Scatter shooting from the game: Well, they did run most of the game. They let up for the first 5 minutes of the 4th quarter (they could have just been tired) and the Rockets came from about 6 down to go about 7 up. The Mavs started running again and the score was within a point or two for the rest of the game. I noted with a few minutes left in the 3rd how nice it was. Last year the score of 77-72 might have been a final (of course with Dallas having the 72 instead of the 77 that they had at the time). Both teams played hard and, despite the lack of names from Houston, it was a heavily contested game for the last 5 minutes. Erick Strickland's poor game was capped by being fouled with 6 seconds left and Dallas up 102-101 and only hitting one of two free throws. With Dallas up 103-101, Houston called time out. Rodrick Rhodes drove to the basket and Strickland dropped off his man to double-team. Rhodes dished out to the open Emanual Davis who drained the 3 from the corner with .2 seconds left. After moving the ball to mid-court, the Mavs tried to inbound the ball to Bradley for the tip-in, but he was clobbered by two Rockets and was on the floor when the clock expired (can't expect a call in that type of a situation). Houston won 104-103. I was surprised to see such a competitive and not too sloppy (though it got sloppy for short stretches of time) game for the Mavs' first pre-season game and Houston's second. Houston coach Tomjanovich decided to rest Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Mario Elie and left all three in Houston. Houston had played the night before. For the Mavs, Hubert Davis did not play due to a hamstring injury. Martin Muursepp and Kurt Thomas are not expected to play in any pre-season games. Several times the triangle (which was used sporadically - it was mostly a running, ball movement game) actually looked good. The rest of the time it didn't work too well as players didn't seem to know what they were supposed to do next after setting up the triangle. It didn't see the pressing defense I had heard talk about. Just some token backcourt defense. The Mavs needs to work on their transition defense as they got burned several times for not getting back. The team still needs to work on off the ball movement. Several times players were just standing around watching when they need to move into a position to receive the ball or move to draw their defender away from the ball. My prediction before the game that no one would play more than 20 minutes was way off. 4 of the Mavs starters played over 30 minutes, Strickland played 26, and 6 Rockets played over 20 minutes. Dennis Scott showed a lot of energy and desire to win the game. He was really grinning after Houston left him wide open with the ball and he had time to set himself before swishing the 3. He also showed leadership as in directing Strickland in how to handle the setup for draining the shot clock (the Mavs started with 28 seconds left in the game). Samaki Walker looked very nice and aggressive in the minutes he got in the first half, but didn't look too good in his few 2nd half minutes. Ace Custis looked good in the few minutes he played and has a shot of making the team. Malcolm Mackey and Kevin Ollie saw limited minutes and didn't show much. Kevin Whitted, Ike Nwankwo, and Carlos Strong did not play at all. Shawn Bradley looked good and didn't get pushed around as much. Last year when Bradley would post-up, Kevin Willis would push him out about 6 feet. Last night Willis only pushed Bradley out a couple of feet. He had very nice numbers. He still needs to stay on his feet in the paint - he jumps way too much and commits dumb, unnecessary fouls as a result. I saw too many swatting the rebounds instead of grabbing them with both hands. In the first two minutes of the game, Charles Barkley had two calls go against him and I said that I bet he would get tossed before the night was over. He picked up a technical for complaining about a non-call with 2:50 