The NBA named Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade (Mia) as Players of the Week. Nowitzki averaged 32.5 points and 8.5 rebounds as Dallas went 4-0. Wade averaged 27.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 10.7 assists as Miami went 3-0. Houston at Dallas (January 16) Welcome to the Tracy McGrady show. McGrady was on fire and scored Houston's first 12 points to give the Rockets a 12-7 lead with 8:15 left. A bucket by Juwan Howard with 7:05 to go was Houston's first points by a player other than McGrady. A layup by Josh Howard gave Dallas their first lead at 15-14 with 5:45 left. Houston scored 7 straight points to go up 25-19 with 2 minutes remaining. Houston led 30-25 after 1. McGrady had 21 points on 9-11 FG and 2-2 FT. Dallas opened the 2nd quarter with an 11-2 run, including 6 points by Jerry Stackhouse. But Houston would scored the next 5 points to re-take the lead at 37-36 with 7:05 left. The game would stay close with neither team holding more than a 3 point lead until near the quarter's end. Rafer Alston hit a 3-pointer and McGrady hit a 3-pointer for the last points of the quarter. Houston led 53-47 at the half. Stackhouse had 10 points in the 2nd quarter. McGrady was up to 29 points in the game. For the half, Houston shot 50% FG and Dallas shot 46% FG (but attempted 12 more shots). Houston shot 15-17 FT and Dallas shot 4-4 FT. Dirk Nowitzki opened the 3rd quarter with a jumper, but Houston then went on a 9-1 run, including 7 points by McGrady, to go up 62-50 with 8:50 to go. A 3-pointer by McGrady gave Houston a 65-52 lead with 7:45 remaining, but Devean George got Dallas back in the game with consecutive 3-pointers to kick start an 18-3 run that gave Dallas a 70-68 lead with 3 minutes to go. Dallas led 76-74 after 3. George had 12 points and McGrady had 12 points (but on a not as hot 5-12 FG). Dallas shot 5-6 3-pointers in the 3rd quarter. George opened the 4th quarter with a 3-pointer, but Houston scored the next 7 points to go up 81-79 with 10:10 to go. Dallas then went on a 12-2 run, including 8 points by JoHoward, to take a 91-83 lead with 7:40 remaining. A 3-pointer by Nowitzki gave Dallas a 96-85 lead with 6:35 left, but Rafer Alston answered with a 3-pointer. Nowitzki then hit another 3-pointer and, after a jumper by Luther Head, JoHoward hit a 3-pointer and Greg Buckner got a layup to give Dallas a 104-90 lead with 3:30 remaining. A layup by McGrady pulled Houston within 12 points with 3:20 to go, but neither team would score over the next minute and Houston threw in the towel with 2:15 remaining as they had a game the next night and McGrady's back started acting up. Dallas won 109-96. It was an entertaining performance by Tracy McGrady, but Dallas won with the team game. They also helped themselves with strong 3-point shooting in the 2nd half. Dallas only shot 1-11 3-pointers in the 1st half, but shot 10-15 3-pointers in the 2nd half as Dallas out-scored Houston 62-41 in the half. For the game, Dallas shot 48.8% (41-84) FG including 11-26 3-pointers and Houston shot 45.3% (34-75) FG including 8-21 3-pointers. Dallas shot 16-17 FT and Houston shot 20-26 FT. The Mavs out-rebounded the Rockets 44-32 including 15-8 offensive. Houston had come in to the game having won 9 of their last 10 games. Dallas' strong streak continued as the Mavs have now won 18 of their last 19 games. Though not the high scorer, Devean George played a key role in this game. His consecutive 3-pointers kick started Dallas' strong performance midway through the 3rd quarter and his, Greg Buckner's, and Josh Howard's defense help somewhat slow down Tracy McGrady in the 2nd half. George had 14 points including 4-5 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki had a strong outing with 30 points including 10-10 FT, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. 14 of his points came in the 4th quarter. Howard joined Nowitzki with a strong 4th quarter as the 2 scored 25 of Dallas' 33 4th quarter points. Howard had 28 points including 12-21 FG and 7 rebounds. 