Great news came down Thursday: Michael Finley was one of seven players selected to Team USA! Team USA will compete August 29 through September 8 in the World Championship tournament that will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana. Joining Finley on the team are Ray Allen (Mil), Antonio Davis (Tor), Jason Kidd (NJ), Shawn Marion (Pho), Reggie Miller (Ind), and Jermaine O'Neal (Ind) and the team will be coach by George Karl (Mil). The players for the remaining 5 spots will be selected at a later date. The Mavs will have an impressive number of 6 players competing in the tournament: Finley (USA), Steve Nash (Canada), Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), Shawn Bradley (Germany), Wang Zhizhi (China), and Ruben Wolkowyski (Argentina). Congrats, Michael! Greg Buckner (sprained right ankle) and Adrian Griffin (back spasms) are still out injured. Griffin hopes to be ready to play on Sunday. No word as to when Buckner will return - he's saying that he wants to take it slow and make sure it is fully healed before he resumes playing as he feels he came back to quick from when he first injured the ankle. Dirk Nowitzki left the Toronto game midway through the 1st quarter with a sprained ankle which he turned when he stepped on Antonio Davis' foot while driving to the basket. It is described as a mild sprain and he is listed as day-to-day. X-rays were negative. Dirk has yet to miss an NBA game due to injury (DNP-CD 3 times in 98-99 (his rookie and the lockout season)). Dallas at Philadelphia (November 1) The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with Philadelphia's largest lead only 1 point and Dallas' largest lead 5 points. Dallas led 24-20 with 2:14 left, but Philly scored the next 7 points to go up 27-24 on a 3-pointer by Vonteego Cummings with less than a minute left. Michael Finley got a layup with 4.3 seconds remaining and Danny Manning stole the inbounds pass and nailed the short jumper with 1.5 seconds left to give Dallas a 28-27 lead after 1. A 3-pointer by Matt Harping gave Philadelphia their first lead of the 2nd quarter at 34-33 with 9:06 left, but Dirk Nowitzki answered with a 3, Juwan Howard got a layup, and Steve Nash drained another 3-pointer to put Dallas up 41-34 with 7:48 to go. A 3-pointer by Tim Hardaway gave Dallas their first double-digit lead at 51-40 with 3:39 remaining. Dallas led 59-46 at the half. Nowitzki had 17 points and Nash had 15 points. Dallas shot 51% FG and Philadelphia shot 40% FG. Dallas opened the 3rd quarter with a 7-2 mini-run to take their largest lead at 66-48 on a 3-pointer by Nash with 9:57 left. Dallas' shot then deserted them as they only shot 3-14 FG the rest of the quarter and Philly ate away at the Mavs' lead. 6 consecutive Philly points cut Dallas' lead down to just 73-66 with 1:36 remaining. But Hardaway hit 2 free throws and a 3-pointer to close the quarter and Dallas led 78-66 after 3. 2 layups by Derrick Coleman pulled Philadelphia within 77-82 with 6:57 to go and left Dallas clinging to a high single digit lead most of the rest of the way. A slam dunk by Dikembe Mutombo on Shawn Bradley and a 3-pointer by Harpring brought Philadelphia to within 86-92 with 1:41 left, but Finley countered with a 3-pointer and Nash hit 2 free throws with a minute remaining to give Dallas a little more comfortable 97-86 lead. Dallas did not collapse at the end (but it wasn't pretty) and won 99-92. Well, it wasn't a pretty or easy game, but a win is a win is a win. With the way they played, the Mavs were very lucky that Philly was missing Allen Iverson, Aaron McKie, and Eric Snow. Don Nelson tricked up his starting lineup by starting Michael Finley, Dirk Nowitzki, Juwan Howard, Steve Nash, and Tim Hardaway. With that lineup, Derrick Coleman was defending Nowitzki and Dirk took full advantage of Coleman. Nowitzki had 30 points and 13 rebounds as his game was clicking. Nash's circus shots were falling in the 1st half had he finished with 22 points and 5 assists. Hardaway dramatically increased his shot attempts from game one (only 3 field goals attempted and 16 attempted in this game) and had 17 points and 7 assists in a very high 39 minutes. With Greg Buckner and Adrian Griffin out injured and Nelson not playing Even Eschmeyer and Donnell Harvey (Harvey did see the court for 2 minutes) and the success of Nowitzki when Coleman was guarding him, it meant lots of minutes for Hardaway. Finley's shot wasn't there in this game, but he did have 15 points including 6-18 FG. Howard was quiet, but he was defending Dikembe Mutombo for a good chunk of time. He had 7 points and 7 rebounds. Shawn Bradley played 19 minutes as a defensive