Avery Johnson announced his retirement and Dallas named him as an assistant coach. The Mavs also announced that Donn Nelson will no longer be a bench assistant so that Johnson can be a bench assistant (the league only allows 3 assistants on the bench - this year it will be Johnson, Del Harris, and Charlie Parker). Johnson's retirement frees up a roster spot and Dallas does not have to cut a player who has a guaranteed contract - they would have had to do so if Johnson had not retired (with Dan Dickau most likely being the player released). Jason Sasser, Felipe Lopez, and Derek Hood were released today. Dallas now has 15 players under contract. The next move will be determining which 3 players will be placed on IR (Tariq Abdul-Wahad and Pavel Podkolzin will be 2 of the 3). Johnson had spent all of preseason coaching and had shown no desire to play or practice, so the move was a good one for both him and the team. He will still receive the minimum ($1.1 million) contract Dallas gave him for this season (and it will still count against Dallas' salary cap). Sacramento at Dallas (preseason, October 28) It was Dallas' last preseason game and the team put on a good performance, despite a number of players still not playing. Michael Finley (sore hamstring), Jerry Stackhouse (thigh contusion), Marquis Daniels (sprained ankle), Jason Terry (wisdom teeth pulled), and Derek Hood (pulled groin) did not play. Both teams started out playing well on offense, but neither was doing much on defense. Dallas led 11-9 with 7:45 left and went on a 20-4 run to go up 29-13 with 3 minutes remaining. Sacramento responded by scoring the next 11 points. Dallas led 31-24 after 1. Dallas shot 61% FG and Sacramento shot 64% FG, but Sacramento also committed 8 turnovers. Matt Barnes converted a 3-point play to tie the game at 36-36 with 7:40 left. Dallas regained the lead, but Bobby Jackson scored 6 straight points and Darius Songaila got a layup to give Sacramento their largest lead at 46-42 with 4:30 to go. Dallas connected on 4 straight free throws to tie the game and the teams traded leads over the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 56-54 at the half. Sacramento lost their sharp shooting in the 2nd half (they shot 64% FG for the 1st half) and Dallas was able to take advantage with their good play. The Mavs opened the 3rd quarter with a 12-3 run to go up 68-57 with 8 minutes remaining. Sacramento scored the next 6 points, but Dallas then scored the next 4 points and Dallas' lead would hover around 10 points the rest of the quarter. Dan Dickau hit a runner to end the quarter and Dallas led 87-76 after 3. A jumper by Songaila opened the 4th quarter and Dallas then scored the next 9 points to take their largest lead at 96-78 with 9 minutes to go. Dallas' reserves then slacked off and couldn't find the bucket or defend and Jackson led the Sacramento charge as the Kings scored 10 straight points to pull within 88-96 with 6:15 left. Don Nelson decided that he wanted to win this game and reinserted Dirk Nowitzki and Erick Dampier. With the help of those two, Dallas went on an 8-1 run to go up 104-89 with 3 minutes remaining. Dallas won 112-93. It was easily Dallas' best game of the preseason. Excluding a couple of lapses, Dallas played well on offense and defense. The only thing I did not like was the low number of assists - only 17 (but the Kings were worse with only 15). Dallas shot 54.1% (40-74) FG including 4-8 3-pointers and Sacramento shot 44.1% (30-68) FG including 3-10 3-pointers. And the Kings were very poor in rebounding as they only had 28 while Dallas had 42. There were lots of free throws as Dallas shot 28-34 FT and Sacramento shot 30-40 FT. The Kings overcame their early turnover woes and finished with just 14 while Dallas also had a low turnover number with 13. The Mavs had a number of very good performances in this game. Dirk Nowitzki finally found his shooting touch and looked in All-Star form. He had 30 points including 11-16 FG, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and even 2 blocks. It was very entertaining during one part of the game when he and Peja Stojakovic were playing a little game of one-on-one as the 2 were defending each other (and scoring on each other). Devin Harris continues to impress and again brought ohhhs with a dunk attempt where he was driving fast and cupped the ball one-handed for the power jam, but did not make the jam as he was fouled. He had 24 points including 12-15 FT, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. He had some defensive lapses early as Mike Bibby took advantage of the rookie, but improved as the game went along and easily held his own and caused problems. Josh Howard continued his solid preseason play and had 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Erick Dampier had a very nice outing with 15 points including 7-11 FG and 15 rebounds. The only complaints were his 5 turnovers and his not getting up on Brad Miller on the outside as Miller hit a couple of open 15-footers. Calvin Booth and Alan Henderson both had poor outings. No one really had a solid performance for Sacramento. Bobby Jackson was the best of the bunch and drained a couple of 3-pointers that brought back unpleasant memories. Jackson was the high man with 15 points and had 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Chris Webber looked terrible and only had 8 points including 1-7 FG and 6 rebounds in his 29 minutes. Mike Bibby only had 8 points including 2-7 FG and 2 assists and had 4 turnovers in his 24 minutes. Outside of his little one-on-one stretch with Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic was hardly noticeable