Dallas activated Jerry Stackhouse and placed DJ Mbenga on IR with a strained right hamstring. Stackhouse had missed the last 12 games with a strained right groin. Dallas at Boston (March 30) Dallas scored 10 straight points to go up 10-2 with 8:40 remaining. A layup by Michael Finley gave Dallas a 16-4 lead with 6:40 left, but Dallas then went cold and joined Boston in playing a really ugly game as the Mavs would not score again for over 4 minutes. Boston scored 7 straight points (including an almost 2 1/2 minute drought of their own) to pull within 11-16 with 2:40 to go. Both teams had just 1 basket over the last 2 1/2 minutes of the quarter. Dallas led 18-13 after 1. Dallas shot just 36.5% FG, but Boston was a mere 5-26 (19%) FG. Dallas' struggles continued and Boston opened the 2nd quarter with a 10-2 run to go up 23-20 with 9 minutes left. Dallas finally refound the basket and scored the next 6 points to regain the lead with 7 minutes to go. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter with Dallas holding small leads for the next 5 minutes. The teams traded leads over the last 2 minutes of the quarter and Dallas ended the quarter by connection on 4 straight free throws. Dallas led 46-43 at the half. Dirk Nowitzki had 12 points including 10-11 FT in the 2nd quarter. For the half, Dallas shot 37.5% FG and Boston shot 34.7% FG. A jumper by Jason Terry and a 3-pointer by Nowitzki opened the 3rd quarter. Consecutive 3-pointers by Paul Pierce pulled Boston within 51-54 with 9:50 remaining. A 3-pointer by Terry and a jumper by Nowitzki put Dallas up 61-54 with 7:35 to go, but Boston then went on a 12-2 run to go up 66-63 with 4:30 left. Dallas answered with a 10-2 run to go up 73-68 with 1:35 remaining. Gary Payton drove for 2 with a couple of seconds left in the quarter. Dallas led 77-74 after 3. After Ricky Davis hit a jumper in the first minute of the 4th quarter, Dallas went on a 14-4 run, capped by consecutive steals by Jerry Stackhouse that resulted in fast break buckets, to go up 94-80 with 6:40 to go - Nowitzki was resting for all but the last play of the run and Michael Finley was also on the bench as Stackhouse, Keith Van Horn, and Josh Howard scored all of Dallas' points during the run. Finley hit consecutive buckets and Devin Harris hit a free throw to give Dallas their largest lead at 99-82 with 4:35 remaining. Boston did go on a 10-2 run to pull within 92-101 with 2:15 left, but Nowitzki ended the run with a tough, step-back 18-footer as he was fouled and he converted the 3-point play. Raef LaFrentz got a 3-point play on the other end, but he was isolated up top trying to defend Nowitzki and Nowitzki simply rose and swished the 3-pointer from 2 feet behind the arc to give Dallas a 107-95 lead with 1:20 to go [that was 6 points by Nowitzki in 25 seconds]. Dallas won 112-100. After poor shooting in the 1st half, both teams picked up their shooting in the 2nd half, with Dallas connecting on 13-19 FG in the 4th quarter. The Mavs got good production off the bench and they were able to make the push to pull away and Dirk Nowitzki was able to make the tough shots to seal the win. For the game, Dallas shot 51.3% (41-80) FG including 8-15 3-pointers. Boston shot 44.7% (38-85) FG including 8-17 3-pointers. Dallas shot 22-27 FT and Boston shot 16-22 FT. Dallas won despite being unable to control the boards, including giving up way too many offensive rebounds. Boston out-rebounded Dallas 44-36 including 17-7 offensive. Dallas again played a good team game with 22 assists, while Boston had 16 assists. The game was Boston's 4th straight loss. Dallas swept the season series 2-0. After being killed by Boston in the 80s (2-16), Dallas has dominated them in the 00s in going 10-2. Dallas finished the month of March with a record of 10-6 - they started the month losing 4 of 5 and finished winning 9 of 11. It was definitely not a one-man game, but Dirk Nowitzki had to be mentioned first. Nowitzki was a stud with 36 points on 11-20 FG, 3-5 3-pointers, and 11-12 FT (all but one came in the 2nd quarter), 9 rebounds, and 5 assists in 36 minutes. His 2 buckets late in the game were just a thing of beauty to watch. Keith Van Horn had another solid outing with 21 points and 4 rebounds off the bench. Jerry Stackhouse enjoyed his return to action with the 2 nice steals during Dallas' 4th quarter run - one of which he took in for a dunk and the other he passed to Josh Howard for a 3-point play. Stackhouse had 11 points and 3 steals in 17 minutes. Howard had 11 points including 4-6 FG (all but 1 point came in the 2nd half) and 5 rebounds in a team high 40 minutes as he again had a tough defensive assignment in chasing around Paul Pierce. Michael Finley had his shooting touch going with 18 points including 8-11 FG. He had 2 rebounds and 3 assists in 36 minutes. Jason Terry had 12 points and 7 assists in 30 minutes. Devin Harris had 3 points on 0-4 FG and 3-4 FT, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in 17 minutes. Alan Henderson didn't attempt a shot and had 2 rebounds in 8 minutes and Marquis Daniels missed 2 shots in 3 minutes. Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker had solid outings, but neither one had an explosive game. Pierce was Boston's high man with 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. Walker had 18 points on 8-20 FG and 1-5 FT and 9 rebounds including 6 offensive. Ricky Davis chipped in 18 points off the bench. Gary Payton, playing despite back problems, had 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists in 35 minutes. Raef LaFrentz had 14 points and 4 rebounds including 3 offensive. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Well, it was obviously a good win for us against a team that's really been hot. I know that they had lost 3 in a row coming into this game, but we really battled. Our 2nd and 3rd quarter defense wasn't very good. It's unacceptable. When you can come out of here with a win against a pretty hot team since the All-Star break, we'll take it. I was really proud of the way we rebounded in the 2nd half. We were getting killed on the boards in the 1st half and I thought in the 2nd half we came out and rebounded the ball really active. We had a stretch of about 5, 6, 7 minutes in between the 3rd and 4th quarter where our defense was really good. Stackhouse gave us a big lift. That was in the 4th quarter. He got some steals and I thought he gave us a lot of energy. I think I was happier about his 3 steals during those crucial situations than his 11 points." Johnson on Van Horn: "I think he's been steady. We probably could have used a few more rebounds from him tonight, but he's been steady. I've been trying to keep him around 18 to 24 minutes. He's been creeping up to 26 the last 2 games and I think that's good enough. I'm really happy that Dirk only played 36 minutes tonight, because I feel that if he can play 36 minutes he'll be strong in the 4th quarter. Josh didn't have a great 1st half, but I thought his defense on Pierce, for the most part, was pretty good. He really came out, got active, and got after it in the 2nd half." Johnson on if the plan is to play Van Horn late in the 4th: "It depends, because when Dampier comes back it changes things quite a bit. I think we have a gear where we can play Keith and Dirk together, and we've got some stuff that we like when they're on the court. But Erick Dampier is our starting center, and he's going to finish a lot of games for us once he gets back and gets healthy. I'm glad we have the option of going to Keith because he's a terrific free throw shooter, a good ball handler, and we can switch a lot of pick-and-rolls down the stretch when he's in the game." Johnson on Nowitzki: "He's been playing tough all year and it's happened so much, retaliating when somebody pushes you and you push them back. It's getting to the free throw line, driving to the basket, it's posting up, it's playing defense. He had some really nice defense on Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace the other night, but he doesn't get any credit for his defense. He rebounds the ball, and not just the rebounds that come to him. He gets what we call dirty rebounds, when people are climbing over your back. So that's what I like about his toughness this year." Dirk Nowitzki: "I don't think I was especially fired up tonight. I was just trying to play my game. Obviously there are nights where you feel a lot better and you feel like you can't miss. Some nights I can not make the easiest layups. It was one of those nights where it all felt good. Offense will come and go, but our defense has to be solid, especially down the stretch. It helps me that Keith is playing unbelievably for us. He has got the shot going, but he always has that in-between game. He just has a great all around game going for us. We knew he was going to come around at some point. With Stack being back, I think our bench really has a lot of scoring options and should be fun to watch." Nowitzki: "The 2nd unit that was in there really did a nice job. I was on the bench. Mike was on the bench. Keith was aggressive, hit a couple of nice shots. Stack had great steals, 2 back-to-back." Nowitzki: "We worked on being able to close out games early in the season defensively. Offense will come and go, but defense is what wins games down the stretch. 