On Saturday, the Mavs placed Robert Pack on IR with torn ligaments in his left shoulder and activated Bruno Sundov. Sundov will likely not play in games unless there is a blowout as he is recovering from tendinitis in his wrist and doesn't know the team plays yet. Pack injured his shoulder during the Phoenix game and may have to undergo surgery on the shoulder. The initial MRI was not good and he will undergo a second MRI to see if surgery is necessary. He will miss the last 3 weeks of the season. Shawn Bradley did not play - coach's decision in the Phoenix game. Nelson sited the match up problems in the Phoenix game (with Luc Longley injured, Phoenix played Clifford Robinson and Danny Manning at center) as the key reason for not playing Bradley and also said that he wanted to rest Bradley for the Portland game (the Phoenix game was the middle game of a 3-in-3). A.C. Green was inserted for the last 3 seconds of the 1st half of the Portland game to keep his consecutive game streak alive. He had a heat pad on his thigh during the game and Nelson said he liked the way the other players were playing. Minnesota at Dallas (April 15) Kevin Garnett did not play in the game due to the flu. Minnesota led 12-11 with 6:28 left and Dallas went on a 16-2 run to go up 27-14 with 40 seconds left and led 27-16 after 1. The Mavs led 32-17 with 9:30 left and Minnesota scored the next 9 points, including 2 3-pointers from Dennis Scott, to pull within 4 at 28-32 with 8 minutes remaining. Dallas responded with a 9-1 run capped by a 3-pointer by Hubert Davis to go up 41-29 with 6:11 left. Dallas led 49-36 with 3:21 left and Minnesota closed the quarter with a 10-2 run. Dallas led 51-46 at the half. Scott had 16 points including 3 3-pointers in the 2nd quarter. Minnesota scored the first 4 points of the 3rd quarter to pull within 1 at 50-51 with 10 minutes remaining. The Mavs pushed their lead back up to 8 points at 62-54 with 7 minutes left, but couldn't get it larger than that. Dallas led 77-70 after 3. Michael Finley had 13 points and Joe Smith had 10 points in the 3rd quarter. Minnesota pulled within 4 points on a 3-pointer by James Robinson at 73-74 with 11:30 to go, but Dallas slowly built the lead back up and led 90-80 with 5:20 left. Dallas led 92-82 with 4:50 remaining and Joe Smith tipped in his own miss and Sam Mitchell converted the 3-point play to pull Minnesota within 87-92 with 3 minutes left. Finley hit 2 free throws and Mitchell hit a 3-pointer with 2:15 to go. Gary Trent nailed a jumper and Bobby Jackson hit a 3-pointer. Dallas led 96-93 with 42 seconds left. Davis missed a 3-pointer, but Trent got the rebound and was fouled with 24 seconds left. He hit 1-2 free throws. Smith hit a hook shot with 20 seconds left and Finley was fouled. He hit both free throws to put Dallas up 99-95 with 16 seconds left. Minnesota inbounded the ball at their end of the court and A.C. Green stole the ball shortly after it was inbounded and he quickly passed the ball to Davis, who was fouled. Davis' free throws capped the scoring. Dallas won 101-95. First I'd like to mention that ref Gary Benson (#30) did a terrible job. Michael Finley had 26 points in the 2nd half. Finley had an awesome game and finished with 34 points on 11-16 FG, 3-3 3-pointers, and 9-9 FT. Gary Trent had his usual solid game with 22 points including 10-15 FT and 9 rebounds. Dennis Scott only had 2 points outside of the 2nd quarter, where he had 16 points. Quotes Don Nelson: "It was a hard game. Give them a lot of credit. They really hung in there tough and made it very difficult for us. Thank goodness we found a way to win it. I'm happy to get two in a row at home against two pretty good teams." Nelson: "We got 2 in a row at home against 2 pretty good teams. 