One of the first things I noticed at the Mavs' first home game of the "regular" season was that there were new banners hanging from the rafters. Brad Davis' #15 was still there, but it was a new banner with his full name, number, and years with the Mavs (used to be just "Davis 15"). A.C. Green's Ironman banner was back up. And someone's misguided idea came to fruition (I had been told it might happen last season and immediately voiced my opinion against it) as the 86-87 Midwest Division Championship banner was hanging from the rafters. It wasn't even the original banner - they had a new one created. Whoever thought that displaying that banner was a good idea obviously was not a Mavs fan in 86-87. I don't know of any fan that looks back on that season fondly. I take no pride in the fact that the Mavs had the best regular season record in the Midwest division (2nd in the West) in 86-87. Though I did enjoy 151-129 whipping the Mavs gave Seattle in Game 1 (in large part as I was at the game), 86-87 will always be remembered for the major choke Dallas had in losing the next 3 games and Dick Motta's shocking resignation less than a month later. The banner was hung during Game 1, up for Game 2, and never seen publicly since. I guess the reason for all the banners is that the Dallas Stars have a couple of banners up - who cares, only championship banners mean anything for team accomplishments. I guess next the Mavs are going to put back up Roy Tarpley's 6th Man of the Year banner. Speaking of banners, it's time for my annual campaign for the Mavs to finally retire Rolando Blackman's number. They shouldn't wait until the new arena is finished to raise #22; they should do it now. Let the Mavs know that you want to see Ro's number retired! How about March 22 when the Lakers are in town so Harp can be here? I noticed that there were 4 player sponsered sections so far: Pack's Posse, Michael's Finatics, Strick's Land, and Nashville. Utah Jazz at Dallas Mavericks February 9 The Mavs opened the 1st quarter by hitting 6 of their first 8 shots and built up an 11 point lead in the quarter. Dirk Nowitzki had an awesome up-and-under move that left me in shock - I've never seen a move like that from a rookie [especially a Mavs' rookie]. The Mavs' shooting cooled off some and Utah started hitting some of their shots. Michael Finley and Nowitzki each had 8 points in the quarter and the Mavs led 23-17 after 1. The two teams traded small rallies and Dallas could not build on their lead. Dallas led 45-41 at the half. Karl Malone was carrying the Jazz and hitting almost everything he shot, no matter the defense, and a number of his points came from outside shots. He had 16 points in the half. The game stayed close in the 3rd quarter and was tied 66-66 after 3. The game was again tied at 68-68 with 9:33 remaining. Don Nelson inserted a small lineup of 4 guards (Finley, Robert Pack, Steve Nash, and Hubert Davis) and a small forward (Nowitzki), but Jerry Sloan was prepaired for small ball and responded with his own smaller lineup and they killed the Mavs. The Mavs didn't help matters by shooting lousy (just 1-12 in the 4th - free throws kept it from being a blowout) and committing a number of turnovers (8 in the 4th). Utah scored the next 5 points to go up 73-68. Despite Malone defending him, Nowitzki hit a jumper with 5:43 left to bring the Mavs within 76-79. But Utah went on a 6-1 run to go up 85-77 with 2:26 left. The Mavs couldn't make a final rally and Utah won 90-79. Obviously, the Mavs' lousy shooting killed the team. The team only shot 35.1% (26-74) FG while Utah shot 48.1% (37-77) FG. Despite that, the Mavs did play well for 3 and 1/4 quarters. Utah is just one of the best teams in the league and they know how to win. Malone was a monster and it seemed he hit almost every shot he took (I made a "He missed!" comment in the 4th). He finished with 31 points including 14-22 FG and 12 rebounds. I enjoyed watching the Utah guards working in the paint - setting picks and running their defender into picks. A complaint I had about the Mavs, especially Nash, was that they kept trying to go under the perimeter picks instead of through them and John Stockton and Howard Eisley drained a number of jumpers behind the picks. For the Mavs, Nowitzki had a very nice showing. I'm still in awe of his early up-and-under move. He has his offensive game going and is very active on the boards. He finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds. However, he did make two costly turnovers late in the 4th. One thing I haven't mentioned before is the Dirk is a very good ball hander, he even brings the ball up the court occasionally, and is good at passing the ball (he had 0 assists, but two of his passes resulted in a Mav at the free throw line). Cedric Ceballos again led the team in scoring with 