left in the 1st and then got tossed for getting in the ref's face about the T. I figured that having played 9 minutes and having played the night before, Barkley decided to take the night off. The Mavs did a terrible job of rebounding in the 1st quarter (either 6 or 8 total), but picked it up majorly in the 2nd quarter and had 26 for the half. (Of course, the shooting percentage of both teams went down in the 2nd quarter so there were more rebounds to be had.) Quotes: Jim Cleamons: "[The loss is] not a big thing, we could've come out and totally fallen flat on our face. We did enough positive things to build on. We ran pretty well, but we've got to learn when to take the shot and who needs to take them." Cleamons: "Sure you would have liked to close the game out better. But when you have a young team, you don't always get the results you want." Shawn Bradley: "My lungs are burning, I can tell it's preseason. Bradley: "Oh yeah, I felt stronger. It's going to be a real fun season." Bradley: "At least I didn't get two technicals in the 1st quarter because I didn't want to play." Houston Rockets 104, Dallas Mavericks 103 at Dallas (October 11) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Houston 25 23 34 22 - 104 .429 .471 .438 .813 Dallas 23 25 35 20 - 103 .385 .357 .380 .737 Halftime: 48-48 3rd Q: Dallas 83-82 Technicals: Charles Barkley 2:50 1st (2 - ejected), Kevin Willis and Shawn Bradley 4th (double technical) Refs: Ed T. Rush, Ken Mauer, Mike Smith Attendance: 10,506 Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Mario Elie, and Hubert Davis did not play. Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Charles Barkley 9 2-4 0-0 4-4 8 3-5 0 2 0 0 0 Joe Stephens 15 1-4 1-1 0-0 3 1-2 2 2 1 0 0 Kevin Willis 24 3-7 0-0 4-4 10 2-9 0 2 4 0 0 Brent Price 29 5-12 2-6 4-5 16 0-3 3 2 6 1 1 Sam Mack 28 5-8 1-2 2-2 13 1-1 0 3 1 0 0 Othella Harrington 19 3-7 0-0 1-2 7 1-7 1 0 3 2 0 Rodrick Rhodes 29 6-11 0-0 6-8 18 0-0 4 2 2 2 0 Zerge Zwikker 19 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 1-5 0 0 3 0 0 Eddie Johnson 27 3-9 1-2 4-4 11 2-3 1 0 1 1 1 Emanual Davis 19 3-6 1-1 1-3 8 1-4 3 1 2 2 0 Matt Bullard 25 2-7 2-5 0-0 6 0-9 1 1 1 0 1 Totals 48 35-80 8-17 26-32 104 12-48 15 15 24 8 3 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dennis Scott 43 7-17 3-5 5-6 22 0-5 3 1 4 0 0 A.C. Green 34 7-12 0-0 0-0 14 5-11 1 1 1 5 1 Shawn Bradley 35 7-15 0-0 5-8 19 9-17 1 3 5 2 4 Michael Finley 37 8-19 1-5 3-4 20 0-2 1 2 1 1 1 Robert Pack 18 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 8 1 6 1 0 Samaki Walker 16 3-4 0-0 2-4 8 1-4 0 1 3 0 0 Erick Strickland 26 2-13 1-3 5-6 10 2-6 4 1 5 1 0 Ace Custis 15 0-5 0-0 4-4 4 3-4 2 1 2 0 0 Malcolm Mackey 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 0 0 0 Khalid Reeves 8 1-3 0-1 3-4 5 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 Bubba Wells 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Kevin Ollie 3 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 35-92 5-14 28-38 103 21-54 21 11 28 10 6 Other news: The Mavs cut Derrick Chandler and signed Kevin Ollie (a 6-4, 195 guard from Connecticut'95. He played in the CBA last year). Rolando Blackman accepted a job as part-time TV color commentator for the Spurs. The Mavs are again offering Family Nights (sponsored by the Dallas Morning News and Dr. Pepper). For $49 you can get 4 tickets (they were upper deck, corner last year), 4 hot dogs, and 4 Dr. Peppers. The Family Night games are: Saturday, Nov 8 vs Portland Thursday, Nov 20 vs Golden State Tuesday, Dec 2 vs Atlanta Saturday, Dec 20 vs Sacramento Saturday, Jan 17 vs Minnesota Tuesday, Jan 27 vs Cleveland Thursday, Feb 19 vs San Antonio Thursday, Mar 5 vs LA Clippers Saturday, Mar 14 vs New Jersey Saturday, Apr 11 vs Denver The November 20 game is the one where A.C. Green may break the NBA's record for consecutive games played and the team is planning some sort of celebration to celebrate it. For tickets or more information, call 972-988-DUNK. patricia