Please give a warm welcome the latest Mavs fan (if auntie Patricia has anything to say about it): Kristen Anne Fish, who was born at 11:27 pm Tuesday night! Kristen shares a birthday with Aubrey Griffin. Congratulations to Adrian Griffin and his wife on the birth of their third child! Just prior to the Denver game on Thursday, Dallas activated Eduardo Najera and placed Evan Eschmeyer on IR with a "sprained left ankle". [My guess is that it is just a phantom injury. The Mavs' have not been thrilled with Esch's play and Najera gives them a player that they are actually willing to put on the court during game time.] Darrick Martin has been cleared to resume contact practice. Greg Buckner (sprained ankle) and Adrian Griffin (back spasms) still remain out of action. Donnell Harvey suffered a sprained left wrist during the 2nd quarter of the Denver game and did not return (he did not shot the free throws, so he could not have returned even if he was able to). It is not considered serious and they do not think he will miss any more game time. Mark Cuban now has his own TV show. The first was last Saturday [don't worry, you didn't miss anything exciting - some jabs at Jerry Colangelo (Phoenix Suns owner and baseball's Diamondbacks owner who made some disparaging remarks about the NBA and is now the president of the NBA Board of Governors [pushing Stern's desire to get rid of illegal defense through might have had something to do with that]), interview with Nowitzki (no new info), and a couple of lame bits with Gordon Keith of the Ticket doing his usual schtick and some gal interviewing a band I've never heard of]. The show airs Saturdays at 10 pm on channel 21 and will also be broadcast on NBA.com TV on Mondays and Tuesdays at 4:30 pm. Juwan Howard is tomorrow night's guest. Charlotte at Dallas With the welcomed introduction of Dirk Nowitzki as the starting center, Mavs fans were happy to have Nowitzki back after missing a game with a sprained ankle. And Dirk came to play. The game stayed close for most of the 1st quarter with 3 ties and 7 lead changes. Charlotte led 19-17 with 4:25 left and Dallas scored the next 11 points to go up 28-19 with 2:09 remaining. Dallas was scoreless over the next 2 minutes, but Charlotte was only slightly better with 2 points. Dirk Nowitzki nailed a 3-pointer with less than a second remaining to give Dallas a 31-21 lead after 1. The Big Three had all the Mavs' points as Nowitzki had 14 points, Michael Finley had 10 points on 5-5 FG, and Steve Nash had 7 points. Dallas shot 50% FG and Charlotte shot 33% FG in the quarter. Dallas led 39-31 with 7:07 remaining and the Mavs scored the next 10 points, started by two 3-pointers by Tim Hardaway, to go up 49-31 with 3:24 to go. Dallas led 54-37 at the half. Neither team shot well in the 2nd quarter as Dallas shot 38% FG and Charlotte shot just 22% FG. The key stat of the half: Dallas had 14 assists and Charlotte had only 4 assists. Dallas pushed their lead into the 20s and led 73-50 with 6:53 left. Dallas led 80-62 and collapsed over the last 1:39 of the 3rd quarter as Charlotte scored 7 points. Dallas led 80-69 after 3. Lee Nailon opened the 4th quarter with a dunk and pulled Charlotte within 9 points, but Dallas scored the next 5 points to put their lead back into the teens. Charlotte pulled within 84-94 with 5 minutes remaining, but Dallas went on a 10-2 run to go up 104-86 with 3 minutes left. Dallas won 110-92. Dirk! Dirk!! Dirk!!! Fresh off a sprained ankle, not knowing if he was going to play until shortly before game time, Dirk Nowitzki comes in and scores 34 points including 13-19 FG and snags 10 rebounds in 36 minutes. As I've been saying for a while, we're watching a superstar develop. Joining Nowitzki in the 30+ point club was the Mavs' All-Star Michael Finley with 31 points on 11-19 FG and 8-8 FT. And the third of the Big Three, Steve Nash, chipped in 16 points including 6-8 FG, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 0 turnovers. That's 81 points on 65.2% FG and 16-16 FT. When those 3 are clicking in one game, the opponent doesn't have much of a chance. Juwan Howard was the Mavs' 4th man in double-digits