Dallas signed Johnny Newman prior to the (first) Golden State. Newman is a veteran shooter (turned 38 today). Dallas also released Ruben Wolkowyski and placed Greg Buckner on IR with a sprained left knee. Wolkowyski never got off IR during the regular season. Don Nelson on signing Newman: "Mike is playing too many minutes and so I had to find a guy to play behind him. Buckner has been injured so much. If he wasn't injured, I would not have made that move." Dallas activated Wang Zhizhi and placed Donnell Harvey on IR with bruised ribs today. Golden State at Dallas (November 27) The game stayed close to start with 7 lead changes and 4 ties. Dallas led 18-17 with 4:47 remaining and Golden State went on a 21-3 run, including 13 points by Antawn Jamison, to go up 38-21 with 50 seconds to go. Golden State led 39-23 after 1. Dallas could do nothing with Jamison as he had an opponent record for a quarter with 23 points on 10-12 FG and 3-4 3-pointers. Golden State shot 15-25 FG and Dallas shot 10-25 FG. Golden State scored the first 5 points of the 2nd quarter to take their largest lead at 44-23 with 11:12 left. Dallas used a 15-3 run to pull within 43-40 with 4 minutes remaining on a 3-pointer by Steve Nash. Golden State scored the next 8 points to put their lead back in the teens at 58-43 with 1:44 to go. Golden State led 62-49 at the half. Jamison followed up his stellar 1st quarter performance with a subpar 2 points on 1-5 FG in the 2nd. Michael Finley had 11 points in the quarter. Dallas slowly ate away at Golden State's lead in the 3rd quarter. Dallas scored the last 9 points of the quarter, capped by a 3-pointer by Tim Hardaway with 37 seconds left ["No, Timmy, don't do-Great shot!"], to take an 82-79 lead after 3. Dallas shot 13-22 FG and Golden State shot 7-23 FG in the quarter. Dallas continued their run by scoring the first 4 points of the 4th quarter to take an 86-79 lead with 11:15 remaining. Dirk Nowitzki scored 4 consecutive points to give Dallas their largest lead at 105-93 with 3:35 to go. Golden State pulled within 6 points at 106-112 with 32 seconds remaining, but Nash hit 2 free throws 4 seconds later to seal the game. Dallas won 116-106. It was a tale of two halfs. Dallas shot just 40.8% FG and Golden State shot 52.8% FG in the 1st half while Golden State out-scoring Dallas 62-49. Dallas shot 64.7% FG and Golden State shot 43.5% FG in the 2nd half while Dallas out-scored Golden State 67-44. Dallas' comeback from 21 points down was the 4th largest comeback in team history. The Mavs were also helped by Antawn Jamison disappearing after a marvelous 1st quarter. Jamison's 23 points in the 1st quarter was a Dallas opponent record for most points in a quarter (old: 22). Jamison only had 9 points the rest of the way on 4-11 FG (2 points in the 2nd quarter, 2 in the 3rd, and 5 in the 4th). The Mavs were carried in the 1st half by Michael Finley's 24 points - almost half of Dallas' points. Finley finished with a career tying high 39 points including 16-28 FG and 7 assists. Dirk Nowitzki led the final charge in the 4th quarter as 13 of his 33 points came in the 4th. Steve Nash's shooting touch wasn't there (3-10 FG), but he had a solid all around game with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, and only 1 turnover. Shawn Bradley was ineffective and Nowitzki and Juwan Howard took turns playing some center. Bradley had 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 fouls in 23 minutes. Howard, again coming off the bench, had 11 points and 4 rebounds in 19 minutes. Danny Manning started and had nothing in 8 minutes. Adrian Griffin played a lot of minutes (37) due to his defense and hit the open shots Golden State gave him as their rotation was slow in the 2nd half and the Mavs were passing well. He had 10 points on 5-7 FG in the 2nd half and finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals. Danny Fortson had a solid outing with 24 points and 17 rebounds (12 in the 1st half). Larry Hughes shot poorly (3-11 FG), but did have 12 assists to go with his 12 points. Erick Dampier had 13 points and just 4 rebounds and Jason Richardson had 11 points and 5 rebounds. Golden State only got 14 points from their bench. Quotes Don Nelson: "We rose to the occasion tonight and it was really good to see. Adrian Griffin should get the game ball tonight. He did a fantastic job. He played an outstanding all-around game at the defensive end and did what he was supposed to at every possession. He's been quite a player for us when he's healthy. He's a big reason we won this game. The bench guys came in and did their jobs. Bradley, in the 2nd half, really bothered them. It was a tough game