On Saturday, Dallas recalled Maurice Ager from the NBADL. The team says that they will soon assign J.J. Barea to the NBADL. New Orleans at Dallas (December 30) It was the 2nd night of a back-to-back for the injury depleted Hornets. They were without leading scorers Chris Paul, Peja Stojakovic, David West, and Bobby Jackson. It should have been an easy win for Dallas, one of the best in the league against such an injury ravaged team, but the Hornets put up a fight early on. The Hornets led 5-4 with 9:45 remaining and Dallas went on an 18-5 run to go up 22-10 with 5:50 to go. The Hornets didn't fold though. Dallas led 24-14 with 4:30 remaining and the Hornets went on an 8-2 run to pull within 22-26 with 1:40 left. Dallas led 30-26 after 1. Jason Terry had 10 points. Marc Jackson had 10 points. Dallas shot 14-22 FT and the Hornets shot 9-18 FG, but Dallas shot 2-2 FT and the Hornets shot 8-9 FT. Consecutive New Orleans buckets gave the Hornets a 34-33 lead with 8:45 remaining. Dallas then scored the next 10 points, capped by a 3-point play by Dirk Nowitzki, to go up 43-34 with 5:50 left. New Orleans then scored the next 7 points to pull within 41-43 with 3:45 to go. And it was Dallas' turn to run as they scored the last 10 points of the quarter as the Hornets missed their last 5 shots and committed 2 turnovers. Dallas led 53-41 at the half. Dallas' run continued as they scored the first 7 points of the 3rd quarter to go up 60-41 with 10:40 left. A jumper by Rasual Butler ended the Hornets' 5:15 drought. But Dallas then went on a 9-1 run to take a commanding 69-44 lead with 7 minutes remaining - it was a 26-3 run spanning back into the 3rd quarter. Dallas led in the 20s the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 77-56 after 3. Dallas was resting on their laurels to open the 4th quarter and the Hornets took advantage and used a 13-3 run to pull within 69-80 with 6:50 to go. But Dallas scored the next 9 points, capped by a 3-pointer by Devean George, to take a solid 89-69 lead with 4:10 remaining. The Hornets would get no closer than 17 points until their last bucket (a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left). Dallas won 94-80. It wasn't as easy of a win as one would have liked against a team missing so many players (and playing the 2nd night of a back-to-back), but it was a win and that's all that counts in the long run. Give the Hornets credit for putting up a fight when they could have easily folded at various times. But Dallas is simply the much, much better team with the lineups that were available this night. Dallas shot 44.3% (35-79) FG including 5-12 3-pointers and the Hornets shot 40.6% (28-69) FG including 2-10 3-pointers. Dallas shot 19-24 FT and New Orleans shot 22-29 FT. New Orleans out-rebounded Dallas 43-38 including 8-6 offensive (there were only 5 total offensive rebounds in the 1st half). Dallas had 23 assists and the Hornets had 13 assists. The Mavs were really clean with the ball with just 9 turnovers while New Orleans had 17 turnovers. It was the 20th straight time that Dallas has defeated the Hornets. Jason Terry was the high man with 25 points and 6 assists. Dirk Nowitzki was fairly quiet with just 17 points and 4 rebounds. He did have 4 assists. Josh Howard had 15 points and 6 rebounds as well as 3 assists. Devin Harris was the 4th Mav in double-digits with 12 points to go with 4 assists. Erick Dampier had 7 points and 9 rebounds and DeSagana Diop had 2 points (1-1 FG) and 8 rebounds. Devean George had 7 points and Anthony Johnson had 7 points. Surprisingly, Marc Jackson led the way for the Hornets with 22 points including 10-10 FT. He had averaged less than 9 points coming into this game. He also had 8 rebounds. Desmond Mason, whom the Mavs double-teamed whenever he got the ball inside the arc, had 17 points and 5 rebounds. Rasual Butler had 12 points and 4 rebounds. Devin Brown, who was signed to the team last week, had another nice game for the Hornets with 10 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Tonight we played some pretty decent basketball for us. We got off to a really good start in the first part of the 1st quarter - the first 6 or 8 minutes. But the last 4 minutes of the 1st quarter and the start of the 2nd quarter were not very good. We went into halftime with the lead; tried to make some adjustments and had a pretty good 3rd quarter and a so-so 4th quarter. The guys battled. We moved the ball around. 