Indiana at Dallas (November 25) Josh Howard remained out and Gerald Green (though he was available if need) did not play due to a sore back. After not playing in the previous 3 games (coach's decision), Antoine Wright started at 2-guard. The game stayed close over the first 6 minutes of the game as neither team led by more than 3 points. A 3-point play by Erick Dampier and a layup by Wright gave Dallas a 20-15 lead with 4:40 to go, but Indiana scored the next 7 points to take a 1 point lead. The game was tied 26-26 after 1. The teams continued to trade small leads over the first 4 minutes of the 2nd quarter. Indiana scored 7 straight points, capped by 5 straight by Troy Murphy, to take a 40-33 lead with 7:10 remaining. The Pacers would hold a single-digit lead over the rest of the quarter, but none larger than 7 points. Murphy hit a jumper and was fouled as the quarter ended (after review, .5 seconds was put back on the clock) and hit the extra free throw to give Indiana a 56-49 lead at the half. Murphy opened the 3rd quarter with a 8-2 run (2 3-pointers and a layup) to give Indiana their largest lead at 64-51 with 9:50 left - but 13 points would be the largest lead of the game. Indiana led 75-64 with 4:55 to go, but Dallas then scored the next 7 points to pull within 71-75 with 3:25 left, but Indiana then scored the next 6 points. Jason Terry stole the ball and had a breakaway dunk with about 5 seconds left in the quarter. Indiana led 83-77 after 3. Dallas opened the 4th quarter with an 8-2 run to tie the game at 85-85 with 7 minutes remaining, but Indiana scored the next 6 points as Dallas missed 5 straight shots. A 3-point play by T.J. Ford gave Indiana a 97-90 lead with 3:40 to go (and Danny Granger strangely was subbed out prior to the free throw being shot (and he only had 4 fouls, so it wasn't foul trouble)). Then Terry shot a 3-pointer from the corner and the ball bounced off the rim straight up about 10-feet and came down through the hoop and Jason Kidd stole the ball and Terry was fouled and hit 1-2 FT to pull Dallas within 94-97 with 3:05 left (and Ford was strangely subbed out during the free throws (it was his turnover, but still)). Rookie Brandon Rush hit a jumper on Indiana's next possession, but Kidd hit a 3-pointer late in the shot clock, (Granger came back in to the game), Rush missed a jumper, and Dallas pushed the ball and Terry hit the quick jumper to tie the game at 99-99 with 2 minutes to go. Granger missed and Kidd nailed another 3-pointer to give Dallas their first lead since a minute into the 2nd quarter. Granger was called for a charge and Terry hit a jumper to give Dallas a 104-99 lead with 55 seconds remaining. Granger was fouled and hit both free throws, but Terry answered with a bucket inside with 33 seconds left. Granger got a layup with 21 seconds left and Nowitzki was intentionally fouled and hit 1-2 FT to give Dallas a 107-103 lead. After a timeout, Granger missed a 3-point attempt and Dallas was able to play keep-away for several seconds before Terry was fouled with 5 seconds left (he hit both free throws). Jarrett Jack hit a meaningless 3-pointer at the final buzzer. Dallas won 109-106. As much as I'd love to start with what a great comeback win this was, the thing that dominated my thinking after the game was, 'What in the world was Jim O'Brien thinking???' How in the world do you sub out 2 of your best players at the end of a tight game? Leading scorer Danny Granger was pulled with 3:40 left and Indiana leading by just 7 points. He was re-inserted with 2:20 left and Indiana's lead down to just 2 points. 3rd leading scorer and leading assist-man T.J. Ford was subbed out with 3:10 left (after he committed a turnover) and Indiana's lead at just 3 points - and he was NEVER reinserted! Unless O'Brien has orders from management to lose as many games as possible, his actions in this game was inexcusable and a firable offense. So, thanks to Jim O'Brien for the gift of making life a little easier for Dallas at the end of the game. That being said, Dallas did have to execute to achieve the comeback win and they also had some nice defensive plays. It was a game where Indiana was the better team most of the night, but Dallas hung around close enough and Indiana made enough mistakes (besides the bizarre substitutions) for Dallas to steal the win as Dallas out-scored Indiana 32-23 in the 