howard some credit. That's the 2nd game in a row he's contained a really good player." Dirk Nowitzki: "Down the stretch, the zone was really working for us. We contested every shot and we finally started getting the rebounds we needed after they'd pounded us on the offensive glass all night." Nowitzki: "Down the stretch, we got those rebounds and pushed it right up on them. There was a little bit of luck, as always, but it was a great run." Nowitzki on Terry's game winner: "He wasn't on the 3-point line - he was a couple of steps behind it. That was a great shot, for sure. He's one of the best shooters in the league." Michael Finley: "We were still able to find a way to win when everything seemed to be going against us. I'm just so proud of the guys that we stuck together." Finley on Nowitzki passing the ball late in the game: "That one play shows his growth as a player. I teased Dirk that he forced Jason to shoot that last shot. He threw it out and Jason said, 'I'm not feeling it,' and threw it back to Dirk. Then Dirk threw it back out again, so Jason had to shoot it." Jason Terry: "Wow, it was by the grace of God tonight. The ball ended up in my hands and I knocked it down. Tonight was a total team effort. We had guys play well and it was a total team effort. The Sonics are a tough team. They are for real. A lot of people sleep on them and think that they are just having an okay season but they are a good team." Terry: "Our main goal was to come in here and get a win, however we had to do it. Good teams always find a way and we did that tonight." Terry on his game winner: "It felt real good when it left my hand. Actually, it felt good before I even took the shot, because I had a look at it earlier." Terry on his hometown: "It was big. I had over 75 friends and family members in attendance. The whole city was watching so I just thank God for being able to do something at the end and to have some input on the outcome of the game." Josh Howard on his block near the end of the game: "It was all instinct. They didn't see the corner man, my man, so I just took a chance. I got a good block." Howard on defending Allen: "I just tried to contain him. He's an All-Star and I'm just a 2nd-year player. But I just played aggressive, and if you keep a hand in somebody's face, it's going to get on their nerves." Darrell Armstrong: "We could have easily given up with 5 minutes to go. But I feel like this team wants to go somewhere. And I'm not just talking about the 1st or 2nd round. We're playing with heart." Nate McMillan: "I didn't think we played a good game in the 1st half and somehow we got back in the game in the 2nd half and get a 10-point lead and then we just had mental breakdowns late in this game and we ended up giving it away a game we had control of. It seemed like we were a step slow for whatever reason. I didn't see the energy, the intensity that we normally play with for pretty much 3 quarters. Then we got some energy, we started scrapping, we made some shots, and some stops. But then we had breakdowns that cost us. We gave up some easy baskets, we made some turnovers, and we came down 2 or 3 possessions and we couldn't knock down a shot when we had a 10-point lead." McMillan: "We took quick shots and we didn't make them work on the defensive end. On top of that, we made some mistakes on the defensive end - turning the ball over and not matching up, getting stops when you need to." McMillan on the last 5 minutes of the game: "We wanted to attack the basket. I thought a lot of our shots, we were settling for a quick shot as opposed to making their defense work." McMillan on Dallas getting free throws: "They just started to put their head down. They were aggressive trying to get to the free throw line. We got confused in transition a couple times. We didn't do a good job of communicating. In that situation we know what we should do and we didn't get it done." McMillan on Terry being wide open for his 3-pointer: "That's communication. I can't help you in that situation." McMillan: "Sometimes we were settling for the quick shot against their man, their zone as opposed to making their defense work. I thought we stood a lot tonight and just didn't have the movement and just seem like the energy wasn't there." McMillan: "They just controlled the offensive glass in the 1st half. Hustle plays, 2nd opportunities, they just controlled that. The 2nd half, we came with some energy and got some stops and were able to make some baskets. I thought they looked like the aggressive team tonight." Ray Allen: "My shot wasn't falling but we had control of the game in the 4th quarter but it got away from us. We could have won that game regardless of what was going on with me. It wasn't my night but we were up 10 in the 4th quarter. We didn't manage the game down the stretch." Allen: "We just had some bad miscues on defense. Offensively, we didn't need to score another bucket down the stretch if we could have got some stops.'' Allen: "I missed shots and it was no different than any other time when I miss shots. I had open shots all night and I just missed them." Allen: "We have so many plays we can run, and in the 4th quarter we kept running the same stuff over and over again. And it didn't produce anything. It had us taking long shots or bailing out at the shot clock." Rashard Lewis on his last shot: "I was off balance. It wasn't supposed to go to me. The play just broke down. It's just something that I turned around and threw it up." Antonio Daniels: "We had some good looks at the bucket and we didn't knock shots down. But we also didn't execute as well as we're used to or capable of down the stretch. We took some ill-advised shots and when we had them down by 10 we didn't do a good job of managing the game and getting looks that we wanted to get." Daniels on the end of the game: "It didn't feel like we relaxed but kind of rushed, more than anything else. It was like we were trying to get the game over with too fast instead of just managing the game and letting it come to us. We spent a lot of energy getting back into the game but once we got the lead we didn't do a good job of sealing the deal. We made a couple of errors. We had a couple of defensive lapses that we're not used to having." Daniels: "These last 4 or 5 games that we've played have felt like playoff-atmosphere games. That's good, because hopefully it prepares us. It was very aggressive, very chippy." Dallas Mavericks 95, Seattle Sonics 92 at Seattle (February 13) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 21 30 15 29 - 95 .485 .333 .467 .733 Seattle 19 23 24 26 - 92 .415 .333 .393 .667 Halftime: Dallas 51-42 3rd Q: 66-66 Technicals: Don Nelson 9:35 4th Refs: Bernie Fryer, Violet Palmer, Tommy Nunez Jr Attendance: 17,072 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Jerry Stackhouse (right groin strain), Marquis Daniels (appendectomy), Danny Fortson (suspended) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 44 9-21 0-2 5-6 23 1-11 2 2 1 0 0 Jason Terry 35 2-8 1-2 1-2 6 1-5 6 1 1 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 40 13-23 1-3 4-5 31 1-11 6 3 2 1 1 Josh Howard 39 5-10 0-1 0-2 10 2-5 1 2 4 0 1 Erick Dampier 37 5-8 0-0 9-11 19 5-14 1 1 2 0 3 Darrell Armstrong 22 0-4 0-0 1-2 1 0-2 6 2 3 3 0 Devin Harris 10 1-1 1-1 0-0 3 0-0 0 0 2 1 0 Alan Henderson 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 2 6 0 0 Calvin Booth 5 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 35-75 3-9 22-30 95 10-49 22 13 21 5 5 Seattle Sonics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Ray Allen 38 4-17 1-8 1-2 10 1-4 3 2 1 1 0 Luke Ridnour 31 6-12 1-3 4-4 17 0-3 8 1 2 1 0 Rashard Lewis 37 6-16 4-8 2-2 18 2-7 1 2 5 2 1 Reggie Evans 26 2-4 0-0 1-4 5 4-12 0 2 2 0 0 Jerome James 20 4-10 0-0 0-0 8 4-6 0 0 1 0 2 Antonio Daniels 31 7-13 0-1 0-1 14 0-0 3 0 1 1 0 Vladimir Radmanovic 29 3-10 2-4 2-4 10 1-2 2 1 4 0 1 Nick Collison 17 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 1-4 0 0 6 1 1 Vitaly Potapenko 7 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 1 1 0 Ronald Murray 4 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 35-89 8-24 14-21 92 13-40 17 8 23 7 5 patricia