2 in a row is a great way to start a 6 games in 8 days period." Nelson: "Finley was sensational. They couldn't guard him. He was really good. He carried us. He made his free throws and moved the ball and was just outstanding." Michael Finley on Garnett: "He's one of the toughest guys I go against, but not the toughest. [His absence] helped our whole team." Finley: "When you're missing your best offensive player and one of your best defensive players, we have to use that to our advantage. We weren't going to roll over and play passive just because he wasn't playing." Finley: "When you're missing one of the top offensive and defensive players, it's going to hurt. Even so, we didn't want to play passive against this team. I had great looks at the basket, and was able to get to the free throw line. The ball was falling for me tonight." Finley: "It was a winnable game and we came in with that attitude. It shoed in the 1st quarter." Finley: "We were just trying to weather the storm [in the 4th] and it almost came back to haunt us. The 3rd quarter, they hit some key shots but we kept our composure and came out with a win." Gary Trent: "We could have played better. We won the game, but we didn't play as good as we should have played. That's exactly why we have so many close losses. We get a team down, and we get them on the ropes, and we don't knock them out. We give them breathing room to recover to where they get back in their stance and make it a game again." Trent: "We had them down but we didn't take advantage of that and blow them out of there. They are a good team but when you have a team down, we make the game so hard on ourselves and we keep it so close where we have to come down to the wire." Flip Saunders: "Anybody who questions the importance of Kevin Garnett should have seen this game. Finley had a big game, but in the first 2 he didn't. Our guys played hard but we couldn't make big plays." Saunders: "They made shots and pounded us on the inside. Our guys played hard but we couldn't make the big plays. We just couldn't get over the hump. We dug ourselves a hole last night and in this game by falling behind early." Joe Smith: "Everybody knows what Kevin means to this team but we have 10 or 12 other players that can go out and play. Especially in a game like tonight, when we put ourselves in a situation where we got down early but we fought back. We just made too many mistakes and couldn't get over that hump." Smith: "We have a lot of talent on this team. We feel that if we go out and play the way we're supposed to and the way we're capable, we can beat anybody in the league. Tonight, we made a lot of mistakes and if we had cut down on those, there might have been another outcome." Malik Sealy: "We miss Kevin, but we have to keep playing in his absence. Every time we'd get it down to 5, we would turn it over or not get a good shot. When you keep hitting the same wall and can't get over it, it takes a little bit of your confidence." Dallas Mavericks 101, Minnesota Timberwolves 95 at Dallas (April 15) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 27 24 26 24 - 101 .458 .600 .478 .784 Minnesota 16 30 24 25 - 95 .432 .462 .437 .650 Halftime: Dallas 51-46 3rd Q: Dallas 77-70 Minnesota's largest lead: 10-7 8:20 1st Dallas' largest lead: 47-33 4:37 2nd Lead changes: 4 Technicals: none Flagrant Fouls: Joe Smith 1:43 1st, Chris Anstey 8:07 4th Refs: Joe Forte, Gary Benson, Ron Olesiak Attendance: 13,034 (cap 18,042) Did not play due to injury: Kevin Garnett (flu) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Gary Trent 44 6-13 0-0 10-15 22 2-9 4 2 3 1 1 Dirk Nowitzki 17 2-5 0-1 0-0 4 0-3 1 2 1 1 0 Shawn Bradley 30 4-9 0-0 2-4 10 3-9 2 2 4 2 4 Michael Finley 47 