with 11 points including a poor 3-11 FG, but did help out with 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Danny Manning's numbers weren't much with 5 points, but he was key as he was defending Jamal Mashburn for most of the game. Mashburn only had 14 points (only 13 field goals attempted). Tim Hardaway had 7 points including 2-10 FG and 2-8 3-pointers and only 2 assists. Shawn Bradley had 4 points on 0-4 FG and 4-4 FT and 9 rebounds. Donnell Harvey only saw 6 minutes of court time and Evan Eschmeyer came in for the last 2 minutes of the game. Elden Campbell had 17 points and 10 rebounds before being ejected late in the 4th after barreling over Bradley and getting in the ref's face after the ref called a foul on Campbell. Starting guards David Wesley had 16 points and 1 assist and Baron Davis had 14 points and 2 assists - 3 assists from your guards is not good. Lee Nailon provided a little spark off the bench with 12 points. The Mavs played smart and aggressive and Charlotte got frustrated. Dallas shot 27-32 FT (22-25 in the 2nd half) and Charlotte shot 11-16 FT. The teams were even on the boards at 42 apiece. Dallas had 22 assists and only 11 turnovers and Charlotte had 14 assists and 16 turnovers. Quotes Don Nelson: "I would say this is our best performance as of today. I thought we played well for a long period of time and we were good defensively the whole game." Nelson: "I didn't see any problems with Nowitzki's ankle. I didn't know I would have him until just before game time. They almost put a cast on his ankle, [but they] taped it up as tight as they could and he went out and had a performance like that. The toughest thing for him was his stamina - he lost a little bit of that over the last few days where he hasn't worked and that was bothering him more than his ankle. Finley was really good too. When you get those two guys playing well, good things usually happen" Nelson on Manning defending Mashburn: "Danny Manning has the tough job and meant as much to this win as anybody else. He did a marvelous job staying within our game plan and guarding somebody who is very difficult to guard and he just played an outstanding game." Nelson on Manning: "We've known for a long time that Danny Manning can play 3, 4, or 5. And he's had to play all of them for us." Michael Finley: "This is a very unselfish team and we distribute the ball well to whoever has the hot hand. None of us has any problem giving the ball to Dirk." Finley on Nowitzki: "He came in and looked like he didn't miss a beat. He came in and stayed aggressive and wasn't thinking about the ankle, and overall he had a real good game tonight." Finley: "[Nowitzki's] shot was there and it was good to see. Dirk came in, played well, and looked like he didn't miss a beat. This was the best we've played. Our team effort started with our defense. Charlotte is one of the better offensive teams in the Eastern Conference so we took it on ourselves to play well defensively." Dirk Nowitzki: "I think it was the best game we had so far. We played defense real well and made our shots. I had a couple of open looks in the beginning and was able to knock them down and that brings up your confidence." Nowitzki on the Big 3's good game: "When we have our nights together, it's tough to beat." Nowitzki: "I had a couple of wide-open shots in the game and knocked them down. That gave me the confidence to play in the game. Today was maybe the best game we've had so far. We jumped on them early and made shots. From the jump ball, we established that and that was the reason for the victory." Nowitzki on his ankle: "I tried not to think about the ankle too much. I just tried to do the normal warmups, and as soon as the game started I forgot about it and just played hard." Nowitzki: "I ran on it before the game and it felt fine, so I decided to give it a go and it felt fine the whole game." Tim Hardaway: "We came out in the 1st half and played very aggressive and played together. We made shots and made some good passes. I think tonight it was our defense. When we go out there and play really good defense and get in people's faces and make it hard