for us. It was a nice win and one we really had to work for." Nelson: "I thought we came out a little too passive at the beginning of the game. I thought it would be a tough game and made the mistake in saying that Golden State wasn't a great shooting team. They made every open shot and every 3. That was a mistake on my part. Tonight they were on. We made our adjustments in the 2nd half and we had to go to full court press. We had to be aggressive. We had to take them out of their offense. The main thing is we had guys that guarded. Adrian Griffin came out and did a great job on Jamison, who had his way with us in the 1st half and only had 9 points in the 2nd and really had to work hard for them. Everyone else got in line after they saw how hard he was working." Michael Finley: "They played almost a perfect 1st half. They were making shots they weren't making earlier in the season." Dirk Nowitzki: "They really got it going in the 1st half. They gained some confidence early with some easy layups and dunks and then they started making shots. We really had to step it up in the 2nd half to beat them. We were able to run on them in the 2nd half and we got some easy shots off the break. We finally took advantage off the long rebounds." Nowitzki: "Mike really had it going early and he kept us in the game in the 1st half. In the 2nd half he just took over the game. He was in the zone and we just kept getting closer and closer in the 3rd quarter. We can have a performance like that any game because we have so many scorers." Steve Nash: "We just started to play defense. They were doing whatever they wanted early on and they were making all sorts of shots. They were on fire and got their confidence going, but we buckled down in the 3rd quarter and started to play some defense and didn't give them easy looks and a lot of good things happened for us." Nash: "We all knew what we had to do in the 2nd half. We took it upon ourselves to play better defense. We wanted to come out in that 3rd quarter and work as hard as we could and leave it all out on the floor. We wanted to put pressure on them defensively and see if they would tighten up." Nash on Finley: "He played great. He had it going tonight and he carried us." Dave Cowens: "Sometimes you feel like you lead a Jekyl and Hyde existence, you know. They turned it around - they shot 20% better in the 2nd half and we shot 12% worse. That was really the factor. Their two stars stepped it up and had great games and we couldn't continue the great scoring that we had. Over time, they just broke us down." Cowens on Dallas' comeback: "We got a little out of kilter sometimes. It became somewhat of a half court game and I don't know that we executed as well as they did. They made some hard shots to complete their offense. We missed a few kind of easy ones. Nowitzki was pretty good in that 2nd half, he was pretty good. He was making some tough shots and then he started lighting it up from the 3-point range. That's what we were doing in the 1st half. What we did to them in the 1st half they did to us in the 2nd." Cowens on not using the zone as much in the 2nd half: "We used it, and they broke it up in the 2nd half. They went down to the block, and they squeezed our zone. If you're playing a zone and they're missing their outside shots, it looks great. Then they go boom-boom and they start making shots. That's why I called it off." Antawn Jamison: "We did a terrific job in the 1st half executing the offense. Our guys got open shots and we moved the ball. But it's a 48 minute game. In the 2nd half, they stepped up the defense and they were patient. We didn't get into the flow of our offense at all. We have to be able to put 48 minutes together. Their all-stars stepped up and they did what they had to do. Instead of us keeping the pressure on them, we kind of folded. We didn't do the same things we did in the 1st half." Jamison: "We've got to find a way to kill teams. We let a great opportunity slip away. These are the games - and we've had 3 or 4 like these - that are really going to hurt us when we look back." Jamison on Griffin's defense after the 1st quarter: "They're going to clamp down on you, [but] Griffin didn't do anything special. He paid attention to me, but I'm used to it. I'm expected to do the things I did in the 1st quarter." Danny Fortson: "We just didn't execute or continue to play smart. We were tentative coming out [of the half] for some reason and it came back to haunt us. A team like this, you have to put them away, especially in the 3rd quarter. They just turned it up on us. We got beat by a good team with some good players." Fortson: "We are still learning