We have an All-Start starter for the first time in franchise history!
Jason Kidd was voted as a starting guard in the Western Conference by the
fans.  Clyde Drexler (Hou) was 1st in guard voting in the Western
Conference with 1,070,040 votes, Kidd was 2nd with 1,049,946 votes.  John
Stockton (Uta) finished 3rd with 823,826 votes and will be selected as a
reserve by the coaches.  Kidd joins Mark Aguirre ('84, '87, '88), Rolando
Blackman ('85, '86, '87, '90), and James Donaldson ('88) as the only
All-Star participants in franchise history.  The All-Star game will take
place February 11 in San Antonio.

And George McCloud was invited to participated in the 3-point Shootout to
take place on Saturday, February 10 in San Antonio.  Dale Ellis ('86),
Detlef Schrempf ('87, '88), and Derek Harper ('89) are the other Mavs that
have participated in the contest.  

Injury report:
Jamal Mashburn (sore left knee) has started running.  He has been cleared 
to run on a daily basis, but not on the court.  There is no time table set 
for his return and it probably won't be for a while.  Mash has missed 21
games.  Mashburn on the knee: "It's still weak, it's not where it was
before.  It's going to take some time.  But it looks better than it did a
week ago, that's what's important."
Lucious Harris (fractured left wrist) had his hard cast replaced with a
soft cast a couple of days ago.  He practiced on Friday and could return
in a little over a week.
Lorenzo Williams (fractured right eye socket) hopes to return to workouts
with the team in 3 weeks.  He is wearing a bandage over his eye, but says
that he no longer has to wear it all the time.
Popeye Jones has been bothered by tendinitis in his knees and might opt to
sit out a week to rest them.  He did not participate in Friday's practice.
Pop: "It's hard for me to sit out, but I want to be healthy.  [Thursday
against Detroit] it was bothering me that some of the rebounds, I couldn't
get to them, especially offensively."
And here is a vote for reinstalling the dress code for injured players.
Mashburn's extremely baggy jeans and sweater on Thursday did not seem
appropriate.  (Not to just pick on Mashburn as Harris and players on the
other teams have also dressed too casual.)

The Mavs signed Reggie Slater to a 2nd 10-day contract Friday, January 19.
I don't expect that he will be signed for the remaineder of the season - 
but if Popeye's tendinitis continues, they might keep him.

The Jackson trade rumors still continue.  Again, don't take any heed to
them.  Owner Donald Carter said three weeks ago that they aren't going to 
trade Jackson and he said it again a couple of days ago (sorry, I can't 
find the quote in all the newspapers I have laying around).  The local 
radio stations have just picked up on the Washington rumor that I heard 
3 weeks ago on the net (JJ for Cheaney and Wallace).  Jackson's numbers
for the past 16 games: 37.9 minutes, 48.5% FG, 81.8% FT, 5.4 rebounds, 3.3
assists, and 23.9 points.

George McCloud has been playing excellent this season and is making a
strong showing for the Most Improved Player award.  Last season he
averaged 19.1 minutes, 38.2% 3-point FG, 3.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and
9.6 points in 42 games with only 3 starts.  This season he has averaged
32.3 minutes, 41.2% 3-point FG, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 16.8 points
for the 39 games.  In the 21 games he has started, he has averaged 40.1
minutes, 43.4% 3-point FG, 5.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and 21.0
points.  His hustle on the court (sneaking around and getting great steals,
grabbing rebounds, and going all out after loose balls) along with his 
3-point shooting has been the most impressive.

Game notes:
Hey, we swept Boston for the first time in franchise history!  Of course,
it helped that we won in Boston (good riddance to the Gahden in which we 
never won) for the first time in franchise history.  The road win in 
Boston on January 7 of 117-96 and the home win on January 19 of 129-124 
resulted in the sweep.

For the January 12 game in Phoenix, the Mavs came back from a 13 point
deficit early in the 4th and an 8 point deficit midway through the 4th 
to tie the game and send it into overtime when Kidd got the rebound after
two Mavs' misses inside and made the short fall away with 2.2 seconds
left.  Green's 3-pointer [just] missed at the buzzer.  The Mavs controlled
the overtime and the Mavs won 140-130.  It was one of Kidd's best games of
the season.  He had 33 points on 9-14 FG and 14-14 FT, 12 rebounds, and 16
assists.  Tony Dumas also set a franchise record for points off the bench
with 39 points including 15-19 FG and 6-9 3-pointers.  The Mavs have 
played in 7 overtime games so far this season, the most of any team.