for them to make shots and for them to do what they want to do and contest shots, our offense really strives off of that and we get easy buckets." Danny Manning: "Dirk came in and played great. We didn't expect this type of performance in terms of coming out and scoring the way he scored, and the rebounding that he did. We thought there might be a little bit of an after effect from his ankle, but he looked great." Manning on Finley: "Mike had a very good game. He shot the ball extremely well, penetrated and played good defense. When we get the nucleus of the team playing like that, we're going to be very competitive night in and night out." Manning on defending Mashburn: "I just try to use my length. I'm 6-11. If I can keep him in front of me and get a hand up, I hope he can miss some of them." Paul Silas: "In this game there was a lack of ball movement on our part and [there was] ball movement on their part, and we couldn't make shots." Silas: "They were hitting everything and they had some mismatches. This is one of those games that you would like to forget and move on because there is not really much you can say about it. We were not hitting in the 1st half and they were. We got down so deep that when we did fight back we had to almost play a perfect game and as a result they beat us pretty handily." Silas: "We actually got to within 8 and had a chance to get it to 6, but we didn't convert. If you don't play perfect at that time, you're going to get beat. You have to give them credit - they played very well and they were aggressive. They have a good system for their game and when they are hitting shots the way they were, there isn't really much you can do." Silas on Nowitzki: "He was running the lanes, he had a good short-range game and a good long-range game. He's tough. He's big and can really shoot and he's very aggressive right now. He caused us a lot of problems." Baron Davis: "There's no flow in our game. We're not playing together as a unit. Whatever it is that causes a problem we need to fix it. We need to pull together. I just sense a little bit of individual things that are eating away at the team. It might be the perfect time for a team meeting." [Charlotte held a players-only team meeting on Wednesday.] Davis: "It's just frustrating. There's something that's stopping us from playing Hornets basketball. I'm not going to call any names because I don't know. It's just weird. We've got to talk it out and nip whatever problems we have right in the bud, before we get into the heart of the season whatever it is that's building. We've got to be honest with each other. People who watch us play are not dumb. They know something's wrong. Whether it's something personal that's bugging somebody, collectively it's hurting the team. And we just need to get it out." Jamal Mashburn: "There's nothing negative about a meeting. It was about this time last year that we had one of those and it helped us. I love playing basketball the right way. It was evident the team the Mavericks put out there tonight was playing the right way. And we weren't." Mashburn: "We'll get it together. We have a lot of veteran guys. But we've got to talk and we've got to get to work." P.J. Brown: "It just seems like we're out of sync right now. These last 2 games our offense hasn't been in rhythm. We're not playing aggressive enough and we're letting teams dictate the game. It's on both ends of the floor. Our defense just doesn't feel right, right now." David Wesley on Dallas: "They look like they are playing with more confidence than they did last year. They look like they are having fun out there, and you have to enjoy what you are doing." Dallas Mavericks 110, Charlotte Hornets 92 at Dallas (November 6) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 31 23 26 30 - 110 .517 .368 .481 .844 Charlotte 21 16 32 23 - 92 .423 .583 .446 .688 Halftime: Dallas 54-37 3rd Q: Dallas 80-69 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 11:13 2nd Refs: Ed F. Rush, Jim Clark, Derek Collins Attendance: 16,905 (cap 19,200) Did not play due to injury: Greg Buckner (sprained right ankle), Adrian Griffin (birth of