how to win; how to compete and win against good teams. We just have to take this one and learn from it. We are a young team. We are going to have to learn the hard way a couple times that we have to learn to put away teams." Larry Hughes: "We should have put them away. They should have been down by 30 at the half. We let them off the hook." Hughes: "They came out in the 3rd quarter and played basketball. They got easy looks, they did what they had to do." Bob Sura, who only played 10 minutes - and the 10 minutes was during the time when Golden State built up their huge lead: "It's very frustrating. I feel like I was playing well. Obviously, I'm not in their plans. I don't know what my role is. Obviously they have no confidence in me to do the job. I don't know where to go from here." Dallas Mavericks 116, Golden State Warriors 106 at Dallas (November 27) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 23 26 33 34 - 116 .534 .333 .500 .852 Golden State 39 23 17 27 - 106 .457 .389 .443 .840 Halftime: Golden State 62-49 3rd Q: Dallas 82-79 Technicals: None Refs: Dick Bavetta, Scott Foster, Leroy Richardson Attendance: 17,110 (cap 19,200) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Danny Manning 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 43 11-22 1-5 10-11 33 0-7 0 0 4 2 0 Shawn Bradley 23 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 1-4 1 0 5 0 0 Michael Finley 45 16-28 1-2 6-7 39 2-3 7 1 2 1 0 Steve Nash 33 3-10 2-5 4-6 12 3-7 9 1 2 0 0 Juwan Howard 19 5-10 0-0 1-1 11 3-4 2 0 2 0 1 Evan Eschmeyer 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 2 0 0 Adrian Griffin 37 6-10 0-1 0-0 12 2-7 2 3 3 3 0 Tim Hardaway 18 1-4 1-2 0-0 3 0-3 3 1 1 0 0 Donnell Harvey 10 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 0 0 2 0 0 Johnny Newman 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 44-88 5-15 23-27 116 12-39 24 7 23 6 2 Golden State Warriors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Danny Fortson 38 8-16 0-0 8-8 24 5-17 3 3 5 0 0 Antawn Jamison 43 14-23 4-6 0-0 32 2-6 1 2 4 1 2 Erick Dampier 25 5-9 0-0 3-5 13 3-4 2 2 4 0 3 Larry Hughes 34 3-11 1-4 5-6 12 3-7 12 3 4 2 1 Jason Richardson 37 5-12 1-5 0-0 11 1-5 2 1 5 2 0 Bob Sura 10 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1-2 3 1 1 0 0 Mookie Blaylock 14 3-9 1-2 0-0 7 0-1 1 1 0 1 0 Troy Murphy 24 1-4 0-0 5-6 7 4-7 0 3 4 0 0 Chris Mills 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 2 1 0 0 0 Adonal Foyle 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 39-88 7-18 21-25 106 20-50 26 17 27 6 6 Sacramento at Dallas (November 29) Dallas held a small lead for the first 5 minutes of the game and Sacramento held a small lead for the rest of the quarter. Sacramento led 30-23 after 1. Peja Stojakovic had 17 points including 7-8 FG and 2 3-points. Dallas pulled within 30-33 with 10:30 left and Sacramento scored the next 8 points, with 5 offensive rebounds during that span, to go up 41-30 with 7:30 to go. Michael Finley hit a jumper to pull Dallas within 40-46 with 3:25 left, but Sacramento closed the quarter with a 13-2 run, capped by a Bobby Jackson jumper with 2 seconds left, to take a 59-42 lead at the half. Dallas had 10 turnovers in the half (averaged just 10.5 turnovers per game) and were being out-rebounded by 10 boards. Sacramento took their largest lead at 68-48 with 7:30 remaining. Dallas responded with a 16-4 run, capped by a layup and 2 3-pointers by Tim Hardaway, to pull within 74-72 with 3 minutes left. Sacramento led 80-71 after 3. Hardaway's 3-pointer made it a 5 point game at 77-82 with 10 minutes to go, but Sacramento answered with a bucket and 1-2 free throws. Dallas had a 6-1 mini-run to pull within 85-89 with 6 minutes left. The teams traded misses and Scot Pollard dunked the ball with 4:50 to go. Dirk Nowitzki answered with a jumper and it was again a 4 point game at 87-91 with 4:26 remaining. Sacramento missed and Dallas blew a chance to to make the game even closer by committing a 24 second violation. Stojakovic hit a tough shot to put Sacramento up 97-90 with 2 minutes left. Nowitzki scored on a layup, but Jackson converted a 3-point play to give the Kings an 8 points lead. Nowitzki had another layup and Stojakovic answered with another tough shot with a minute left to give Sacramento a 102-94 lead. Nash missed on Dallas' next possession and the Kings shot 7-8 free throws to close the game. Sacramento won 110-98. The Mr. Hyde-Dr. Jekyl team returned for the second game in a row. Against a poor team like Golden State, you can sometimes comeback from a large deficit as young teams will make mistakes and let you back in the game. Against a very good team like