Yeah, yeah, yeah. Once again I fell behind. Normally only happens once a season. So my punishment is to spend my Saturday catching up. I forgot to mention in my last mailing that my web pages have a new URL: www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs.html Please update your bookmarks for the new location. The Mavs had a fairly quiet All-Star weekend. Jason Terry finished last in the 3-point shootout with just 10 points in the 1st round. Dirk Nowitzki did advance to the 3-point shootout finals with 20 points in the 1st round (the top 3 advance), but had a poor showing in the finals with just 9 points and finished 3rd in the event. The West blewout the East in the All-Star game so the players' minutes were fairly balanced - and, thus, the first-timers (including Josh Howard) got more minutes than they usually do in the game. The West defeated the East 153-132 in the All-Star game in Las Vegas. Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS OFF REB AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 16 4-9 1-2 0-0 9 2 5 2 0 0 0 0 Josh Howard 20 1-3 0-1 1-2 3 1 4 3 1 1 0 0 The Mavs player who had the best All-Star outing was Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who received tons of praise from the TV commentators and was the MVP of the first ever NBADL All-Star game. The East (whom Pops played for) defeated the West 114-110. Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS OFF REB AST TO PF STL BLK Pops Mensah-Bonsu 26 11-13 0-0 8-12 30 3 7 0 3 0 1 2 In a little bit of a surprise, the Mavs did make a trade prior to the trade deadline (one of just 3 trades made in the NBA that day). The Mavs sent Anthony Johnson to Atlanta for a 2007 2nd round draft pick. Though the pick should be a decent one (high in the 2nd round), it was more of a money move (with Dallas being over the luxury tax, they save double Johnson's salary). I didn't like the move as it leaves Dallas a little weak at point guard if Devin Harris or Jason Terry goes down with an injury. I liked the insurance Johnson gave the team. He wasn't a part of the rotation, but I had heard that he was okay with his role and didn't want to be traded. Dallas does now have an open roster spot, which has led to some wild speculation (though don't fully discount the Reggie Miller one yet) - but the team probably won't fill it. Dirk Nowitzki was named as Western Conference Player of the Month for February and Avery Johnson was named as Western Conference Coach of the Month for February. Dallas went 10-0 in February and Nowitzki averaged 27.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in the month. It was the 4th time Johnson was named was Coach of the Month and 5th time Nowitzki was named as Player of the Month. It's now a non-event, but Dallas has formally clinched a playoff berth. This week shows the stupidity of the schedule makers. Dallas played 1 game in 1 week (with 4 straight days off). The next 3 weeks, Dallas will play 4 games each week and only have at most 1 day off between games (with 3 sets of back-to-backs). And the 4th week also has 4 games (but does have a consecutive Wednesday and Thursday off - the only back-to-back days off for Dallas to the end of the season). -- Miami at Dallas (February 22) It was the 2nd night of a back-to-back for Miami and the Heat were without Dwyane Wade. Dallas jumped out to an 8-2 lead with 8:45 left. A short jumper by Jerry Stackhouse gave Dallas a 22-12 lead with 3:10 to go. Dallas led 24-13 with 2:25 remaining, but Miami closed the quarter with an 8-2 run. Dallas led 26-21 after 1. Dirk Nowitzki had 10 points and 6 rebounds. Neither team shot well with Dallas shooting 9-22 FG and Miami shooting 8-21 FG. Dallas came out rolling to open the 2nd quarter and used a 22-7 run over the first 7 minutes of the quarter to take a 48-28 lead with 5:30 left as Dallas shot 9-10 FG while Miami shot 3-15 during the run. Miami did score the next 5 points, but they would get no closer in the quarter. A 3-pointer by Jason Terry gave Dallas a 65-42 lead at the half. Terry had 16 points on 7-8 FG and 2-2 3-pointers in the 2nd quarter. Dallas shot 75% FG and Miami shot 35% FG in the 2nd quarter. Miami scored 6 straight points to pull within 51-67 with 7:45 to go, but Dallas answered with a 15-5 run to go up 82-56 with 3:45 left. Dallas scored the last 6 points of the quarter to take a commanding 93-63 lead after 3. Nowitzki had 14 points in the 3rd quarter. As well as things went for Dallas in the first 3 quarters, problems came in the 4th as the Mavs' rookies were unable to hold the lead and Miami's 3-point shooters got hot. Dallas led 97-67 with 9:55 to go and Miami then went on a 13-3 run, capped by a 3-pointer by James Posey, to pull within 98-80 with 7 minutes left. Avery Johnson had seen enough and reinserted the starters, but even they struggled. Dallas led 104-85 with 4:30 to go and Miami scored the next 9 points to make it just a 10-point game with 2 minutes remaining. But Miami was unable to pull within single-digits. Dallas won 112-100. It was a great game from Dallas through 3 quarters, with the only disappointment being the struggles in the 4th. You can bet that the rookies heard about their poor performance the next day in practice. Through 3 quarters, Dallas shot 60% FG and Miami shot 37% FG as Dallas out-scored Miami 93-63. In the 4th quarter, Dallas shot 33% FG and Miami shot 64% FG (including 4-7 3-pointers) as Miami out-scored Dallas 37-19. For the game, Dallas shot 54.2% (39-72) FG including 6-15 3-pointers and Miami shot 43.9% (36-82) FG including 8-19 3-pointers. Dallas shot 28-34 FT and Miami shot 20-30 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Miami 41-40, but Miami had a 13-6 edge in offensive rebounds. Dallas had 22 assists and Miami had 14 assists. Dirk Nowitzki led the way for Dallas with 31 points on 11-17 FG and 9-9 FT. It was an all-around good game for Dirk as he also had 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 blocks. Jason Terry did most of his damage in the 2nd quarter where he scored 16 of his 21 points. He also had 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Josh Howard struggled in this game and it ended on a poor note for him as he sprained his ankle in the 3rd quarter - he was able to continue to play on the ankle in the 3rd quarter, but sat out the 4th quarter due to the ankle (he would play in the next game, though). Howard had just 9 points including 4-13 FG and 2 rebounds in 26 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse and Devin Harris provided the punch off the bench. Stackhouse had 18 points and Harris had 17 points including 6-8 FG and 5 assists. The centers weren't very effective in this game (though most of their focus was on defending Shaquille O'Neal - which meant some foul trouble). Erick Dampier had 5 points and 4 rebounds and DeSagana Diop had 2 points and 6 rebounds. Austin Croshere saw some time at center and had 5 points and 5 rebounds in 20 minutes. Greg Buckner started and had 4 points and 3 rebounds in 23 minutes. Shaquille O'Neal didn't have a stellar night with just 17 points and 8 rebounds. He only shot 5-10 FT. 11 of James Posey's 17 points came in the 4th quarter as he spurred the Heat comeback. He shot 5-8 3-pointers in the game. All of Dorell Wright's 13 points came in the 4th quarter. Jason Williams had 13 points and 4 assists. Udonis Haslem had 9 points and 6 rebounds as he fought foul trouble. Jason Kapono had 6 points including 2-9 FG. Eddie Jones had 5 points and 4 steals. Antoine Walker had just 2 points including 1-4 FG before his ejection in the 3rd quarter for a flagrant foul. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Tonight we got off to a pretty good start and had a heck of a 2nd quarter and 3rd quarter. If you look at what Dirk, JET, Stackhouse, and Devin Harris - those guys were really on fire tonight. We defended. Dampier got into some foul trouble early, which kind of hurt us with him not being in there, but I thought DeSagana battled in there as best as he could. I thought Croshere battled Shaq as best as he could." Johnson: "Our first 3 quarters were some of the best basketball we have played all year. There was a lot of good execution on offense, defense system, and game-plan execution. In the 4th quarter, we probably had one of the worst 4th quarters I have seen since I have been here, especially defensively. But I do not want to take away what we did the first 3 quarters. Obviously, we were up by 30 and I thought we had a chance to go to our bench with some of our young guys. They just didn't get it done - so we will look at it on film and try to help them in those situations. Because when you are up by 30 points in the 4th quarter, I should not have to bring back in Jason Terry and Stackhouse and those guys. Josh Howard already had tweaked his ankle and tried to come back. But it was really, really disappointing us having to bring our starters back to finish this game off. I will deal with it tomorrow, but I thought our first 3 quarters was some really tough hard-nosed basketball and we had a chance to really get away from them." Johnson on Howard: "He should be okay. It is not one of the worst one's we have seen. He just came down on a guy, the guy closed out on him. That was the 2nd or 3rd time that has happened to him this year. So we will have to look out for that kind of stuff." Johnson on playing after a week off: "I was really concerned. I wasn't really sure what would happen. We were vibrant and energized. Here I am sitting there thinking, 'Okay, let's pull the guys out and let some of our young guys play and some of our reserves play.' It almost backfired on us. I am really disappointed about that. But as much as I am disappointed about that part, I am really pleased with the way guys competed. Josh wasn't having a great night offensively, but the job that he did on Kapono during that stretch there holding him down was really good." Johnson on Howard's ankle: "Yeah, that is a part of the game in a sense. So many different things could happen during the course of the game. If you can escape each game with your players pretty much healthy, that is a blessing in itself." Jason Terry on the 1st half: "We were very aggressive in transition. I think we had 21 fast break points in the 1st half and that set the tempo for the game tonight. Without Dwayne Wade, we knew that they were going to pound it inside to Shaq. For the most part our big guys battled him on the inside and when he got us in a bad way, we took the foul and sent him to the free throw line." Terry: "The ball movement in the first 3 quarters of tonight's game was excellent. Disappointed about the way our young guys came in and played in that 4th quarter, but it's something we have to learn from and get better." Terry: "We were really feeling good about ourselves for 3 quarters. 