daughter) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 35 3-11 0-0 5-6 11 1-8 5 2 2 0 1 Danny Manning 31 2-5 0-0 1-4 5 0-2 4 2 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 36 13-19 3-5 5-5 34 1-10 1 1 2 2 1 Michael Finley 40 11-19 1-3 8-8 31 1-2 4 1 1 3 0 Steve Nash 37 6-8 1-3 3-3 16 0-5 6 0 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 25 0-4 0-0 4-4 4 1-9 0 1 3 1 2 Tim Hardaway 28 2-10 2-8 1-2 7 0-3 2 1 3 2 1 Donnell Harvey 6 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 1 2 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-79 7-19 27-32 110 6-42 22 11 15 9 5 Charlotte Hornets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jamal Mashburn 41 5-13 2-4 2-2 14 0-10 3 2 3 0 0 P.J. Brown 26 2-10 0-0 4-4 8 3-8 0 3 3 2 0 Elden Campbell 34 8-17 0-0 1-2 17 4-10 2 3 4 0 2 Baron Davis 36 6-11 1-3 1-3 14 0-2 2 4 4 3 0 David Wesley 33 6-9 3-3 1-2 16 1-2 1 1 4 1 0 Stacey Augmon 10 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Jamaal Magloire 4 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 1 2 0 0 Matt Bullard 11 0-5 0-0 0-0 0 2-3 0 0 1 0 0 Bryce Drew 17 2-4 1-2 1-1 6 0-1 5 1 0 0 0 Lee Nailon 20 6-10 0-0 0-0 12 0-4 0 0 2 0 0 Robert Traylor 8 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0-1 1 1 2 0 0 Totals 48 37-83 7-12 11-16 92 10-42 14 16 25 6 2 Denver at Dallas (November 8) The game started as one would expect a Dallas-Denver match to go with Denver still missing Antonio McDyess as Dallas took a 25-9 lead with 2:19 left. Unfortunately, Dallas was unable to maintain their momentum as Denver rattled off the next 8 points to pull within 17-25 with 9 seconds left. A layup by Dirk Nowitzki to end the quarter gave Dallas a 27-17 lead after 1. Nowitzki had 16 points in the quarter. Dallas shot 50% FG and Denver shot 29% FG. Dallas led 35-26 with 7:36 remaining as Nowitzki scored his 20th point. Denver went on a 10-1 run to tie the game at 36-36 with 4:39 left. Dallas responded with a 15-4 run, started by a 3-pointer by Michael Finley, to go up 51-40 with 38 seconds left. Nick Van Exel hit a running 3-pointer at the buzzer and Dallas led 53-46 at the half. Donnell Harvey suffered a sprained wrist after being fouled on a pretty baseline drive - he left the game and did not shoot the free throws, so he was ineligible to return later in the game even if healthy. Nowitzki had 23 points. Van Exel only had 5 points in the half. Denver scored the first 5 points of the 3rd and Dallas was left clinging to a single-digit lead for the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 81-74 after 3. The Mavs scored the first 5 points of the 4th to take a 86-74 lead with 9:42 remaining. But Dallas was unable to put Denver away as the Nuggets scored the next 5 points. Shawn Bradley got a dunk on his 3rd attempt in traffic and hit the extra free throw and Finley nailed a jumper to give Dallas a 93-81 lead with 6:30 to go. Nowitzki gave the exclamation point with a strong drive and power slam to give Dallas a 101-87 lead with 2:24 left as Dallas pulled away at the end. Dallas won 105-91. It wasn't as easy of a win as I would have liked, but it was a win. You would think that Dirk Nowitzki's 33 points and 9 rebounds would be the talk of this game. But it wasn't (with Dirk having 30+ points in 3 of the 5 games he has played, we're getting spoiled) - it was the play of Eduardo Najera, fresh off IR, that received the praise. Najera was selected by Denver to shoot Donnell Harvey's free throws late in the 2nd quarter. He hit both free throws and grabbed the next available rebound. He saw some time in the 3rd quarter and had 3 points and 2 rebounds, but it was his 4th quarter play that had the crowd cheering for Eddie. [They need to get a clip from Eddie and the Cruisers for the jumbotron for Najera.] Najera was all over the place in the 4th with playing good defense, snagging 7 of his team high 10 rebounds, chipping in 4 points, and even blocking a 3-point attempt - I don't know how he got to that shot. He had 9 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks in just 19 minutes. The only thing he didn't do was hit the Chalupa free throws as he went to the line with Dallas