5 or 6 good solid minutes on defense set the tone in the 4th quarter." Nowitzki on the 2 road wins: "This kind of start on the East Coast is big for us. We don't have a lot of games left. We want to show we can win on the road going into the playoffs." Nowitzki on being compared to Larry Bird: "I would not say all that. Larry is a legend. He is one of the best players to ever play the game. I just love to watch how smart he plays. The thing that I like most about Larry's game was his passing. That is an area where I would like to get better and learn from him if I can. That is something I can be better at." Nowitzki on being compared to Bird: "I wouldn't say that. Larry is a legend. He's one of the best to ever play the game. He was so smart out there. I loved watching him play when I was younger and the thing I always liked most about him was his passing ability. He was always able to find the open man and that's something I need to work on." Nowitzki on being compared to Bird: "I'm not there yet, but hopefully by the end of my career I can get there." Jerry Stackhouse: "It feel great to be back, man. It just feels so good to get back with the guys and get onto the court again. I missed it. There is nothing harder for me then watching my team play while I am wearing dress clothes. It was a lot of fun for me. I am just happy to be back and to be able to contribute. I thought we played great defense when we needed to in the 4th quarter. We settled down when we had to. Teams like them who have great athletes are going to stick around. It is just a matter who was the better defensive team. We have too many people who can score. That is never going to be a problem for this team." Stackhouse: "I thought we played great defense when we needed to. We were the better defensive team tonight and that made the difference." Stackhouse: Every game is going to be like that, a bump and grind. Every team, when we get to that caliber of team [in the playoffs], is going to hang around and we're going to need to step it up. The last 5 minutes is the time to do that, but it kicked in a little earlier tonight." Stackhouse on his 2 steals in the 4th quarter: "Avery told me I had 2 minutes to get something done. That's all I could get." Stackhouse on his groin: "I hope it's behind me. It doesn't hurt anymore, that's all I know." Keith Van Horn: "I have a role. I am just trying to fulfill that role to the best of my abilities. We haven't won any championships yet. I would like to win one as well and that's our goal. I am just trying to go out there and help my team accomplish that. I am starting to get a better feel for the offense. My body is healthy. I do not have to think as much out there. I can just go out there and play because I have a good understanding of where to be and I don't have to think about where to be. I think that makes a big difference. I really think it was our defense tonight. Stack came in after being out for a while and he really helped turn this game around for us." Van Horn: "Dirk made some big shots down the stretch for us. Coach Johnson knows how to use big guys, like myself and Dirk, that can play different spots on the court." Van Horn on Nowitzki: "I knew when he hit that step back jump shot off the left foot that he was feeling pretty good. He just played an overall great game for us. Part of my job on this team is to not have any letdowns when Dirk comes out of the game." Marquis Daniels on only playing 3 minutes: "We're going good and we're winning. I don't want to be a burden on the team [by] moping and crying. I've got to stay upbeat." Doc Rivers: "I thought we lost to a better team tonight, to be honest, especially the way we played. I thought we played in stretches but I didn't think we played together as a team for most of the game and then we showed some energy in stretches. We've just got to get it going and just keep working on it." Rivers on the team's struggles: "As a coach, what do you do? Do you push an alarm button or something? You just keep doing what you do. You stay consistent. If you believe that your team is a good team, you keep doing what you're doing. If you don't, then you panic and you push that proverbial button that people push. I just don't know where the button is at. You just keep playing. Right now, we're just not playing, honestly. We're not playing together." Rivers: "Our defense was bad because guys were [ticked] off about the offense. That's something we did earlier in the year, that I don't like right now with our team. That's not a concern. It's what I don't like about how we're playing. And then, I think we've got to stop all the talking and play. We're crying and begging on every play. Let me do that. We've just got to play basketball. And we've got to be a better basketball team." Rivers: "You're going to win 8 in a row during a season and you're going to lose 4 in a row. The key is when you win them, you stay