clog - only put up 2 shots - and had more blocks than just the 1 he was credited for. And a little home cooking as Mutombo was credited with 4 blocks and the Mavs had much more than the 3 total the score keepers tallied. Danny Manning was solid and smart as usual, but had no numbers to show it. The Mavs were out-rebounded 43-38 and only had 8 offensive rebounds, but Philly only had 11 offensive boards. The key to this game was turnovers: Philly turned the ball over 19 times and Dallas only 10 times. The other key was 3-pointers. Whenever Dallas got in trouble or Philadelphia got too close, the Mavs would drain a 3. For Philly, Matt Harpring led the with with 21 points including 3-3 3-pointers - he's got a shot and was hitting. Mutombo had 19 points including 6-8 FG and 16 rebounds and Coleman had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson: "The main thing was not to leave Philadelphia, since they had all these injuries, with a loss. No matter what it took, we needed to win this game." Nelson: "We did what we needed to do - we found a way to win." Nelson: "It's never easy with a Larry Brown team. He could get 5 guys from Pismo Beach and you're going to have a hard time beating them." Nelson: "We feel very fortunate to have played the Sixers when they have the injuries. There was no way we would have beaten them tonight had they had their injured players. We weren't sharp enough to beat what would be a normal team. So, we got the luck of the draw." Nelson on his starting lineup which forced Coleman to defend Nowitzki: "It was a matchup that was the best way I thought to approach this game. I went with it and I thought it was very successful. It put me in charge of the matchups and that was what I wanted to do." Nelson on Hardaway's assist and Finley's 3 with 1:19 left: "That's the big play that iced; it was that pass, not his shot. He did what we knew he was going to do, and that's have a really good game. He was quite a factor." Dirk Nowitzki on scoring 30 points and 36 points last year in Philly: "I think it's a good shooting building. I like the baskets and the lights here. I tried to be aggressive, and my teammates kept on top of me, and things worked out well." Nowitzki: "It's a good shooting gym. I like the baskets and I like the background. I don't know why, I just feel good in here." Nowitzki: "I don't really know what it is. I think it's a good shooting gym. I like the background and I like the baskets. It was a good win, but we didn't play our best basketball again. What counts is we won." Nowitzki: "I just tried to be aggressive early on. Everyone just told me to keep on shooting and you'll find your rhythm. Today, I was able to find it." Nowitzki: "It always works well for us when we have two point guards. They both can make a lot of plays and get us good shots." Steve Nash on he and Hardaway starting: "I thought it was pretty good, didn't you? We're both skilled players and we both can pass and shoot and penetrate. It's fun to play with another guy like that, because not only are you getting guys shots, but you're getting each other shots, too." Tim Hardaway on he and Nash starting: "I know what he can do, and he knows what I can do. The only thing you've got to do is just spot up." Hardaway on playing 39 minutes: "We're short of people. Whatever it takes, I'm ready for it. I know it's not going to be all the time." Hardaway: "Nowitzki is 7 feet, can dribble, and can make plays. When you can to do that, it's going to make it harder for Derrick Coleman, Dikembe Mutombo, and Matt Geiger to stick him. It's impossible. He can shoot the 3, step back, go to the hole and make things happen. We got a great guy who can make some plays for us." Hardaway: "I know they had a lot of guys out, but you've still got to go out and play hard." Larry Brown: "We made a lot of progress but, when you have young guards and a new 3 man [Harpring] and not a lot of depth in the backcourt, it's tough." Brown: "The only thing that frustrated me tonight was that we wanted to control the tempo and get the ball to our big guys and allow them to win the game. They weren't even involved in the 1st half. All they were doing was running back on defense and playing matchups that were difficult for them." Derrick Coleman: "The main thing for us is the young guys are learning a lot. We played very hard, but just couldn't come out with a victory." Matt Harpring: "Once we get Allen, Aaron and Eric back, we'll be a lot stronger. No question we needed them tonight." Dallas Mavericks 99, Philadelphia 76ers 92 at Philadelphia (November 1) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 31 19 21 - 99 .481 .360 .443 .714 Philadelphia 27 19 20 26 - 92 .455 .444 .453 .800 Halftime: Dallas 59-46 3rd Q: Dallas 78-66 Technical fouls: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 1:01 1st, Philadelphia defensive 3 seconds 11:07 1st, Juwan Howard 9:31 2nd, Philadelphia defensive 3 seconds 3:32 3rd, Philadelphia defensive 3 seconds 7:05 4th Refs: Hue Hollins, Leon Wood, Monty McCutchen Attendance: 20,230 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Greg Buckner (sprained right ankle), Adrian Griffin (back spasms), Allen Iverson (right elbow rehab), Aaron McKie (right shoulder rehab) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 44 6-18 1-5 2-2 15 0-4 4 0 2 3 0 Juwan Howard 33 3-6 0-0 1-4 7 0-7 3 1 4 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 39 10-17 3-6 7-10 30 6-13 1 2 4 0 1 Tim Hardaway 39 6-16 2-8 3-3 17 0-3 7 3 1 2 1 Steve Nash 43 7-15 3-6 5-5 22 1-3 5 2 2 1 0 Danny Manning 21 3-5 0-0 2-2 8 1-3 1 1 3 2 0 Shawn Bradley 19 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-4 0 0 2 0 1 Donnell Harvey 2 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 35-79 9-25 20-28 99 8-38 21 10 18 9 3 Philadelphia 76ers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Derrick Coleman 37 8-15 0-0 2-4 18 2-11 0 3 4 1 1 Matt Harpring 41 6-11 3-3 6-6 21 1-4 3 3 4 0 0 Dikembe Mutombo 34 6-8 0-0 7-7 19 5-16 1 5 3 0 4 Raja Bell 34 3-9 0-1 1-1 7 0-1 7 1 3 2 0 Speedy Claxton 43 4-10 0-1 1-3 9 1-1 8 3 3 1 0 Vonteego Cummings 23 4-11 1-4 2-2 11 0-2 2 2 2 0 1 Corie Blount 13 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 1-5 0 0 0 0 0 Matt Geiger 11 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 1-3 0 1 1 0 0 Damone Brown 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Ira Bowman 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 1 0 Totals 48 34-75 4-9 20-25 92 11-43 21 19 22 5 6 Dallas at Toronto (November 2) The teams traded baskets to open the quarter and then Toronto scored the next 12 points to go up 16-2 with 8:04 left. Toronto opened the game shooting 8-10 FG while Dallas was just 1-7 FG. Things then got worse for Dallas as Dirk Nowitzki sprained his ankle while driving to the basket. He was fouled on the play (foul didn't cause the sprain) and since he was in the locker room, Donnell Harvey was selected by Toronto to shot the free throws. And since Nowitzki did not shot the free throws, he could not return to the game. Harvey amazingly hit both free throws and Dallas trailed 11-20 with 5:43 to go. Toronto's hot shooting and Dallas' poor defense continued and the Raptors led 33-18 after 1. Dallas still could not defend in the 2nd quarter and a 3-pointer by Vince Carter gave Toronto a 45-23 lead with 9 minutes left. Carter tweaked his injured knee with 5:20 left in the quarter, left for the rest of the quarter, but did start the 3rd quarter. Dallas would get no closer than 16 points the rest of the quarter. Toronto led 67-47 at the half - 67 points is a lot for a half and a good indication of Dallas' defense. Toronto shot 58% FG and Dallas shot 43% FG. Morris Peterson had 17 points and Carter had 14 points. Dallas opened the 3rd quarter with a 9-2 run to pull within 55-69 with 8:21 remaining, but 2 Toronto layups ended Dallas' push. Dallas had another run of 11-1 to pull within 69-80 with 3:23 to go, but Toronto out-scored Dallas 9-4 to end the quarter to go up 89-73 after 3. A layup by Harvey opened the 4th quarter, but Toronto scored the next 6 points and led comfortably the rest of the quarter as Dallas just did not have anything this night. Toronto won easily 109-92. Yuch, yuch, yuch. And I thought the Philly game wasn't pretty. Dallas looked very flat to start and Toronto came out like a team with something to prove - they had lost their first 2 games including being blown out by Orlando in game 1 and this was their home opener. And added to Dallas' terrible start, it looked like the team just deflated when Dirk Nowitzki went out injured - they just never showed cohesiveness the rest of the half. The 2nd half was a different story as Toronto only scored 42 points compared to the way too much 67 points in the 1st half, but no Mav was clicking to give the Dallas the needed boost to get out of the terrible halftime hole. Amazingly Dallas had 6 players in double-digits. But Michael Finley's 17 points was on a poor 7-20 FG. He got hot at one point in the 2nd half, but could not substain it and was cold in the 1st half. Juwan Howard had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Steve Nash had 13 points and 5 assists and Tim Hardaway had 17 points and 5 assists in 28 minutes - with Nelson limiting his minutes (as much as possible with his lack