Sacramento, they will make you pay for such sloppy play and defense and are unlikely to give the game away (though they did help by missing 9 free throws). Dallas looked pathetic in the 1st half with no defense and no rebounding. The play that sticks out in my mind was Juwan Howard attempting (and missing) and 15-footer and there being 4 Kings under the basket and 4 Mavs at the half court line. You don't win games with not a single player even glancing at an offensive rebound unless you are shooting near 60% FG, and the Mavs were not in this game. Shawn Bradley, deservably, got ripped royally for his pathetic performance in this game, but he was not the sole cause for this loss. Bradley did not have a single point and missed all 5 off his attempts, not including a turnover (incorrectly credited to Finley) where he fumbled a nice pass inside away at the end of a quarter - and Finley was visibly upset. With Bradley only playing 12 minutes, Dirk Nowitzki and Juwan Howard split time at center, guarding the natural center Vlade Divac. They did not do too bad of a job on him (only 7 points including 3-10 FG and 11 rebounds), but they slacked off Scot Pollard who grabbed 17 rebounds including 8 offensive and had 9 points. Rebounding, rebounding, rebounding - you have to box out as well as go after the rebound. No question who the star of the night was. Peja Stojakovic was awesome. He was hitting shot after shot with defenders all over him. He shot just 2-6 FG in the 3rd quarter, but still finished with 32 points including 13-19 FG. That's 11-13 FG for 3 quarters. Talk about hot. Sacramento had good point guard play with 14 points and 5 assists from Mike Bibby and 16 points from Bobby Jackson. Doug Christie chipped in 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists and Hidayet Turkoglu was a spark off the bench with 16 points. Dirk Nowitzki led the way for Dallas with 29 points and 11 rebounds (both team highs). Michael Finley had 21 points and 5 rebounds. The rest of the starters combined for just 18 points (9 from Adrian Griffin and 9 from Steve Nash - who was cold shooting just 3-12 FG). The Mavs wasted the best performance this team has seen by Tim Hardaway. Hardaway had 16 points (and only 1 shot was not in the flow of the game) including 4-8 3-pointers and 6 assists in 26 minutes. Juwan Howard had 12 points and 9 rebounds before fouling out at the end of the game. If Dallas wants to be one of the elite teams (they are not yet), they have to play better against the elite teams instead of just snagging wins against the lesser and/or injured teams. Sacramento was unquestionably the far better team in this game. It will be interesting to see the affect Chris Webber's return has. Hopefully a better Dallas team will show up in Sacramento tonight. Quotes Rick Adelman: "It was just a terrific win. I'm just really proud of our guys the way they approached the game, the attitude they took coming into this game. The 2nd half - you know that team is going to make a run at you. We talked about how they came back against Golden State and their ability to come back on you. But we sustained it and made our one little run at the end of the game." Adelman: "We had so many different guys come in at different times to keep the game going for us. It was just a terrific job by the guys." Adelman: "We've had so many different guys come in at different times. Peja and Scot in the 1st quarter, Hedo in the 2nd, and Peja and Bobby in the 4th." Adelman on Stojakovic: "He's just an unbelievable player. He came out real active, and the Mavs tried all kinds of different guys on him. Give him credit, he just didn't settle for jumpers. He took the ball to the basket." Predrag Stojakovic: "We did a great job. We were tough on defense. We really stuck together defensively. We tried to get to those 3 guys - Steve, Michael, and Dirk. I think we did a very good job on those guys and made other guys shoot the ball." Stojakovic: "I shot well in the 1st quarter, then Bobby and Hedo came off the bench and did a good job shooting the ball, and we just continued to play well in the 2nd half." Stojakovic: "I'm supposed to take those shots when Chris isn't in there, and they felt good. I felt good, kept shooting and my teammates were looking for me." Stojakovic: "As years and games go by you gain more confidence and I especially feel a responsibility to actually take more shots." Doug Christie: "We tried to be very focused. We understood that they had a couple of losses early that were big, but they were back on track. After we gave one away in Memphis, we really wanted to at least, even if we weren't going to win the game, go out and put