4th quarter, including 19-9 over the last 3:30 of the game. As for the stats, Dallas shot 48.2% (41-85) FG including 5-19 3-pointers (just 2-13 through 3 quarters and 3-6 3-pointers in the 4th quarter). Indiana shot 46.7% (43-92) FG including 6-20 3-pointers. Dallas shot 22-28 FT and Indiana shot 14-17 FT. Indiana out-rebounded Dallas 48-43 including 15-11 offensive, breaking Dallas' streak of 10 consecutive games of out-rebounding their opponent. But Dallas did out-rebound Indiana 12-6 in the 4th quarter including 4-0 offensive. Dallas was fairly clean with just 10 turnovers, which Indiana converted into 11 points. Indiana had 14 turnovers, which Dallas converted into 21 points. It was the Jason show in the 4th quarter as Jason Terry scored 16 points and Jason Kidd had 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 3-pointers in the 4th. Terry finished with a game high 29 points including 12-20 FG, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. Kidd had 11 points including 3-4 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, 13 assists, and 3 steals. Antoine Wright had a very solid outing with a career high 24 points (would have been better without his 3-point attempts as he shot 0-5 3-pointers, but shot 10-13 2-pointers) - and he played 39 minutes after sitting out the previous 3 games. Wright did foul out with 50 seconds left in the game. Dirk Nowitzki had a double-double with 24 points including 11-13 FT and 12 rebounds. Erick Dampier had 9 points and 7 rebounds. Though he started, James Singleton played just 10 minutes and missed 2 shots and had 2 fouls for his only stats (he was reportedly playing with the flu). DeSagana Diop had 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 16 minutes. Brandon Bass had 6 points on 3-9 FG and 5 rebounds in 11 minutes. Shawne Williams missed 2 3-pointers and had 1 turnover in 7 minutes, Devean George missed his only shot and had 1 foul in 4 minutes, and J.J. Barea hit his only shot and had 1 rebound and 1 assist in 8 minutes. Barea had the bizarre moment of the night where the rebound went right at him and the ball hit his hand and his hand hit his head and Barea went down (he had the rebound and then collapsed and Indiana got the ball). The trainer guided him to the bench and Barea looked dazed and woozy and did not return to the game. As he has been for 6 of the last 7 Indiana games, Danny Granger was the high man for the Pacers with 22 points (although a poor 1-7 3-pointers, but 6-11 2-pointers). He also had 9 rebounds and fouled out with 5 seconds left in the game. Troy Murphy played well with 21 points and 14 rebounds. He scored 11 points straight Indiana points during a short stretch from the tail end of the 2nd quarter to a little over 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter. Marquis Daniels had his 4th career double-double (3rd of the season) with 14 points and 11 rebounds. T.J. Ford had 10 points including 4-10 FG, 3 rebounds, and 7 assists. Rookie Brandon Rush provided the punch off the bench with 18 points including 8-12 FG. Rasho Nesterovic had the stunning move of the night with a really pretty baseline move and reverse layup - showing athletic skills I didn't think he had left (or ever had). He finished with 8 points, 7 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 4 assists. Jarrett Jack (who played the last 3 minutes of the game instead of Ford) had 5 points including 2-7 FG, 4 assists, and 2 turnovers in 21 minutes. Jeff Foster had 8 points on a perfect 4-4 FG, 2 offensive rebounds, and 2 assists in 23 minutes. Rookie Roy Hibbert played 7 minutes before spraining his ankle early in the 2nd quarter. He had a bunch of ones - 1 missed field goal, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, and 1 foul. Quotes Rick Carlisle on the 4th quarter: "We were getting stops and rebounds, which was a big problem early in the game. You know, Kidd and Terry just made play after play. JET got to the basket, he hit jumpers, Kidd hit 2 huge 3s. Our veterans willed us to a win is what happened. You have to give the credit to them. Antoine Wright played tremendously well. As much as this looks like an eenie-meenie-miney-moe game with the 2-guard spot, there was some logic to it just from the standpoint of a defensive matchup coming into the game. We just had a lot of respect for Daniels and thought [Wright] would be the