having 99 points and missed both free throws [Dallas win + 100 points = free Chalupas for the fans]. But that was okay as Dirk electrified the crowd with his thunderous dunk to give Dallas 101 points. Steve Nash was feeding Dirk and other players in dishing out 12 assists and scored 13 points himself. Nash had the additional duty of defending Nick Van Exel. And Nash did a very good job of not giving Van Exel many looks. Van Exel was averaging 32 points coming into this game, but only had 13 points including only 13 field goals attempted. Michael Finley was solid and willing to take a backseat to Nowitzki in the game. Finley had 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Danny Manning again started and actually had some numbers to reflect his solid performance. He had 13 points including 5-7 FG, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks - I'm not sure if those include the couple of missed shots that he tapped out for another Mav to snag. The only thing Juwan Howard could do in this game was hit his free throws. He shot 9-10 FT, but only 1-8 FG for his 11 points and only had 3 rebounds. I got really annoyed at one point in the game when the Mavs kept running plays for the obviously cold Howard instead of feeding the hot Nowitzki. Shawn Bradley was mostly a negative in this game besides the one positive - the 3-pointer play late in the 4th. 3 of his 5 points and 2 of his 5 rebounds came on that play. Tim Hardaway was quiet in his 15 minutes of play - only 2 shots attempted. Isaiah Rider was the high man for Denver [couple of puns in there :) ] with 19 points and had 5 rebounds. As mentioned above, Van Exel had 13 points (19 below his average) and 7 assists. James Posey (10 points) and Avery Johnson (10 points) were the only other Nuggets in double-digits. For the first time this season Dallas out-rebounded their opponent. Dallas had 49 rebounds including a nice 16 offensive and Denver had 42 rebounds and 14 offensive. Quotes Don Nelson: "The best move I made was at about 5 pm when my general manager duties activated Najera." Nelson: "Najera to the rescue." Nelson on Najera: "He always plays hard. But he played hard and smart." Nelson on Najera: "I needed him mostly to (defend), because I knew that they were going to come up with a very small lineup. I couldn't keep him off the floor. He rebounded, scored, hustled." Nelson on Najera: "It was an unbelievable performance - and I've seen a lot of really good ones. But because of his inactivity, for a guy to walk off the bench and do that, it was very special to me." Michael Finley on Dallas' record: "It's still a long season. 6 games into the season it's okay, but we can't be happy with 5-1. We have to improve each and every game and in practice, just keep trying to improve because the schedule doesn't get any easier." Dirk Nowitzki: "In the 1st half I had wide open looks. All I needed to do was get it in the basket." Nowitzki: "I have to give all of my teammates a lot of credit. Steve was always looking for me on the break. Michael was always looking for me on the double-team. For me, all I had to do is shoot the ball into the basket. I was wide open. It's just so much fun to play with those guys." Juwan Howard on Najera: "That was an unbelievable performance for a guy who hasn't played in a while. He was told at game time that he was going to be activated and that goes to show you that he's a guy that's always ready to play." Howard on Dallas' record: "I haven't experienced a 5-1 start since college." Howard on his 1-8 FG: "Man, I haven't shot well in this building yet." Eduardo Najera: "I've been working pretty hard the last couple of weeks. I had a slow start in training camp, but my game has started to come around. It was a perfect day to come back and I'm happy about my play, but even more happy that we won." Najera: "I didn't have my outside shot but I need to go inside and clean up the mess. I was just trying to go to the basket strong all night. I'm just going to keep energizing the team. That's the reason I'm here. I need to be a consistent rebounder." Najera: "I'm just going to keep doing that [rebounding]. that's