together. When you lose them, you stay together. I thought we pulled apart. Not as far as dislike, but as far as trying to do it ourselves. There is a good quality in that because the guys who do that want to win. But that's not winning basketball. You win by staying with the game plan. When you do that, you will win. I think we'll get it back." Rivers on if Walker is slipping into old habits: "No, I don't think so. The other night, I thought he forced some. I thought he caught himself tonight. And one thing I will say about Antoine right now: he's playing hard. The shots aren't going in for him. Yeah, we do need to move the ball more. He does, but everyone does. It's not just Antoine. And the reason we're losing is not Antoine. I guarantee you that. We're losing because of we - all of us - I've got to do a better job of getting them to see what we we're doing, and they have to do a better job of getting back to that point. And I'm not talking the win streak; I'm talking 3 of 4 games before the end of that streak. The slippage was starting. And so now we've just got to get back. The good news is, again, the last time I checked we're still in 1st. We have 11, 10, I don't even know how many games left, and it's in our hands. And if someone had told me before the season you're in this spot, I would of raised my hand and said, 'I'll take that.' But it's on us. It's on us like I told you the first game Antoine came here when the place sold out and I don't know, one of you guys said, 'Wasn't it nice to have a sellout?' I said, 'Yeah, but that's our job. It's not Antoine's job to bring them. It's our job to play winning basketball.' Right now we're not playing winning basketball. We're just playing." Rivers on yelling at Walker for Walker talking to Nowitzki after Nowitzki and Perkins had a minor scuffle: "I just told him to get out of there. That was between Perk and Nowitzki, and I liked our chances in that one. I didn't think Perk needed help. That was the point I was making. We don't need to come and rescue Perk. Perk would love to fight, trust me. Teams are trying to get us engaged. They see that it unravels us. To me, that was a close game. Then, at that point, bam, it was gone. Game's over. We've got to just play. All this crap. I just don't like it. Listen, there are coaches who do. I don't think we need to do that to play basketball. Let's just beat the team and point at the scoreboard." Rivers on Jefferson and Perkins: "Al played great. Al gave us good energy. Perk played great, too. It's amazing. The 2 young guys are playing with more energy than anybody else right now." Rivers on Jefferson and Perkins: "We need our young guys. We have to use our young guys. It's not like we can sit back and not use them. We don't have enough guys left. We're in a situation where it's almost forcing my hand. The good thing is that we have enough of them, so if one is not playing well you can go to the other. If both aren't playing well, then we're probably going to lose the game. It's pretty much that simple." Rivers on the post-game meeting: "I didn't read them the riot act, but we had a little talk. But honestly I think the other guys, my assistants, were more engaged today and some of the players were more engaged, which is good. I'm not a big team meeting guy, honestly, because of course you're going to say what everyone wants to hear. But I thought for the most part it was a pretty good, fruitful meeting. Bottom line is I told them we've got to keep working." Paul Pierce on Nowitzki: "Dirk is a tough matchup for anybody. When he really gets it going, they're tough to stop because then you get to focusing so much on him that you tend to forget about the other guys and those guys can hurt you. They're a team that's won 50 games over the last 3 or 4 years, and when you play a team like that, you've got to come with your A game. We were in the game most of the game and then down the stretch, they extended the lead and we were just out of it." Pierce: "They made all the hustle plays. I gave up an offensive rebound that was pretty critical. I turned the ball over a lot and you can't have those critical mistakes in a game like this. Coming down the stretch, it's all about focusing on the little things. I'm going to keep saying this for the rest of the year until we go into the playoffs. It's going to be the little things that carry you through if we're going to be successful in the playoffs." Pierce: "It's tough, especially this time of the year. It's our 4th loss in a row and we're not really playing well, and it's at the wrong time of the year. We really want to be playing well this time of the year, but we've run into a little wall and we have to learn from this experience. We had a good stretch of games, 