For those with HD TVs, Tuesday's game vs San Antonio and Thursday's game vs Sacramento will be broadcast on HDNET. Dallas at Milwaukee (preseason, October 23) As is becoming the theme of this preseason, Dallas was once again without a number of key players due to illness or injury. Dirk Nowitzki was back with the team after attending his grandmother's funeral, but unavailable for this game due to the stomach flu. Michael Finley (sore hamstring), Jerry Stackhouse (thigh contusion), Dan Dickau (sprained ankle), and Marquis Daniels (sprained ankle) were also unavailable to play. It was Devin Harris' return to his home town, so Don Nelson gave him the starting nod and Harris responded with a good performance. Dallas went on a 12-2 run, including 2 3-pointers by Josh Howard, to go up 16-5 with 6 minutes left. Milwaukee then scored the next 6 points, but Dallas then went on an 11-2 run to go up 28-13 with 30 seconds left. Desmond Mason scored the last 4 points of the quarter. Dallas led 28-17 after 1. Dallas shot 55% FG and Milwaukee shot 33% FG. Milwaukee opened the 2nd quarter with a 14-4 run to pull within 31-32 with 8:25 remaining. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter. Jason Sasser nailed a 3-pointer with 7 seconds left and Harris stole the ball and got a layup to end the quarter. Dallas led 50-48 at the half. Dallas' shooting went down in the 2nd quarter and Milwaukee's went up. For the half, Dallas shot 48.5% FG and Milwaukee shot 44% FG. Milwaukee led 58-56 with 8 minutes to go and Dallas scored the next 14 points to go up 70-58 with 3:30 remaining. Dallas led 75-64 after 3. Both teams opened the 4th quarter struggling as just 5 points were scored over the first 3 minutes. Milwaukee scored 7 straight points to pull within 74-80 with 6 minutes left. Dallas continued to hang on to a single-digit lead over the next 5 minutes. A 3-pointer by Keith Van Horn made it a 1 point game at 89-90 with a minute remaining. Dallas missed on 2 attempts, but either Harris or Howard (don't recall which) took a charge when Van Horn drove with 15 seconds left and got the offensive foul call. Harris was intentionally fouled with 7 seconds to go and hit 1-2 free throws. Michael Redd missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Dallas won 91-89. It wasn't the prettiest of games, especially with most of Dallas' main players not playing, but Devin Harris had a very nice homecoming and a number of the less experienced players got some good time on the court. For the game, Dallas shot 43% (34-79) FG including 7-17 3-pointers and Milwaukee shot 39.3% (33-84) FG including 2-9 3-pointers. Dallas shot 16-25 FT and Milwaukee shot 21-32 FT. Devin Harris was the high man with 20 points, 5 assists, and 5 steals in 38 minutes. He had a nice steal from Keith Van Horn when Van Horn had the ball behind his head looking to pass and Harris took it the other way for the jam. Josh Howard had 11 points including 4-11 FG, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists in a team high 40 minutes. Derek Hood started (which tells you what type of game it was when a player who is not going to make the team starts) and had 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in 24 minutes. Erick Dampier was the only for sure starter (Howard may or may not start) that actually started in this game. He had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Calvin Booth also started but struggled with his shot in shooting 2-10 FG for 4 points to go with his 5 rebounds. Jason Terry came off the bench so that Harris could start and also struggled shooting with 2-8 FG and 1-5 3-pointers for his 5 points. He only had 1 assist in his 19 minutes. DJ Mbenga had a foul plaqued outing with 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 11 minutes. Jason Sasser continues to play for a spot on another team and had 12 points including 5-6 FG and 3 rebounds in 20 minutes. Desmond Mason led the way for Milwaukee with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Michael Redd had 12 points including 5-14 FG. Keith Van Horn had 13 points and 5 rebounds and Dan Gadzuric had 14 points including 4-5 FG and 9 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson on Harris: "He doesn't surprise me at all anymore. We think he can be really special as a scorer and a distributor." Nelson on the lineup and lack of players: "We tried to rely on our defense as much as we possibly could, and I thought it held up pretty well. It kept us in the game. I was a little worried that we didn't have enough scorers