West All-Star coach Mike D'Antoni said during an interview today that he will start Dirk Nowitzki for Sunday's All-Star game, filling the vacancy for the injured Yao Ming. Devean George suffered a sprained right MCL during the 4th quarter of the Milwaukee game. He is expected to be out 2 to 3 weeks. Dallas recalled Maurice Ager from the NBADL (Dallas currently has no players assigned to the NBADL). Dallas at Milwaukee (February 13) Milwaukee held small leads early on. A 3-pointer and jumper by Charlie Bell gave the Bucks a 13-6 lead with 7:20 remaining. Dallas pulled within 1 point twice, but was unable to tie the game or take a lead. Milwaukee closed the quarter with an 8-1 run to go up 30-22 after 1. (Josh Howard did hit a shot as the quarter ended, but it came after the buzzer). Andrew Bogut had 10 points in the quarter. Howard hit a jumper a minute into the 2nd quarter, but Milwaukee then went on an 8-2 run to go up 38-26 with 8 minutes to go. Consecutive 3-pointers by Charlie Villanueva gave Milwaukee a 15 point lead and, after Howard hit 1-2 FT, a hook shot by Villanueva gave Milwaukee a 52-36 lead with 2:30 left. Milwaukee held a 13 to 15 point lead the rest of the quarter. Villanueva suffered a sprained ankle late in the quarter and did not play in the 2nd half. Milwaukee led 58-48 at the half. Milwaukee was able to maintain a double-digit lead through the first half of the 3rd quarter. Milwaukee led 68-52 with 6:55 remaining and Dallas went on a 10-2 run to pull within 62-70 with 4:20 left. A layup by Dirk Nowitzki pulled Dallas within 7 points with a minute to go, but Milwaukee scored the last 4 points of the quarter. Milwaukee led 82-71 after 3. Ruben Patterson had 13 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 12 points in the 3rd quarter. Milwaukee led 84-73 with 10:30 left and Devean George scored the next 7 points to pull Dallas within 80-84 with 9:05 to go. Maurice Williams hit a 3-pointer to give Milwaukee an 89-81 lead with 8 minutes to go. Unfortunately Dallas lost George on their next possession when he banged his knee on the floor - he did not return. Nowitzki converted a 3-point play to pull Dallas within 5 points and Williams had a layup to give Milwaukee a 91-84 lead with 7:05 left. But that would be Milwaukee's last field goal of the game as Dallas stepped up their defense and the Bucks missed their last 10 shots and committed 2 turnovers including a 24 second shoot clock violation. Dallas took advantage of Milwaukee's struggles and went on a 9-1 run, capped by a layup by Nowitzki off a nice feed by Jason Terry, to give Dallas their first lead of the game at 93-92 with 1:05 to go. Patterson hit 1-2 FT with 50 seconds left. Dallas answered with a pick-and-pop where Nowitzki found Terry for the 18-footer to give Dallas a 2-point lead with 35 seconds remaining. Bell missed 10 seconds later and Jerry Stackhouse was intentionally fouled and hit both free throws with 22 seconds left. 2 more free throws by Nowitzki capped the scoring. Dallas won 99-93. It wasn't a good game at all for Dallas for 3 quarters, but they sure picked up their game in the 4th quarter, especially on the defensive end. Dallas out-scored Milwaukee 28-11 in the 4th quarter as the Bucks shot just 4-16 FG and committed 6 turnovers in the quarter. The Bucks were hurt some in that they ran out of timeouts with about 8 minutes left in the game - they had used one timeout when Charlie Villanueva got hurt and another when the Mavs trapped Andrew Bogut in a corner early in the 4th. For the game, Dallas shot 48.7% (37-76) FG including 7-15 3-pointers and Milwaukee shot 41.3% (31-75) FG [after shooting 49% FG in the 1st half] including 5-10 3-pointers. Dallas shot 18-22 FT and Milwaukee shot 26-33 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Milwaukee 43-38 including 12-11 offensive. Dallas won despite leading only 48 seconds in the game. Dirk Nowitzki was the only Mav to play solid throughout and had a near triple-double with 38 points including 15-28 FG, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Jason Terry had a key block, assist, and jumper in the 4th quarter. He have a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Josh Howard had 15 points and 8 rebounds. The unsung hero of the game is Devean George. He scored 9 straight Dallas points early in the 4th quarter (7 without Milwaukee scoring) that sparked Dallas' comeback. Those 9 points were the only points he scored. Unfortunately he will be out for a little while with his knee injury (which will hurt the Mavs as he is a valuable component of the team). George, who again started, also had 5 rebounds in the game. Jerry Stackhouse had 13 points. Erick