Dallas at Golden State (February 15) Dallas was again without Jerry Stackhouse (strained groin) and Marquis Daniels (appendectomy). Dallas scored the first 6 points of the game before Golden State finally got on the board 3 minutes in. The teams traded small leads midway through the quarter and Golden State led 24-23 with 2:30 to go. Dallas then went on an 11-2 run over most of the rest of the quarter, but Derek Fisher nailed a 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer. Dallas led 34-29 after 1. Dirk Nowitzki had 12 points and Speedy Claxton had 13 points in the quarter. A 3-pointer and jumper by Mickael Pietrus tied the game at 36-36 with 10:40 left. The teams traded buckets and Dallas scored 8 straight points to go up 46-38 with 8:40 remaining. Dallas led 50-44 with 6:45 to go and went on a 15-4 run to take their largest lead at 65-48 with 2:10 left. Dallas led 67-53 at the half. Dallas shot 62% FG and Golden State shot 46% FG in the half. But a different Mavs team came out in the 3rd quarter as Dallas slowed the pace down and went cold. The Warriors scored the first 3 buckets of the quarter to pull within 59-67 with 10:40 left before Dallas finally scored, over 2 minutes into the quarter. Erick Dampier, visibly hobbling, left the game with 8:15 to go and did not return due to a strained tendon in his right foot. Dallas led 79-70 with 5:15 remaining and Golden State scored the next 14 points to go up 84-79 with 2:40 left. Dallas did score the next 5 points to tie the game with 1:45 to go. Claxton hit a jumper with a little over a second left in the quarter to give Golden State an 88-86 lead after 3. Jason Richardson had 10 points in the 3rd quarter. Golden State out-scored Dallas 35-19 in the quarter as the Warriors shot 67% FG and the Mavs shot 40% FG and committed 7 turnovers. It was a tight game in the 4th quarter as the lead flip-flopped over the first 5 minutes of the quarter. Dallas led 100-98 with 6 minutes remaining and scored the next 8 points to go up 108-98 with 4 minutes to go. The teams went scoreless over the next 1:15 and Golden State then made a final push by scoring the next 7 points to pull within 105-108 with 1:25 left. Dallas missed on their possession, but Golden State also missed on their possession. Nowitzki got the ball up high and was fouled as he started his drive. He hit both free throws with 43 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Richardson drove for an easy layup with 35 seconds to go and it was again a 3 point game. But Nowitzki hit the big fade away jumper with 18 seconds left. After a timeout, Pietrus drove baseline but the refs ruled that Darrell Armstrong got there in time and was set and called Pietrus for the charge with 11 seconds remaining. 2 free throws by Nowitzki capped the scoring. Dallas won 114-107. It looked like it was going to be an easy win, but Dallas came out lackadaisical after halftime and it became a harder win than it should have been. It was a run-and-gun game the 1st half by both teams, but Dallas was walking the ball up in the 3rd quarter while Golden State continued to push the ball. But Dallas did have the key run in the 4th quarter and was able to get the win even though they faltered during the game. For the game, Dallas shot 56.1% (46-82) FG including 5-13 3-pointers and Golden State shot 48.3% (43-89) FG including 9-21 3-pointers. Dallas again had a poor free throw shooting night and shot 17-24 FT. Golden State also missed 7 free throws in shooting 12-19 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Golden State 46-36. Next up is a tough one in Phoenix on Thursday, then it is the All-Star break as Dallas gets a needed rest in not playing again until Wednesday [it's also the last break they get as they have 2 days off between games twice, 1 day off between games 22 times, and 6 back-to-backs the rest of the way (31 games)]. Dirk Nowitzki carried the team with 35 points, including 11 in the 4th quarter. He shot 10-17 FG and 15-18 FT as the Warriors could not contain him. He also had 11 rebounds and 5 assists. 