11-16 3-3 9-9 34 2-5 2 3 2 2 0 Steve Nash 38 5-13 1-3 0-0 11 1-4 6 1 1 1 0 Robert Pack 6 1-3 0-0 2-2 4 0-2 1 1 0 0 0 Chris Anstey 17 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 0-1 1 0 3 0 0 A.C. Green 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 1 0 Samaki Walker 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Hubert Davis 30 3-7 2-3 5-5 13 0-2 1 2 1 0 0 Totals 48 33-69 6-10 29-37 101 8-36 18 15 16 8 5 Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Joe Smith 37 8-17 0-0 5-6 21 6-9 3 2 3 0 2 Sam Mitchell 33 6-11 1-1 1-1 14 1-3 4 0 3 0 0 Dean Garrett 14 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-5 0 2 2 0 0 Malik Sealy 20 3-9 0-2 0-0 6 2-5 2 1 2 2 0 Bobby Jackson 35 4-11 1-1 2-2 11 2-5 4 2 3 1 1 Reggie Jordan 23 2-7 0-0 1-2 5 3-6 0 0 2 1 0 Tom Hammonds 17 2-6 0-0 0-1 4 1-3 1 0 4 0 0 James Robinson 18 1-6 1-4 0-2 3 0-2 4 3 2 0 1 Andrae Patterson 19 3-5 0-1 3-5 9 2-5 2 3 3 1 1 Dennis Scott 24 7-12 3-4 1-1 18 0-0 0 1 2 1 0 Totals 48 38-87 6-13 13-20 95 18-43 20 15 26 6 5 Dallas at Phoenix (April 16) It was a sloppy 1st quarter by both teams, but the score remained close with 5 ties and the largest lead was only 5 points. Dallas led 25-24 after 1. Gary Trent had 9 points and 5 rebounds. Phoenix opened the 2nd quarter with 7 points to go up 31-25 with 10 minutes left. But Dallas responded with a 7-2 run to keep it close at 33-32 with 8 minutes remaining. Phoenix led 37-36 with 5:40 left and scored the next 6 points, but Dallas then scored the next 7 points to tie the game at 43-43 with 2:24 left. Phoenix got 2 in close from Chris Morris and a 3-pointer from Clifford Robinson to lead 48-43 and led 50-45 at the half. Phoenix slowly built up their lead to 11 points and led 68-57 with 4:24 to go. Dallas wasn't able to rally in the quarter and Phoenix led 75-66 after 3. Jason Kidd scored 3 consecutive layups to open the 4th quarter and Phoenix led 81-66 with 9 minutes left. Dallas cut Phoenix's lead to 10 points at 74-84 with 4:15 to go, but could get the deficit into single digits. Dallas scored the last 6 points of the game, but it was too little, too late. Phoenix won 92-85. Jason Kidd continued his vengeance quest against the Mavs (don't let his comments about it not mattering any more fool you, he still takes it personally). He finished with 24 points and 12 assists and didn't sit until a little over a minute left in the game. The surprise performance for Phoenix came from Pat Garrity. He seemed to hit every shot he put up and finished with 20 points including 8-10 FG. Dirk Nowitzki had a strong performance with 29 points including 10-16 FG and 8 rebounds. He did commit 5 turnovers, though. Robert Pack also had a solid game with 17 points and 7 assists. Quotes Danny Ainge: "Guys playing with nothing to lose are dangerous. It wasn't pretty but it's a game we needed very badly. We're just trying to survive and get to the playoffs." Ainge: "It wasn't pretty, but it was a win, a win we desperately needed. We looked fatigued, but we made a couple of runs to hold onto the lead." Ainge: "[Garrity has] been playing well of late. He made some nice shots tonight. They left him open and dared him to make shots and he knocked them down." Jason Kidd: "We won't get any style points but it's a win. When we play we've got to win." Pat Garrity: "Those kind of teams are probably the most dangerous teams you can run into, with a lot of young players with energy. They're not in the playoffs so they don't have anything to lose. They're going out there free and playing hard." Clifford Robinson: "That team, they're playing with nothing to lose and right now we're playing with something to gain, so it was one of those games where we knew they were going to come in and work