1 through 12, you can't let down your guard. You have to come out and finish them off. The fans were great tonight. It was nice to hear that MVP chant because it's about time [Nowitzki] starts getting his just due. He had to take some shots tonight." Devin Harris: "We got the defensive stops early and we really pushed the ball and got a lot of points in transition and really kept them on their heals. In the 4th quarter, we got a little stagnant, a little complacent, and shots weren't falling for us. They started hitting 3s - a lot of 3s - and they kind of came back quickly." Pat Riley on missing Wade: "We've got to forget about it. You get shocked a lot of times. We're big boys. We're professionals. They've been waiting for this game and we didn't respond well to the adversity." Udonis Haslem on missing Wade: "Basically everything goes through him offensively, except when we throw it in to the big fella. Anything that goes on offensively - our high screens and isolations - goes through Dwayne, so we've got to make some adjustments." Haslem on the 2nd night of a back-to-back: "No excuse, whether we played last night or not. We've got to go out there and perform because we know what's at stake. We understand that they might still be upset about the fact that we won last year and they're coming out, trying every chance they get to beat us - and not just beat us but embarrass us. We've got to go out there and play with that same intensity." Haslem: "Make no mistake about it, Dirk played great tonight. I'll give him that. We've been going back and forth since last year. To me, this was probably the first time since last year in Game 1 that he shot the ball as well as he did. You've got to give him his credit - he's a great player and he's going to come out and play the game the way it's supposed to be played. Not only did he make shots, but he made his team better as well by getting 6 or 7 assists out there." Dallas Mavericks 112, Miami Heat 100 at Dallas (February 22) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 26 39 28 19 - 112 .579 .400 .542 .824 Miami 21 21 21 37 - 100 .444 .421 .439 .667 Halftime: Dallas 65-42 3rd Q: Dallas 93-63 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 7:00 3rd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 1:20 3rd Flagrant Fouls: Shaquille O'Neal (level 1) 4:36 3rd, Antoine Walker (level 2 - ejected) 0:57 3rd Refs: Joey Crawford, Sean Corbin, Michael Smith Attendance: 20,448 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Devean George, DJ Mbenga, Pops Mensah-Bonsu Miami - Dwyane Wade, Wayne Simien, Earl Barron Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 36 8-15 3-6 2-2 21 1-5 4 4 3 0 0 Greg Buckner 23 2-4 0-1 0-0 4 1-3 1 1 2 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 38 11-17 0-1 9-9 31 3-11 6 3 2 1 2 Josh Howard 26 4-13 1-4 0-0 9 1-2 1 0 2 0 1 Erick Dampier 16 2-3 0-0 1-2 5 0-4 0 0 4 0 0 Devin Harris 30 6-8 0-0 5-7 17 0-3 5 1 2 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 25 4-7 2-2 8-8 18 0-2 3 2 1 2 0 DeSagana Diop 21 1-1 0-0 0-2 2 0-6 1 0 3 1 0 Austin Croshere 20 1-3 0-1 3-4 5 0-5 1 2 2 1 1 Maurice Ager 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 J.J. Barea 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 39-72 6-15 28-34 112 6-41 22 15 21 5 4 Miami Heat REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Williams 31 3-9 1-4 6-7 13 0-1 4 1 1 1 0 Gary Payton 18 1-6 0-1 0-0 2 1-2 1 1 3 0 0 Udonis Haslem 25 4-8 0-0 1-2 9 1-6 0 3 5 0 0 Jason Kapono 24 2-9 0-3 2-2 6 1-3 0 0 0 1 0 Shaquille O'Neal 25 6-10 0-0 5-10 17 3-8 1 1 3 0 1 James Posey 32 6-12 5-8 0-0 17 2-4 0 2 4 1 1 Eddie Jones 29 2-5 1-2 0-1 5 0-2 2 1 2 4 0 Chris Quinn 14 4-6 1-1 0-0 9 0-4 3 1 2 1 0 Michael Doleac 13 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 2-4 2 0 2 1 1 Dorell Wright 13 4-6 0-0 5-6 13 0-2 1 0 2 1 1 Antoine Walker 9 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 1 1 1 0 Alonzo Mourning 7 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 2-3 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 36-82 8-19 20-30 100 13-40 14 12 26 11 4 -- Denver at Dallas (February 24) It was the 2nd night of a back-to-back for Denver and the first time Dallas had faced the Nuggets with both Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson available. Dallas struggled with their shot early (2-7 FG) and Denver jumped out to an 11-4 lead with 8:15 to go. Dallas did get their shot going and the game stayed tight in the quarter. Dallas tied the game at 15-15 with 6 minutes remaining. A putback by DeSagana Diop gave Dallas their first lead at 19-18 with 4:35 left, but Denver then went on a 10-2 run to go up 28-21 with 2:30 remaining. Austin Croshere hit a jumper near the quarter's end. Denver led 33-29 after 1. Iverson had 13 points and Josh Howard had 11 points. The game stayed close in the 2nd quarter with the teams trading leads over the first half of the quarter. Dallas scored 6 straight points to go up 53-45 with 4:25 remaining, but 8 points would be the largest of the quarter. Denver scored the last 3 points of the quarter. Dallas led 60-56 at the half. Dirk Nowitzki had 11 points and Anthony had 11 points. Both teams were shooting over 50% FG in the half. Dallas led 67-61 with 9:50 to go and the Mavs used an 11-2 run to go up 78-63 with 5:30 left. Denver answered with a 13-4 run to pull within 76-82 with 2:10 remaining, but were unable to get closer. Dallas led 88-79 after 3. Anthony had 11 points in the 3rd quarter. Dallas opened the 4th quarter with 2 buckets inside to take a 13 point lead. A 3-point play by Marcus Camby pulled Denver within 86-95 with 8:05 to go, but Dallas then went on a 10-3 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Nowitzki, to go up 105-89 with 4:15 left. Denver didn't have a run left in them. Dallas scored the last 8 points of the game. Dallas won 115-95. The final score was a little misleading as the game wasn't a blowout until the last few minutes. Denver only shot 3-19 FG in the 4th quarter, including 1-8 FG over the last 4 minutes of the game. Dallas out-scored Denver 27-16 in the 4th quarter. For the game, Dallas shot 51.1% (45-88) FG including 4-9 3-pointers and Denver shot 44% (33-75) FG including 3-10 FT. Dallas shot 21-28 FT and Denver shot 26-33 FT. Dallas out-scored Denver 56-34 in the paint. Dallas out-rebounded Denver 45-38 including 11-6 offensive. Both teams had high assist numbers, but also had high turnover numbers. Dallas had 22 assists and 18 turnovers. Denver had 20 assists and 23 turnovers. The 100 point margin still stands for Denver as they are 0-18 in games where they failed to reach 100 points. Dirk Nowitzki again flirted with a triple-double. He had 31 points including 10-10 FT, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Josh Howard's ankle didn't bother him at all as he had 27 points (but just 3 rebounds and no assists). Jerry Stackhouse again had a nice game with 16 points and 6 assists off the bench. Jason Terry was quiet and had some foul trouble. He had just 10 points (on 5-8 FG), no assists, 2 steals, and 5 fouls in 24 minutes. Devin Harris had 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Erick Dampier had 3 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 33 minutes. DeSagana Diop had 5 points and 7 rebounds in 16 minutes. Greg Buckner again started and had 5 points (but his job was on the defensive end). Austin Croshere had 9 points and 5 rebounds in 14 minutes. It was a 2-man show for Denver. Carmelo Anthony had 34 points including 14-23 FG, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals, but also had 7 turnovers. Allen Iverson had 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists, but also had 9 turnovers. Marcus Camby also flirted with a triple-double. He had 10 points, 17 rebounds including 4 offensive, and 7 assists. Camby also had 3 steals. No other Nugget was in double-digits. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Tonight Denver got out of the gates on us tonight. They came in, they didn't look like a team that played last night. They were fresh, they were enthusiastic, and they put 33 points on us the 1st quarter, almost shot about 75%. Little bit better job for us defensively and offensively in the 2nd quarter and had a little bit of momentum into halftime. I thought that our 2nd half defense, we were active, we were on top of some of their stuff. We were getting a hand in their faces. We weren't contesting many shots in the 1st half. Carmelo Anthony and Iverson just destroyed us in the 1st half. We were able to come back and try to make it a little bit more difficult on them in the 2nd half. We continued to score in the 2nd half, which I think is critical for us. We had a little lead there, but gave it a little bit we got a time out, got back on it. But again if you look at the job that Buckner did on defense - I know Anthony had 34 points - but those guys were battling out there tonight. You look at the charges that Devin Harris took tonight on Iverson and what Stackhouse did defensively tonight. This was probably Stackhouse's best game tonight defensively independent of what statistics may say. Croshere played strong for us off the bench tonight. Dampier had a better 2nd half than he did a 1st half. So, again, we got some stuff we need to work on, but I thought our 2nd half and overall, really the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters were pretty good for us." Johnson on Harris: "Devin, we think Devin is one of the best defensive point guards in the league. Night in and night out he is giving up his body, he's getting steals, he's in position, he's guarding the best player. What we've tried to do is try and guard more of the point guards now - guys his size. Our experiment where we're putting him on 6-8 2-guards is not a good thing for him. It kind of hurt some of his confidence. We got him back in his position of strength now, and it seems to have carried over because he's getting back to the basket offensively and had 7 rebounds. I like what he did overall." Johnson on the defense: "No, we changed at halftime. Our approach in the 1st half wasn't the way I liked it. So we made an adjustment at halftime, changed our coverage on 2 situations, and we thought that helped us. It's hard to contain those guys or stop them, but we thought we brought more energy. But we did make an adjustment at halftime." Johnson on the 4th quarter compared to the Miami game: "Yeah, guys were into it. Again, we didn't have all of our young guys in too early [like against Miami] and when we did have them in, we mixed them in with some of our veterans. We thought that helped us. Barea came in - he only played a minute or so - but he made a good solid pass to Croshere in the corner, which we didn't get done tonight. I challenged those 5 guys by themselves away from the rest of the guys last practice and they responded." Josh Howard: "Everybody played defense tonight. [Anthony and Iverson] are great players. They came out red hot. In the 2nd half we limited them to one shot and stopped them in transition." Jason Terry: "Definitely a total team effort tonight. Really excited about the way we came out tonight against a difficult opponent with the 2 scorers they have. As you can see they can put up big numbers. But I think the times we stopped them and then came down and got baskets on our end really helped us and propelled us to victory. Let alone, the big German had 8 assists. Any time Dirk comes out on both ends of the floor and plays the way he does - very unselfish." Terry on getting Nowitzki a triple-double: "We tried. I drew about 4 plays myself to give me the ball from Dirk to shoot it, but it just didn't work out. You know, it's something that has to happen naturally in a game. I told him I guarantee he will have one of those triple-doubles before we finish up here." Terry on the difference in the defense in the 2nd half: "I thought it was Greg Buckner and Josh, and even Stackhouse and the way he sat down on Allen Iverson, the way our bigs communicated with us to tell us what coverage we were in - it was just a total team effort. Making them play in a crowd, getting our hands on the ball, and then translating that into transition baskets really helped us out." Devin Harris on defense: "They got to the line quite frequently in the 1st half and got in the bonus