in the game. ... Sasser had a whale of a game and Hoodie was good tonight, so we had enough to get the win." Devin Harris on his homecoming: "The first thing I did was go home and get some of mama's cooking. Hotel food isn't where it's at." Harris: "[There's] always stuff to work on, but I think this is my best game yet. As the preseason goes on, I'm getting better and better every game, and that's my goal for preseason." Harris: "They gave me a chance to start and I just wanted to make the most of my opportunity and just go out there and do the things that we worked on in practice." Harris: "It's just good to come back home and see a lot of people and have a good game. I struggled at first, and rightfully so. But each game, I'm getting better and better, and I'm learning a lot from the guys that I'm out there playing with." Terry Porter: "We were down 11 and fought back in it and I'm pleased with it. We gave our best perimeter shooter a chance to win it at the buzzer and he missed it, so we can live with that." Porter on Gadzuric: "Danny G was pretty good tonight. He had a little slippage, but overall he was solid. He didn't shoot the ball well from the free throw line but he's struggled with that in the past. He's still got a ways to go." Dan Gadzuric, playing in his first preseason game: "Right now I'm in good shape, but the shape I want to be needs to be even better. Because I want to feel better than everyone else on the floor." Dallas Mavericks 91, Milwaukee Bucks 89 at Milwaukee (October 23) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 22 25 16 - 91 .435 .412 .430 .640 Milwaukee 17 31 16 25 - 89 .413 .222 .393 .656 Halftime: Dallas 50-48 3rd Q: Dallas 75-64 Technicals: none Refs: Dick Bavetta, Jess Kersey, Olandis Poole Attendance: 13,874 (cap 18,717) Did not play due to injury: Dan Dickau (sprained ankle), Dirk Nowitzki (stomach flu), Michael Finley (strained hamstring), Jerry Stackhouse (thigh contusion), Marquis Daniels (sprained ankle), TJ Ford, Daniel Santiago, Erick Strickland Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 40 4-11 2-4 1-2 11 0-5 6 2 5 1 0 Devin Harris 38 7-18 2-6 4-6 20 0-3 5 3 3 5 0 Derek Hood 24 4-9 0-0 2-2 10 0-4 4 1 4 1 0 Calvin Booth 22 2-10 0-0 0-0 4 3-5 1 0 4 0 1 Erick Dampier 33 5-7 0-0 4-5 14 4-11 2 3 4 0 2 Alan Henderson 29 2-5 0-0 3-6 7 2-4 0 1 3 1 0 Jason Sasser 20 5-6 2-2 0-2 12 0-3 1 1 1 0 0 Jason Terry 19 2-8 1-5 0-0 5 1-2 1 1 0 0 0 DJ Mbenga 11 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 4-5 0 1 5 0 3 Shawn Bradley 4 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-79 7-17 16-25 91 14-42 20 14 29 8 6 Milwaukee Bucks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Redd 37 5-14 1-5 1-1 12 1-3 2 1 3 0 0 Mike James 28 3-11 0-2 2-2 8 0-2 8 2 2 1 0 Keith Van_Horn 35 6-12 1-2 0-0 13 2-2 1 5 1 0 1 Joe Smith 34 4-5 0-0 6-6 14 2-9 1 2 3 0 0 Dan Gadzuric 20 2-9 0-0 2-6 6 6-8 0 0 4 2 0 Desmond Mason 25 6-13 0-0 7-7 19 4-6 3 0 0 0 0 Zaza Pachulia 20 2-8 0-0 1-5 5 5-8 0 3 5 0 0 Maurice Williams 20 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 0-1 4 2 3 1 0 Toni Kukoc 16 2-4 0-0 1-2 5 0-4 4 0 1 0 0 Jelani McCoy 5 1-2 0-0 1-3 3 0-3 0 0 1 0 1 Totals 48 33-84 2-9 21-32 89 20-46 23 15 23 4 2 Dallas at New York (preseason, October 24) And if you thought the game the night before had some ugly lineups, it got worse for this game. Dallas was so desperate for players that they rushed to sign Felipe Lopez (not going to make the regular season roster) and got him in uniform for this game - and he played 13 minutes despite signing less than an hour before game time. Dirk Nowitzki returned to action, but he passed his stomach flu on to Devin Harris, who sat out. The team was again without Dan Dickau (sprained ankle), Marquis Daniels (sprained ankle), Michael Finley (sore hamstring), and Jerry Stackhouse (thigh contusion). Add to that Josh Howard was questionable to play due to tweaking something and Don Nelson wanting to rest him - he only played in the 1st quarter. With Dallas down to one point guard (Jason Terry) and no one who could really fake being the point, it meant that there were some really ugly lineups out there and Dallas responded with an ugly performance. Dallas never found any sort of shooting touch and their defense was lax. Despite that, New York didn't really pull away in the 1st half. Part of that was because New York kept getting in foul trouble (in the penalty with 7 minutes left in the 1st quarter). Stephon Marbury scored 5 straight points to give New York a 13-8 lead with 7:30 left and New York held