on a good performance and luckily we were able to get a good lead early." Christie on Sacramento's defense: "I think that is the key to being that elite team we want to become is defense. If we ever plan on winning a championship or being that caliber of a team, we are going to have to play that type of defense because offensively, every time we put someone out there on the floor they can score a basket, but we have to defend as a unit not just individually." Scot Pollard: "We did a good job of playing smart down the stretch. We showed maturity even, I guess." Don Nelson: "We found a way to get down by 17 points in the 1st half and you are not going to come back. You get lucky once in a while against a young team, but this was a veteran team. We decided to try and guard people in the 2nd half, but we need to come out in the 1st quarter and set the tone and then keep it going throughout the whole game. We were on our heels all night trying to find some combination, something that worked. It was a tough ball game for us. They are a good team. I just wish we could have given them a little bit more. I think we are better than we played tonight. They are very good and sometimes they can make you look bad." Nelson: "They're a good team with or without Chris Webber. We can't compare ourselves with that team. That's a really good team, probably the second best team in the West. Especially when Chris gets back." Nelson: "I just went with guys that would get the job done. Timmy gave us a spark. We were under the gun and didn't get much help from Bradley. When he has a game like that and we have to go small ball, it's like pulling teeth. We really need him to step up and be more consistent. I wish I had an answer why he doesn't play better more often but it has not been a very good year for him so far. He needs to examine himself and find a way to compete and be more of a factor." Nelson on Stojakovic: "He is an incredible shooter. He and Dirk are some of the best in the league. He has an uncanny way to get his shot off. He's an excellent basketball player. Their whole team played very well. We didn't give them much competition; we tried hard in the 2nd half, but it was probably wishful thinking." Dirk Nowitzki: "We have to play with more intensity from the beginning on. Our defense in the 1st half was bad. They were getting whatever they wanted and they were killing us on the offensive glass. Pollard grabbed everything in there. We have to step it up for the entire 48 minutes." Nowitzki on Stojakovic: "Peja played great tonight and especially at the end of the game when they needed him. He was quiet in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, but when they needed him he was there. He made a lot of tough shots. When he makes those types of shots it's tough to beat them. We didn't lose on those jump shots; we lost the game in the 1st half. When you go down by 17 in the 1st half against a good team like the Kings you can't do that and expect to come back." Juwan Howard on Stojakovic: "He started lighting it up. One time, I was all in his face and he shot it so deep. We knew we were in for a long night." Shawn Bradley: "Not to put all the excuses on my health, but I've got to get my ankle right. I'm a step slow and not able to step up to take the blocked shots. And then my energy. I need to play with more energy. But if you want to put it all on me, I can take it." Adrian Griffin: "Sacramento has some real good players and they came out real hot and they put it on us. We didn't play that bad defensively, but at times we had a lot of loose balls and rebounds that we should have grabbed. They hit some tremendous shots, but it goes back to our defense that hurt us. We tried to turn it up in the 2nd half, but it was too late." Griffin: "I thought Dirk was going to the basketball hard tonight and I thought there could have been a few more fouls called in there, but on any given night sometimes you get the calls and sometimes you don't. Sacramento uses a lot of savvy moves and tricks, back-door plays and cutting to the basket. They know how to play well with each other and that really shows out there on the court." Sacramento Kings 110, Dallas Mavericks 98 at Dallas (November 29) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Sacramento 30 29 21 30 - 110 .507 .417 .494 .679 Dallas 23 19 29 27 - 98 .477 .348 .443 1.000 Halftime: Sacramento 59-42 3rd Q: Sacramento 80-71 Technicals: Dirk Nowitzki 8:14 3rd, Don Nelson 6:19 4th Refs: Steve Javie, Tony Brothers, Derek Collins Attendance: 18,384 (cap. 19,200) Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Scot Pollard 34 4-9 0-0 1-4 9 8-17 1 3 2 1 2 Predrag