Dallas at New Orleans (October 13) Dallas played in their first preseason game of the season and look very poor to start - it was a blessing that this game was not televised so that few had to watch this ugliness. When Dallas was not bricking shots, they were turning the ball over. How bad was it? They were a turnover a minute in the first 8 minutes (yup, an astounding 8 turnovers in that time frame). Add to that Dallas' 3-10 FG and it was not surprising that New Orleans was up 21-10 with 3:40 left - in fact they were lucky that the deficit wasn't larger as New Orleans was having their own shooting woes. In fact, both teams combined to miss the next 7 shots. Dallas finally started hitting some shots in the last 2 minutes of the quarter while New Orleans continued to struggle and Dallas scored the last 6 points of the quarter to pull within 18-23 after 1. New Orleans played the entire 2nd quarter without their starters (in addition to usual starters David Wesley and Rodney Rogers not playing) while Dallas played the quarter with a mixture of starters and backups. Despite the talent disadvantage, New Orleans pushed their lead back into double-digits at 31-21 with 8:40 remaining. The Mavs finally took advantage and went on an 18-2 run to go up 39-33 with 1:30 to go. Dallas led 41-37 at the half. As I said, neither team was shooting well (and that would remain consistent throughout the game) and Dallas shot 33% FG and New Orleans shot 31% FG for the half. Dallas had 15 turnovers and New Orleans had 10 turnovers. Jerry Stackhouse was the high man in the half with 9 points. Erick Dampier had collected his 3rd foul with 3 minutes left in the 2nd quarter (he collect 2 in the first 6 minutes of the 1st quarter). The starters were back in for New Orleans to open the 3rd quarter and the game stayed close the entire quarter with the lead going back and forth over the last 8 minutes of the quarter. The refs were whistle happy during the quarter as there were 26 free throws attempted (14 by Dallas and 12 by New Orleans). Dallas led 70-67 after 3. Stackhouse had 11 points in the quarter (5 points off of free throws). Michael Finley fed Dampier for a dunk to give Dallas a 80-77 lead with 7 minutes left, but that would be the last basket made by Dallas for the next 6 minutes (though they did shot 5-7 FT). New Orleans took advantage with a 9-1 run, capped by a 3-pointer by rookie Alex Garcia, to go up 86-81 with 3:50 left. A jumper by Dirk Nowitzki finally broke Dallas' shooting drought to pull Dallas within 4 points with a minute to go, but they did not get the defensive stop as David West got a layup as the shot clock was running out to give New Orleans a 93-87 lead with 40 seconds left. Dallas called timeout and then Darrell Armstrong got the steal shortly after Dallas' inbounds to seal the win. New Orleans won 94-87. Yuck. Again, I was glad I was only listening to the radio instead of watching this ugliness. The Mavs did cut down on the turnovers in the 2nd half and finished with "only" 23 turnovers. New Orleans had 18 turnovers. Neither team never found their shooting touch and Dallas shot 36.1% (26-72) FG and 3-10 3-pointers and New Orleans shot 39.5% (32-81) FG and 8-20 3-pointers. The refs were whistle happy as Dallas shot 32-41 FT and New Orleans shot 22-31 FT. Dallas did out-rebound New Orleans 45-39, but neither team was very good at going after all of their own bricks as Dallas had just 6 offensive rebounds (and no player had more than 1) and New Orleans had 8. Since I didn't see them play and numbers don't always tell the story, I'm not going to do any indepth analysist of individual performances. No one was very impressive. Jerry Stackhouse was the high man with 20 points (but none in the 4th quarter) on 5-15 FG and 10-11 FT and had 6 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki had a double-double with 17 points including 5-16 FG and 12 rebounds. Michael Finley had 17 points including 5-15 FG and 7 assists. Jason Terry struggled with 8 points including 2-10 FG, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers. Josh Howard was one of the few to shoot well and had 9 points on 4-5 FG and 9 rebounds in a team high 38 minutes. Erick Dampier was limited some by foul trouble and only attempted 5 shots. He had 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 turnovers in his 22 minutes. Devin Harris had 3 points, 4 assists, and 4 fouls in 20 minutes. Alan Henderson had 1 point and no rebounds in 19 minutes. Calvin Booth had 2 points (made his only shot) and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes and Shawn Bradley was fouled on his only shot attempt but missed both free throws and had 2 rebounds in 9 minutes. Don Nelson went with a very short preseason rotation and those were the only 10 players who played. Marquis Daniels did not travel with the team due to his sprained ankle. Teenager J.R. Smith led the way for New Orleans (it was also their first preseason game) with 19 points including 6-9 FG and 4-7 3-pointers in 22 minutes. Baron Davis had 