Dampier had 6 points and 8 rebounds including 5 offensive. DeSagana Diop had poor outing with no points, 1 rebound, 1 foul, and 2 turnovers in 11 minutes. Devin Harris was plagued with foul trouble in picking up 5 fouls in his 14 minutes. He had just 2 points, 3 rebounds, and no assists. Greg Buckner had 5 points on 1-1 2-pointers and 1-1 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. Austin Croshere missed 2 shots and had 2 fouls in 4 1/2 minutes. The Mavs were helped with Milwaukee's injury problems. Michael Redd remained out (though he is close to returning) and they lost Charlie Villanueva at halftime. Villanueva had 15 points in the 1st half. Andrew Bogut had a good outing with 16 points, 17 rebounds, and 3 assists. Ruben Patterson lead the way for the Bucks with 20 points and also had 6 rebounds and 4 assists. 9 of Charlie Bell's 11 points came in the 1st half. Maurice Williams chipped in 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists as all 5 Milwaukee starters were in double-digits scoring. Earl Boykins had 13 points on 3-12 FG and 7-8 FT off the bench. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Hats off to Milwaukee. They really came out. Bogut hurt us big in the 1st half. Had our centers in foul trouble, especially Dampier, and tried a lot of different things on him, but finally we double-teamed him a lot in the 2nd half and get the ball out of his hands." Johnson: "Dirk Nowitzki is incredible. Man, sometimes I get caught watching him, he's so good. 38 [points], 11 rebounds, 8 assists and pretty much carried us for that stretch." Johnson: "This was a gutsy performance by this team. It wasn't pretty, but I'm more excited about this win than the win we had at home against a team last week by 10 or 15 points. I'm really proud of our guys." Dirk Nowitzki on Terry's jumper with 30 seconds left: "Off the screen we had the little play we ran. There were 30 seconds left to go, but that's what Jason does. He can go 0-20, but in the last minute, you give him the ball and he's going to knock it down." Nowitzki on Terry's jumper with 30 seconds left: "Jason obviously hit a big shot after a little screen-and-roll play there with 30 seconds to go, but that's what Jason does." Nowitzki: "We really scrambled trying to contest shots. We feel like we're a good defensive team, but we have to step it up earlier. Especially on the road, you don't want a team to get up 16. It takes a lot of energy to get back and fight for [the win]." Nowitzki: "It wasn't pretty and I feel like the last couple weeks we haven't really played that great. We have to find ways to win, with big stops down the stretch and obviously that's what the league's about." Nowitzki: "We'd rather take the 1st half of the Philly game and the 2nd half of today and put them together. We still have a long way to go. We know we haven't really achieved anything. We'll just watch a lot of film and work on the system." Josh Howard on Nowitzki: "A lot of people don't give him a lot of respect. He should have been MVP the last 2 years for what he's done for this team. I think he's proven his point." Terry Stotts: "Dallas did a good job in the 2nd half doubling our post-ups. In the 1st half, Andrew [Bogut] was very good on the block and we moved the ball very well. Charlie [Villanueva] had a good [1st] half. We scored 58 points against a good team. In the 4th quarter they picked up their defense and we were a little slow getting into our offense, fought the shot clock a few times, didn't make some of the shots we did have and that led to their transition." Stotts: "We played an excellent 1st half from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. We rebounded the ball, we didn't turn the ball over. We contested their shots and only gave up 6 points in transition in the 1st half. You score 58 points against the best team in the league and have a 15 point lead you're going to be happy, but you know they're going to make a run - that's what championship teams do - and for the most part we withstood their run. We couldn't get the ball to drop." Stotts: "I thought we did a good job with that stretch in the middle of the 4th quarter, up until the timeout with 2 minutes. We had used our timeouts and that was a long stretch, just hanging in there, we were still up 1 when that timeout came. For our team for the shots not to be falling, they were still battling. It was a tough fought 4th quarter. It's frustrating when you have a good game going and you're not able to finish it off." Stotts: "I'm really proud of my team. Charlie [Villanueva] wanted to give it a go with a sprained ankle and Earl [Boykins] with his thumb. Mo [Williams] is playing