11 out of 12, and now, down the stretch, teams are starting to elevate their play. It's like a whole different season, and we haven't taken our play to the next level in these past few games." Pierce: "We are not playing well and it's at the wrong time of year. We've run into a wall but we need to learn from this experience." Pierce: "We just need to turn it up these last 11 and not dwell on the last 4. We have a team [next] in Atlanta, that we should beat, and we need to take it from there. The veteran guys really understand that and we have to do a better job helping the younger guys what it is going to take, especially down the stretch, making this run into the playoffs." Pierce on defense: "It's been a concern for us all year long - how up and down we've been. [We] know we are a better team when we're more consistent on defense." Pierce on Walker: "I thought he shot the ball pretty well. A lot of the games he shot the ball but he didn't shoot well, [I still thought] he took a lot of good shots. I don't think anything is wrong with him. He's just going through a stretch. But it's a team game. You can't dwell on one person - it comes from everybody, and that's what we have to realize." Antoine Walker: "It's a tough time right now. Dallas is a tough team to come back on, especially from 10 points in the 4th quarter. [This was] a big loss on our home floor. Now we have to go on the road and try to win. It's going to be probably the hardest game of the season come Friday night." Walker: "We had trouble guarding because of so much foul trouble. But [Van Horn] has been playing good for them. It's a good fit for him. I'm not surprised. They play a good style and he is able to benefit from it." Walker: "I'm just playing, man. I'm trying to figure this thing out. [The losing streak] is just a bump in the road, and we just made this race a lot tighter. It's a gut-check for us." Walker: "This is some adversity for this team. We have to get better defensively. When I first got here we were getting out and scoring in transition a lot more. That's where we are at our best. We need to get back to doing that." Raef LaFrentz: "Not only against Dallas, but against Detroit also, you're going to win some and lose some. We don't feel very good about tonight, but we have Atlanta coming up next, so we get to move on." LaFrentz on Walker: "That's how he plays. He's got the basketball and he's trying to make plays. We just have to stick together. We have to work on our defense, obviously. You can never be satisfied with where you're at defensively." LaFrentz on if the team is more like the 11-1 team or the 0-4 team: "Somewhere in between. When Antoine first got here, it was a great boost for our team; a great shot in the arm. We played with a lot of emotion and energy. That has since worn off a little bit. We've hit a 4 game skid, and we have to find a way to get it back." Dallas Mavericks 112, Boston Celtics 100 at Boston (March 30) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 18 28 31 35 - 112 .508 .533 .513 .815 Boston 13 30 31 26 - 100 .441 .471 .447 .727 Halftime: Dallas 46-43 3rd Q: Dallas 77-74 Technicals: Dirk Nowitzki 8:53 2nd, Antoine Walker 8:53 2nd, Ricky Davis 8:53 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 6:35 3rd Refs: James Capers, Danny Crawford, Kevin Fehr Attendance: 18,624 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 36 8-11 1-2 1-1 18 0-2 3 0 4 0 0 Jason Terry 30 4-10 1-2 3-3 12 1-2 7 3 3 0 0 Josh Howard 40 4-6 1-1 2-3 11 0-5 1 0 4 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 36 11-20 3-5 11-12 36 0-9 5 3 3 1 0 Shawn Bradley 26 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 2-7 1 0 2 1 1 Keith Van_Horn 26 9-17 2-3 1-1 21 2-4 1 1 1 0 0 Devin Harris 18 0-4 0-2 3-4 3 0-3 3 0 3 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 17 5-9 0-0 1-1 11 1-2 1 1 1 3 0 Alan Henderson 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 1 0 0 Marquis Daniels 3 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 41-80 8-15 22-27 112 7-36 22 10 22 5 2 Boston Celtics REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Gary Payton 35 5-9 1-2 2-2 13 2-7 5 2 3 1 0 Tony Allen 25 1-6 0-2 0-0 2 1-3 0 1 1 0 0 Paul Pierce 40 6-12 3-5 6-7 21 3-8 7 3 4 1 0 Antoine Walker 37 8-20 1-2 1-5 18 6-9 1 0 5 2 0 Raef LaFrentz 27 5-11 2-3 2-2 14 3-4 0 2 2 0 2 Ricky Davis 32 7-15 0-1 4-4 18 0-3 2 1 3 0 0 Mark Blount 16 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 2 1 0 0 Marcus Banks 13 2-4 1-2 1-2 6 0-0 1 1 3 0 0 Kendrick Perkins 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-5 0 0 0 0 1 Al Jefferson 7 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-5 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 38-85 8-17 16-22 100 17-44 16 15 23 4 3 patricia