best guy to guard him. You know, Antoine had a great defense and offensive game. So, I am very happy for him and we just really needed to get this win somehow." Carlisle: "We were having a lot of difficulty early. We gave up 13 offensive rebounds in the 1st half, and I think we gave up 8 in the first 6 1/2 minutes, which is absolutely unheard of. I thought we had become a better rebounding team. But they were just long rebounds and they were just quicker to the ball. We got into a little bit of a frantic game in the 1st half, which was to their advantage. The 2nd half, we talked about getting the tempo reasonable for us and working the game back and just staying with it. And that is what our guys did. We were hoping to cut into the lead a little earlier than the last few minutes of the 4th, but whatever you can do to get a win in this situation whenever you are trying to get back to .500 is whatever you have to do." Carlisle on 3-pointers: "We were due to hit some. We hadn't had than many really quality looks from our better shooters. We had some with some of our guys that haven't shot it particularly well, but those are shots we want them to take. Coming into the season we had talked about wanting to be a better 3-point shooting team. Last year they weren't as good as they had been, and right now we are still working to get better 3-point shooting from top to bottom in terms of our perimeter guys. We know Dirk is going to shoot it well. JET, Kidd, those guys are all shooting it great. We need a couple more guys to bring us some consistency. The 3s that JET hit - the one that bounced and went up in the air and then went in, that was certainly a huge bounce for us at this point. And then it was similar to last game, Kidd had a couple in the pivotal stretch of the 4th and got the ball in the basket and we needed it." Carlisle on Wright: "About the only time he didn't finish was when it looked like he was tired. We couldn't have won this game without Antoine's overall effort at both ends. He really kept himself ready." Jason Kidd: "We kept fighting. We relied on our defense and got some stops." Jason Terry: "We had 2 tremendous days of practice in preparation for the Pacers. We knew they were a tough ball club. They gave us trouble in the preseason, but the 4th quarter came and I didn't have any energy. Antoine Wright's performance when called upon was great." Terry: "We just had to stay positive in the 4th quarter, even though we were down. We knew we were at home and had to ride the energy of our crowd. We stood our ground in the 4th and made the plays we needed to down the stretch." Terry on his 3-pointer that bounced in: "It was a brick, but it found its way into the basket. That's just the nature of the game. Earlier in the season, the ball wasn't going our way. Now we've had a stretch when they've gone our way, and that shot was the indicator." Terry on Wright: "Antoine started the first 3 games for us, then he went to the bench and didn't play the last couple of games, and now he starts tonight. He played almost 40 minutes for us. He was just tremendous and had a tremendous stats line. I've got to take my hat off to him tonight." Antoine Wright on his play: "Exhausting - coming from not playing at all to playing 40 minutes is tough, but coach has stuck with me and told me to just continue to work hard, coach said my chance would come and it came tonight." Wright: "We all have our roles on this team and our bench is going to be huge for us. Jason [Terry] played great tonight. Guys just have to come into the game ready and be focused and know what the game plan is for each game." Wright: "Some days other guys play more than others. Coach told us that at the beginning of the season that it would be like that. He said not to take it personal and just stay ready." Wright: "It feels good to be at .500, but now we've got the Lakers coming up. This win was big, but it's going to be short lived. It got us going in the right direction, but we've got to get ready for one of the best teams in the NBA." Jim O'Brien: "It was a hard fought game the whole way. I thought we played a really solid game and they just had more weapons down the stretch with Nowitzki and Terry. Kidd made big shots when they needed to, and we did not." O'Brien on Terry: "He's an awful good player. He's a prolific scorer, so is Nowitzki. They put the