23 assists for us compared to 9 turnovers. We had a couple of 20 assist games this year, which is pretty good for us considering we had a lot of 14, 15, 16 assist games last year." Johnson: "We set some goals out there tonight. We achieved some, some we did not. But the men are battling. We didn't over-extend anybody's minutes. We tried to keep everyone fresh so hopefully we'll have some energy up in the mile-high city tomorrow, because we are going to need all of our guys to be energized and ready to go." Johnson on Terry: "He had some good looks. Some went in, some did not go in. But he made some big shots. That 3 at the end there really helped to seal the game for us. He had 6 assists and took care of the ball. And Devin is still working. We're trying to keep him more 'in' than 'out' with some of his plays that he is making out there on the court. Terry and Devin are a nice backcourt right now. Even though they are a little bit small, they make up for it in a lot of different areas. Devin definitely makes up for it on the defensive end." Johnson on playing Mbenga early: "Just wanted to give him an early look. We had a lead there and wanted to give him an early look. He's still a young player. Plus-minus, we are just trying to keep him more on the plus side. We need to get him some minutes. I like carrying 3 centers and we just have to keep him ready because you just never know." Johnson on if the winning streak is important: "In some ways, yes. Just knowing that you are capable of running off some games. For me, more than game streaks, I look at quarter streaks. Tonight, we had 3 pretty good quarters and 1 not so good quarter. So I look at quarter streaks because if you can start playing 5 quarters of good basketball in a row and 7 quarters of good basketball in a row, then I think it adds up to good games." Dirk Nowitzki: "We started off pretty well and defensively made everything hard by contesting shots and tried to rebound with them. Offensively I thought we did a good job pushing the ball, moving the ball, and getting open shots. Once we moved them from side to side, we really got anything we wanted. We got open looks all night. It was a decent effort from the team." Nowitzki on the 9 game winning streak: "We've made some progress on both ends of the floor. We're still learning the system with the new guys more and more, but we're coming around. Defensively we still have some lapses here and there but there's still a long ways to go. Offensively we're playing well together. It's not just 1 or 2 guys; it's the whole team playing well together. When were moving the ball well, we're pretty hard to stop." Josh Howard: "We lost focus and had some lapses. But we turned it up and finished strong." Jason Terry: "We definitely needed to win this game tonight. For the most part, we did a decent job, but for a couple stretches there we didn't play the kind of basketball we're capable of on the defensive end. It's something to learn from and get on to the next game, the games come so fast now. We're off to Denver and they're a revamped team now that they have Iverson and we have to be ready to play." Terry: "We were shooting to keeping them under 78 [points]. It didn't happen but we'll learn from it and it was a good game to win. We could have easily given the game away, but I don't think you're going to see that from our team that we are now. Mentally we're a much stronger team than we were last year at this point. I believe we'll come out against Denver with a lot of energy and we'll me ready to win." Terry: "We definitely needed to win this game tonight. For the most part, we did a decent job, but for a couple of stretches we didn't play the kind of defense we're capable of." Anthony Johnson: "Even though those guys were shorthanded, we wanted to show them the same respect. Even though we were inconsistent at times, overall we played well." Byron Scott: "When they got going a bit, we stopped pressing instead of just realizing there was a lot of time left in the game. It was a long way from being over so you've just got to take it one possession at a time ... do what you did earlier and then concentrate on the other end. We've got a lot of young guys that are inexperienced." Scott on Dallas: "They're not only very good but very deep. We weren't kidding ourselves thinking it