Cleveland at Dallas (December 13) Cleveland was playing without their best player as Andre Miller suffered a right shoulder contusion in their previous game (the injury turned out to be not quite as serious as originally thought) - it was the first game Miller has missed in his NBA career. The Cavs built an early 8-2 lead with 9:40 left and held a single-digit for the rest of the quarter. Tim Hardaway nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer and the game was tied 22-22 after 1. Bimbo Coles had 9 points and Michael Finley had 10 points. Dallas led 29-28 with 9:38 remaining and scored the next 10 points to go up 39-28 with 6:22 left. During the run, Zydrunas Ilgauskas caught a driving Eduardo Najera on the shoulders from behind and threw him to the ground. Ilgauskas was assessed a flagrant foul, but not ejected - he definitely should have been ejected. It was not only unnecessary and excessive, but dangerous and no attempt at the ball was made [yes, I would have said the same thing if a Mav had done such a thing - there is no place in basketball for that kind of play]. Fortunately Najera was okay. Dallas led 52-40 at the half. Dallas shot 7-8 3-pointers in the half. Dallas opened the 3rd quarter with an 8-2 run to go up 60-42 with 9:17 to go. Dallas led 64-48 with 7:11 remaining and Cleveland went on a 10-2 run to pull within 58-66 with 5:20 left. Cleveland would pull within 8 points two more times, but were not able to get any closer. A Hardaway jumper and Adrian Griffin 3-pointer with 5.5 seconds left gave Dallas a 77-64 lead after 3. Dallas led 81-70 with 9:52 left and Steve Nash scored 7 consecutive points to give Dallas a dominating 88-70 lead with 7 minutes to go. Dallas took their largest lead at 98-74 with 2:24 remaining and coasted to the finish. Dallas won 102-82. With Cleveland's best player out and their 2nd best player playing poorly, the Mavs won this one easily. As a surprise (as it always is), Dallas out-rebounded Cleveland 48-38 including 13-7 offensive rebounds. There were even a number of times where there were 4 white jerseys under the basket going for the rebound. The Mavs did not have any stellar performances, just a bunch of solid ones. Michael Finley was the high man with 22 points and 8 rebounds. Steve Nash again had a nice outing [good game and a win vs Minnesota and he'll be a strong candidate for Player of the Week] with 17 points including 7-11 FG and 7 assists. Dirk Nowitzki had a quiet night with only 15 points and 9 rebounds. The ankle he sprained the other night seemed not to be bothering him. Juwan Howard is still struggling and had just 8 points including 4-11 FG and 5 rebounds. Adrian Griffin struggled with his shots, but was high man on rebounds with 11 boards including 6 offensive. He had 9 points on 1-9 FG (and the 1 being a 3-pointer) and 6-6 FT. Tim Hardaway supplied a nice punch from the bench with 17 points including 6-12 FG and 4-8 3-pointers and 7 assists as his game is slowly starting to reappear. Eduardo Najera has earned his way into the rotation and played 30 minutes. He had 6 points and 7 rebounds, but his affect on the game usually doesn't show in the stats. Evan Eschmeyer, Johnny Newman, and Wang Zhizhi only played limited minutes. Don Nelson elected to not play Shawn Bradley due to a sprained ankle that he has been playing on for a while and Nelson says he will be limiting Bradley's minutes in future games (but not putting him on IR) until the ankle is healed. Lamond Murray was the high man for Cleveland with 23 points including 9-16 FG, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists. He didn't have much help as Jumaine Jones (13 points) and Bimbo Coles (13 points) were the only other Cavs in double-digits. Jones also had 10 rebounds. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had a terrible game with just 6 points including 1-5 FG and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes and a horrendous flagrant foul. He was unable to take advantage of his large size (both height and weight) despite Dallas defending him with smaller men (both height and weight). Next up is a challenge: Minnesota is in town tonight and Dallas goes to Minnesota on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how Dallas plays against Minnesota, who has been playing very well so far this season while Dallas has been very inconsistent. Quotes Don Nelson: "I was really happy. I thought it would be a tougher game for us. They have been playing and shooting the ball well and Ilgauskas has been a factor in the games that he has played in. Our game plan worked very well and the number one thing is we took Ilgauskas out of the game. We played a small lineup on him and it was very successful. The ball moved real well and we just played a good all around game." Nelson: "We hope that we are confident, but we are still not playing the crisp basketball that we need to play, Minnesota is. It will be quite a test for us. It is time to be tested by a really good team, similar to our own but they are playing better basketball than we are. I hope that I can heal Dirk up 100%. I didn't play Bradley tonight because he is also nursing a sprained ankle and has been playing on it and I am going to play him as little as I can until that ankle gets better. I am going to need him once in a while, but if I can get by without playing him then I am going to do that until that ankle gets better. It has been nagging him now for 2 or 3 weeks." Nelson: "One thing we liked about Steve Nash was he could play point or off guard equally well. He can guard bigger guards and I thought he did a great job on Person tonight. I thought the only thing we gave up was the inside game where he had the advantage. We worked for everything. We took him off the perimeter and they didn't post up their normal post up players." Nelson: "We assume that everyone is going to get over their slump and start playing up to their capabilities. I started the season with the veterans. We were going to play the veterans ahead of the young guys until they knock them out and prove they deserve to play ahead of them. We did that and I think Najera has proven that he is ready to play. I think Harvey is also ready. I was going to activate Harvey tonight, because