14 points including 4-13 FG, 4 assists, and 4 steals in 21 minutes. Lee Nailon had 13 points. Jamaal Magloire had 11 points and P.J. Brown had 7 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists. Coach Byron Scott went with a larger rotation in playing 13 players and none played more than 27 minutes. Quotes Byron Scott on Smith: "He showed a lot of poise for someone 19 years old. He showed a lot of maturity. He didn't look nervous and played in the team concept." Scott on Smith: I was surprised at how well he played, especially his patience. It surprised me that he was so mellow and ready to go before the game, he just got into a rhythm." P.J. Brown on Smith: "He's not shy about taking shots, but I thought the shots he took weren't wild crazy shots - they were shots within the offense. With each practice he's getting more comfortable and I think tonight's just the tip of the iceberg with this kid." J.R. Smith on his first game: "I guess you could say I was a little nervous. First NBA game coming out of high school, I didn't know what to expect. After those first 2 plays, I felt more comfortable. I played the way coach told me, just stayed poised and gave it 100%. But it was harder than I thought it would be, especially on defense." Smith: "I'm a comfortable shooter, so whenever I shoot the ball I'm confident whenever I get the ball. When I do get it, I can shoot it from outside, drive to the hole or look for my teammates." Lee Nailon: "I can't complain, I got out there and played hard and that's all you can ask for. Tonight, I was just trying to get my feet wet and see what coach wants." Don Nelson: "I knew our defense was ahead of our offense, but neither was good enough. We did hold them under 40% shooting, which is a step in the right direction. But I'm pretty disappointed in most of our guys." Nelson: "I knew our defense was ahead of our offense. That's all we've been working on, but neither was good enough." Nelson: "I don't expect my team to turn the ball over. That's the biggest disappointment. It's just sloppy." Nelson: "I can take shooting poorly and not executing, but to turn the ball over like we did is just sloppy." Nelson: "All of our [centers] played poor." Nelson on Stackhouse: "I don't think he particularly played a great game. We know he can score off then bench. That's why I having him coming in here." Nelson on Dampier: "I'm trying to figure out the best way to use him. I don't think he's going to be a 20-point scorer. He's not a Shaq - somebody you can just throw the ball to and score in there." Dirk Nowitzki: "We've got to take care of the ball and stay smart on defense." Nowitzki on looking for Dampier inside: "Sometimes we forget that. We're not used to having a guy getting position down low." Nowitzki on looking for Dampier inside: "Sometimes you forget to look under the hoop. You're not used to someone being down there that big." Erick Dampier: "It's going to take awhile. It's not going to be perfect at first." New Orleans Hornets 94, Dallas Mavericks 87 at New Orleans (October 13) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% New Orleans 23 14 30 27 - 94 .393 .400 .395 .710 Dallas 18 23 29 17 - 87 .371 .300 .361 .780 Halftime: Dallas 41-37 3rd Q: Dallas 70-67 Technicals: New Orleans defensive 3 seconds 6:50 2nd, Jamaal Magloire 6:11 3rd, Dirk Nowitzki 6:11 3rd, Baron Davis 5:56 3rd, New Orleans defensive 3 seconds 2:42 4th Refs: Joe DeRosa, Mark Wunderlich, Olandis Poole Attendance: 12,303 (cap 18,500) Did not play due to injury: David Wesley, Rodney Rogers, Marquis Daniels New Orleans Hornets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK J.R. Smith 22 6-9 4-7 3-4 19 0-1 2 1 3 2 1 Baron Davis 21 4-13 1-5 5-8 14 0-2 4 2 4 4 0 P.J. Brown 27 3-6 0-0 1-1 7 4-11 6 2 3 0 0 George Lynch 17 2-5 1-1 1-2 6 0-5 1 3 1 2 1 Jamaal Magloire 20 5-8 0-0 1-3 11 0-2 2 2 5 0 0 Lee Nailon 27 6-10 0-0 1-1 13 0-3 2 1 3 1 0 David West 22 2-7 0-0 1-2 5 1-7 1 0 3 0 0 Chris Andersen 22 0-6 0-0 4-4 4 0-2 0 1 2 1 3 Darrell Armstrong 22 2-5 1-2 3-4 8 1-2 3 2 2 2 0 Alex Garcia 18 1-6 1-4 0-0 3 0-1 5 0 2 0 3 Tremaine Fowlkes 9 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 2-2 0 2 1 0 0 Junior Harrington 9 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 1 2 3 0 Tim Pickett 4 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 48 32-81 8-20 22-31 94 8-39 26 18 34 15 8 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 30 5-15 0-1 7-7 17 1-7 1 1 3 0 0 Jason Terry 28 2-10 1-3 3-4 8 1-1 4 4 4 1 0 Josh Howard 38 4-5 1-1 0-0 9 1-9 2 3 1 2 1 Dirk Nowitzki 30 5-16 0-3 7-8 17 1-12 1 3 1 3 2 Erick Dampier 22 3-5 0-0 4-5 10 1-4 0 4 5 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 31 5-15 0-0 10-11 20 1-6 2 3 3 1 0 Devin Harris 20 1-4 1-2 0-2 3 0-1 4 2 4 2 0 Alan Henderson 19 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Calvin Booth 13 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-3 1 2 1 0 1 Shawn Bradley 9 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0-2 0 1 1 0 1 Totals 48 26-72 3-10 32-41 87 6-45 15 23 24 9 5 patricia