a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Vin Baker got a putback as the quarter ended to give New York a 30-25 lead after 1. Dallas only shot 40% FG, but also shot 13-14 FT. Dallas committed 4 straight turnovers early in the 2nd quarter and New York took advantage by scoring 8 straight points to go up 38-27 with 8:40 remaining. That was their largest lead during the quarter, though, as Dallas was able to hang around. New York led 51-44 at the half. For the half, New York shot 49% FG and Dallas shot 39% FG. Things got worse for Dallas as they couldn't find the bucket (including Nowitzki, who shot 1-6 FG in the quarter before being mercifully pulled with 6 minutes left) during the 3rd quarter. Dallas missed their first 7 shots and New York went up 61-45 with 9 minutes to go. The Knicks led 64-51 with 6:30 remaining and went on a 14-3 run to take their largest lead at 78-53 with 20 seconds left. Jason Sasser hit a 3-pointer to end the quarter. New York led 78-56 after 3. The 4th quarter was pure garbage time as Dallas never got closer than 15 points. New York won 102-86. New York didn't show up on Thursday in Dallas at the Mavs returned the favor by not showing up in New York. It was a very poor performance by Dallas, though they did have excuses in their injuries and having played the night before. The only reason it wasn't a laugher from start to finish is that New York simply isn't a very good team. The Mavs were able to hang around in the 1st half, but the 3rd quarter spelled their doom where they were out-scored 27-12. For the game, New York shot 50.6% (42-83) FG including 6-12 3-pointers and Dallas shot 36.6% (26-71) FG including 3-10 3-pointers. New York shot 12-19 FT and Dallas shot 31-33 FT (20-21 in the 1st half). In a reflection of their lack of point guards in this game, Dallas had just 12 assists while New York upped their assist number to 25 from the dismal 8 in Thursday's game. No Mav player played well - in fact the best performances were probably from the guys who will be cut in the next week. Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki were the high men with 17 points each, but neither shot well. Terry shot 6-17 FG and had 5 rebounds and 3 assists in seeing lots of court time (including the garbage time 4th) due to no other point being available. Nowitzki shot 4-16 FG and 9-10 FT and had just 4 rebounds in his 23 minutes. Josh Howard only played in the 1st quarter and had 4 points and no rebounds in his 12 minutes. Erick Dampier was quiet despite Dallas' repeated attempts to force the ball inside and had just 8 points including 2-6 FG and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes. Jason Sasser started and had 14 points and 4 rebounds in 35 minutes, but also had 6 turnovers. Derek Hood had 8 points on 4-5 FG and 4 rebounds in 23 minutes and freshly signed Felipe Lopez had 3 points on a 3-pointer (his only attempt) and 2 assists in 13 minutes. DJ Mbenga had an off night with 2 points and 4 rebounds and no blocks - one swat was called for goaltending and two others came after fouls were called. Calvin Booth had 6 points including 2-7 FG and 8 rebounds. Alan Henderson had 3 points and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes. And Shawn Bradley had 4 points and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes. A night to forget for all but Lopez, who was playing in his first game in 2 seasons after suffering a torn ACL. Jamal Crawford led the way for New York with 22 points including 9-15 FG in 28 minutes. Stephon Marbury again had 8 assists, though this time his teammates joined him in sharing the ball. He also had 13 points in 27 minutes. Anfernee Hardaway, who didn't play in Thursday's game, had 14 points on 7-10 FG. Rookie Trevor Ariza was the only other Knick in double-digits with 12 points. Quotes Lenny Wilkens: "We want to entertain. I'd like us to play a little up tempo. I'd like us to be smart enough, like tonight, when the fast break isn't there to get in your quick offense and execute." Wilkens on Crawford: "I thought Jamal was real patient with himself. We talked about the kind of shots he should look for. He's such a good player. If he utilizes his quickness, it would be real good." Wilkens: "We have certain goals. We're going to try and reach all our goals. I always say two things: let the sky be the limit and if you defend night in and night out and execute, we'll win our games." Jamal Crawford: "For me the season has already started. I look at this game as a real game. I can't look at it as any other