really early. That kind of played a role in it and they were getting some early leak-outs and some easy buckets. And that's what we tried to take away in the 2nd half those easy layups and tried to force them to take tough shots." Harris on the assist numbers: "That's big for us. When we play like that and guys are swinging the ball, we're tough to beat. We're just out there playing together and whoever is open gets the shot and that's the way we play." George Karl: "2 things I've always said I was concerned about: we turned the ball over a lot and so we ran out of energy a little bit. All these injuries and suspensions, sometimes I think we just don't have the energy to keep the pace of the game as much as we want to - and our best game is running. Hopefully when we get in better shape we'll be able to finish off games." Karl: "Turnovers are the #1 thing that takes confidence away from your team. You know you've made a mistake. Turnovers create a lot of easy baskets." Karl on Dallas scoring 54 points in the paint was bad defense or good offense: "When you lose by 15 or 20 points, it's always a little of both. I think at times we were very good defensively and at times we weren't. I have a feeling the film would show the turnovers create a lot of easy baskets. It's easy to play offense when you get 24 turnovers. Your opportunities are in the open court, your opportunities are with good numbers, and I only know that we're not playing at a great defensive pace. But I think where in tonight's game where we lost was defensively. I think again they get 23 points off of our turnovers. Most of them were probably near or on the rim." Allen Iverson on turnovers: "Yeah, my turnovers hurt tonight. We made mistakes. I don't have no reason for it. You're playing basketball and being aggressive and you make mistakes. And tonight we made a lot of mistakes as a team. Me personally, I just made too many to give us a chance to win." Iverson on his turnovers: "I would never say that was a good game for me even if I scored 40 points." Iverson: "They had a good defensive plan in the 2nd half. Harris did a great job, but he ain't out there playing defense by himself. They switched it up. Sometimes they jumped out on me, other times they were there to stop the penetration." Iverson on Dallas' guards: "Yeah, all around. Dirk played a great game too. Dampier played a good game. They just played an all-around game. There wasn't one area that they didn't play well in. They played well in all aspects of the game." Marcus Camby: "They're a well balanced team is the reason why they have the best record in the league. They're playing at a higher level. Everybody who comes in here knows about Dirk, but the Josh Howard kid is a great, great player. He seems to be getting better and better. Everyone understands their role and they're definitely well coached by AJ." Dallas Mavericks 115, Denver Nuggets 95 at Dallas (February 24) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 29 31 28 27 - 115 .519 .444 .511 .750 Denver 33 23 23 16 - 95 .462 .300 .440 .788 Halftime: Dallas 60-56 3rd Q: Dallas 88-72 Technicals: George Karl 9:42 3rd, Allen Iverson 5:26 3rd, Linas Kleiza 6:33 4th Refs: Joe DeRosa, David Jones, Marc Davis Attendance: 20,455 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Devean George, DJ Mbenga, Pops Mensah-Bonsu Denver - Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith, Reggie Evans Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 24 5-8 0-0 0-0 10 1-1 0 2 5 2 0 Greg Buckner 22 2-5 0-1 1-2 5 1-1 0 0 2 3 0 Dirk Nowitzki 34 10-22 1-2 10-10 31 2-11 8 4 2 0 1 Josh Howard 40 12-22 1-2 2-3 27 1-3 0 4 4 2 1 Erick Dampier 33 1-1 0-0 1-2 3 1-7 1 3 2 2 3 Devin Harris 30 4-10 0-0 1-3 9 2-7 4 2 5 1 0 Jerry Stackhouse 25 6-11 1-3 3-4 16 0-3 6 2 1 1 1 DeSagana Diop 16 2-4 0-0 1-2 5 3-7 0 0 2 0 1 Austin Croshere 14 3-5 1-1 2-2 9 0-5 2 0 2 1 0 Maurice Ager 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 J.J. Barea 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 45-88 4-9 21-28 115 11-45 22 18 25 12 7 Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Allen Iverson 44 8-18 2-4 8-9 26 1-5 4 9 2 2 1 Yakhouba Diawara 21 1-5 0-3 1-3 3 0-0 0 0 3 0 0 Nene 23 4-8 0-0 0-0 8 1-3 1 1 6 1 0 Carmelo Anthony 41 14-23 0-0 6-8 34 0-6 3 7 4 3 0 Marcus Camby 36 2-6 0-0 6-7 10 4-17 7 2 1 4 2 Eduardo Najera 26 3-7 0-0 0-0 6 0-3 1 2 3 2 1 Steve Blake 25 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 0-2 4 0 2 0 0 Linas Kleiza 22 1-6 1-3 4-4 7 0-2 0 2 3 1 0 DerMarr Johnson 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-75 3-10 26-33 95 6-38 20 23 24 13 4 -- Atlanta at Dallas (February 26) For the 3rd straight game Dallas was a facing an opponent who was on the 2nd night of a back-to-back. Atlanta scored the first 4 points of the game, but Dallas was able to tie the game at 6-6 with 8 minutes to go and the game stayed close as neither team was able to put together a rally in the quarter. Josh Howard scored the last 3 points of the quarter to give Dallas a 27-23 lead after 1. Dirk Nowitzki had 13 points. Josh Childress opened the 2nd quarter with a layup, but a 3-pointer by Howard kicked off a 13-2 run to give Dallas a 40-27 lead with 8:10 remaining. Atlanta scored 6 straight points to pull within 36-43 with 6 minutes to go. Dallas led 40-48 with 4:30 left and the Mavs went on a 10-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Howard, to go up 58-42 with 1:45 remaining. Dallas led 60-45 at the half. Dallas shot 13-22 FG including 5-8 3-pointers in the 2nd quarter. A jumper by Marvin Williams pulled Atlanta within 49-62 with 9:55 left, but Dallas then scored the next 7 points to take a 69-49 lead with 7 minutes remaining. Joe Johnson ended the run with a 3-pointer, but Dallas came right back and scored the next 6 points to take a 75-52 lead with 5:15 to go. The teams traded 2 points and Atlanta then scored the next 7 points to pull within 61-77 with 2 minutes left. But they would get no closer as Dallas scored the next 4 points and the Mavs' lead would see-saw between 18 and 20 points the rest of the quarter. Jerry Stackhouse hit a short runner that the quarter buzzer to give Dallas an 87-67 lead after 3. Johnson had 11 points in the 3rd quarter. Dallas did not have a turnover in the 3rd quarter while Atlanta had 6 turnovers (which led to 9 Dallas points). Atlanta scored the first 6 points of the 4th quarter to pull within 73-87 with 10:30 remaining, but a 3-point play by Austin Croshere kicked of a 7-2 Dallas run to give the Mavs a 94-75 lead with 8:15 left. Atlanta would get no closer than 18 points the rest of the game. Dallas won 110-87. It was a nice solid win for Dallas as Atlanta was never able to get back in the game after Dallas pulled ahead in the 2nd quarter. Both teams shot over 50% for the first 3 quarters (with Dallas shooting 44% FG and Atlanta shooting 42% FG in the 4th - where the game had a 2 1/2 minute scoring drought and a period where only 3 points were scored in over 2 minutes - in other words, not a pretty quarter). For the game, Dallas shot 54.3% (44-81) FG including 7-14 3-pointers and Atlanta shot 51.5% (34-66) FG including 1-3 3-pointers. Dallas shot 15-23 FT and Atlanta shot 18-25 FT. Dallas had a slight edge in rebounds in out-rebounding Atlanta 36-33 including 11-9 offensive. Dallas had 23 assists and 10 turnovers and Atlanta had 14 assists and 18 turnovers (off of which Dallas scored 25 points). It was a 4-headed attack by Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki probably had the most shocking stat with no assists - after he had been flirting with triple-doubles for a while. He did have a game high 27 points including 10-17 FG, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Jason Terry had 21 points on 10-12 FG and 4 assists. Josh Howard had 20 points and 5 rebounds, but again sprained his ankle (this time midway through the 4th quarter). Avery Johnson was unhappy with the injury as it again happed when Howard came down from a long jumper on an opposing player's ankle. Howard was able to play in the next game, though. And the 4th head was Jerry Stackhouse with 19 points. He had a game high 9 assists. Devin Harris started, but struggled with just 1 point including 0-4 FG in 24 minutes. He did have 5 assists. Erick Dampier had 9 points and 7 rebounds. DeSagana Diop had 2 points and 3 rebounds in 15 minutes. Austin Croshere had 7 points including 3-10 FG, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in 21 minutes. Greg Buckner did not play due to a sore left knee. Not surprisingly, Joe Johnson led the way for Atlanta with 29 points including 12-18 FG. Zaza Pachulia contributed 24 points including 10-12 FT and 9 rebounds including 5 offensive off of the bench. Josh Smith had a poor outing with just 4 points on 2-11 FG. He also had 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Josh Childress had 13 points including 6-7 FG and Marvin Williams had 11 points. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Tonight I thought we had a pretty good flow throughout the whole game. I've been making a big point of emphasis on trying to get off to a good start, especially defensively, in the 1st quarter compared to the last game. We had a nice finish. We didn't start the 4th quarter that well, but we got it back together. Our bench was big for us, no matter what the numbers are. I thought Stackhouse and Croshere and Barea played really well for us off the bench. Obviously our big guns of Howard, Dirk, and JET did what they were supposed to do. Dampier did some good stuff for us during different spurts of the game. So, we are glad to get this game behind us because this team has played well here recently. This game we had to have a win." Johnson on Howard: "Hopefully he should be okay. The X-rays were negative and we'll check him out tomorrow night. We need to really look at that play [where Howard landed on an opposing player's ankle (with no foul called)]. I'll deal with it tomorrow in my own way. They were aware of it, so I'll deal with it in my own way tomorrow." Johnson on playing Barea early: "It wasn't a big stat line, but he controlled the team. He had a presence out there. We needed to buy a few minutes because we were fighting foul trouble and he gave us a few minutes early in the 1st quarter. I wanted to see how he played with some of our starters out there. It wasn't anything to write home about, but he didn't hurt us when he was out there - he actually made a nice pass there at the end. We may need to get a few minutes from him during the stretch since we have Buckner and George out - that leaves a big hole." Johnson on defending Joe Johnson: "I thought we did a good job on him and mainly I thought we attacked him, because he is a terrific shot blocker. I think one game I was here when I played - he maybe had about 10 blocks one day or sometime here recently. He is a guy we know, Joe Johnson, he's been having an outstanding season. He's an All-Star, he's playing really well. It's a matter of trying to stop the other guys." Jason Terry: "When the ball is moving side to side so well, it's fun basketball to play. That's what you see from this team consistently, night-in and night-out." Jerry Stackhouse on his assists: "We're just moving the ball and it just so happens that I was in the last leg of the rotation. We're moving the ball. We had a good run there with Dirk on the post getting double-teamed and he was passing it out and we were just making plays from that. We've got guys finishing and going hard to finish and knocking down shots right now. So hopefully we can continue to