Stojakovic 42 13-19 2-4 4-5 32 0-6 1 1 1 2 0 Vlade Divac 31 3-10 0-0 1-2 7 5-11 3 0 2 2 2 Mike Bibby 41 5-13 0-0 4-4 14 0-3 5 2 2 1 0 Doug Christie 38 5-12 2-5 3-4 15 2-6 6 3 3 3 0 Hidayet Turkoglu 26 6-11 0-2 5-8 17 0-2 1 0 3 0 1 Bobby Jackson 27 7-13 1-1 1-1 16 1-2 1 3 2 0 0 Gerald Wallace 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 43-87 5-12 19-28 110 16-47 18 12 15 9 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 24 4-6 1-3 0-0 9 0-1 2 0 2 2 1 Dirk Nowitzki 39 12-20 1-3 4-4 29 4-11 1 2 4 1 1 Shawn Bradley 12 0-5 0-0 0-0 0 3-5 1 0 2 0 1 Michael Finley 44 9-20 1-5 2-2 21 0-5 3 4 3 1 1 Steve Nash 42 3-12 1-4 2-2 9 1-3 8 4 0 0 0 Tim Hardaway 26 6-12 4-8 0-0 16 0-3 6 1 4 1 1 Juwan Howard 30 4-10 0-0 4-4 12 3-9 2 3 6 0 0 Johnny Newman 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Donnell Harvey 10 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 1 1 0 Eduardo Najera 5 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 39-88 8-23 12-12 98 13-39 23 15 23 7 5 Dallas at Golden State (December 1) The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with neither team able to must much of a rally nor hang on to the lead. Dallas led 20-18 after 1. The game still stayed close in the 2nd quarter with the lead flipping back and forth. Golden State led 39-38 with 2:22 remaining and Dallas scored the next 5 points to go up 43-39 with 1:38 to go. Then it was time for some old fashion Nellie-style fun as the Mavs started intentionally fouling Adonal Foyle. Foyle, who was shooting just 17.8% FT, proceeded in missing 7 straight free throws before finally making one and Dallas scored 5 points during that span. Dallas unintentionally fouled Bob Sura at the quarter's end, but he missed both free throws. Dallas led 48-40 at the half. Golden State only shot 6-22 FT in the half (Dallas shot 11-12 FT). Golden State pulled within 45-50 with 10 minutes remaining, but Dallas plowed ahead with an overwhelming 24-4 run to go up 74-49 with 2:30 left. Steve Nash nailed a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left and Michael Finley hit a jumper with a second to go and Dallas led 87-58 after 3. Dallas out-scored Golden State 39-18 in the quarter as the Mavs shot 15-24 FG while Golden State shot 8-23 FG. The 4th quarter was pure garbage time as Dallas' lead even went into the 30s for a while. Golden State scored the last 8 points of the game to take the final margin out of the 30s. Dallas won 111-82. This was an easy win against a poor team that Dallas needed with the team facing Sacramento in Sacramento tonight - back-to-back - and then in LA to face the Lakers on Wednesday. The Mavs got the job done early in this game and was able to rest the big minute men for the entire 4th quarter. Dallas shot 50% (45-90) FG and Golden State shot just 39.8% (33-83) - and Dallas held even on the boards (49 each) against a good rebounding team. Golden State really hurt themselves by shooting just 16-38 FT and committing 21 turnovers. The shock of the night had to be Antawn Jamison not scoring a point and shooting 0-11 FG - he sat at the end of the 3rd and the entire 4th. His numbers won't show it, but Evan Eschmeyer played a good role in this game (most of his minutes were not in garbage time). He hustled and defended and was where the Mavs needed him to be for most of the game. He had 6 points and 9 rebounds and used all 6 fouls [the flagrant he was assessed should not have been called a flagrant]. Dirk Nowitzki led the way for Dallas with 21 points and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes. Michael Finley was the lead rebounder with 10 rebounds to go with his 14 points and 3 steals. Steve Nash had 13 points and 8 assists. Adrian Griffin had 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists and defended Jamison for most of the night. After 2 very poor outings, Shawn Bradley was not a negative in this game - nothing to complement, but nothing to complain about. Okay, changed my mind - I will complement him. He kept on playing despite his ankle obviously still bothering him - he was grimmacing a lot on the court. He had 6 points and 8 rebounds in 17 minutes. Everyone played and everyone scored for Dallas. Golden State was led by Danny Fortson's 17 points and 11 rebounds. Erick Dampier had 12 points on 5-7 FG and 2-7 FT and just 1 rebound. Larry Hughes had 10 points and Chris Mills had 11 points and no other Warrior was in double-digit. Starter Jason Richardson joined Jamison with a poor game. He had just 2 points on 1-6 FG and 0-2 FT. Quotes Don Nelson on Jamison: "First of all, he's got to be a little off. We did play him as well as we could play him. We did get good