and finished with 12 points including 4-7 FG in 25 minutes. Darius Songaila had 11 points and Maurice Evans had 13 points. The Kings were playing without Doug Christie and Greg Ostertag. Quotes Don Nelson: "The good news is the preseason is over. Hopefully, the next 4 days we will practice and not have any days off. It would be good news if I have all my guys for practice even if they are not 100% healthy. I think they need to at least move the ball around and play together." Nelson: "It was another game in which we played pretty well. I thought we had a good chance to win it, so that's why I put Dirk and Dampier back in the game [in the 4th quarter]." Nelson on Harris: "He's got skills and you can't stop skill. It's going to depend on how he matures as a rookie and how much he can digest to be a really good point guard right away. I haven't been overly hard on him, but like any rookie when I call his name he pays attention. He's made a lot of adjustments this year." Nelson on Dampier: "He can get rebounds like nobody else I have had here. He can establish an inside game. He can score, rebound, and block a shot. He's done a pretty good job of finding people. We haven't worked that much on offense. He is moving fine in the right direction and I think he is ready to open up now. I was a little worried 4 games ago. He's made real good progress." Devin Harris: "We definitely did it on both ends of the court tonight. We got some good looks and we just tried to go out there and play hard and get ready for this first game coming up next week." Harris: "I think we all had a better feel for the game out there tonight. Everybody was comfortable and we got a routine going in the secondary break. Defensively, we struggled at times, but we got stops when we needed them." Harris: "I felt comfortable tonight and now I feel like I can make something happen during the regular season. I got a lot of minutes these past couple of games and I'm just getting the feel for everyone. I'm feeling more comfortable with more playing time that I get." Harris on Bobby Jackson: "He's a good challenge for me. I think I did a good job tonight, but I can always learn a lot more." Rick Adelman on Tuesday's Dal-Sac game: "I think you just get a feel for who they have and how they're playing. Other than that, you just worry more about how you're playing and what you're trying to accomplish. We're making some progress but we have to play better than that." Adelman: "We're not really there yet. We have 2 major players out and we have a long ways to go. The season's not very far away, but we're getting there." Adelman on his starters: "There's not much to say. The first group came out with no energy, no nothing." Chris Webber: "There's no excuse for such a slow start by us. You have to give them credit, but we hold ourselves responsible and we have some mental changes that are necessary." Webber: "We should never hold back. Whether a slow start like that happens or not, you should never hold back. Even in the preseason, we can't have slow starts like that. You can't beat a team like Dallas starting off the game like we did. They're good and they go at your mismatches. They make you check them and you can't really come out lazy." Webber: "We really didn't execute at all. We can't be proud of our performance. There is no excuse at all. We have to hold ourselves accountable and make some mental changes." Webber on Tuesday's Dal-Sac game: "It gets you familiar with the personality of their team and their new personnel. It won't help us on Tuesday, but it'll make some more comfortable for the games that really count." Mike Bibby: "You have nights like this even though you don't want to. We have to bounce back." Dallas Mavericks 112, Sacramento Kings 93 at Dallas (October 28) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 31 25 31 25 - 112 .545 .500 .541 .824 Sacramento 24 30 22 17 - 93 .466 .300 .441 .750 Halftime: Dallas 56-54 3rd Q: Dallas 87-76 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 9:42 3rd Refs: Scott Foster, LeRoy Richardson, Zach Zarba Attendance: 19,070 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Jason Terry (wisdom teeth pulled), Derek Hood (pulled groin), Michael Finley (sore hamstring), Marquis Daniels (sprained ankle), Jerry Stackhouse (thigh contusion), Doug Christie, Greg Ostertag, Courtney Alexander Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 44 8-14 0-1 5-6 21 2-4 4 1 1 2 0 Devin Harris 41 5-11 2-4 12-15 24 0-4 3 0 4 3 0 Dirk Nowitzki 35 11-16 1-2 7-7 30 1-7 5 2 4 0 2 Alan Henderson 27 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 0-1 1 1 5 1 0 Erick Dampier 33 7-11 0-0 1-2 15 5-15 1 5 2 0 1 Jason Sasser 21 4-8 1-1 0-0 9 0-4 1 0 2 0 0 Calvin Booth 16 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 2-4 0 1 3 0 0 Shawn Bradley 10 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 2-2 1 1 4 0 1 Dan Dickau 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 1 2 2 0 0 DJ Mbenga 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 48 40-74 4-8 28-34 112 12-42 17 13 30 6 4 Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Mike Bibby 24 2-7 0-2 4-5 8 0-0 2 4 3 1 0 Kevin Martin 24 2-4 0-1 2-2 6 1-2 0 3 3 0 0 Chris Webber 29 1-7 0-0 6-8 8 2-6 2 3 4 2 1 Peja Stojakovic 25 4-7 0-1 4-4 12 0-2 1 1 3 0 0 Brad Miller 25 3-7 0-0 1-2 7 0-2 1 0 1 1 0 Darius Songaila 25 3-7 0-0 5-6 11 3-4 1 0 2 1 1 Maurice Evans 24 6-9 1-3 0-0 13 0-3 2 0 1 1 1 Bobby Jackson 24 6-12 2-3 1-4 15 1-4 3 2 1 0 0 Matt Barnes 23 3-5 0-0 7-9 13 1-4 3 0 2 0 0 Alton Ford 17 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 4 0 0 Totals 48 30-68 3-10 30-40 93 8-28 15 14 24 6 3 patricia