10 of Jerry Stackhouse's 13 points were scored in the 2nd quarter. The guards were fairly quiet for Dallas - the usual duo of Jason Terry and Devin Harris did not play together much in this game as they could not handle McGrady (who plays shooting guard). Terry had 7 points on 3-10 FG. He did have 8 assists and 4 rebounds. Harris had 3 points including 1-7 FG and 4 assists in 22 minutes. Erick Dampier had 9 points including 4-5 FG and 9 rebounds. Greg Buckner's stats were small, but his defense was needed in this game. Buck had 5 points and 1 rebound in 25 minutes. DeSagana Diop was the only other Mav to play. He didn't attempt a shot and had 3 rebounds and a block in 5 minutes. No question who the star of this game was. Tracy McGrady had a magnificent 1st quarter where he scored 21 of Houston's 30 points. Although he cooled off some in the 2nd half where he shot 7-16 FG, he had a very strong outing with 45 points on 17-29 FG, 4-11 3-pointers, and 7-9 FT, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. He did leave the game with less 3 minutes left as his back was bothering him (and he missed their game the next night due to his back). But he didn't get much help. Juwan Howard did benefit on a few plays where McGrady was the decoy and Howard was left open. Howard had 16 points and 6 rebounds. Rafer Alston was the only other Rocket in double-digits. He had 12 points on 4-5 3-pointers (and 0-5 2-pointers). Alston also had 5 assists and 4 turnovers. Shane Battier had 5 points including 2-7 FG and 5 rebounds. Dikembe Mutombo had 3 points and 10 rebounds - but was pulled when Dallas went without a true center (Devean George's consecutive 3-pointers came with Mutombo assigned to guard him). Quotes Avery Johnson: "Tonight, another big 2nd half for us. We weren't very good in the 1st half - they had a lot to do with it. McGrady really got away from us tonight. He's a pretty incredible player. That was a pretty big time exhibition he put on in the 1st quarter. We tried to make it a little more difficult for him in the 2nd half, he still got away from us a few times. But I liked the way we battled him. I liked the energy that we brought a little bit more in the 2nd half. The Rockets are a very good team. They do not surprise us on how well they are playing. Fortunately, we just had a little more energy in the 2nd half." Johnson on the rebounds: "You see what Dampier is doing. Josh Howard got some timely ones. George got a timely one. It's not just getting them, but getting them at the right time. Seeing how many points you can turn them into. This was a tough game for Dampier, but he battled. I like what Buckner, George, and Josh Howard, I liked the way they battled in the 2nd half defensively." Johnson on George: "We knew this was a game where he would have to play some minutes. This team puts a strain on our 2 smalls to start the game. We have a couple of teams this year that do that to us and we are very well aware of it. Fortunately, we can sub early and change our lineup a little bit and go to some different looks." Devin Harris on McGrady: "Definitely, he hit some tough shots early and we kind of gave him a couple, just on the rotations and what not. But we picked it up in the 3rd. Josh did a great job, and Buckner and Devean too. They all did a great job on him just making his shots tough. He still hit a couple tough shots and we gave up a couple back doors but for the most part in the 2nd half I think they really made it tough on him." Harris on making McGrady work defensively: "I think it was key. We put him in a lot of pick-and-rolls and went at him a little bit and I think he got a little tired. His shots fell a little bit short late in the 4th" Devean George on McGrady: "There's going to be nights where there's great players in this league and guys are going to get going, make a lot of shots, and be on fire. But the end result is really for us to try to get a win." George on his 3-pointers: "I just got a little fired up. They left me wide open, so I had to knock them down." George: "As a role player, my job is to see what's missing and provide it." Greg Buckner: "Coach, Cuban, and coach [Donnie] Nelson brought in a lot of guys in here to be defensive guys on the perimeter, to go against guys like a Kobe [Bryant] and Tracy [McGrady]. That's why they brought us in and to be able to throw bodies at a guy like him [McGrady] to wear him down." Buckner: "We know in order for us to win a championship we have to play defense and rebound the ball. We can't give teams very good 2nd chances because 9 times out of 10 they're going to score. That's our job and that's what we do and we're going to try to continue this success and work toward winning a championship in June." Jeff Van Gundy: "It was really in the 3rd quarter when they turned the game around. They went - I don't want to say small, because they're not small - but they