the reason I'm here. We've got players like Dirk [to score]. I've just got to clean up the mess in there." Dan Issel: "Where I thought the difference in the game tonight was in rebounding. We gave up too many second chance opportunities. We got them to take some awfully tough shots and they would get the offensive boards. When the shot goes up, the reason that Eduardo gets 10 rebounds in 19 minutes is that he works like crazy. If you're 4-foot tall, you have to put a body on him. If you don't put a body on him, he'll get the boards because he works hard." Nick Van Exel on Dallas: "They got some scorers. They shoot jump shots, and they beat a lot of teams that way." Van Exel on the refs: "Cowards don't make it any easier for you, I'll tell you that much. It's ridiculous some of the calls we get, some of the calls other teams get. It's like we are the [bleep] scrubs of the league. We don't get no respect. None." [Van Exel was fined $20,000 for his comments about the refs.] Tariq Abdul-Wahad on defending Nowitzki: "You can't cover him with a big [man]. He'll be the best shooter on the floor. It's a handful, really." Abdul-Wahad on Nowitzki: "He's a great player. The guy does not really miss shots. And the worst thing about it, he's not by himself." Avery Johnson: "There aren't any moral victories, man. We're trying to win games. Even though it is early in the season, we don't want to lose too much ground. I've got a whole different mind-set. I look at it as, 'OK we're 3 behind, 4 behind the Lakers.' We got to set a little bit higher standard as long as we're short-handed." Isaiah Rider: "If we would have had a win and I had the same game, it means a lot more. I'm walking around smiling, and I'm a little more upbeat. But I am not into the personal accolades saying I got 19 or 20 tonight because we got a loss. I'm not a selfish guy like that." Rider on wanting to stay in Denver: "I definitely want to be here. The guys are cool. It's a great opportunity. I like being on the underdogs playing against other teams every night. It is a great challenge to go against other players from NBA teams that are so-called better than us. I think I am accepted. I just want to know that I am here permanently. If not, there are always other teams watching. But I hope they do the right thing. " Dallas Mavericks 105, Denver 91 at Dallas (November 8) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 27 26 28 24 - 105 .471 .364 .456 .806 Denver 17 29 28 17 - 91 .421 .375 .417 .857 Halftime: Dallas 53-46 3rd Q: Dallas 81-74 Technical fouls: James Posey 5:40 2nd, Shawn Bradley 5:40 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 0:21 2nd, Nick Van Exel 5:13 3rd, Dirk Nowitzki 2:19 3rd, Raef LaFrentz 9:54 4th Refs: Joe DeRosa, Tommy Nunez, Courtney Kirkland Attendance: 17,471 (cap 19,200) Did not play due to injury: Greg Buckner (sprained ankle), Adrian Griffin (back spasms) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 22 1-8 0-0 9-10 11 0-3 0 1 3 0 2 Danny Manning 34 5-7 0-0 3-5 13 3-6 0 2 2 2 4 Dirk Nowitzki 42 12-23 3-6 6-6 33 1-9 3 1 4 1 1 Michael Finley 42 8-16 0-2 2-3 18 1-5 6 2 3 0 1 Steve Nash 39 4-9 1-2 4-4 13 1-2 12 2 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 17 2-7 0-0 1-1 5 3-5 0 2 3 0 3 Donnell Harvey 10 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 2-6 0 1 3 0 0 Tim Hardaway 15 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-3 0 1 1 0 0 Eduardo Najera 19 3-5 0-0 3-5 9 5-10 1 0 1 1 2 Totals 48 36-79 4-11 29-36 105 16-49 22 12 21 4 13 Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Tariq Abdul-Wahad 20 2-8 0-0 2-3 6 3-3 0 2 4 0 0 Scott Williams 18 3-7 0-0 0-0 6 0-4 0 0 4 0 1 Raef LaFrentz 24 4-10 1-2 0-0 9 2-9 1 0 6 0 3 James Posey 23 4-7 0-0 2-2 10 0-0 1 1 6 2 0 Nick Van_Exel 35 6-13 1-3 0-0 13 0-2 7 2 0 0 0 George McCloud 30 2-6 0-1 5-6 9 0-5 2 1 4 1 0 Zendon Hamilton 16 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 2-6 0 2 1 0 1 Avery Johnson 30 3-9 0-0 4-4 10 1-4 5 0 1 2 1 Isaiah Rider 28 7-13 1-2 4-4 19 3-5 2 2 4 0 1 Ryan Bowen 16 3-7 0-0 0-0 6 3-4 1 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 35-84 3-8 18-21 91 14-42 19 10 31 5 7 patricia