15 of Michael Finley's 24 points came in the 1st half. He shot 11-18 FG (no free throws attempted) and had 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Josh Howard had a very nice outing and had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He also was a thief with 6 steals. Erick Dampier's streak of 8 consecutive games in double-digits scoring ended and he only played 20 minutes before leaving with his injury and his status is not yet known for the Phoenix game. He had 6 points and 5 rebounds. The 3 point guards saw a lot of court time due to Dallas' injured players and Golden State often going with a smaller lineup. Jason Terry had 13 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers in 25 minutes. Devin Harris had a strong 1st half as he was very aggressive, but had rookie lapses in the 2nd half. He had 15 points including 6-10 FG, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers in 31 minutes. Darrell Armstrong had 4 points, 5 assists, and drew 2 charges in 23 minutes. Speedy Claxton lit up Dallas in the 1st quarter as the Mavs simply could not keep up with him. He got into foul trouble early in the 2nd quarter and wasn't as explosive in the 2nd half. He finished with 23 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals. Jason Richardson played well with 25 points including 11-18 FG, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. Mike Dunleavy had 18 points and 7 rebounds. 5 of Derek Fisher's 10 points came as quarter enders. He only shot 3-11 FG, but did have 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Mickael Pietrus had 10 points including 4-10 FG. No surprise to Mavs fans, Eduardo Najera was an energy spark for Golden State during their 3rd quarter comeback. He had an impressive come-from-nowhere block that prevented a layup by Michael Finley on a break. He had 10 points on 5-7 FG in 18 minutes. Quotes Don Nelson: "We had a bad 3rd quarter. I didn't know if we could stop the bleeding there. But we got enough in the 4th quarter and I was able to rest some guys. We pulled it out. It was not easy and we'll just take the win and move on. This is 3 in a row now on this trip and I couldn't ask for anything more than that, for sure. We have a tired team. We have not been able to play in the 2nd half. It taxed us to win, we had to play a lot of guys a lot of minutes." Nelson on the 3 wins on the road trip: "You can't do any better than that. Now we have a free swing at Phoenix to try to sweep the trip. So we're going to take it." Nelson: "We ride Dirk. We ride him all the time, whether he's on a roll or not." Nelson on Harris: "He was really good in the 1st half. I told him we needed his offense. He's been trying to do what we want, to get our point guards to penetrate and kick, make passes, and so on. But he also has the ability to score, and we need him to score right now. So I told him, 'Look for your shot. I don't need you to penetrate every time. I need you to look for your shot.' He did that. He played a great 1st half. Very mediocre in the 2nd. I wish he would have played better the 2nd half. But he did make a big basket no question about that." Nelson on Dampier's return to Oakland: "He doesn't show a lot of emotion. I'm not really sure about any of that, about how much that means to him. He just goes about his business usually. He wasn't able to play in the 2nd half, and that really had an effect on our game. But we were able to find a way to win." Dirk Nowitzki: "I think offensively, we pretty much got whatever we wanted all night long. We scored 67 points at the half, we really got what we wanted. But defensively, we had a major letdown in the 3rd quarter. We didn't execute and we left their shooters wide open. We made it a lot harder on ourselves than it should have been. It should have been an easy night for us. For some reason, we can't really finish games out. We always let teams hang around, get their confidence back up, and let them back in the game. We definitely have to improve in that area." Nowitzki: "We're winning games, that's what it's all about. Even though it might not be pretty, some nights you're down all night, like in Sacramento. But you have to keep hanging around and finish strong. That's what it's all about in this league - down the stretch you have to get the stops you need. You need to get a couple of big baskets. That's what we've been able to do this whole trip, and it's been fun. Now we have a shot to come out of Phoenix 4-0. We don't want to head into the break with a loss to Phoenix. We already lost to them at home, a tough one. We have to win this game. If we don't, we're going to sit on it for a long time. We definitely don't want to sit on a loss for 4 or 5 days. It's going to be a huge game because, obviously, they don't want to sit on a loss either. We've got to be ready." Nowitzki: "I got to the line 18 times tonight. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but that was definitely a big part of my game tonight." Nowitzki: "I actually got to the line 18 times which is really good. I was aggressive not only settling for the jumper but trying to get to the basket a little bit. That was a big part of my game today - getting to the free throw line." Erick Dampier: "Obviously, I wanted to have a good performance. Due to injury, I wasn't able to finish the game. The other guys went out and played hard and we were able to get a win." Dampier on his injury: "I can't really say how it feels. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. If I can't go again, I'll just rest it. We have a few days off coming up, and hopefully it will feel better after that." Jason Terry: "We're just going one game at a time. That's how we've been taking it on this trip. We knew it was going to be a tough one. Phoenix is going to be no different. It's going to be high scoring, whoever makes it a defensive game like against Sacramento and Seattle is going to win it." Mike Montgomery: "I didn't think we had the defensive intensity to start the game. We were able to come back and grab the lead but couldn't finish it out. The guys didn't quit out there and I wish they could play like that for 48 minutes, but that's just how it goes." Montgomery: "They are a very good basketball team, that's why they have such a good record. Everyone on that team is skilled, they can drive on you and they have great offensive players. They are difficult to guard because they isolate you." Montgomery on Dallas: "It is hard to guard, because they do isolate you and you're reluctant to help because there's a guy out there that's going to make a shot." Montgomery: "We are playing teams that are a little better than us. I'm pleased that we are competing with them. We've had several opportunities to win a lot of games, but we just have to be better towards the end of games. We just can't lay down. At some point we have to get some feel good out of this thing." Jason Richardson: "It's tough. They've got a whole bunch of great shooters and we do the best we can with that." Richardson: "We played hard. We're a better team than our record is showing. Our guys are really playing hard. You play for your pride, that's what these guys are doing out there. Everyone has something different on their plate - you play for respect, you play for pride. Guys on this team always seem to work hard cause we've just got a lot of pride." Richardson: "We're playing hard. We're a better team than we're showing. Just a play here and a play there at the end, and we win most of these games. But you can't doubt our effort." Dale Davis: "It seems like everybody shoots 50+ percent against us." Dallas Mavericks 114, Golden State Warriors 107 at Golden State (February 13) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 34 33 19 28 - 114 .594 .385 .561 .708 Golden State 29 24 35 19 - 107 .500 .429 .483 .632 Halftime: Dallas 67-53 3rd Q: Golden State 88-86 Technicals: none Refs: Ken Mauer, Bennie Adams, Bill Kennedy Attendance: 15,254 (cap 19,596) Did not play due to injury: Marquis Daniels (appendectomy), Jerry Stackhouse (strained right groin) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 44 11-18 2-3 0-0 24 0-6 4 2 4 2 0 Jason Terry 25 6-11 1-2 0-0 13 0-5 4 4 2 0 0 Josh Howard 41 6-14 0-2 1-2 13 2-10 1 3 2 6 0 Dirk Nowitzki 39 10-17 0-1 15-18 35 2-11 5 3 2 1 2 Erick Dampier 20 3-5 0-0 0-2 6 2-5 2 0 2 0 0 Devin Harris 31 6-10 2-5 1-2 15 0-1 4 4 2 2 1 Darrell Armstrong 23 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 0-2 5 0 2 0 0 Alan Henderson 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 0 1 0 0 1 Shawn Bradley 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Calvin Booth 4 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 46-82 5-13 17-24 114 8-46 26 18 17 11 4 Golden State Warriors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Derek Fisher 40 3-11 1-4 3-4 10 0-5 5 1 1 3 0 Speedy Claxton 36 8-19 1-2 6-6 23 0-6 9 3 4 3 0 Jason Richardson 41 11-18 3-7 1-3 26 1-5 7 3 0 3 0 Mike Dunleavy 32 8-13 2-3 0-0 18 3-7 0 4 5 1 0 Adonal Foyle 24 3-5 0-0 0-2 6 1-4 0 0 2 0 3 Mickael Pietrus 24 4-10 2-5 0-0 10 1-4 1 3 1 0 2 Dale Davis 18 1-4 0-0 2-4 4 2-4 1 0 3 2 1 Eduardo Najera 18 5-7 0-0 0-0 10 1-1 2 1 3 0 1 Zarko Cabarkapa 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Calbert Cheaney 3 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 43-89 9-21 12-19 107 9-36 25 16 20 12 7 patricia