19 points and he also contributed 7 rebounds and 3 blocks (the Mavs had 8 blocks in the 1st half), but he had 3 turnovers in the 4th quarter. Finley is still not quite on and he had 15 points including 6-15 FG. He did post up a couple of times and surprised me on one occasion with a jump hook. Nash is still mightily struggling as he only had 4 points including 1-9 FG. I am concerned about his game, but I'm optimistic (hopeful) that it's only a temporary problem. Mean while, Pack performed well as backup point. He's still a little too offensive minded for some people's taste, but his slash ability has to be respected by the opponent. None of the Mavs' big men's performances were notable - Malone dominated. Quotes: Jerry Sloan: "Once we finally started to execute, run a few screens and do the things we've always done, things started to go a little more in our favor." Karl Malone: "It's never easy, but you get into a kind of rhythm in some games and it feels like every shot you take is going in. They went small in the 4th quarter and I just tried to exploit it." Malone: "We're a veteran team and we're supposed to win that game. They have a young team over there but they're talented and everybody wants to beat the Jazz." Don Nelson: "We did a real good job for three quarters. They just turned it up in the 4th quarter and outplayed us, and that's what great teams are supposed to do." Nelson: "We did a real job for three quarters and they turned their defense up and we went cold at the wrong time in the 4th quarter. We really had a hard time scoring. We didn't click on all of all cylinders and we didn't shoot a good enough percentage to win against a good team." Nelson: "[Stockton] sniffed our poor passers out and gummed about 5 possessions up. We're not ready to beat this team yet. But I did think I could put a team out there that could score more than 79 points. You shoot only 35% from the field, it's going to be hard to beat anybody." Nelson: "[Nash is] struggling. He hasn't been able to shoot the ball like we know he can. But Robert Pack has been playing well. We're getting good enough guard play." Steve Nash: "I feel as though I let the team down. If I would have shot the ball better, we would have won." Michael Finley: "You have to put them up there, being that they're the defending Western Conference champions, being that they went to other arenas and won. They're a veteran crew, and until someone dethrones them they're the team to beat in the West." Dirk Nowitzki: "It was exciting because I had a really good start. Then I struggled a bit in the third quarter, and I had some big mistakes in the 4th quarter. It was a big game for me in front of the home crowd, but at the end, it could have been better." Utah Jazz 90, Dallas Mavericks 79 at Dallas (February 9) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Utah 17 24 23 26 - 90 .493 .250 .481 .750 Dallas 23 22 19 15 - 79 .397 .188 .351 .750 Halftime: Dallas 45-41 3rd Q: 64-64 Technicals: Dallas Illegal D 6:49 4th Refs: Ron Garretson, Greg Willard, Rashan Michel Attendance: 17,070 (cap 18,042) Did not play due to injury: Gary Trent (flu) Utah Jazz REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bryon Russell 32 3-6 1-1 2-2 9 1-7 1 1 4 3 1 Karl Malone 41 14-22 0-0 3-4 31 5-12 4 3 2 2 0 Greg Ostertag 23 3-6 0-0 1-2 7 2-6 0 0 2 0 2 John Stockton 29 5-10 0-0 2-3 12 0-4 5 3 0 1 0 Jeff Hornacek 24 2-9 0-1 0-0 4 0-1 4 0 0 1 0 Howard Eisley 22 4-7 0-2 3-3 11 0-1 4 2 3 2 0 Adam Keefe 23 1-5 0-0 4-6 6 1-4 1 1 3 0 0 Shandon Anderson 24 4-9 0-0 0-0 8 0-2 1 2 4 0 1 Todd Fuller 12 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 2-6 0 0 2 0 0 Greg Foster 4 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Anthony Avent 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 1 0 1 0 Chris King 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Thurl Bailey 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 2 0 1 Totals 48 37-77 1-4 15-20 90 12-45 21 15 22 10 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 32 4-14 1-2 6-8 15 3-9 0 3 3 0 1 A.C. Green 19 2-3 0-0 0-2 4 2-6 1 0 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 15 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 3 1 0 0 4 Michael Finley 39 6-15 0-2 3-4 15 1-4 1 2 1 3 1 Steve Nash 29 1-9 0-3 2-2 4 2-3 4 1 2 0 1 Robert Pack 21 3-5 0-0 5-6 11 1-1 3 3 0 1 0 Cedric Ceballos 31 5-13 2-5 7-8 19 3-7 1 5 6 0 3 John Williams 23 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2-7 0 1 3 0 0 Samaki Walker 12 3-8 0-1 1-2 7 0-2 0 0 0 2 0 Erick Strickland 5 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0-2 1 0 1 1 0 Chris Anstey 5 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 0 2 2 0 0 Hubert Davis 9 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 2 0 2 0 0 Totals 48 26-74 3-16 24-32 79 15-44 16 19 20 7 10 patricia