with his shoulder. I feel bad for the guys in the locker room. They gave a hell of an effort tonight and we weren't able to finish." Charlie Bell on the close loss: "It's frustrating. It's coming down to who wants it more at the end. Dallas really showed they wanted it more. Our defensive intensity wasn't there and we gave up a couple easy baskets. Offensively, when the game gets tight we stopped moving the ball. We need to continue to move the ball. We have to get some wins. We have to keep playing together. It's tough after Charlie V [Villanueva] went down - he was having a great game. It seems like every time something starts to go well for us somebody gets hurt." Bell on missing Redd: "It's during that time where he's really a great creator. He's able to draw a foul, make a shot, or get somebody else a shot. Now we're missing that. We need somebody to step up during those times with him out. We have to play even more as a team. We played a little too much 1-on-1 instead of moving the ball like we did in the 1st half." Dallas Mavericks 99, Milwaukee Bucks 93 at Milwaukee (February 13) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 22 23 26 28 - 99 .492 .467 .487 .818 Milwaukee 30 28 24 11 - 93 .400 .500 .413 .788 Halftime: Milwaukee 58-45 3rd Q: Milwaukee 82-71 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 8:05 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 0:42 3rd, Jerry Stackhouse 11:10 4th, Dirk Nowitzki 3:36 4th Refs: Kevin Fehr, Ken Mauer, Rodney Mott Attendance: 16,514 (cap 18,717 IL: Dallas - DJ Mbenga, Maurice Ager, Pops Mensah-Bonsu Milwaukee - Michael Redd, Bobby Simmons, Dan Gadzuric Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 39 5-13 1-2 0-0 11 0-0 10 2 2 0 1 Devean George 22 4-8 1-2 0-0 9 1-5 0 0 0 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 43 15-28 2-6 6-6 38 3-11 8 2 3 2 0 Josh Howard 39 7-13 0-1 1-2 15 2-8 2 1 2 0 0 Erick Dampier 27 1-2 0-0 4-6 6 5-8 0 0 4 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 25 2-5 2-3 7-8 13 0-2 1 5 2 0 1 Greg Buckner 17 2-2 1-1 0-0 5 0-5 3 0 2 1 0 Devin Harris 14 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-3 0 1 5 1 1 DeSagana Diop 11 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 2 1 0 0 Austin Croshere 4 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 37-76 7-15 18-22 99 12-43 24 13 23 5 3 Milwaukee Bucks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Maurice Williams 38 5-19 1-2 4-4 15 0-4 5 3 4 1 0 Charlie Bell 23 4-7 1-1 2-2 11 0-4 2 0 5 0 0 Charlie Villanueva 21 6-11 2-4 1-2 15 0-2 1 0 2 0 0 Ruben Patterson 41 7-11 0-0 6-9 20 3-6 4 2 2 2 0 Andrew Bogut 42 5-11 0-0 6-8 16 5-17 3 1 3 0 0 Earl Boykins 35 3-12 0-1 7-8 13 1-3 4 3 1 2 0 Brian Skinner 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 2 0 0 David Noel 12 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 3 1 1 0 0 Ersan Ilyasova 11 1-2 1-1 0-0 3 1-1 0 1 3 0 0 Lynn Greer 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 31-75 5-10 26-33 93 11-38 22 12 24 5 0 Dallas at Houston (February 15) With Devean George out and facing Tracy McGrady, Dallas elected to start Greg Buckner. Dallas jumped out to an 8-2 lead 2 minutes into the game. 6 straight Dallas points gave the Mavs their largest lead at 21-12 with 3:20 to go, but Houston scored the last 11 points to take a 23-21 lead after 1 as Dallas missed their last 5 shots. Dallas' scoring drought continued into the 2nd quarter, but Houston didn't take advantage and only scored a layup themselves in the first 3 minutes of the quarter. A layup by Devin Harris with 9:45 left ended Dallas' 5:35 scoring drought and pulled Dallas within 23-25, but Houston would continue to hold a single-digit lead. A jumper and 3-point play by Bonzi Wells gave Houston a 42-34 lead with 1:40 to go. Houston led 45-38 at the half. Things got ugly in the 3rd quarter as both teams struggled with their offense. Juwan Howard hit 2 free throws to open the 3rd quarter to give Houston a 9-point lead, but that would be their largest lead (but they would continue to hold a single-digit lead). A 3-pointer by McGrady gave Houston a 55-46 lead with 4:25 remaining, but Houston would not score again until near the end of the quarter as they missed 5 straight shots. Dallas took advantage in scoring 12 straight points, capped by consecutive 3-pointers by Jerry Stackhouse, to take a 58-55 lead with 24 seconds left. Juwan Howard hit a jumper with 2 seconds left in the quarter. Dallas led 58-57 after 3. Dallas out-scored Houston 20-12 in the 3rd as Houston shot just 3-13 FG in the quarter. Stackhouse hit 2 free throws to open the 4th quarter, but Houston scored the next 6 points to go up 63-60 with 10:30 