of players) as this was a back-to-back game and Hardaway played heavy minutes the night before. Shawn Bradley did not do much in his 27 minutes as he had 10 points and only 4 rebounds and Toronto ate him alive on the offensive end where they pushed the ball right at him and scored often. Danny Manning had 8 points on a poor 4-11 FG. Evan Eschmeyer showed why he's been sitting on the bench as he did nothing in the 17 minutes he played - 0 points and 3 rebounds. The only semi-bright spot of the night was Donnell Harvey, who played energetic and aggressive. He had a career high 12 points on 4-4 FG and 4-8 FT [has to work on those free throws] and 9 rebounds. He's still pretty raw and makes mistakes, but Dallas needed him on the court this night. For Toronto, Vince Carter was awesome. He had two spectacular dunks that you'll probably see on highlight reels. He finished with 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. The other spark for Toronto was Morris Peterson, who was hitting almost everything he threw up when he was inside the arc. He had 23 points including 10-17 FG (only 1-7 3-pointers), 7 rebounds, and 8 assists. Hakeem Olajuwon did not look his age with 11 points and 8 rebounds in 27 minutes. And Antonio Davis was selective with his shot with 12 points on 6-8 FG and 8 rebounds. The key to this game was assists. Toronto had their act together and dished out 33 assists while Dallas was disjointed with a lot of individual play instead team unity with just 19 assists. For the first time, the opponent committed fewer turnovers than Dallas - 7 to 16. The rebounds were even at 40, but Dallas shot just 41.8% FG while Toronto shot 51.1% FG (and a very impressive 61.4% 2-pointers). I must say that I was quite surprised that Nowitzki didn't stay and shoot the free throws after his injury so that they could have brought him back in if the injury ended up not being serious - this is normally what is done (and then an intentional foul or timeout after the 2nd free throw to sub the injured player out). I have to wonder what the thinking was. Was it a thought that the Mavs were playing so bad and having played the night before to just rest Dirk and spend the rest of the evening giving the ankle treatment? Was it the Mavs actually forgot that long standing rule (or confused it with the rule that a player that doesn't shot the free throws can return if it was a flagrant foul)? Was it Dirk was already in the locker room before anyone realized that he should be shooting free throws? I can't see it being just being concerned about the ankle injury - Dirk was able to put some weight on it and he went to the locker room without support. It's just so rare that a player doesn't shoot free throws to kept the option available of bringing the player back in the game; it is usually not done unless the player is carried off the court. Quotes Lenny Wilkens: "We pushed the ball and set the tempo. The guy I thought who set the tempo for us was Mo. I've asked him to be more aggressive and not to be a spectator. He's moving much better and we're finding him." Wilkens: "We had great execution and we took care of the ball. You don't want to start the season 0-3, and we were upset. Tonight, to me, was a must-win." Wilkens: "We had good execution and we took care of the ball. We got the tempo we wanted." Wilkens: "This was a real important win for us. It was a must-win. The players accepted the challenge, especially on defense." Wilkens: "We had great execution. We came out and set the tempo, we got to set the tone." Vince Carter: "It's just nice to get a win, period. It's unfortunate that we didn't get off to the start that we wanted, but what are you going to do about it? You can't get frustrated. If you do you'll be 0-5." Carter: "Nice to have a win. We just need to execute and settle down and good things will happen." Morris Peterson: "We came out emotionally charged. We were back home and coming off 2 disappointing losses." Peterson: "It was important to come out early and make a statement." Peterson: "It was a big win for us to beat a team like Dallas that is so deep and talented. We wanted to come out and make a statement tonight. Coming home after losing our first 2 games, it was a little test for us and it was a confidence builder." Peterson: "I felt like I couldn't miss in the warmup. I was hitting shots and I knew if I had some open shots in the game, I'd hit them. I felt a lot more comfortable, a lot more confident. I came out emotionally charged. I was ready to play, coming back home after 2 disappointing losses. We had been getting off to such a bad start in the past couple of games, I think it