Dallas Mavericks at Milwaukee Bucks.

Chris Gatling did not play due to a mild sprained right knee.  (His is
probable for tonight's game.  Also Samaki Walker suffered a mild sprained 
of his ankle in practice yesterday and is questionable for tonight's game.)
Vin Baker did not play due to a bruised right hip.

It was a closely contested quarter as neither team could build a large
lead.  A 3-pointer by Jason Kidd put the Mavs up 11-6 with 8:36 left.
Milwaukee ran off the next 7 points to reduce the Mavs' lead to 13-11 with
7:41 left.  The game was tied 15-15 with 4:50 remaining.  Dallas was up
25-23 after 1.  both Kidd and Jamal Mashburn had 7 points.  Armon Gilliam
had 10 points.  Dallas shot 50% FG and Milwaukee shot 38% FG.  As usual,
turnovers were hurting the Mavs.

Again neither team could take control of the game and it was tied 32-32
with 7:15 left.  Samaki Walker saw significant time in the quarter and
looked good hustling and grabbing rebounds.  Milwaukee's rookie, Ray
Allen, was limited by foul trouble - Jim Jackson was eating him alive.
Allen's foul trouble meant that Johnny Newman got a lot of playing time -
this was bad news for Dallas.  Jackson hit a 3-pointer to put Dallas up
41-36 with 5 minutes left.  Milwaukee responded with an 8-0 run to go up
44-41 with 3 minutes left.  Kidd stole the ball, raced down the court, and
banked the running 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Mavs the lead 50-49 
at the half.  Kidd had 14 points, Mashburn had 11 points, and Jackson had 
9 points.  Newman had 13 points, Gilliam had 15 points, and Glenn Robinson
had 10 points.  Dallas shot 51% FG and 8-14 FT and Milwaukee shot 45% FG
and 10-12 FT.  11 Dallas turnovers led to 10 Milwaukee points while
Milwaukee only had 4 turnovers.

The teams traded points to start the quarter.  Milwaukee was up 56-55 with
8:14 left.  Dallas blew 3 fastbreaks during the first half of the quarter.
Milwaukee led 60-55 with 6:55 to go.  Dallas went on a 12-0 run as
Milwaukee was ice cold.  Dallas led 67-60 with 3:30 left.  Milwaukee
responded with a 7-0 run to tie the team with a minute left.  Dallas led
70-69 after 3.

The game remained close with neither team able to take over and substain
any leads.  The game was tied 76-76 with 8 minutes to go and 83-83 with
4:23 left.  Derek Harper drove for the layup to put Dallas ahead 88-87
with 3:15 left.  Milwaukee scored the next 5 points to go up 88-92 with
2:13 left.  Mashburn hit two free throws and Newman missed two free 
throws.  But George McCloud's, who rebounded the missed free throw, pass
hit the underside of the backboard and the ball landed in Newman's hands
for the easy layup to put Milwaukee up 94-90 with 1:40 left.  The teams
traded baskets.  Mashburn hit 2 more free throws to cut Milwaukee's lead
to 96-94 with 51 seconds left.  Gilliam missed with 29 seconds to go.
Cleamons called timeout and told the players to take it inside.  Kidd
brought the ball up and passed it to Mashburn who missed the 3-pointer.
Gilliam hit 2 free throws with 22.1 seconds left.  98-94 Milwaukee.  Kidd
made 1 of 2 free throws and David Wood missed 2 free throws.  Kidd drove 
for the quick layup with 12.5 seconds left and Elliot Perry hit both free
throws.  100-97 Milwaukee with 10.5 remaining.  Mashburn airballed the
3-pointer and Milwaukee ran out the last few seconds.  Milwaukee 100,
Dallas 97.

The Mavs committed 21 turnovers which led to 18 Milwaukee points.  Dallas
also missed 11 free throws in a 3 points game.  There were 19 ties and 19 
lead changes in the game.  Jason Kidd made his first appearance of the 
season and we were wondering where he was for the last 8 games.  Kidd 
played great and finished with 25 points (including 9-17 FG for those who
think he doesn't ever shoot well), 13 rebounds including 7 offensive, and
8 assists.  We are still waiting on the first good game from Mashburn.
Johnny Newman played great and had 27 points including 11-16 FG.


Quotes:
Chris Ford: "Hey, it wasn't pretty, but I haven't seen a win that wasn't 
good.  Johnny Newman played outstanding and Armon Gilliam was really on 
tonight."

Ford: "It was a good game to win after losing three straight.  We found a 
way to protect our home court."

Sherman Douglas: "It was very important anytime you're at home - you have 
to win in your building.

Johnny Newman: "I wanted to be aggressive and hit the jumpers.  I also
wanted to be active going to the basket.  I needed to step it up and get 
involved.  I had to have a good game."

Armon Gilliam: "I usually concentrate on rebounding.  But tonight, other 
things were more important - like scoring, which I work on just as much as 
rebounding.  I wanted to go out there tonight and use all my talent."

Jim Cleamons: "We're playing too hard to keep coming up empty-handed.
These are tough lessons, but it's the only way we seem to learn.  Until we 
do, we'll keep suffering these agonizing losses."

Cleamons: "We played well enough to win, but we didn't finish up some
layups, didn't finish some free throws.  It's tough lessons we have to
learn, but obviously it's the only way we can learn them.  But we have to
suffer some agonizing lessons along the way."

Cleamons: "21 turnovers cost us 18 points, and we also missed 11 free 
throws.  In a game like this, you can't afford to miss 11 free throws."

Cleamons: "They're playing hard enough.  Now, they have to play smart 
enough to take it to the next level."

Cleamons on Mashburn's 3-point attempt with 24 seconds left: "We wanted to 
get two points out of it but Jamal was wide open.  He could've caught the 
ball, dribbled to his left and gotten all the way to the cup.  It was a 
three when we needed two, and you don't get those possessions back."

Cleamons on McCloud's turnover under Milwaukee's basket: "We had timeouts 
left.  And, besides, I'd rather throw the ball out of bounds and give our 
defense a chance than that.  Then on the last one, we chase the ball, we 
don't get the proper spacing and wind up taking a worse shot than what we 
wanted.  That's what happens to us if things don't go exactly like we draw 
them up and we have to think on the fly."

Jamal Mashburn on his 3-point attempt with 24 seconds left: "It was an 
open shot, one I'd take again if I had it to do over.  If it goes in, 
we're not all in this bad mood."

Jason Kidd: "It's the little things.  We didn't execute down the stretch.
Don't blame Jamal, because he had good looks.  Those are shots he makes
all the time."

Dal-Mil boxscore