hard to try to get a win. It was one of those things where we had to stay with it. We made some tough plays but at the same time we hit a spurt on them in the 2nd half, and were able to pull away a little bit." Don Nelson: "We'll get a road win when we deserve a road win. We've competed but not done the things consistently we need to do to get a road win. I hope that's going to happen soon." Nelson: "This was [Nowitzki's] best offensive game this year. You can tell the difference in the two months of work he's done. It's very exciting to watch his maturity. He's earning his time and playing well and making strides." Phoenix Suns 92, Dallas Mavericks 85 at Phoenix (April 16) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Phoenix 24 26 25 17 - 92 .571 .235 .493 .762 Dallas 25 20 21 19 - 85 .492 .250 .465 .680 Halftime: Phoenix 50-45 3rd Q: Phoenix 75-66 Dallas' largest lead: 16-12 3:23 1st Dallas' last lead: 25-24 end of 1st Phoenix's largest lead: 81-66 9:08 4th Lead changes: 3 Technicals: Danny Manning 5:04 4th (2 - ejected), Donn Nelson 7:42 3rd Refs: Bill Spooner, Jack Nies, Phil Robinson Attendance: 17,505 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Luc Longley (hyperextended left knee) Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Pat Garrity 29 8-10 0-0 4-4 20 1-5 1 1 1 0 0 Tom Gugliotta 32 2-9 0-0 3-4 7 4-8 7 2 5 0 0 Clifford Robinson 39 9-16 1-5 2-4 21 0-5 2 5 4 0 1 Jason Kidd 47 9-16 0-2 6-6 24 0-1 12 4 4 1 0 Rex Chapman 29 3-9 1-4 1-1 8 0-2 3 1 0 3 0 Danny Manning 21 1-2 0-0 0-2 2 0-1 3 1 4 1 1 George McCloud 24 3-7 2-5 0-0 8 0-4 1 0 2 2 0 Chris Morris 16 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 1-5 0 2 0 0 0 Joe Kleine 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Gerald Brown 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Marco Milic 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 36-73 4-17 16-21 92 6-31 30 16 20 7 2 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Gary Trent 31 6-13 0-0 3-6 15 2-7 0 2 1 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 44 10-16 2-5 7-8 29 3-8 1 5 5 3 2 A.C. Green 17 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 0 2 1 0 Steve Nash 32 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1-4 6 2 3 1 0 Michael Finley 27 3-11 0-1 0-0 6 1-4 1 3 0 2 0 Robert Pack 32 7-13 0-0 3-5 17 2-4 7 1 1 0 0 Samaki Walker 18 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 1-7 1 1 4 0 0 Chris Anstey 12 2-4 0-0 1-2 5 1-2 0 2 3 1 0 Hubert Davis 27 4-8 0-1 2-2 10 0-2 2 1 0 1 0 Totals 48 33-71 2-8 17-25 85 11-40 18 19 19 9 2 Portland at Dallas (April 17) Both teams started off with a sloppy 1st quarter and Portland led 10-5 half way through the first. Portland built up a 8 point lead at 16-8 with 3 minutes left and led 20-14 after 1. Portland again led by 8 at 22-14 a minute into the 2nd when Dallas rattled off the next 8 points with a 3-pointer by Dirk Nowitzki, 2 free throws by Nowitzki, and a 3-pointer by Hubert Davis to tie the game at 22-22 with 9:55 to go. The game was again tied at 28-28 with 8 minutes remaining and Portland went on a 14-4 run to go up 42-31 with 4 minutes left. Dallas cut Portland's lead down to 5 points with 31 seconds left and Portland led 51-43 at the half. Portland led 57-52 with 9 minutes remaining and scored the next 6 points to go up 63-52 with 7:20 left. Portland led 71-59 with 3:30 to go and the Mavs closed the quarter strong with a 13-2 run. Portland led 73-72 after 3. Gary Trent had 15 points in the 3rd. The teams traded leads and ties to start the 4th quarter. Dallas led 80-79 with 8 minutes remaining and Portland led 83-82 with 6:15 left. Then Greg Anthony started going nuts. Anthony hit consecutive 3-pointers to give Portland a 7 point lead with 4:40 