remaining. Houston's lead see-sawed between 1 and 3 points over the next 4 minutes. Houston led 69-66 with 7:10 to go and Dirk Nowitzki hit consecutive 3-pointers to give Dallas a 72-69 lead with 6:15 left. The teams traded misses and McGrady hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with 5:45 remaining. After Stackhouse hit 2 free throws, McGrady hit 1-2 FT and a 3-pointer and Shane Battier hit 1-2 FT to give Houston a 77-73 lead with 3 minutes to go. Jason Terry hit 2 free throws to pull Dallas within 1 point with 2:45 left. Dallas stepped up their defense, especially Josh Howard, in denying McGrady the ball and he did not attempt a shot the rest of the game. Wells missed, Dallas committed a 24 second violation, and Rafer Alston missed. Stackhouse missed, but Erick Dampier got the rebound and Terry hit a free throw jumper to give Dallas a 78-77 lead with 1:10 remaining - Terry had shot just 1-9 FG prior to that make. Juwan Howard was short on a hook shot and Josh Howard got the rebound. Terry missed with 35 seconds left. Houston ran some time trying to get the ball to McGrady, but were unable to do so and Luther Head missed a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left, but the ball went out of bounds off of Dampier. Head missed another shot and Terry got the rebound and was intentionally fouled with 4 seconds left. He hit both free throws to give Dallas a 3-point lead. Houston was out of timeouts and McGrady took the inbounds pass and got to halfcourt and passed ahead to Juwan Howard, but the final horn sounded before he could attempt a shot. Dallas won 80-77. It wasn't a pretty game for 3 quarters, but it was an exciting 4th quarter. Dirk Nowitzki had 12 points and Tracy McGrady had 15 points in the 4th quarter as the 2 traded daggers. But the Mavs defense contained McGrady late in the game and Houston didn't react well with being unable to go to McGrady and no other Rocket stepped up - plus McGrady did a poor job with their final possession in not even getting Houston a shot for a chance to tie the game. Both teams struggled in the 2nd half with their offense as both shot around 45% FG in the 1st half and finished shooting around 40% FG for the game. For the game, Dallas shot 41.7% (30-72) FG including 5-13 3-pointers and Houston shot 38.8% (26-67) FG including 5-13 3-pointers. Houston got some home cooking as the refs let a lot of contact against Dallas go - Nowitzki didn't attempt a free throw in the game and Dampier got held a couple of times preventing rebounds without calls. Dallas didn't shoot well from the line, but that was more due to the players that went to the line than a poor free throw shooting night. Dallas shot 15-24 FT and Houston shot 20-31 FT. After being out-rebounded 21-15 in the 1st half, Dallas out-rebounded Houston 28-16 in the 2nd half. Both teams were low with assists - so low that it set a Dallas 2-team record low (old 21) - as Dallas had 11 assists and Houston had 9 assists. Dallas currently has a league high 9 game winning streak. The All-Star break is next and the Mavs have a whole 6 days off before their next game. Dirk Nowitzki was Dallas' high man with 26 points on 12-22 FG (again, no free throws) to go with 8 rebounds. He snapped his string of strong assist games and only had 1 in this game. Josh Howard had a double-double, but it is his defense on McGrady late in the game that deserves the most praise. Howard had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Jason Terry had a poor outing, but he scored the last 6 points of a 3-point game. He had 9 points including 2-10 FG, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist. Jerry Stackhouse only shot 5-14 FG, but his 2 3-pointers at the end of the 3rd quarter gave Dallas a spark. Stack had 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. Erick Dampier had 8 points including 3-4 FG and 7 rebounds. DeSagana Diop missed 2 free throws and had 5 rebounds in 17 minutes. Greg Buckner had 2 points on 1-4 FG and 3 rebounds in starting the game. Devin Harris had 3 points on 1-3 FG and 1-4 FT, 1 rebound, and 1 assist in 15 minutes. Dallas went with a short lineup as Austin Croshere was the only other Mav to play. He missed 2 shots and had a rebound and steal in 5 1/2 minutes. Houston also had a short lineup as only 8 players played. Tracy McGrady was stellar until the last 3 minutes of the game where Dallas' defense clamped down on him. McGrady had 27 points and 10 rebounds. Juwan Howard had 14 points and 3 rebounds. Shane Battier had 11 points, but didn't have a rebound or assist. Rafer Alston had 7 points including 3-10 FG, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. Dikembe Mutombo had 4 points and 9 rebounds. Bonzi Wells had 8 points and 5 rebounds and Luther Head had 6 points including 2-10 FG. Chuck Hayes didn't attempt a shot in 19 minutes and had 4 rebounds. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Wow. Just a pretty tough heavy weight boxing match out there. We were fortunate to have a good 3rd quarter and get back in the game. Both teams weren't very good from the free throw line. We got some stops in the 4th quarter and the game could have gone either way. We were fortunate to come out with this win. We gutted it out. They had more physicality in the 1st half and I wasn't pleased with that and I didn't like our body language." Johnson: "We were getting bumped around early. I just didn't like our body language in the 1st half. I don't like us being in a surrender retreating position. We had to come out in the 2nd half and establish ourselves a bit more." Johnson on McGrady: "You don't want to get too stretched out as a team when Tracy gets on one of his rolls. They will be very dangerous in the playoffs and nobody wants to play them." Johnson on the Nowitzki-McGrady matchup: "They were going at it. We were just waiting [to trap McGrady]. You don't want to get stretched out too much because if you give McGrady the points and the assists, he'll burn you." Johnson on Terry: "He came up big with a big shot and 2 free throws. Other than that, he wasn't at his best tonight. Maybe he was thinking about the 3-point shootout too early. He and Dirk have a little wager going on. I was trying to get him here in Houston rather than getting ready for Vegas too early." Johnson: "I'm extremely proud. 3 road wins - are you kidding me? I don't care if they're against my son's team, it's a good 3 wins. I'm very hard on this team. But they tolerate me, and I'm trying to stretch them and pull them and they did some good things. We gutted that one out." Dirk Nowitzki: "This was a big game for both teams. It was a very physical game in the paint and we wanted a win to carry our momentum through the break. We made big stops and plays down the stretch." Nowitzki on McGrady: "He got hot and hit a couple of big 3s in the 4th quarter and then we did a good job getting the ball out of his hands." Nowitzki: "I stayed aggressive and I got some good looks in the 4th quarter and knocked them down. Once you make the first 3[-pointer] then I had a good look the next time down and I knew it was going up. I felt good in the 4th quarter. Josh Howard: "It was a low scoring game and our guys got hot at the end and that was enough for the win. We stayed focused as a team and fought through the little things to come out on top." Howard on defending McGrady in the 4th: "I was trying to give him a different look and I was trying to get the ball out of his hand and make other players try and beat us." Howard: "We had 3 tough games we could have easily lost. But we fought through adversity and finished off each game. That's the heart of a champion for us." Jason Terry: "Dirk hit some huge shots in the 4th quarter and I told them I would be there when they needed me. I was confident down the stretch and thank God they went in." Terry: "I was focused, man. It's just some nights where your shot is not going to be there, but you've got to find a way to stay in it, I mean, emotionally. I was trying to keep the guys pumped." Terry: "Our whole mentality this year is to finish games either at the end of the quarter or at the end of the game, and we did that tonight." Jerry Stackhouse: "They played well and we didn't get any separation in the 1st half but kept grinding it out and made big plays when we needed to. We did a good job of scrambling and we moved around and covered their shooters and they didn't get any easy looks." Stackhouse: "We have a lot of confidence in each other that we are going to make the plays at the end of the game. We have a locked down defense mentality and we can get easy shots off the fast break. We don't just have depth but we have quality depth. We have a lot of guys on this team with confidence to step up and make the big plays. Whatever it takes." Greg Buckner on defending McGrady: "Deny him the ball. He can't kill you if he doesn't have the ball." Jeff Van Gundy: "They're very good defensively. I thought the last 2 minutes, I've got to do better when they're committing 2 guys to McGrady, even without the ball when it's 4-on-3. We didn't play with assertiveness and poise that you need to if they're going to commit to one guy without the ball, you need to get better shots." Van Gundy: "Well, there's a lot of things - there's free throw shooting, I thought the 2 3s to Nowitzki in a row, and we got out-rebounded