play that way because everybody is playing with a lot of confidence." Stackhouse on his 3-pointers: "I'm on fire. Technically, you shoot so many shots over the course of your career and you make shots, but sometimes it becomes a technical thing. I was watching Holger [Geschwinder (Nowitzki's coach)] working with Dirk a little bit and I stole a couple pointers and started working with it a little bit on my own. Next thing I know, it's clicking for me, so I'm pretty sure I'll be paying attention in class a little more often. But it's definitely a good rhythm right now and hopefully I can just keep that confidence because that's what it's all about and hopefully just have guys feed off of it, especially the 2nd unit." Stackhouse: "We shouldn't have anybody out there who's tired when you're winning and having the success we are. When Chicago was on its great runs, they didn't know it was cold outside. That's how we feel right now. We can't wait until the next game." Devin Harris: "We haven't started games off impressively the past couple weeks but we definitely find our grove and find our niche. We'd like to start a little bit faster but we'll continue to get better. It was a tough-minded win tonight." Harris on ball movement having an effect: "It does. When we really swing the ball and really get to push it in transition, that's when we're at our best. It takes it a little while to get to that point with guys getting loose, but once we get to that point we're usually pretty good from then on." Harris on Stackhouse: "He's shooting the ball extremely well right now. He's not feeling his best right now, but he's giving us all he's got and that's why he's one of our team leaders. Hopefully he can continue to keep it going." Mike Woodson: "I think Dallas, man they're good. Because they really try and do it the right way. They defend and rebound the ball. They've got so many offensive weapons that it's like pick your poison. You try and double and switch and they've gotten so good now, I think, when teams switch on them, they really know how to play off of each other and make plays for one another. They're a tough match up, especially for our young team." Woodson: "Offensively we were okay. I thought fastbreak-wise we got the ball out. I think we had 25 points in the open court, but this game is won on the defensive end. We've got to defend and rebound the ball. And we just couldn't stop them tonight. We'll see them again and hopefully we'll be better before they come back to our place." Woodson: "We can't get over the hump in back-to-back games. More than anything, we were mentally exhausted and did things we shouldn't be doing. We have to grow and learn to push through that." Joe Johnson: "I think fatigue set in and our attention span kind of went down off a back-to-back. They were making shots and we never got past it. We never could get stops to get ourselves back in the game." Johnson: "Defensively we just didn't have it tonight. Those guys were making shots from the start. They got off to a great start and we tried to focus in on Dirk - and Jason Terry wanted to make a shot, Josh Howard wanted to make a shot. It was kind of like a trend and they started the momentum, and they had it throughout the whole game." Anthony Johnson on his return to Dallas: "I didn't really get a chance to say bye to most of the guys, so it was good to see the guys, but at the same time the result wasn't what I hoped for. My play wasn't very good tonight. So as a team, coming off a back-to-back playing against Phoenix and having a tough loss and coming in tonight, Dallas handed our butts to us, and you've got to give them credit. That's why they are the top team in the league." Johnson: "In the 1st quarter we did a good job staying bodies-on-bodies, and playing tough man-to-man D. Then as the game wore on in the 2nd quarter, we found ourselves in rotations and with that team, that's what they want. They've got sharpshooters all over the court. They have Dirk, Stackhouse, JT, Josh Howard. You know, they've got guys that can make shots and we were getting caught in rotations and they were just knocking down their jumpers. That team, once they get out to a 10 or 15 point lead, they get comfortable and the game becomes more easy to them. They did a good job of taking advantage of what we gave them defensively and that's why they are the top team in the NBA." Dallas Mavericks 110, Atlanta Hawks 87 at Dallas (February 26) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 27 33 27 23 - 110 .552 .500 .543 .652 Atlanta 23 22 22 20 - 87 .524 .333 .515 .720 Halftime: Dallas 60-45 3rd Q: Dallas 87-67 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 0:50 2nd Flagrant Fouls: Speedy Claxton 9level 1) 8:11 1st Refs: Mark Ayotte, Dan Crawford, Luis Grillo Attendance: 20,245 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Greg Buckner, Devean George, DJ Mbenga Atlanta - Tyronn Lue, Stanislav Medvedenko, Estiban Batista Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Devin Harris 24 0-4 0-0 1-2 1 1-2 5 2 3 1 0 Jason Terry 34 10-12 1-3 0-0 21 0-2 4 3 4 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 37 10-17 1-1 6-6 27 2-8 0 1 3 1 3 Josh Howard 34 8-15 2-3 2-4 20 1-5 1 1 3 2 0 Erick Dampier 32 3-5 0-0 3-6 9 4-7 0 0 1 1 1 Jerry Stackhouse 27 8-13 3-4 0-0 19 0-2 9 1 0 0 0 Austin Croshere 21 3-10 0-3 1-1 7 0-5 3 0 1 1 0 DeSagana Diop 15 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 2-3 0 0 4 0 0 J.J. Barea 10 0-2 0-0 0-2 0 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Maurice Ager 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Pops Mensah-Bonsu 3 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 44-81 7-14 15-23 110 11-36 23 10 19 8 4 Atlanta Hawks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Speedy Claxton 16 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 3 2 2 1 0 Joe Johnson 42 12-18 1-2 4-6 29 1-3 2 1 0 1 1 Josh Smith 36 2-11 0-0 0-1 4 1-5 5 5 3 1 1 Marvin Williams 34 4-8 0-0 3-4 11 0-3 0 1 3 2 0 Lorenzen Wright 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-3 0 0 3 0 0 Zaza Pachulia 34 7-12 0-0 10-12 24 5-9 1 1 4 0 0 Josh Childress 32 6-7 0-0 1-2 13 2-4 1 1 0 0 0 Anthony Johnson 25 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 0-4 1 3 2 0 0 Salim Stoudemire 6 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 2 2 0 0 Sheldon Williams 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Solomon Jones 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 1 Royal Ivey 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-66 1-3 18-25 87 9-33 14 18 21 5 3 -- Dallas at Minnesota (February 27) It was the 2nd night of a back-to-back for Dallas. But it was Minnesota who looked sluggish to start as Dallas jumped out to a 12-2 lead with 6:55 remaining (both teams were sloppy and committed a combined 8 turnovers during that span). Consecutive Minnesota buckets did pull them within 13-17 with 3:25 left, but they could get no closer as Dallas scored the next 4 points. Dallas led 26-19 after 1. Dallas shot 55% FG and Minnesota shot 32% FG. 4 straight Minnesota points pull them within 23-27 with 10:35 remaining, but Dallas' defense pick up and Minnesota's offense went down the drain and the Timberwolves only scored 4 points the rest of the quarter as Minnesota shot 2-19 FG. It wasn't a blowout yet, though, as Dallas' offense wasn't too good either. Dallas "closed" the quarter with a 15-4 run to go up 42-27 at the half. Dallas out-scored Minnesota 16-8 in the 2nd quarter - tying the opponent low for fewest points in a quarter - as Dallas shot 6-17 FG and Minnesota shot 3-22 FG. A 3-point play by Randy Foye pulled Minnesota within 37-46 with 8:25 remaining. A jumper by Jason Terry and 3-pointer by Jerry Stackhouse gave Dallas back a double-digit lead at 56-42 with 5:30 to go. Dallas lead between 12 and 15 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 68-53 after 3. Ricky Davis had 10 points in the 3rd quarter. Dallas scored the first 6 points of the 4th quarter to go up 74-53 with 10:25 left. Minnesota did pull within 59-74 with 8 minutes to go, but Dallas then went on an 11-4 run to go up 85-63 with 3:40 left and Dallas pulled their stars at the next dead ball (and the subs continued the run in scoring 4 more points). Dallas won 91-65. It wasn't a pretty game, but it was a record setting one. 65 points was both a Dallas opponent low and a Minnesota team low for points in a game. Minnesota only shot 29.6% FG, also setting a Dallas opponent record low. In addition to a poor 2nd quarter (8 points), Minnesota had just 12 points in the 4th quarter where they shot 5-19 FG. For the game, Dallas shot 45.1% (37-82) FG including 8-20 3-pointers and Minnesota shot 29.6% (24-81) FG including 5-14 3-pointers (yup, they shot better from 3-point land (35.7%) than from 2-pointers (28.4%)). Dallas shot 12-15 FT and Minnesota shot 9-12 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Minnesota 54-39 including 14-10 offensive. Dallas had 18 assists and 17 turnovers (off of which Minnesota scored 11 points) and Minnesota had 16 assists and 16 turnovers (off of which Dallas scored 23 points). Dallas remains a perfect 11-0 on the 2nd night of a back-to-back. Dallas finished February with a record of 10-0. It was the first time Dallas has gone perfect in a month (excluding 1-0 in Octobers). Dirk Nowitzki had a double-double with 23 points (only shot 1-1 FT) and 14 rebounds including 5 offensive. He also had 3 assists. Jason Terry had 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 7 assists. Josh Howard had 17 points and 7 rebounds. No other Mav was in double-digits scoring. DeSagana Diop had a very nice outing with 6 points on 3-4 FG, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks off the bench. Erick Dampier had 6 points including 4-5 FT (a very good percentage for him) and 4 rebounds. Devin Harris, who started, had 9 points and 5 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse struggled this night with just 3 points on 1-7 FG and 1-3 3-pointers. He had 3 rebounds and 2 assists, but also had 4 turnovers. Austin Croshere had 5 points on 2-8 FG and 1-3 3-pointers and 5 rebounds. Greg Buckner again sat out due to his sore knee (he was dressed, but Avery Johnson elected to rest him). Not surprising considering Minnesota's final numbers that their top scorers struggled with their shot. Kevin Garnett had 15 points including 5-16 FG. He also had 13 rebounds. Ricky Davis had 15 points including 5-14 FG - but did shot 4-5 3-pointers. Mark Blount was the only other Timberwolf in double-digits with 10 points. Trenton Hassell had 2 points on 1-5 FG, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Randy Foye had 8 points including 3-11 FG. Rookie Craig Smith had 9 points and 8 rebounds including 4 offensive. Quotes Avery Johnson: "We feel like we got off to a much better start tonight than we did last night. We were fortunate in this game to have some momentum throughout the game. They made a run at us to start the 3rd quarter a little bit, but we got our defense settled back in and tried to make it as difficult as we could for them to score." Johnson: "We knew we had to win the rebound game to have a chance to win this game. We had different guys step up for us at different points in the game. We were fortunate enough to get out of here with a win." Johnson: "Overall our guys competed at a high level. I thought they were active, we got deflections and we got out and ran." Johnson on the 2nd quarter: "That was big for us, and obviously it's not all defense. We won't flatter ourselves. But at the same time, give our