went quick with Nowitzki at the 5. They hit us with an avalanche of 3s and they were taking our best rebounder off the floor in Dikembe and they hurt us on the boards. They hurt us in a number of ways." Van Gundy on his team besides McGrady: "It's not just 3s. We've got to get dribble penetration. We had some drives - Rafer could have cut it to 1 with a drive that he got fouled on and we missed both [free throws]. We do need penetration. Again, penetration usually leads us to some 2nd shots and that's when not having Dikembe on the floor, he has given us some 2nd shot opportunities that are critical. So it all goes hand in hand. That's why it's hard to weigh whether to keep the size on the floor or take it out." Tracy McGrady: "It's pretty frustrating to lose when you play well like that. They're a great team, we knew that. That's why I attacked early. But it wasn't enough. We still have a ways to go before we catch up to this team." McGrady: "In the 2nd half, they went to a smaller lineup. They switched everything and they tried to deny. Every screen I came off, they switched and tried to contain it. They did a great job. It got us out of our offense." McGrady: "They went smaller in the 2nd half, tried to deny me on the pick-and-roll, give me different looks. Their intensity went up and they took the game away from us." McGrady: "The 2nd half was a different ballgame. We came out strong in the 3rd quarter, but I think their intensity went up, and they took the game from us." Shane Battier: "They only had 28 points in the paint tonight and they scored 109 points, that shows they were hitting their shots tonight. Tip your cap to them. That was our game plan. If they were going to hit midrange jump shots that were contested then you sort of smile and move on, and they did a very good job of it tonight." Battier: "The key play for them was George hitting back-to-back 3s there. It really got the crowd back in the game and they just rode that momentum all the way to the end." Battier: "We were right there with about 8 minutes to go in the game. We didn't play very good the last quarter and a half. The thing we take away from this game to beat these guys, especially here, is that you've got to play 4 quarters. You can't just have spurts and expect to beat them because they are probably the best team in the league right now." Dikembe Mutombo on Dallas' 3-pointers: "No, it's not that they caught me off guard, it was a good play. I just think that I went a little too far inside and George was wide open. I knew he could make it, but I didn't know he could knock down 3 in a row. That's one of those days." Dallas Mavericks 109, Houston Rockets 96 at Dallas (January 16) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 25 22 29 33 - 109 .517 .423 .488 .941 Houston 30 23 21 22 - 96 .481 .381 .453 .769 Halftime: Houston 53-47 3rd Q: Dallas 76-69 Technicals: Houston defensive 3 seconds 9:44 1st, Dirk Nowitzki 2:40 2nd, Houston defensive 3 seconds 10:21 3rd, Devin Harris 10:22 4th Refs: Ed F. Rush, Bill Kennedy, Pat Fraher` Attendance: 20,332 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Maurice Ager, J.J Barea, Pops Mensah-Bonsu Houston - Bob Sura, Bonzi Wells, Yao Ming Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Devin Harris 22 1-7 0-2 1-2 3 0-0 4 1 4 1 1 Jason Terry 38 3-10 1-4 0-0 7 0-4 8 2 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 39 9-19 2-4 10-10 30 1-10 6 1 0 1 0 Josh Howard 34 12-21 2-6 2-2 28 3-7 2 1 4 1 0 Erick Dampier 27 4-5 0-0 1-1 9 6-9 1 2 2 0 0 Devean George 28 5-8 4-5 0-0 14 1-6 0 1 2 1 2 Greg Buckner 25 2-4 1-3 0-0 5 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 23 5-10 1-2 2-2 13 1-4 3 4 0 0 1 DeSagana Diop 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2-3 0 0 2 0 1 Totals 48 41-84 11-26 16-17 109 15-44 24 13 16 5 5 Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Rafer Alston 41 4-10 4-5 0-2 12 0-1 5 4 2 1 0 Tracy McGrady 40 17-29 4-11 7-9 45 0-5 7 1 1 1 1 Juwan Howard 36 5-11 0-0 6-6 16 2-6 3 0 3 0 0 Shane Battier 37 2-7 0-2 1-2 5 0-5 1 0 5 2 0 Dikembe Mutombo 28 1-3 0-0 1-1 3 3-10 0 3 1 0 2 Luther Head 33 2-10 0-3 4-4 8 1-2 0 1 2 1 0 Chuck Hayes 13 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 1-2 0 0 1 0 0 John Lucas 7 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Kirk Snyder 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Steve Novak 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-75 8-21 20-26 96 8-32 16 10 15 5 3 patricia