badly in the 2nd half." Van Gundy on those beside McGrady stepping up: "Well, we didn't tonight. We have shot makers. I think we had enough, they just happened to play better tonight." Van Gundy: "I think nights like this, when you have designs on being a high quality team, you have to figure out how you can play better than that. It's the 3rd straight time we've played them and been blitzed in the 3rd quarter. How can we get off to a better start in the 3rd quarter. In the 1st half, we were down 21-14, our starters seemed to be a little bit lethargic in the 1st half, so we've got to figure out how we can do better." Tracy McGrady on why they lost: "Missed free throws. We got out-rebounded in the 2nd half. Committed some stupid fouls there in the 4th quarter. They made them down the stretch, we didn't." McGrady: "I think we did a great job of playing solid defense for the most part. And it just boiled down to missed free throws. We make our free throws down the stretch and we win this ball game. It's as simple as that." McGrady on when the defense focuses on him: "It's pretty simple. You know what they're going to do. Once I get on a roll, they're going to want to take the ball out of my hands and they're going to deny me the ball. They're going to send 2 guys at me and make somebody else make plays. And, once again, we didn't know what to do and it worked into their favor." McGrady on when the defense focuses on him: "Attack, be aggressive. You've got 2 guys guarding me so that leaves 4 guys on 3. Attack them, and we just don't do that." Shane Battier: "It was a pretty hard fought game. It was pretty physical out there. Both teams were really locked in on the defensive side. Both of the teams really wanted to get after each other defensively." Battier: "We didn't play a complete game. You can talk about the last couple of minutes, but where we lost the game was in the 3rd quarter. We didn't come out with the rebounding fire that we came out with in the 1st half. We got out-rebounded, which led to easy baskets for them. To beat the best teams in this league, you have to play a complete game." Juwan Howard: "It's tough to swallow. It was a tough game and we played against a tough team, one of the top teams in the league. In our opinion, I thought we had the game won, but there were some moments out there where we allowed a little slippage. We didn't execute like we should have and a good team took advantage of it and they beat us." Howard: "No matter if it was the worst team in the league, as far as record-wise, it still would have been very frustrating to lose a game like this. You guys know that the Mavs are a very good ball club. We feel in this locker room that we're a better team. It's the confidence level that we have, each and every guy in this locker room. Unfortunately, tonight, we didn't execute. We had a chance to win, but free throws hurt us, rebounds hurt us again, and I'm upset at myself because I have to do a better job on the offensive and defensive glass." Dallas Mavericks 80, Houston Rockets 77 at Houston (February 15) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 21 17 20 22 - 80 .424 .385 .417 .625 Houston 23 22 12 20 - 77 .389 .385 .388 .645 Halftime: Houston 45-38 3rd Q: Dallas 58-57 Technicals: none Refs: David Guthrie, Dick Bavetta, Marc Davis Attendance: 18,270 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Devean George, DJ Mbenga, Pops Mensah-Bonsu Houston - Yao Ming, Bob Sura, Steve Novak Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Greg Buckner 26 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 1-3 1 0 3 2 0 Jason Terry 36 2-10 1-2 4-4 9 1-3 2 3 2 0 0 Josh Howard 43 6-13 0-2 3-4 15 0-11 3 2 5 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 12-22 2-2 0-0 26 0-8 1 3 3 1 2 Erick Dampier 25 3-4 0-0 2-4 8 2-7 0 2 5 1 1 Jerry Stackhouse 31 5-14 2-5 5-6 17 3-4 3 2 1 1 0 DeSagana Diop 17 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 1-5 0 1 2 1 0 Devin Harris 15 1-3 0-0 1-4 3 1-1 1 0 2 0 0 Austin Croshere 5 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 1 0 Totals 48 30-72 5-13 15-24 80 9-43 11 14 24 8 3 Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Rafer Alston 36 3-10 1-3 0-2 7 1-4 3 3 3 1 0 Tracy McGrady 40 9-21 3-6 6-11 27 0-10 1 2 4 0 0 Juwan Howard 34 5-13 0-0 4-6 14 1-3 2 1 3 0 0 Shane Battier 39 2-3 1-2 6-7 11 0-0 0 1 2 2 1 Dikembe Mutombo 28 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 3-9 0 1 4 1 2 Bonzi Wells 23 3-6 0-0 2-3 8 0-5 1 2 4 1 0 Luther Head 22 2-10 0-2 2-2 6 0-2 1 2 1 0 0 Chuck Hayes 19 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-4 1 1 3 2 0 Totals 48 26-67 5-13 20-31 77 6-37 9 13 24 7 3 patricia