was going to be an easy night coming in here with the weapons we have right now. The last 6 or 7 games, the one thing we've been doing consistently is playing hard and competing. The one thing you can take from this game on a positive note is that we didn't quit. We were 20-something down and we kept fighting back and got it to 11 points. But the championship team that they are, they tightened it up on both ends and made shots and good stops when they needed them." Scott on missing Chris Paul: "It's like climbing Mount Everest without the rope. We've just got a bunch of young guys that are going to gain some valuable experience." Devin Brown on Terry: "He does exactly what Avery Johnson wants him to do. At first they were butting heads, but then they went to the Finals, and he understood Avery knows what he's talking about. He's buying into it and he's running the team and doing a great job." Dallas Mavericks 94, New Orleans Hornets 80 at Dallas (December 30) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 30 23 24 17 - 94 .448 .417 .443 .792 New Orleans 26 15 15 24 - 80 .441 .200 .406 .759 Halftime: Dallas 53-41 3rd Q: Dallas 77-56 Technicals: none Refs: Tom Washington, Derrick Collins, Tommy Nunez Attendance: 20,433 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Chris Paul (sprained ankle) IL: Dallas - Jerry Stackhouse, Maurice Ager, Pops Mensah-Bonsu New Orleans - Bobby Jackson, David West, Peja Stojakovic Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Devin Harris 31 5-11 0-0 2-3 12 0-2 4 2 4 1 0 Jason Terry 33 10-20 2-4 3-4 25 0-2 6 0 1 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 32 6-14 0-2 5-5 17 0-4 4 3 3 0 1 Josh Howard 29 6-9 0-0 3-4 15 0-6 3 1 3 2 1 Erick Dampier 26 2-3 0-0 3-4 7 4-9 1 1 2 1 1 Devean George 25 2-7 2-3 1-2 7 1-2 1 0 3 0 1 Greg Buckner 20 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 2 0 1 0 0 DeSagana Diop 18 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-8 0 0 4 0 1 Anthony Johnson 16 3-6 1-2 0-0 7 0-1 1 1 1 1 0 DJ Mbenga 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 1 0 1 Austin Croshere 3 0-2 0-1 2-2 2 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 J.J. Barea 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 35-79 5-12 19-24 94 6-38 23 9 23 5 6 New Orleans Hornets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jannero Pargo 39 3-14 0-3 1-2 7 1-5 5 2 4 0 0 Rasual Butler 35 5-13 1-4 1-2 12 1-4 1 0 3 0 1 Marc Jackson 33 6-13 0-0 10-10 22 2-8 0 2 4 0 0 Desmond Mason 40 6-11 0-0 5-7 17 2-5 0 4 5 0 0 Tyson Chandler 32 2-5 0-0 1-2 5 0-5 1 3 5 0 0 Devin Brown 36 3-7 1-3 3-4 10 0-10 3 3 2 3 0 Cedric Simmons 19 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 2-4 2 1 2 1 0 Hilton Armstrong 3 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Brandon Bass 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 28-69 2-10 22-29 80 8-43 13 17 25 4 1 Dallas at Denver (December 31) It was the 2nd night of a back-to-back for Dallas and the Mavs found themselves without Dirk Nowitzki due to a sinus infection - it was the first game this season that Nowitzki has missed. Jerry Stackhouse remained out with his sprained ankle. Of course Denver didn't feel any sympathy for Dallas as they will still without Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith, and Kenyon Martin (though Marcus Camby was fresh back from injury). 7 straight points by Dallas gave the Mavs a 13-6 lead with 7 minutes remaining. A 3-pointer by Josh Howard gave Dallas their largest lead at 20-11 with 3:20 to go. But Dallas wouldn't score again in the quarter in missing their next 5 shots and committing 3 turnovers as Denver scored the last 13 points of the quarter to go up 24-20 after 1. Howard had 11 points. Allen Iverson had a layup to open the 2nd quarter scoring. The teams then traded buckets and Dallas then scored the next 6 points to tie the game at 28-28 with 7 minutes left. Dallas was unable to take the lead, though. The game was tied at 34-34 with 4;30 to go and Denver went on a 12-3 run to go up 45-37 with 2 minutes remaining. Denver led 50-44 at the half. Iverson scored the first 4 points of the 3rd quarter to give Denver a 10-point lead, but Dallas then scored the next 8 points to pull within 52-54 with 8:20 left. Denver was able to hang on to a small lead, but no larger than 6 points. A layup by Jason Terry pulled Dallas within 63-64 with 2:15 left, but Dallas