I thought I needed Newman but I am going to activate him for the next game." [Sounds like Newman is going on IR.] Nelson on pulling Nowitzki early in the 1st: "We needed to have a little talk about what the defensive coverage was supposed to be. He seemed to forget his assignment from the locker room to the court. But then we got it straightened out." Michael Finley: "We got everyone involved from the beginning and got into a good rhythm. We played with energy from the start and when we do that, I like our chances." Dirk Nowitzki on being pulled early in the 1st: "I didn't do the defensive job that he wanted. I missed a couple of the swing passes. He took me out, talked to me, and then I got back in and did a better job." Steve Nash: "These are the games we've got to have. And you certainly don't drop these at home if you are a playoff team." Nash: "We played well tonight. We had a lot of balance. For the most part we played well with a lot of energy defensively." Nash: "The biggest thing is that you have to play with energy and commitment on defense and we had that." Nash: "We tried to front [Ilgauskas] and then when they swing it to go high low we try to deny that also. We tried to push them farther out on the floor so their lob passes would be tougher. We kind of frustrated them a little bit. The biggest thing is that you have to play with energy and commitment on defense and we had that tonight." Nash: "Timmy played great. It was good to get in there and play with him and to feed off of his energy. We tried to get him some open looks as well because he had the hot hand tonight." Nash on Minnesota: "They are playing great and it's going to be a tough challenge, but that's what it's all about - playing against your conference rivals." Tim Hardaway: "Be patient with me. I'm in a different role and I'm trying to find my niche. I'm feeling good about myself." Hardaway: "You always doubt yourself. That's why I keep working on my game. I'm trying to get my game back to where it was. It's finally coming." Eduardo Najera: "I thought we passed the ball great tonight and we made a lot of great plays. We played great as a team tonight and that's why we won by so many points. We were ready from the start and we had good energy." John Lucas: "We took it on the chin tonight. I like the way we competed and stayed in it. I had to go small because they went small and eventually Nellie won out on the matchups. We couldn't take advantage of our big guy - Z. They kept putting him in pick-and-rolls and in zones. It just showed me we have a whole lot of work to do. Without Miller it was tough. I thought right at the end of the 2nd quarter, it get away from us a little bit with a 6-point swing. We got closer a couple of times but we could never get over the hump. We were chasing our tail. Lucas: "We were in the game all the way until the 4th quarter. We didn't make plays down the stretch, and that hurt us. They made shots." Lucas: "There's Miller low life and there's Miller high life. Without Miller, it was tough for us. We really took it on the chin tonight. They kept putting small players on Z and they kept putting him in pick-and-rolls and they played zone. We couldn't take advantage of that and Don Nelson just let us know that we still have work to do." Lucas: "I knew that there were going to be ups and downs and coming back. This was a down. But there will be other nights." Lucas: "Lamond Murray was very good for us. Wesley didn't shoot the ball well. I though Bimbo was outstanding. I didn't play him anymore because he's going to have to play a lot of minutes. I didn't play Z anymore because we were going to lose and I didn't want anyone to get hurt." Jumaine Jones: "We were in the game all the way until the 4th quarter. We didn't make plays down the stretch, and that hurt us. They made shots. It's tough when you have Dirk out there, the 5 man, shooting 3-pointers. It opens up the floor for other guys, and they were able to knock them down." Trajan Langdon on Coles: "I thought he did a great job out there. It was an adjustment for him because of how many minutes he is used to playing. In his career, he has started a lot, but with this team he is a backup. I thought he came in and did a great job running the team and defending." Dallas Mavericks 102, Cleveland Cavaliers 82 at Dallas (December 13) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 22 30 25 25 - 102 .463 .471 .464 .696 Cleveland 22 18 24 18 - 82 .476 .200 .423 .650 Halftime: Dallas 52-40 3rd Q: Dallas 77-64 Technical fouls: Eduardo Najera, 10:34 2nd, Cleveland defensive 3 seconds 2:51 3rd Flagrant fouls: Zydrunas Ilgauskas (level 2) 6:44 2nd Refs: Hue Hollins, Jim Capers, Phil Robinson Attendance: 17,408 (cap 19,200) Did not play due to injury: Shawn Bradley (sprained ankle), Andre Miller (right shoulder contusion) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 35 1-9 1-1 6-6 9 6-11 3 1 3 0 0 Juwan Howard 25 4-11 0-0 0-2 8 0-5 2 2 3 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 32 6-15 1-3 2-4 15 3-9 1 0 2 0 0 Michael Finley 40 10-17 0-1 2-2 22 2-8 4 3 1 1 0 Steve Nash 33 7-11 2-3 1-2 17 0-1 7 2 2 1 0 Eduardo Najera 30 2-4 0-0 2-4 6 2-7 0 2 2 0 2 Evan Eschmeyer 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 1 1 0 0 Tim Hardaway 31 6-12 4-8 1-1 17 0-2 7 0 2 1 1 Johnny Newman 5 2-2 0-0 2-2 6 0-1 0 0 0 1 0 Wang Zhizhi 4 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-2 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 39-84 8-17 16-23 102 13-48 24 11 17 4 4 Cleveland Cavaliers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jumaine Jones 37 6-9 1-3 0-0 13 3-10 2 1 4 0 0 Lamond Murray 40 9-16 0-3 5-5 23 1-9 7 2 3 0 2 Chris Mihm 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 2 4 0 0 Bimbo Coles 30 5-9 0-2 3-3 13 0-2 5 2 3 2 0 Wesley Person 31 3-13 0-1 0-0 6 0-1 1 0 0 0 3 Brian Skinner 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 Bryant Stith 11 0-2 0-1 1-2 1 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 Ricky Davis 34 4-10 0-0 0-4 8 2-8 5 1 3 2 0 Zydrunas Ilgauskas 14 1-5 0-1 4-4 6 1-3 0 3 3 0 0 Trajan Langdon 18 3-7 2-4 0-0 8 0-1 0 2 3 0 0 DeSagana Diop 4 1-3 0-0 0-2 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 33-78 3-15 13-20 82 7-38 20 14 25 4 6 patricia