ball in anyone of the 3 guys that I just mentioned - Jason Kidd, Terry, and Nowitzki - and they are awfully good. They're all guys that play at a very high level. Kidd is a clutch player; he's been a clutch player his whole career. Terry is a prolific scorer and so is Nowitzki. They made shots when they needed to and we did not." O'Brien on if Dallas did anything different to get back in to the game: "No. They were making shots. They made 3 3s in a row after they made 2 the entire game - they were 2-16 on 3s. Terry's shot that hit and went straight up in the air and then went in the basket, that's the way the ball bounces sometimes." O'Brien on Indiana's play down the stretch: "We called some isolation plays for Danny and one time he charged. In that situation, you have to move the ball if an avenue is shut down for you. You have to see the next option." Danny Granger on if they were getting the shots they wanted in the 4th quarter: "We got a few. We scored a few - we got some good looks, some bad looks. But I think they had all good looks. They might of scored 4 or 5 times in a row down the stretch. Jason Kidd hit 2 3s and Terry hit about 2 or 3 [shots] in a row, and we can't win if we can't stop them." Granger: "It was the same old story. Usually we turn the ball over, this time we couldn't stop them. We couldn't get a hold on Jason Terry. He came down and scored time after time and we couldn't do too much about it." Granger on the team's struggles on finishing games: "It's very frustrating. It's a habit we're going to have to learn to break or we're going to be very disappointed this year. We just can't seem to close teams out. Can't tell you why - I don't know." Marquis Daniels: "That's the only good thing you can say right now: we've got another game tomorrow we've got to play. We've just got to come in and learn to finish out games" Daniels on the 4th quarter: "We just stopped doing the things we did to get the lead early in the game. It's a recurring event for us and it's something that we've got to get a hold of and get it together soon." Daniels on Terry: "He had a good game. He shot the ball well. He did a lot of good things out there." Jeff Foster: "For us to become a good basketball team and win consistently or win a decent amount of these games, we've got to finish down the stretch. I don't know what we were ahead going into the 3rd, but we've been down this road before and, for whatever reason, we didn't execute again and [Dallas] hit some big shots." Dallas Mavericks 109, Indiana Pacers 106 at Dallas (November 25) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 26 23 28 32 - 109 .545 .263 .482 .786 Indiana 26 30 27 23 - 106 .514 .300 .467 .824 Halftime: Indiana 56-49 3rd Q: Indiana 83-77 Technicals: Jim O'Brien (Ind) 6:52 1st Refs: Bob Delaney, Michael Smith, David Guthrie Attendance: 19,996 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Gerald Green (sore back), Travis Diener (Ind, sore left foot) IL: Dallas - Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse Indiana - Mike Dunleavy, Maceo Baston, Jamaal Tinsley Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK James Singleton 10 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 39 6-15 1-3 11-13 24 0-12 3 2 4 2 2 Erick Dampier 30 4-7 0-0 1-1 9 2-7 0 2 2 0 1 Antoine Wright 39 10-18 0-5 4-5 24 1-4 1 0 6 0 1 Jason Kidd 40 4-8 3-4 0-1 11 2-5 13 2 1 3 1 Brandon Bass 11 3-9 0-0 0-0 6 2-5 0 1 0 1 0 Shawne Williams 7 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Jason Terry 37 12-20 1-3 4-6 29 2-4 5 1 2 2 0 J.J. Barea 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 1 1 0 0 0 DeSagana Diop 16 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 1-5 0 0 1 1 2 Devean George 4 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 41-85 5-19 22-28 109 11-43 23 10 19 9 7 Indiana Pacers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Danny Granger 30 7-18 1-7 7-9 22 0-9 1 2 6 0 2 Troy Murphy 35 8-16 3-5 2-2 21 3-14 2 2 5 1 0 Rasho Nesterovic 31 3-8 0-0 2-2 8 5-7 4 1 2 0 1 Marquis Daniels 35 7-16 0-1 0-0 14 4-11 0 2 0 1 1 T.J. Ford 28 4-10 0-3 2-2 10 1-3 7 1 1 1 0 Jarrett Jack 21 2-7 1-2 0-0 5 0-0 4 2 2 0 0 Brandon Rush 30 8-12 1-2 1-2 18 0-2 1 1 2 1 0 Jeff Foster 23 4-4 0-0 0-0 8 2-2 2 1 4 1 0 Roy Hibbert 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 1 0 1 Totals 48 43-92 6-20 14-17 106 15-48 22 14 23 5 5 patricia