defense some credit. I think DeSagana Diop had one of his better games in a while closing down the middle, trying to play Garnett as best we can. Our rotations were sound." Johnson: "The guys came out, we had our rotations better. We knew we had to get the ball out of Garnett's hands. That 2nd quarter really set the tone for us for the rest of the game." Johnson: "We've got our eyes on the prize and there is only one team that is going to win it this year. We know it is just February and we have seen teams go on great winning streaks before, but at the same time we are not going to turn them back in either." Johnson: "More than winning, which we rarely even talk about, is coming out and trying to win the rebound game and play solid defense and get points in the paint." Jason Terry: "Every game for us is big. We have to approach every game with an aggressive mindset on both ends of the floor. For the most part, I thought we did a good job of sticking to our game plan." Terry: "I can already go through my head and know 8 mistakes that I had individually. There is always something that you can improve on. No game is ever perfect. They didn't shoot the ball particularly well tonight. We played decent defense, but when we watch the tape, I am sure there are some things we can improve upon." Terry: "Since Avery took over, we have changed the character of our team. We have become a more defensive-minded team. We did that last year, but even more this year. We are a much improved defensive team." Terry: "For us, our mindset doesn't change. Be solid defensively. Offensively, our ball movement has been very good this season." Jerry Stackhouse: "We will be more impressed in June. We had great success last year. We had some things we were proud of last year, with 60 wins. All that stuff is good, but ultimately when you have the caliber of team that we have, you need to cap it off with a championship at the end. You can look back on it and talk about the great things you did during the regular season. When you start talking about all-time things that you accomplished later on. But you don't look at it like that right now." Stackhouse: "We worry about getting better and improving as a team. These numbers we were able to accomplish against Minnesota, holding them to such a low percentage and so few points. I am sure we will go back and look at the film, it won't be as great as the numbers say. They probably missed a lot of shots they would normally make." Stackhouse on Diop: "DeSagana was good. He controlled the paint and was really aggressive defending the basket. He got some easy opportunities where he got some dunks, which is always good for a big man. The rebounds, he controlled the glass with 10 big boards." Randy Wittman: "I thought this game was a game that was there for us to get. I thought we had a good practice yesterday. I felt fairly confident coming in to this today." Wittman: "They can score in so many different ways, inside and out. They do a good job of moving the ball and making good decisions. They can score from almost every position on the floor." Wittman: "We missed some easy shots, we missed some good shots, but we also took some good shots. Based off that, exhausting the play to the very end instead of the big-button shot, I'm going to throw the ball back and see how they react to that, we didn't do that too much." Wittman: "You look at it, and you're only down - what - 7 at the end of the 1st? Well actually we were only down 14 at the half. But you still look at an opportunity there, that we just couldn't gain any momentum. And I don't know what the cause was. But when things go bad, we have a hard time right now, turning it the other direction. It almost becomes a snowball down hill." Kevin Garnett on Minnesota's slow start: "We don't have the experience nor the personnel to sort of get us in positions to climb ourselves out. We sometimes hang our hats on our youthfulness, and sometimes that's a disadvantage." Mark Blount "We didn't adjust to anything. We stayed in one mode all night, and they were the attackers and we didn't attack. We need to focus on the little things right now, energy - just the little things to help us." Blount: "In the first couple minutes of the game, we didn't have the flow and it wasn't too bad right then, but once they started making shots and started pulling away a little bit, it was all just mental mistakes." Blount: "They've been there [to the Finals]. They help each other on offense, they help each other on defense, they do everything right. Avery Johnson is going to make sure they do things right and they're getting it done." Marko Jaric: "I don't think it's about our shooting. I think it's about pride and that we don't have it right now - and we need to find it. I think there is too much talk about basketball right now. I think they just beat us. Mentally, we need to find ourselves if we're going to go out and to beat someone else." Jaric: "Obviously you saw how we looked today, and anyone who knows basketball knows we are much better players and much better potential than what we are showing right now." Jaric: "Mentally we are not in the right direction, especially after tonight, but thank God this league gives you the opportunity to come back tomorrow and win again and get back in the race. And I still believe that this team has a lot of quality and we can still get one of the last couple positions in the playoffs." Dallas Mavericks 91, Minnesota 65 at Minnesota (February 27) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 26 16 26 23 - 91 .468 .400 .451 .750 Minnesota 19 8 26 12 - 65 .284 .357 .296 .800 Halftime: Dallas 42-27 3rd Q: Dallas 68-53 Technicals: Jerry Stackhouse 0:00 2nd, Randy Whitman 11:24 4th Refs: Ron Garretson, Leon Wood, Derrick Collins Attendance: 13,326 (cap 19,356) IL: Dallas - Greg Buckner, Devean George, DJ Mbenga Minnesota - Mark Madsen, Eddie Griffin Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 38 8-18 2-6 0-0 18 0-4 7 2 0 1 1 Devin Harris 24 4-9 0-0 1-2 9 1-5 2 0 5 2 2 Dirk Nowitzki 38 10-18 2-5 1-1 23 5-14 3 2 1 0 1 Josh Howard 36 7-13 2-3 1-2 17 2-7 3 3 3 0 1 Erick Dampier 20 1-2 0-0 4-5 6 1-4 0 2 2 0 0 DeSagana Diop 26 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 4-10 0 0 2 0 3 Jerry Stackhouse 23 1-7 1-3 0-0 3 1-3 2 4 2 0 0 Austin Croshere 21 2-8 1-3 0-0 5 0-5 1 0 2 0 0 Maurice Ager 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Pops Mensah-Bonsu 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 J.J. Barea 3 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 37-82 8-20 9-12 91 14-54 18 17 18 3 8 Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Randy Foye 27 3-11 1-2 1-1 8 1-2 3 1 1 0 1 Ricky Davis 34 5-14 4-5 1-2 15 1-4 1 3 1 2 1 Kevin Garnett 39 5-16 0-1 5-5 15 2-13 2 1 1 1 1 Trenton Hassell 30 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 0-5 6 1 1 2 0 Mark Blount 24 3-7 0-0 4-5 10 2-4 0 5 5 0 0 Craig Smith 29 4-8 0-0 1-2 9 4-8 0 0 2 0 0 Rashad McCants 18 2-7 0-4 0-0 4 0-0 1 1 2 2 0 Mike James 18 0-6 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 2 1 2 0 0 Marko Jaric 11 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 Troy Hudson 4 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Justin Reed 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 1 0 0 Bracey Wright 3 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 24-81 5-14 12-15 65 10-39 16 16 18 7 3 -- Cleveland at Dallas (March 1) Cleveland was without Larry Hughes due to the flu. Dallas jumped out to an early 11-4 lead with 8:35 remaining, but Cleveland then went on a 10-2 run to go up 14-13 with 5:55 to go and the game stayed close the rest of the quarter. Dallas scored the last 4 points of the quarter to go up 27-23 after 1. Josh Howard had 11 points and LeBron James had 10 points. James opened the 2nd quarter with a layup, but Dallas then went on a 10-2 run to go up 37-27 with 8:45 left. Consecutive Dallas buckets gave the Mavs a 46-32 lead with 3:40 to go. James scored 6 straight points to pull Cleveland within 40-48 with 2:05 remaining. Dallas led 52-42 at the half. James had 10 points in the 2nd quarter (for 20 in the half). Both teams shot over 50% FG in the half. Consecutive jumpers by Dirk Nowitzki gave Dallas a 62-48 lead with 7:20 left. The teams traded buckets and Cleveland started chipping at Dallas' lead and pulled within 61-68 with 3:30 remaining. But Dallas closed the quarter with a 6-1 run as Cleveland missed their last 3 shots and committed 3 turnovers. Dallas led 74-62 after 3. A jumper by Anderson Varejao and 3-pointer by Shannon Brown pulled Cleveland within 69-76 with 9:20 to go and Dallas' lead see-sawed between 7 and 9 points over the next 2 minutes. Dallas scored 7 straight points to go up 89-75 with 6:20 remaining, but Cleveland answered with 7 straight points to pull within 82-89 with 5 minutes left. Jason Terry nailed a 3-pointer, but James answered with a 3-pointer. The teams traded misses and a layup by Varejao pulled Cleveland within 87-92 with 2:45 to go. Terry hit 2 free throws, the teams traded misses, and Donyell Marshall got a layup to again make it a 5 point game with 1:50 remaining. Neither team scored over the next minute as both teams missed 2 shots. Howard hit 1-2 FT to give Dallas a 95-89 lead with 47 seconds left. After a timeout, James got a quick short runner with 41 seconds to go and was fouled and converted the extra free throw to make it a 3 point game. Dallas ran the clock down and Terry missed inside, but Dampier got the rebound, but then lost it and James was fouled on the break with 14 seconds remaining. But James missed both free throws, but P.J. Brown got the rebound and Cleveland called timeout with 10 seconds left. Dallas played good defense in defending against the 3-pointer and Cleveland wasted 5 seconds looking for a shot. James missed a 3-point attempt with 5 seconds left, but Varejao tapped the ball outside and James got a good look, but the 3-point attempt was short and that was finally game. Dallas won 95-92. It definitely wasn't an easy win, but it was a win. Dallas was never able to put Cleveland away and the Cavs hung around just enough to have a shot at a tie at the end. Dallas struggled in the 4th quarter in shooting 6-19 FG as Cleveland out-scored them 30-21 (and you know Avery Johnson couldn't be happy in giving up 30 4th quarter points). For the game, Dallas shot 47.5% (38-8) FG including 4-12 3-pointers and Cleveland shot 48.8% (40-82) FG including 5-18 3-pointers. The Cavs hurt themselves at the line where they shot just 7-14 FT. Dallas shot 15-19 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Cleveland 44-38 including 12-9 offensive. Dallas had 22 assists and 17 turnovers. Cleveland had 19 assists and 14 turnovers. The heros of the game were Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry, who each had 10 points in the 4th quarter - that's 20 of Dallas' 21 4th quarter points. Nowitzki again flirted with a triple-double with 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists. Terry had 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Josh Howard had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. He also had 3 assists. Erick Dampier had 10 points including 3-4 FG and 9 rebounds and DeSagana Diop had 8 points including 3-4 FG and 4 rebounds. Diop was aggressive against his former team and also had 4 blocks. Greg Buckner returned after missing the last 2 games with a sore knee. He missed 2 shots, but he was in the game (and started) for his defense. The Mavs did limit him to 14 minutes as he returns from injury. Jerry Stackhouse had 10 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists. Devin Harris had 4 points and 2 assists. It was a short rotation was Austin Croshere was the only other Mav to play. He had 2 points on 1-4 FG and 3 rebounds in 8 minutes. LeBron James put on a show with 39 points including a wowing double-clutch dunk that made those of us at the arena wanting a replay. He shot 17-27 FG, but did struggle at the line in shooting just 4-8 FT, including 2 missed near the end of the game. He also had 5 assists and 3 rebounds. Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas didn't show much. Gooden had 4 points on 2-6 FG and 6 rebounds. Ilgauskas missed 3 shots and had 3 rebounds. Sasha Pavlovic had 11 points including 4-11 FG. Anderson Varejao had 8 points and 12 rebounds including 4 offensive. Donyell Marshall had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Tonight we are excited to get out of here with a victory. We didn't have a great 4th quarter tonight. We just weren't good offensively or defensively. But to still get out of here with a victory against a very good basketball team with a very special player, LeBron James. We gave him some different looks - he still exploited some of our coverages. Sometimes we had 3 people on him and he was still able to split like he was 160 pounds and then he was powerful like he was 260. So, he gave us some different things to think about, but we feel we can get more balanced scoring going tonight, which I thought we did, and the way Dirk passed the ball tonight almost getting another triple-double, it is fun to watch. Josh carried us for stretches there. Stackhouse carried us. JET carried us for a stretch. DeSagana was good in the 1st half, Dampier was good in the 2nd half. I love games like this. We were fortunate enough to win it, but we will have some good film study tomorrow to keep us sharp and on our toes." Johnson on James' last 3-point attempts: "We just come up with that rebound and the game is over. That is the same thing that Dampier does for us - tip those balls out and gives us another chance to get some 2nd shots. He had a couple of good looks there tonight. It didn't go down, but I thought if we had played better in the 4th quarter, especially with that lead, we wouldn't have been in that position." Johnson on if it felt like a playoff game: "Yes, in a way. We had a chance to see them, even though Larry Hughes was out tonight. He's a big part of their game. Buckner is still only about 80%, at least he was able to give us about 13 minutes, but he is not moving well yet. Hopefully he will give us some rest. We got George on the mend. These are the games where we really need those guys to help us out on defense. George and Buckner are so big and strong, especially to try and match up against a guy like James. Then I can allow Josh Howard to do some other things for us." Johnson on Nowitzki's passing: "What I've tried to convince him about is throwing good passes, not just to pass the ball. If you throw it high or low, it's not a good pass. He's really worked on it. Some of the drills we work on are kind of silly and fundamental to those guys. But, we can keep working on those drills and become a better and better passing team. I like when we get 20 or more assists." Johnson on assists: "These guys have played together and they know where they will be on the court. I would like to think sometime that we can put a mask on everybody and still make passes because you know where guys are going to be. But that comes with time. This is a plan and it just doesn't happen over night. But the way Dirk is passing, Josh Howard - he had a lot of games where he had no assists so he gets 3-5 sometimes now. JET's making the passes. Stackhouse is an awfully good passer for us this year as well." Josh Howard: "It was a tough win for us. We didn't finish out the 4th quarter like we were supposed to. But it was a good overall effort and great team defense. LeBron made some big shots, but overall we kept their team at bay." Howard on free throws: "Guys worked hard the whole night just to get to the line. There were tough calls out there but we just kept fighting through it, didn't complain, and we got this win." Howard on if it felt like a playoff game: "No, that wasn't a playoff feel to me. It was just a rough game for us. I don't think we finished the 4th quarter like we usually do. We're going to get back to a normal practice tomorrow and get back into the grind and get ready for Orlando on Saturday." Jerry Stackhouse: "It wasn't the prettiest win in that streak, but a win is a win. LeBron is tough to guard - so strong, so talented. We all had an emphasis on trying to slow him down and he still almost had 40." Devin Harris on James' last 3-pointers: "The first one was a little bit right, but the second one he got an open look on - it was a little bit further out though, but you just have to hope it doesn't go in. He left it a little short and Damp cleaned it up on the other end." Harris on Cleveland's comeback: "Yeah, they did. They did a great job moving the ball. We tried to trap them a bit and guys were making shots. But that's what we wanted - we wanted other guys to try and beat us and they made shots and cut into the lead but we were able to hang on at the end." DeSagana Diop on playing against his former team: "Hey, they didn't play me for 4 years. Whenever you play your old team, you know what they do and you're motivated." Mike Brown: "That's a really good team. Obviously they're well coached. I thought the 1st half, there was a stretch there where we let it get away from us a little bit. We turned the ball over - and not only that, defensively we went away from our principles. Diop got some easy dunks around the basket and that gave them the separation going into halftime. There were some things that we cleaned up, that we needed clean up or address. A couple of them were keeping them off the offensive glass and limit their 2nd chance points, which we did. We wanted to make sure we went back out there and didn't turn the ball over, which we did. And just trying to make them work for everything that they got - which I felt in the 2nd half we did. Again, on the road it's tough beating a team when you're not perfect. And looking back the area that we probably weren't as good as we can be where we need to get better in, that's been our Achilles heel most of the season, is the free throw line." Brown: "The thing that I liked about our guys, they gave effort, they did it for 48 minutes. In an environment like this, it's easy to hang your head at any time to say, 'Hey they're Dallas and they've beaten everybody so we'll just get ready for the next game.' Our guys never did that. They fought and we gave ourselves a chance to win at the end or send it into overtime." LeBron James: "It's one of those games. We were a couple men short tonight with Larry and [Damon] Jones being out, Sasha [Pavlovic] getting into foul trouble a little bit. I just wanted to be focused and our team looked on my face and seen that I was focused tonight, and they kind of stood behind us. We came a little short but we definitely played well. We have no reason to hang our heads about this loss." James on his last shots: "3 looks. Same 2 looks I got last game against the Hornets and I was able to bury them. Some good looks, I thought both of them were going down but I doubt that next time I don't take them. Things happen and we had an opportunity to make shots before them but I'll take that shot any day." James: "They have a lot of weapons. They're definitely the favorite in the West. We played a good game, but it doesn't make me feel good because we lost. We aren't happy to just come close." Daniel Gibson: "I felt like we did a great job. We never gave up and we never stopped working hard. We kept ourselves in the game with energy and intensity. Coach Brown talks about that all the time, even when things go south. Don't get down on yourselves, just continue to work at it and keep tugging away and good things happen." Dallas Mavericks 95, Cleveland Cavaliers 92 at Dallas (March 1) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 27 25 22 21 - 95 .500 .333 .475 .789 Cleveland 23 19 20 30 - 92 .547 .278 .488 .500 Halftime: Dallas 52-42 3rd Q: Dallas 74-62 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 3:25 2nd Refs: James Capers, Bob Delaney, Kevin Fehr Attendance: 20,428 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Larry Hughes (ill) IL: Dallas - Devean George, DJ Mbenga Cleveland - Ira Newble, Dwayne Jones, Scot Pollard Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 40 8-15 2-4 2-2 20 1-5 5 3 1 0 0 Greg Buckner 14 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 3 1 1 Dirk Nowitzki 39 9-19 0-1 6-6 24 2-11 7 2 3 0 0 Josh Howard 39 7-15 2-3 1-2 17 2-10 3 3 2 1 1 Erick Dampier 25 3-4 0-0 4-6 10 4-9 0 2 4 0 1 Jerry Stackhouse 32 5-11 0-2 0-0 10 0-2 2 2 1 1 0 DeSagana Diop 23 3-4 0-0 2-2 8 3-4 2 0 2 0 4 Devin Harris 21 2-6 0-0 0-1 4 0-0 2 1 1 1 0 Austin Croshere 8 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 0-3 1 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-80 4-12 15-19 95 12-44 22 17 17 4 7 Cleveland Cavaliers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Daniel Gibson 30 3-5 1-3 0-0 7 0-1 4 3 2 0 0 Sasha Pavlovic 34 4-11 1-5 2-2 11 0-3 3 2 5 2 0 Drew Gooden 29 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 1-6 1 1 1 1 0 LeBron James 40 17-27 1-4 4-8 39 0-3 5 2 2 0 0 Zydrunas Ilgauskas 19 0-3 0-0 0-2 0 1-3 1 2 3 1 0 Anderson Varejao 28 4-6 0-0 0-0 8 4-12 0 1 3 2 1 Eric Snow 21 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 3 1 1 2 0 Donyell Marshall 20 7-13 0-3 0-0 14 2-6 1 0 1 1 2 David Wesley 12 1-4 1-2 1-2 4 0-1 1 1 1 0 0 Shannon Brown 7 2-4 1-1 0-0 5 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-82 5-18 7-14 92 9-38 19 14 19 9 3 -- Orlando at Dallas (March 3) Dallas jumped out to an early 13-4 lead with 7:40 remaining as Orlando opened the game shooting 1-5 FG. Orlando then scored the next 6 points to pull within 10-13 with 5:45 to go. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter with Dallas holding on to a single-digit lead. Dallas led 24-19 after 1. Dallas had an assist on each of their 8 made shots (while Orlando had just 1 assist on their 8 made shots). Dallas led 28-21 with 10 minutes left and Dwight Howard then scored the next 6 points to pull Orlando within 27-28 with 6:40 to go. Dallas scored the next 4 points, but was unable to build a lead larger than 5 points. Orlando scored 6 straight points to take a 40-38 lead with 35 seconds to go. A layup by Hedo Turkoglu with 1 second remaining gave Orlando a 42-40 lead at the half. Orlando out-scored Dallas 23-16 in the 2nd quarter. Both teams shot 44% FG in the half. Darko Milicic opened the 3rd quarter with a hook shot, but Devin Harris hit 2 free throws and Jason Terry nailed a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 45-47 lead with 10:15 left. The game stayed really tight in the 3rd quarter as there were 6 ties and 15 lead changes and the largest lead in the quarter was just 4 points. Consecutive 3-pointers by Terry gave Dallas a 73-69 lead with 1:30 to go. Dallas led 75-72 after 3. Terry went nuts in the quarter and scored 18 points including 6-7 FG and 5-6 3-pointers. Both teams shot well in the 3rd quarter as Dallas shot 12-20 FG and Orlando shot 12-18 FG. Orlando opened the 4th quarter by scoring the first 9 points to take a 81-75 lead with 9:30 remaining - but 6 points would be the largest lead of the quarter as the game again stayed close. Orlando led 86-83 with 6:25 left and Dirk Nowitzki hit consecutive 3-pointers to give Dallas an 89-86 lead with 4:45 to go. 4 straight free throws by Orlando tied the game at 96-96 with 2 minutes left. Terry hit a jumper with 1:45 left. Terry stole the ball and Josh Howard got a layup on the break and was fouled. He hit the extra free throw to give Dallas a 101-96 lead with 1:30 remaining. DHoward was fouled and hit 2 free throws with 1:15 left to make it a 3 point game. Nowitzki missed a 3-point attempt late in the shot clock. Milicic lost the ball inside (also late in the shot clock) and Dallas had the ball with 28 seconds left. Dallas ran the clock down and Nowitzki hit a jumper with 8 seconds left. After a timeout, Turkoglu missed a 3-point attempt and that was game. Dallas won 103-98. It was as tight game throughout as the largest lead was just 9 points (and just 6 points in the 2nd half). There were 10 ties and 19 lead changes in the game. Both teams made the same number of shots and free throws. The difference in the game? 3-pointers made - Dallas made 9 and Orlando made 4. Dallas shot 53.5% (38-71) FG including 9-21 3-pointers and Orlando shot 51.4% (38-74) FG including 4-10 3-pointers. Dallas shot 18-24 FT and Orlando shot 18-25 FT. Orlando did have a slight edge in rebounds in out-rebounding Dallas 33-32 including 10-7 offensive. But Dallas did a better job of sharing the ball with a season high 32 assists while Orlando had just 14 assists. In case you didn't notice, that means Dallas had an assist on all but 6 of their shots. Both teams were fairly clean with the ball as Dallas had 9 turnovers and Orlando had 12 turnovers - but 2 of them came with less than 2 minutes left in the game. Veteran experience and composure played a big role late in the 4th quarter. The win was a team record 15 straight for Dallas (besting the 14 straight to open the 02-03 season). Jason Terry had an outstanding game for the Mavs. Not only did he have 29 points (including 11-17 FG and 6-11 3-pointers), but he also had 15 assists. Dirk Nowitzki again flirted with a triple-double with 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists. 11 of his points came in the 4th quarter. Nowitzki did miss his first free throw attempt, which ended his consecutive free throws made streak at 42 straight. Josh Howard had 21 points and 3 rebounds. 9 of his points came in the 4th quarter. Devin Harris chipped in 10 points off the bench before fouling out with 4 minutes left in the game. Erick Dampier had 8 points on 4-5 FG and 5 rebounds. DeSagana Diop didn't attempt a shot and had 2 rebounds in 14 minutes. Greg Buckner again started, but missed 3 shots and had 4 rebounds in 13 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse only shot 1-8 FG for 3 points (1-4 3-pointers), but also had 5 assists. Austin Croshere had 8 points on a perfect 3-3 FG and 2-2 FT and 6 rebounds in 13 minutes. After having a poor outing the game before, it was no surprise that Dwight Howard had a solid outing this night. He had 25 points on 9-14 FG and 7-11 FT, 10 rebounds including 4 offensive, 4 assists, and 4 blocks. Hedo Turkoglu also had a good outing with 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Jameer Nelson had 17 points including 5-7 FG and 2-2 3-pointers, but also had no assists and 5 turnovers in 30 minutes. Trevor Ariza had 11 points and Carlos Arroyo had 10 points off of the bench. Orlando lost despite having 5 players in double-digit scoring. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Tonight, boy, it was a battle tonight with Orlando. I told Coach Hill that they had a terrific young team before the game. We were just fortunate enough to win this game. We had a lot of key contributors tonight. I have to start with Jason Terry. He really played well on both ends of the floor. He got a big steal for us there, he scored and passed the ball really well tonight. Overall, we had a good finish to this game compared to the last game. They scored a little bit in the 2nd half, but we scored also. Josh Howard carried us there for a minute. Dirk carried us. Stackhouse was making really good passes for us and JET was coming up big. Devin Harris had one of his better games, even though he fouled out. It was just a good team effort. Dampier was in there muscling as much as he could with Howard, but he is just a tough young man to cover. I am really proud of our team for our finish tonight. I was really disappointed with our finish last game. We changed up defenses a little bit. We went to the zone for a minute, they scored on the zone a little bit. We got some stops in the zone, changed our defenses, pick-and-roll defense. We thought that helped us. We had a good finish and it was just a tough game tonight." Johnson: "This was one of the few nights where we lost the rebound game by 1. But there aren't going to be many rebounds when both teams shoot over 50%. We were aggressive. We had hard fouls. Stackhouse had a hard foul on Howard. We didn't get that the other night. That is why Stackhouse is so important to us even on a night when he goes only 1-8 when he gets 5 assists it keeps his record up. When he has a 4 or 5 assist week, we are a pretty good basketball team." Johnson: "Howard is a handful, Dwight Howard. We had a couple of mix ups in our rotations. Again, they shot 51% on us. We had a couple of mix ups on rotations, couple of mix ups on some pick-and-roll situations. Now we just have to go look at it and just keep trying to get better. We threw the zone out there for a minute. We had a couple of stops with the zone, then they scored on it. We have a chance to continue to evaluate and that is all we are doing. That is what I reminded our team in the 4th quarter forget about trying to win, let's work on our game and all of the things that we are trying to work on. If you just work on our game and stay in the moment every possession, then you'll have a chance to win." Johnson on Nowitzki: "He had close to another triple-double. We are getting a steady diet of 7 and 8 assists now. As he's getting doubled-teams a lot - that's what great players do, get double-teamed - now he's making his teammates better. I can't think of another time when we've had 32 assists as a team. That is pretty good for us." Josh Howard: "They came to play. We struggled but we stepped up big in the 4th. JET carried us hitting the first of those big shots and Dirk finished it off for us." Howard on 32 assists: "Sharing the ball helps us win games - guys knocking down shots, and nobody ever seems selfish." Howard on rebounding: "It was tough. Darko [Milicic] and big Dwight [Howard] were down there, so you knew they were going to be carrying the bulk of the load for them rebounding, but we kept fighting." Howard on the winning streak meaning something: "Well, it does now that we finally got it. It's a cool feeling, but we've got to stop talking about it and keep it going on. One game at a time." Jerry Stackhouse: "Yeah, it was a great game. I think a lot of times when we don't really blow teams away, we come in here and talk about what we didn't do. But I think we have to give the Orlando Magic credit tonight. They did a great job of moving the ball and penetrating and doing all the things that we like to do. Guys made shots for them tonight. Dwight Howard played great and Turkoglu made shots. It was just a good win for us. I thought we just kept grinding it out and made plays and got stops when we needed it." Stackhouse on assists: "It's huge, because we've got to find a way to get guys open looks, especially when guys have it going like JET had it going tonight. He had a great game for us. Dirk came alive for us there in the 2nd half. Josh struggled a little offensively tonight, but we have just got to find ways. And I think that's what we continue to do. Try to bring energy on the defensive end and try to move the ball and create easy opportunities and I think we did a good job of that all around tonight." Brian Hill: "We had 2 offensive possessions out of our last 4 where we had a turnover and I, thought Darko got fouled down inside there, 2 turnovers really, and he ended up losing the ball which hurt us. You've got to get stops too. Guys made shots. Even though we played good defense they made shots." Hill on Terry: "He had a big game. He shot the ball well from the perimeter and did a good job of running their team. If he's not out there tonight, they don't win the game. That's a big 29 points from that position that they normally don't get." Dwight Howard: "We just wanted to come out tonight and try to play the best defense we can on Dirk. Sometimes we forget about the other great players they have in Stackhouse, Howard, and Terry." Howard on points in the paint: "We just tried to pound the ball inside and get some buckets in the paint. Then also kick it outside and get open shots, and I think we did a great job of that." Howard: "I really thought we should have won the game tonight. We made a couple of turnovers down the stretch that we really needed, but other than that we had a great chance of winning this game tonight. We came up short." Jameer Nelson: "It's a tough place to play, but we had them. We lead for a nice part of the 2nd half, but they turned it up a little bit." Nelson on Terry: "He did a great job. We were doubling Dirk mostly throughout the course of the game and he did what he was supposed to do and make open shots. We tried to rotate to him [Dirk]. You've got to live with that, especially with a guy like Dirk, you've got to get the ball out of his hand. Jason Terry is an excellent player. Any given night he can have 30, 40 points - he's done it before in his career. We know that, but somebody has to shoot the ball for them. We've got to make somebody shoot." Dallas Mavericks 103, Orlando Magic 98 at Dallas (March 3) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 24 16 35 28 - 103 .580 .429 .535 .750 Orlando 19 23 30 26 - 98 .531 .400 .514 .720 Halftime: Orlando 42-40 3rd Q: Dallas 75-72 Technicals: Dwight Howard 0:28 3rd, DeSagana Diop 0:28 3rd Refs: Scott Foster, Leroy Richardson, Courtney Kirkland Attendance: 20,468 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Devean George, DJ Mbenga Orlando - Grant Hill, Tony Battie, James Augustine Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 41 11-17 6-11 1-3 29 0-1 15 2 2 2 0 Greg Buckner 13 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-4 1 0 1 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 37 10-18 2-3 2-3 24 1-9 7 1 1 1 2 Josh Howard 42 7-14 0-3 7-9 21 1-3 2 2 1 2 1 Erick Dampier 32 4-5 0-0 0-1 8 2-5 0 0 4 0 1 Jerry Stackhouse 27 1-8 1-4 0-0 3 0-0 5 2 1 0 0 Devin Harris 21 2-3 0-0 6-6 10 1-2 2 1 6 1 0 DeSagana Diop 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 3 1 0 Austin Croshere 13 3-3 0-0 2-2 8 1-6 0 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 38-71 9-21 18-24 103 7-32 32 9 22 7 4 Orlando Magic REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jameer Nelson 30 5-7 2-2 5-5 17 0-1 0 5 3 1 0 Keith Bogans 29 2-4 1-3 2-2 7 0-4 3 0 3 0 0 Darko Milicic 38 3-11 0-0 1-2 7 4-8 0 1 3 1 0 Hedo Turkoglu 40 8-14 1-4 2-2 19 1-7 5 2 5 0 0 Dwight Howard 41 9-14 0-0 7-11 25 4-10 4 1 3 0 4 Trevor Ariza 22 5-8 0-0 1-3 11 1-1 1 1 1 1 0 Keyon Dooling 14 0-7 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Carlos Arroyo 18 5-7 0-0 0-0 10 0-1 0 0 2 1 0 J.J. Redick 5 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Pat Garrity 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-74 4-10 18-25 98 10-33 14 12 22 4 4 -- New Jersey at Dallas (March 6) The game stayed close early on. A 3-pointer by Jason Terry gave Dallas a 15-10 lead with 5:40 remaining. Dallas went on a 10-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Devean George (fresh back from injury), to go up 25-14 with 1:50 left. Dallas did not score again in the quarter and Vince Carter scored the last 4 points of the quarter. Dallas led 25-18 after 1. Dallas shot 55% FG and New Jersey shot 39% FG (but Dallas shot 0-1 FT and New Jersey shot 4-7 FT). New Jersey opened the 2nd quarter by scoring the first 10 points, capped by a 3-pointer by Clifford Robinson, to go up 28-25 with 8:35 to go. Dallas finally woke up as a layup by Greg Buckner gave Dallas their first points of the quarter 3:45 into the quarter and also kicked off 11 straight Dallas points to give the Mavs a 39-28 lead with 4:30 left. A layup by Vince Carter ended New Jersey's 4 minute scoring drought. 