Ace Custis' injury is a torn ACL and he is out for the season. The Mavs will keep him on the roster for the season. Nelson said that he would have made the roster regardless of the injury. The Mavs signed journey man Adrian Caldwell to a non-guaranteed contract. He's not likely to make the team. The free agent point guards the Mavs have approached (Spud Webb, Gary Grant) have turned the Mavs down due to the fact that they would only be here for a month. The Mavs might have to simply use Khalid Reeves and rookie free agent Kevin Ollie at the point. I was surprised to see Erick Strickland doing some light jogging along the sideline during Monday's open practice. He was grimacing a lot and would hop on one foot after shooting (instead of landing on both feet). I predict he will be back a lot sooner than 6 weeks. And kudos for him for talking with and shaking hands with the fans while the team practiced (he didn't participate in the practice - though he and a couple of the injured players did shoot around when the practice was limited to half the court). Though I had to wonder if he was running for office when I saw him pick up and kiss two toddlers. [Kurt Thomas also talked some with the fans and all the players went around and slapped hands with the fans before heading to the locker room.] Dennis Scott has crazy range. He was shooting from 5 feet behind the line and was hitting most of them. And when he would miss a couple, he would hand the ball to some kids for them to give him luck and then drain the shoot. For the game, Shawn Bradley sounded really good and a lot of his points came against Olajuwon. Ike Nwankwo also did a good job of holding his ground against Olajuwon in the few minutes he saw against him. Most of Khalid Reeves' points came in the first half - I think he had 11 in the first quarter. Matt Maloney opened the game by scoring Houston's first 9 points on 3-3 3-pointers. Houston Rockets 106, Dallas Mavericks 97 at Albuquerque, NM (October 21) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Houston 24 23 26 33 - 106 .508 .444 .494 .800 Dallas 24 20 25 28 - 97 .481 .222 .455 .750 Halftime: Houston 47-44 3rd Q: Houston 73-69 Technicals: none Flagrant Fouls: Bubba Wells 9:09 4th Refs: Ron Garretson, Ed Middleton, Leon Wood Attendance: 6,089 Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Mario Elie 20 4-8 1-3 0-0 9 0-0 4 1 2 3 0 Charles Barkley 28 5-9 0-0 1-2 11 3-11 4 3 1 0 2 Hakeem Olajuwon 25 3-7 0-0 2-2 8 1-7 0 2 3 1 1 Clyde Drexler 30 4-12 1-3 0-0 9 1-2 3 3 2 1 1 Matt Maloney 19 5-8 4-6 0-0 14 0-0 3 3 3 2 0 Emanual Davis 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 0 0 0 Matt Bullard 16 3-5 1-2 2-2 9 0-6 0 1 1 0 0 Rodrick Rhodes 24 4-8 0-0 4-6 12 1-1 5 1 0 3 0 Othella Harrington 24 4-5 0-0 2-3 10 2-5 0 1 1 0 1 Eddie Johnson 22 5-11 1-3 1-2 12 1-3 1 1 2 0 0 Brent Price 20 2-6 0-1 8-8 12 0-0 4 2 2 0 0 Serge Zwikker 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 39-79 8-18 20-25 106 9-36 25 19 17 10 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 38 7-17 0-1 1-2 15 1-4 5 3 4 1 0 A.C. Green 39 7-8 0-0 2-3 16 2-11 1 2 3 3 0 Shawn Bradley 35 12-19 0-0 3-5 27 1-7 0 2 3 2 1 Hubert Davis 38 2-9 1-1 4-4 9 0-2 4 2 4 3 0 Khalid Reeves 34 8-19 1-6 2-2 19 1-4 2 3 1 1 0 Bubba Wells 15 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-2 0 2 1 1 1 Ike Nwankwo 13 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 3-3 0 0 0 2 0 Kevin Ollie 20 2-8 0-0 3-4 7 1-2 3 0 2 0 0 Malcolm Mackey 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 3 0 1 Totals 48 40-88 2-9 15-20 97 9-36 15 15 21 13 3 patricia