left. The Mavs answered with a free throw by Trent and a 3-pointer by Davis to pull within 3 at 89-86 with 3:30 to go. Anthony drained another 3-pointer and Michael Finley hit 2 free throws with 2:46 left. And Anthony again hit another 3 to put Portland up 95-88 with 2:23 to go. The Mavs missed 3 shoots and turned the ball over on the next possession and Arvydas Sabonis got a layup with 1:24 remaining. Dallas could get no closer than 8 points the rest of the way. Portland won 102-94. Greg Anthony had 17 points in the 4th quarter, including 4 3-pointers. He finished with 23 points. Arvydas Sabonis was his usual dominate self vs the Mavs. He had 22 points on 11-16 FG and 6 rebounds. Gary Trent and Michael Finley led the way for Dallas with 24 points. They also had 10 rebounds and 7 rebounds, respectively. Nowitzki had a solid offensive game with 17 points, but his over all game was laking as he only had 3 rebounds and committed 5 turnovers. Quotes Mike Dunleavy, "Our second unit got on a roll, especially Greg Anthony. He made a bunch of big plays on both ends of the floor. It was a big win for us since we'd lost a couple of games in a row." Brian Grant: "We were getting a little nervous. We had one person step up and that was Greg Anthony. Dallas is a young, energetic team and we needed what we got from Greg tonight." Greg Anthony: "I finally made some shots. I've been struggling with my 3-pointer." Anthony: "We had to win the game. We all know that. It's not a matter of having to step it up or anything, it's a matter of us just doing what it takes to win." Anthony: "It wasn't necessarily even our offense that won it. We started getting after them defensively the last seven minutes and got some key loose balls and steals." Don Nelson: "They have a lot of talent. Their second unit could compete in this league." Dirk Nowitzki: "Tonight in the fourth quarter, I was a little tired. I'm disappointed, but I'm getting better. We are playing a lot better. When we come out with a great effort at home, we can beat anybody." Portland Trailblazers 102, Dallas Mavericks 94 at Dallas (April 17) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Portland 20 31 22 29 - 102 .529 .444 .519 .842 Dallas 14 29 29 22 - 04 .455 .471 .458 .741 Halftime: Portland 51-43 3rd Q: Portland 73-72 Dallas' largest and last lead: 80-79 7:56 4th Portland's largest lead: 71-59 3:44 3rd Lead changes: 4 Technicals: Portland Illegal D 9:25 1st, Rasheed Wallace 3:22 1st, Wallace 7:56 4th (ejected) Refs: Derrick Stafford, George Toliver, Mark Wunderlich Attendance: 13,358 (cap 18,042) Portland Trailblazers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Rasheed Wallace 27 2-6 0-0 2-2 6 4-6 1 0 5 1 1 Brian Grant 41 6-11 0-0 2-2 14 4-9 4 0 3 1 3 Arvydas Sabonis 32 11-16 0-0 0-0 22 1-6 2 5 4 0 2 Damon Stoudamire 28 3-10 0-1 0-0 6 0-1 5 2 0 2 0 Isaiah Rider 28 6-12 0-1 0-1 12 2-7 1 1 2 1 1 Jim Jackson 24 3-4 0-1 1-2 7 1-4 2 0 1 0 0 Greg Anthony 20 6-9 4-6 7-8 23 1-2 1 3 1 1 0 Walt Williams 23 1-6 0-0 4-4 6 1-5 0 2 1 1 1 Kelvin Cato 17 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 1-3 0 0 3 1 2 Totals 48 41-79 4-9 16-19 102 15-43 16 14 20 8 10 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Gary Trent 44 9-22 0-0 6-9 24 4-10 3 2 5 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 40 6-11 2-5 3-5 17 1-3 2 5 4 2 1 Shawn Bradley 24 1-7 0-1 0-0 2 3-6 0 0 0 0 0 Michael Finley 48 8-16 1-4 7-8 24 1-7 5 3 1 0 0 Steve Nash 33 4-5 1-1 0-0 9 0-2 4 3 2 2 0 Hubert Davis 29 4-8 4-6 1-1 13 0-1 0 1 4 0 1 Chris Anstey 11 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 2 0 1 Samaki Walker 10 0-0 0-0 3-4 3 0-1 0 1 1 0 2 A.C. Green 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-72 8-17 20-27 94 9-30 14 16 19 5 5 patricia