2 New Jersey 3-pointers surrounded a jumper by Dirk Nowitzki and pulled the Nets within 39-45 with 1:15 remaining. Dallas led 47-41 at the half. Terry opened the 3rd quarter with a layup, but New Jersey then went on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 51-51 with 8:30 to go. Terry hit a 3-pointer and Josh Howard had a layup to give Dallas a 5 point lead, but New Jersey then score the next 6 points to go up 57-56 with 6:25 left. A 3-point play by Mikki Moore and layup by Carter gave New Jersey a 64-60 lead with 3:30 remaining. Dallas then went on a 10-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Greg Buckner, to take a 70-66 lead with 1:05 left. Dallas led 72-68 after 3. Terry had 10 points and Carter had 12 points in the 3rd quarter. It got ugly to open the 4th quarter as the teams lost their shooting touch. The Nets missed their first 9 shots of the quarter as Dallas went on a 8-2 run to go up 80-70 with 7:45 left (Dallas shot 2-6 FG during the run). A layup by Jason Kidd gave the Nets their first field goal of the quarter with 7:15 to go. Eddie House hit a 3-pointer, but Terry also hit a 3-pointer and a layup by Josh Howard gave Dallas an 85-75 lead with 5:10 remaining. New Jersey then went on a 9-3 run, capped by a dunk by Moore, to pull within 84-88 with 2:35 to go. Nowitzki then hit a jumper and converted a 3-point play to give Dallas a 93-84 lead with 1:40 left. Carter hit 2 free throws, but Erick Dampier got a putback on Dallas' 3rd attempt and the Nets would get no closer than 8 points the rest of the way. Dallas did have to put up a shot on their final possession and Devin Harris hit a 3-pointer with 8 seconds left for the final points of the game. Dallas won 102-89. Again it wasn't an easy win. Dallas played a little better than the Nets in the 4th quarter, where they out-scored New Jersey 30-21. For the game, Dallas shot 48.8% (40-82) FG including 7-17 3-pointers and New Jersey shot 43.4% (33-76) FG including 5-18 3-pointers. Dallas shot 15-16 FT (with 4 of those attempts coming off intentional fouls at the end) and New Jersey shot 18-24 FT [keeping my mouth shut about the poor officiating]. Dallas out-rebounded New Jersey 42-38 and both teams had 10 offensive rebounds. Dallas had 18 assists and 13 turnovers and New Jersey had 20 assists and 12 turnovers. New Jersey is now 0-6 at the AAC. It was Dallas' 16th straight win and 23rd straight home win (obviously both team records). It was a balanced attack for Dallas as the Mavs had 6 players in double-digits scoring. Jason Terry was the high man with 24 points including 9-15 FG, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. He also had the funny moment of the night when, after he dove into the crowd, he gave the older woman (a regular) who he hit a kiss on the cheek. Dirk Nowitzki had a nice outing with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists - he did have 4 turnovers, though. Greg Buckner again started and had 10 points and 5 fouls as part of his job was trying to defend Vince Carter. Erick Dampier had a solid outing with a double-double. Damp had 12 points including 5-7 FG, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Josh Howard was fairly quiet with 10 points including 4-10 FG and 3 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse had 10 points including 4-11 FG and 4 assists. Jason Terry had 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. DeSagana Diop missed his only shot attempt and had 3 rebounds and 2 blocks, but also had 3 turnovers in 13 minutes. Devean George's minutes were seriously limited as he returned from missing 3 weeks with a sprained right MCL. He played 9 minutes and hit a 3-pointer and had 2 rebounds. Austin Croshere missed his only shot attempt in 6 minutes. No surprise that Vince Carter made his presence felt after he had a poor outing his previous game (including 4-20 FG). But his shot wasn't good this night (though not as poor) and the Mavs would easily take a 10-25 FG night from Carter. He did have 32 points (12-13 FT), 6 rebounds, and 8 assists. Jason Kidd also struggled with his shot in shooting 4-11 FG. He had 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. Mikki Moore had a solid night with 20 points including 9-12 FG. He only had 1 rebound, but did have 3 blocks. No other Net was in double-digits. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Tonight was pretty much a steady performance for us. We had our moments where we weren't very good, but we really did some good things tonight. If I had a game ball to give out tonight, I would give it to Eric Dampier. He was really active from start to finish, he was a presence inside and that's what we know he can do on a night in and night out basis. Stackhouse gave us a lift there in the stretch and he got 4 more assists. We usually win when he gets 4 or more assists. Dirk picked us up in the 4th as Josh got into some foul trouble. And JET gave us another steady performance. We anticipated Carter to have a big night on us tonight, he ended up with 32. But 10-25 shooting, we'll take that. Mikki Moore hurt us a little bit. We were hopeful that they wouldn't have that many guys in double-figures tonight. We knew 1 or 2 other guys may be in double-figures. Jason Kidd is so good - he always has triple-doubles and he almost had another one tonight. We just anticipated Carter, after a 4-20 shooting night, that he would come out and really be aggressive, which he did. But we were able to get some stops down here mainly because of the way Dampier was helping out and defending the paint for us." Johnson: "We were steady. Like I said, we had our moments but we didn't have as much of a rollercoaster night as we have had in the past. We came out and tried to implement some of the things that we worked on in practice. None of them worked early in the game, by the way. We got better at some of our double-teams on Carter and tried to give him some different looks." Johnson on Dampier: "He had a good day off on Sunday and I think he just looked ready and fresh. He was really active running the court. We put in some things that we thought could help him yesterday at practice. We tried to throw him the ball a little more tonight. He was just really active on both ends - he was talking and communicating. Hopefully we can get that Sunday, Monday as we move on." Jason Terry: "We didn't want to go into 4 days [without a game] with Avery with a loss." Terry on kissing the woman he ran in to: "I saw that she was dazed. I wanted to give her a kiss to wake her up. A little kiss never hurts anyone." Erick Dampier: "We just went out and got rebounds. When we rebound the ball really well, get out and run and knock down the open shot, we're pretty good." Dampier on his game: "I just try to take advantage of every opportunity. I know that 80% of the time the ball is going to run through Dirk, and whenever I get an opportunity I have to make the most of it, whether it's in transition or in the post. I just try to get myself in the rhythm of the game and try to get some easy baskets." Dampier on his teammates looking for him: "I think it is a work in progress. Guys are looking for me more in the post, and it's my job when I get the ball to try to finish or get fouled and knock down my foul shots." Dampier on 4 days off: "We're going to go out and practice hard and try to stay in rhythm. We've got a tough game coming this weekend in LA and we'll be on a back-to-back so we'll have to come out and play hard and give a consistent effort." Devean George: "Felt pretty good to be out there. Some restrictions [on his minutes], but it will get better. I'll be much better by Sunday." Greg Buckner on his knee: "Actually, it's not feeling too good right now. It's a situation where I had a few wide open shots and could of made a couple of layups that I did miss, but guys were finding me and I just made a few shots tonight." Buckner on 23 straight home wins: "It feels good, and I think we have the best fans in the NBA. We want to come out every night and give them a good show. We want them to know that we're here for the long run and we're going to perform and play hard for them nightly." Buckner: "For some reason we take the first 5 or 6 minutes off in the 1st and 3rd quarters and in the 2nd and 4th quarter we're great. We got to try to find a way to play a complete 48 minutes. And for some reason in the 4th quarter we play our best, and that's a good thing." Lawrence Frank: "One of the reasons Dallas is so good is their bench. One guy gets into foul trouble and they bring in a guy just as good." Vince Carter: "I wanted to be aggressive. But I missed a lot of shots. For me, that's not acceptable." Jason Kidd: "If we get that kind of effort every night, we've got a good chance. We gave ourselves a chance to win against a very good team." Dallas Mavericks 102, New Jersey Nets 89 at Dallas (March 6) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 25 22 25 30 - 102 .508 .412 .488 .938 New Jersey 18 23 27 21 - 89 .483 .278 .434 .750 Halftime: Dallas 47-41 3rd Q: Dallas 72-68 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 8:43 1st, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 2:56 2nd, Jason Kidd 4:00 4th Refs: Mike Callahan, Bill Kennedy, Tony Brown Attendance: 20,360 (sellout) IL: Dallas - DJ Mbenga, Maurice Ager New Jersey - Richard Jefferson, Mile Ilic, Nenad Krstic Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 35 9-15 3-6 3-3 24 0-3 3 1 3 1 0 Greg Buckner 28 4-7 2-2 0-0 10 0-2 1 1 5 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 40 8-17 0-1 6-6 22 3-11 5 4 2 0 2 Josh Howard 25 4-10 0-2 2-2 10 0-3 1 0 4 0 0 Erick Dampier 33 5-7 0-0 2-3 12 4-14 1 1 3 0 2 Jerry Stackhouse 29 4-11 0-2 2-2 10 1-1 4 2 2 1 0 Devin Harris 23 5-9 1-2 0-0 11 1-3 3 0 1 2 0 DeSagana Diop 13 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 0 3 2 0 2 Devean George 9 1-4 1-2 0-0 3 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 Austin Croshere 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-82 7-17 15-16 102 10-42 18 13 22 5 6 New Jersey Nets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Kidd 41 4-11 2-4 1-1 11 4-8 8 3 2 0 0 Vince Carter 43 10-25 0-2 12-13 32 0-6 8 0 2 1 0 Mikki Moore 35 9-12 0-0 2-3 20 0-1 2 2 5 1 3 Hassan Adams 20 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-4 1 1 0 2 0 Jason Collins 21 2-2 0-0 0-2 4 1-3 0 1 3 1 0 Bostjan Nachbar 27 1-6 0-4 3-5 5 1-4 0 1 2 0 1 Clifford Robinson 23 1-4 1-2 0-0 3 2-6 0 0 3 0 2 Eddie House 16 3-7 2-5 0-0 8 0-2 0 1 1 0 0 Marcus Williams 8 1-5 0-1 0-0 2 0-1 1 2 2 0 0 Josh Boone 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2-3 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-76 5-18 18-24 89 10-38 20 12 20 5 6 patricia (you don't want to know how long that took)