was important for us to come out and make a statement." Antonio Davis: "It was a very important game for us. We needed to come out and play the right way." Davis: "We understand you can't start the season being so far behind [in the win column]. It's hard to make up games when you've got 6 games in 9 nights on the road coming up. We need to build momentum with a couple of wins." Davis: "We have to drive the ball into the paint and make teams come to us and then find a way to get the ball back to our shooters. At times when teams play a zone or play loose on us, we tend to over-pass a little bit. We have to get the ball to guys who can shoot the basketball." Davis: "I think that's much better. I still feel that we need to figure out a way to play more consistently, but we did a lot of good things tonight, and we're going to be excited about that, and build on that." Jerome Williams: "Everybody from the start to the finish had a statement to make. We got off to a bad start this season, but we weren't going to lay down." Don Nelson: "Even without Dirk going down it would have been tough to win." Nelson: "I am not sure if we didn't have that injury if we would've won this game. Defensively, we couldn't cover Carter." Nelson: "We have great depth. They're just all injured." Nelson: "Defensively we were capable of covering Carter. The guys just happen to be in street clothes. We just basically ran out of people." Dirk Nowitzki on his ankle: "It's not bad. It was pretty sore as soon as it happened, but it's better now that I've iced it. I can put some weight on it. It's a day-to-day thing. Antonio's foot got under mine and I rolled it. It's the same ankle I rolled just before training camp." Nowitzki: "It was pretty sore as soon as it happened. We iced it over an hour, and it's not that bad. I took some Tylenol, too, so we'll see how it is tomorrow." Nowitzki: "I can hardly walk right now. I'm not going to be out long, so hopefully it's probably a day-to-day thing. I hope [to play] Sunday, but if not, then Tuesday." Nowitzki: "It's not going to be a terrible thing. But it's hurting a little bit right now." Nowitzki: "I'm not going to be out long." Steve Nash: "It was nice to be home, but we sure didn't play well. We didn't have a good night and the Raptors were due." Juwan Howard: "It was their home opener and it was hard to match their energy. They ran us out of the building." Howard on Carter: "Oh man. He really is the Human Highlight Reel Part 2." Tim Hardaway: "We knew they would come out hard after losing 2. They play physical and they made shots. We didn't play any defense tonight. We have a lot of people hurt and this was a back-to-back." Toronto Raptors 109, Dallas Mavericks 92 at Toronto (November 2) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Toronto 33 34 22 20 - 109 .614 .208 .511 .727 Dallas 18 29 26 19 - 92 .426 .389 .418 .792 Halftime: Toronto 67-47 3rd Q: Toronto 89-73 Technicals: Alvin Williams, 5:40 3rd, Danny Manning, 2:09 3rd; Juwan Howard, 0:31 3rd, Vince Carter 0:31 3rd, Chris Childs 8:56 4th, Toronto defensive 3 seconds 7:01 4th Refs: Ron Olesiak, Ron Garretson, Gary Zielinski Attendance: 19,800 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Greg Buckner (sprained right ankle), Adrian Griffin (back spasms) Toronto Raptors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Antonio Davis 34 6-8 0-0 0-0 12 1-8 0 0 3 0 2 Morris Peterson 35 10-17 1-6 2-2 23 5-7 8 0 1 1 0 Hakeem Olajuwon 27 5-10 0-0 1-2 11 0-8 2 2 2 3 0 Vince Carter 36 11-23 2-5 1-1 25 4-5 7 1 1 0 2 Alvin Williams 40 4-12 0-5 2-2 10 0-4 8 0 2 1 1 Keon Clark 7 2-4 0-0 1-2 5 0-0 0 0 5 1 1 Chris Childs 22 3-8 1-5 0-0 7 0-3 6 0 4 2 0 Jerome Williams 10 2-2 0-0 1-2 5 1-2 1 1 1 2 0 Tracy Murray 9 3-6 1-3 0-0 7 0-0 1 1 1 0 0 Eric Montross 14 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-2 0 2 2 1 1 Michael Bradley 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Carlos Arroyo 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 48-94 5-24 8-11 109 12-40 33 7 22 11 7 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 37 7-20 2-6 1-2 17 1-5 1 4 1 0 0 Juwan Howard 38 6-13 0-0 3-3 15 4-11 3 2 2 1 2 Dirk Nowitzki 6 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Tim Hardaway 28 5-12 3-8 4-4 17 0-1 5 3 1 0 0 Steve Nash 37 5-12 2-3 1-1 13 0-3 5 1 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 27 2-5 0-0 6-6 10 1-4 2 1 2 0 1 Donnell Harvey 25 4-4 0-0 4-8 12 1-9 2 1 3 1 1 Danny Manning 25 4-11 0-0 0-0 8 0-3 0 2 3 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 17 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-3 1 1 2 1 0 Totals 48 33-79 7-18 19-24 92 7-40 19 16 15 3 4 patricia