The Orlando game in Dallas on January 15 was one of the worst officiate
games I've seen this season (and that includes games with the scab
officials).  Loren Meyer was called for 3 fouls in the first 46 seconds of
the game - and he got a T for complaining about it as he was leaving the
court.  Motta got his own T 14 seconds later.  Orlando got hit with 4
technicals without a second going off the clock (illegal D, Hill, O'Neal,
and Shaw).  Anfernee Hardaway was fouled shooting a 3.  The refs only gave
him two free throws.  Their mistake was pointed out to them and at the
next dead ball, Hardaway got to go back and shoot the 3rd one.  There were
many other lousy calls and non-calls in the game.  Despite the
officiating, the Mavs played a pretty solid game (except for the 1 minute 
lapse at the end of the 1st quarter that resulted in a 8 point Orlando lead
instead of a 2 point Orlando lead).  The Mavs were up by 7 at the half, 
10 after 3, and maintained a double digit lead through the last 10 minutes
of the game.  The Mavs won 119-104.  Terry Davis played great D on O'Neal,
although O'Neal's 33 points on 14-18 FG and 5-12 FT is still impressive.
Terry actually scored 15 points himself and had 8 rebounds.

Jason Kidd earned another triple-double in the 111-109 win in Sacramento 
on January 23.  Kidd finished with 29 points including 12-16 FT, 10
rebounds, and 10 assists for his league leading (along with Grant Hill)
4th triple of the season.  Motta almost gave the game away as he pulled
the starters with 3 1/2 minutes left and the Mavs only up by 9.  The 
Kings used the Mavs game of coming back at the end by hitting your shots 
and fouling the opponent.  Motta re-inserted the starters with 1 1/2 
minutes left and the Mavs only up by 4.  Jackson missed two free throws 
and Mitch Richmond made 2 free throws to tie the game with 40 seconds 
left.  Kidd made two free throws with 29.1 seconds for the game's final 
points.

The Detroit game on January 25 was another lousy officiate game.  Dick
Motta got a quick two Ts just 3 minutes into the game.  Loren Meyer got
called for a phantom travel after faking Otis Thorpe into the air and
Thorpe landing on his back.  The Mavs threw up an airball as the clock was
running down and there was a mad scramble for the loose ball and a
jumpball between Jackson and Lindsey Hunter was called.  No 24 second 
violation was called and the shot clock was reset for the jumpball.  To 
make up for it, the ref made a bad toss for the jump and didn't call the 
foul Allan Houston committed to get the ball.  There was no consistency in 
this game.  What would not be a foul one time would be the next.  But the 
Mavs do deserve credit for blowing this game and Detroit deserves credit 
for taking advantage of the Mavs' lapse despite Grant Hill fouling out 
midway through the 4th.  The Pistons got back into the game with a 13-1 
run in the 4th.  The Mavs were up by 1 with 29 seconds left and called 
timeout.  I called it during the timeout - run the clock down and end up 
with a lousy shot.  They met my expectations.  That was when the 24 second 
violation should have been called.  The Pistons had the ball with 6.8 
seconds left.  Allan Houston turned baseline and blew past George McCloud 
and made a tough double-clutch 5-footer over Meyer with 2.9 seconds left.  
Tony Dumas' 3-pointer missed at the buzzer.  93-92 Detroit.  Despite the 
loss, Loren Meyer played a great game.  He finished with 13 points 
including 5-5 FG and 2 power two-hand slams and 8 rebounds.

The start time for the game at Portland on March 17 has been changed from
3:00 to 7:00 due to a scheduling conflict with Portland's minor league
hockey team.

Quote:
Reggie Slater talking to the usher as he was exiting the tunnel about to 
be surrounded by autograph seekers, most of whom have no idea who he is: 
"As long as they don't call me Terry or George."  [Slater, Terry Davis, 
and George McCloud all have their heads shaved.]


patricia