again had a quarter ending drought in missing their last 4 shots and committing 2 turnovers as Denver scored the last 5 points of the quarter to up 69-63 after 3. Terry scored the first 4 points of the 4th quarter to pull Dallas within 67-69 with 10:30 remaining. Denver then went on a 7-2 mini-run to go up 76-69 with 7:45 to go. Dallas answered with a 10-3 run to tie the game at 79-79 with 5:15 left and the game stayed close the rest of the way. Each team only scored 2 points over the next 2 1/2 minutes and it was again tied at 81-81 with 2:40 to go. Camby hit 1-2 FT and Devin Harris drove for 2. Iverson missed, but Denver got the rebound and then Earl Boykins crazily threw up a quick shot - a long 3-pointer - that wasn't close. Howard missed, but Eduardo Najera had locked up Erick Dampier underneath and got called for the foul (Denver was in the penalty). Dampier hit both free throws to give Dallas an 85-82 lead with 1:40 remaining. Yakhouba Diawara missed badly (as he had all night) and Howard got the rebound and was fouled. He hit both free throws with 1:15 left. Iverson made a quick drive and was fouled and hit both free throws to pull Denver within 84-87 with 1:10 to go. Denver's defense somehow missed Howard and he nailed a wide-open free throw jumper. Diawara missed, but Najera was fouled on the rebound (Dallas in the penalty) and he hit 1-2 FT with 43 seconds remaining. Dallas ran some time off and Harris missed with 25 seconds left. Denver did not get a quick shot and Kleiza missed with 14 seconds to go. Howard got the rebound and Dallas was able to pass the ball around without a Denver player intentionally fouling them and the Mavs got the ball to Terry near the basket. Najera blocked the layup attempt, but Harris got the rebound with 2 seconds left and time expired. Dallas won 89-85. It wasn't a pretty game (pretty sloppy at times and a number of bricks), but Dallas did what they wanted to do in this game - hang around and sneak out a win at the end. I'm sure that wasn't the plan from the start, but after seeing the team's struggles early on, that was what I was hoping for and Avery Johnson said to the team in the 2nd half that if they were within 6 points with 6 minutes left in the game, then they would win. Denver was up by 5 points with 6:22 left, but hurt themselves by shooting just 1-12 FG the rest of the game. They only shot 5-22 FG in the 4th quarter after shooting 43% FG in the first 3 quarters. For the game, Dallas shot 42% (34-81) FG and Denver shot 37.5% (30-80) FG. Both teams struggled behind the arc with Dallas shooting 5-26 3-pointers and Denver shooting 1-10 3-pointers. Dallas shot 16-21 FT and Denver shot 24-30 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Denver 49-37 including 12-7 offensive. It was a sloppy game for Dallas as they had 22 turnovers (and some of them were just lazy passes) and Denver wasn't much better with 17 turnovers. With the win, Dallas remained a perfect 7-0 in the 2nd night of a back-to-back. The win was also Avery Johnson's 100th win as a coach. He back the fastest coach to win 100 games with a record of 100-31, surpassing Red Auerbach's record of 100-35. Josh Howard had a stellar game with 28 points including 10-16 FG, 17 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks. 9 of his points and 10 of his rebounds came in the 4th quarter. Jason Terry had 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. 9 of his points game in the 4th quarter. Devin Harris chipped in 16 points and 5 assists, but also had 6 turnovers. Austin Croshere started in Dirk Nowitzki's place and had a lousy outing. He shot 0-6 FG and 0-4 3-pointers in his 17 minutes, but did have 8 rebounds. Erick Dampier was fairly quiet, but did have a couple of key blocks in the 4th quarter and hit 2 key free throws late in the game. He had 5 points including 1-5 FG, 5 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Greg Buckner made a nice contribution off the bench with 11 points and 3 steals. Devean George shot just 1-7 FG as part of his 4 points, but also had 6 rebounds. DeSagana Diop had 4 points on 2-3 FG and 5 rebounds in 17 minutes. Anthony Johnson hissed his only shot and had 3 assists and 3 turnovers in 7 minutes. J.J. Barea got in at the end of the 2nd quarter as Johnson wasn't playing well and Avery Johnson wanted to give Harris more rest. Barea missed his only shot and had 1 assist