thing. Every time you step on the court it's a game." Anfernee Hardaway: "Whatever Coach wants me to do I will be ready for. My body feels good this season. I am ready to go out there and make it happen on both ends of the court for our team and try to get wins." Hardaway: "I just think that we have to go out there and play hard. Some games I'll give more and get more looks at the basket. Tonight I got it going early and stayed aggressive. When I'm on the floor I am just looking at going hard and staying aggressive." Don Nelson: "I had to play a lot of people out of position because we have a lot of injuries. I had 1 point guard, and it was a bit of a mess. I put my team in a hard position. There's a lot of reasons why we didn't play well tonight and I'm not discouraged at all." Nelson on Nowitzki: "He couldn't even hardly walk last night, he was so sick. I just wanted to break him a sweat - that's all I wanted him to do." Nelson on Lopez: "This gives him an opportunity to play a little bit. You can walk off the airplane and play in an NBA game. That's pretty good. Only in America." Nelson on playing the just signed Lopez: "It was a nightmare for the kid." Dirk Nowitzki: "I actually felt a lot better than I thought I would. I was pretty sick last night. I had a tough week last week and it's good to be back with my second family." Felipe Lopez: "I was sitting at home in Miami when the phone rang. When Don Nelson calls you, he has so much power. Only the president of the United States has more power than him." Lopez, who played at St John's: "I was thinking about that on the way over here. For it to be the Garden, obviously it's the place for me to really start over. I felt it was time for me to come back and give it a try, because this is what I love. It feels good just to be here, honestly. Just to be back on the Garden floor for the first time in a while. I feel like all the limelight was shining on me." Lopez: "I thought I did pretty well for my first game in 2 years. I could have played the whole game. If I had to pick up my tongue off the floor, I would have done it. It was like a homecoming for me. But they had to coach me through some plays." New York Knicks 102, Dallas Mavericks 86 at New York (October 24) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% New York 30 21 27 24 - 102 .507 .500 .506 .632 Dallas 25 19 12 30 - 86 .377 .300 .366 .939 Halftime: New York 51-44 3rd Q: New York 78-56 Technicals: none Refs: Leon Wood, Mark Wunderlich, Sean Wright Attendance: 15,612 (cap 19,763) Did not play due to injury: Allan Houston, Devin Harris (stomach flu), Dan Dickau (sprained ankle), Marquis Daniels (sprained ankle), Michael Finley (sore hamstring), Jerry Stackhouse (thigh contusion) New York Knicks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jamal Crawford 28 9-15 2-5 2-2 22 0-2 4 0 0 3 0 Stephon Marbury 27 5-13 2-3 1-1 13 1-4 8 3 0 0 0 Kurt Thomas 25 1-5 0-0 2-2 4 0-4 0 0 3 1 1 Tim Thomas 17 3-6 2-2 1-2 9 0-4 0 0 5 1 0 Nazr Mohammed 21 3-7 0-0 0-2 6 2-7 0 1 4 1 1 Jerome Williams 21 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 2-5 1 0 2 1 0 Anfernee Hardaway 20 7-10 0-1 0-0 14 0-0 1 0 0 1 0 Vin Baker 19 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-6 2 1 2 0 0 Trevor Ariza 17 5-8 0-0 2-4 12 1-1 2 3 1 1 0 Mike Sweetney 17 2-6 0-0 2-2 6 1-6 1 1 4 0 1 Tracy Murray 9 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Moochie Norris 8 2-3 0-0 0-2 4 1-1 2 1 2 1 0 Bruno Sundov 4 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Andre Barrett 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 3 1 1 0 0 Mengke Bateer 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 42-83 6-12 12-19 102 9-42 25 11 25 10 3 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 37 6-17 0-3 5-5 17 3-5 3 2 5 1 0 Josh Howard 12 0-2 0-0 4-4 4 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Jason Sasser 35 4-9 2-4 4-4 14 1-4 1 6 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 23 4-16 0-2 9-10 17 0-4 3 2 0 0 0 Erick Dampier 19 2-6 0-0 4-4 8 1-3 0 0 1 0 0 Calvin Booth 27 2-7 0-0 2-2 6 1-8 0 2 0 0 0 Derek Hood 23 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 0-4 0 0 2 1 0 Alan Henderson 19 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 1-3 0 1 2 2 0 DJ Mbenga 19 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 1-4 0 1 2 0 0 Felipe Lopez 13 1-1 1-1 0-0 3 0-0 2 1 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 13 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 1-3 2 0 1 1 0 Totals 48 26-71 3-10 31-33 86 9-38 12 15 17 5 0 patricia