in 2 1/2 minutes. As has been the case lately, Denver was led by Allen Iverson and Earl Boykins. Iverson had 28 points including 10-17 FG, 8 assists, and 7 steals (benefiting from some of Dallas' lazy passes). He also had 5 turnovers. Boykins came off the bench and had 20 points. Marcus Camby had a double-double in his return with 13 points including 5-15 FG and 13 rebounds. He also had 3 blocks. Eduardo Najera had 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists against his former team. Yakhouba Diawara missed all 11 shots he attempted and had 1 point and 5 rebounds in 40 minutes. And much to the relief of most people, it was the last game with the new synthetic basketball. The leather balls are back! Quotes Avery Johnson: "This is the top. We could easily have found an excuse for this game, but these guys are playing some tough, hard nosed basketball." Johnson on how proud he was of the team: "This is at the top, especially without Dirk. This team doesn't get enough credit for being physical and scrappy." Johnson on Denver's 7 point lead in the 4th quarter: "The Nuggets had our backs to the wall at that point. But we just wouldn't let ourselves buckle." Nowitzki on missing the game: "When I woke up I did not feel well. I tried to rest during the day and warm up before the game, but I did not feel any better." Josh Howard: "Everybody knew Dirk was out of the lineup. We needed some people to pick it up and not just me." Howard: "The whole team knew we had to be more aggressive with Dirk out." Howard: "I was trying to stay aggressive. But it was more of a matter of me going out there and playing my great game." Howard on what Johnson said after the game: "That was the first thing Coach said when he came in, that he's seen a lot of things, but this was one of the best moments." Greg Buckner: "Don't let their stud beat us, that's what our plan was." George Karl: "Tonight we would have won a 40-minute game, but these games last 48 minutes. I've got to find a way to win these games until we get everyone back." Marcus Camby: "Going down the stretch, we were missing jump shots. In a game like this, we had to attack the basket and get ourselves to the free throw line. They're a great shooting team and I felt we were trying to out-shoot them. We're never going to out-shoot teams, especially with the personnel we have on the floor right now." Allen Iverson: "This one was hard to take. We had it. We had the game and didn't finish it out." Yakhouba Diawara: "I missed a lot of open shots. I tried to help my team tonight, but I couldn't do it. It's time to move on." Dallas Mavericks 89, Denver Nuggets 85 at Denver (December 31) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 20 24 19 26 - 89 .527 .192 .420 .762 Denver 24 26 19 16 - 85 .414 .100 .375 .800 Halftime: Denver 50-44 3rd Q: Denver 69-63 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 3:40 1st, Yakhouba Diawara 2:41 4th Refs: Violet Palmer, Ed F. Rush, Matt Boland Attendance: 18,423 (cap 19,099) Did not play due to injury: Dirk Nowitzki (sinus infection), Carmelo Anthony (suspended), J.R. Smith (suspended), Nene (right knee injury) IL: Dallas - Jerry Stackhouse, Maurice Ager, Pops Mensah-Bonsu Denver - Kenyon Martin, Julius Hodge Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 38 9-19 1-5 2-3 21 1-5 6 3 2 1 0 Devin Harris 36 7-13 0-1 2-2 16 1-1 5 6 3 2 1 Austin Croshere 17 0-6 0-4 0-0 0 1-8 1 1 2 0 0 Josh Howard 43 10-16 3-7 5-6 28 4-17 5 3 3 0 3 Erick Dampier 31 1-5 0-0 3-4 5 0-5 0 1 2 0 4 Devean George 24 1-7 0-4 2-4 4 1-6 0 3 4 0 0 Greg Buckner 24 4-10 1-3 2-2 11 1-2 2 1 2 3 0 DeSagana Diop 17 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 3-5 0 0 3 1 0 Anthony Johnson 7 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 3 3 2 0 0 J.J. Barea 3 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-81 5-26 16-21 89 12-49 23 22 23 7 8 Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Allen Iverson 42 10-17 0-0 8-8 28 0-2 8 5 3 7 1 Yakhouba Diawara 40 0-11 0-4 1-2 1 1-5 1 2 4 0 1 Eduardo Najera 34 5-10 0-0 4-5 14 2-7 4 1 5 0 1 DerMarr Johnson 14 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-2 0 3 0 1 0 Marcus Camby 31 5-15 0-0 3-5 13 3-13 3 2 4 0 3 Earl Boykins 38 8-17 1-3 3-3 20 0-2 1 1 0 1 0 Linas Kleiza 26 2-7 0-2 2-2 6 0-3 0 2 2 0 0 Reggie Evans 16 0-1 0-0 3-5 3 1-3 0 0 3 3 0 Totals 48 30-80 1-10 24-30 85 7-37 17 17 21 12 6 patricia