support when he had us beat, but a guy like Jamison is going to get off in the course of the game no matter how well you play him." Nelson on intentionally fouling Foyle: "I think it was about a 2, 3 point game and we couldn't stop them. So we thought that would be a way to get some possessions back. We knew he was shooting like 17% from the free throw line. It worked, but it wasn't a major part of the game. The major part of the game was that we came out and played defense for 48 minutes." Dirk Nowitzki: "We looked sharp on defense, and when we do that we're able to get our running game going. We were hitting a lot of shots in the 2nd half." Nowitzki: "It was great. That's what we wanted. Get a lot of rest and get everyone some playing time and that's what we did today and we know we've got a tough one tomorrow." Nowitzki: "They had a great game the other night at our place and looked great. They made shots and were rebounding. We really had a tough time there and at the end, we found a way to stop them a little bit and make some shots and win the game but it really was a close game the other night and tonight we were able to play a little bit better." Nowitzki on Foyle's free throw shooting: "If he can't make a free throw, then we are going to foul him, so we can have a chance to come back and get up by even more. In this league, you have to be able to make your free throws. It wasn't only him missing free throws, their entire team missed a lot of free throws combined. If they would have been able to make their free throws, they could have been up at the half. That was an important part of us going into halftime with the lead." Steve Nash: "We did a great job defensively and we're tough to beat when we do that. That's the key. When we play defense, we have a great chance to make a run at a team." Nash: "We picked up our defense and had some fast-break buckets. We made some shots and picked them apart offensively so we played well at both ends of the floor for a period of time and it's a key again where when we play defense, we have a great chance of making a run on a team." Adrian Griffin on defending Jamison: "I don't know if I did anything special against him. He had a few good looks. My teammates covered my back. I tried to overplay him. One of our main focuses coming into the game was trying to contain him." Dave Cowens: "They pressured us and took us out of our sets. We couldn't make a play. We missed all our shots - free throws, 3s. We couldn't loosen them up." Cowens on Foyle's free throw shooting: "You're going to be a pro basketball player, you've got to step up and make some. At least he made the last one. It's interesting, we shoot 25 free throws after practice and he makes 20 every game." Antawn Jamison: "I got good looks too. Of the 11 shots, only 3 were bad. I don't know what happened, unfortunately I didn't hit the shots. Maybe I wasn't focusing like I should." Jamison: "I mean out of 11 shots, I had about 2 or 3 bad shots. The rest of them, bread and butter, layups and open jumpers. It was one of those nights as soon as it left your hand you could just feel it. I'm not worried at all. It's something you got to learn from and just keep it in the suitcase and hope it doesn't happen again." Jamison: "I've got to mentally get back to where I've been. I'm not playing with any confidence and it's been showing lately." Larry Hughes on Jamison: "Sometimes you have a night like that. He is just going to come back stronger and figure out what happened. Make changes, if it's getting in different spots. But I'm sure he is going to come back strong." Adonal Foyle: "Missing those free throws take a lot of air out of you. It's free points and we could have been winning the game at halftime if we'd knocked down 3 quarters of those. That right there mentally destroyed us at halftime. But still, that's no excuse for not finishing up in the 3rd quarter." Danny Fortson on free throw shooting: "It was like the flu. Once one guy [got it] everyone starting getting it." Chris Mills: "In the 3rd quarter, everything kind of went down the tubes. It was crazy, we were down by 8 at halftime. Shooting the ball bad and stuff, we were right there. The 3rd quarter, I looked up and we were down by 22." Dallas Mavericks 111, Golden State Warriors 82 at Golden State (December 1) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 20 28 39 24 - 111 .534 .353 .500 .789 Golden State 18 22 18 24 - 82 .429 .000 .398 .421 Halftime: Dallas 48-40 3rd Q: Dallas 87-58 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 8:52 2nd Flagrant fouls: Evan Eschmeyer 3:06 2nd, Marc Jackson 0:49 4th Refs: Don Vaden, George Toliver, Danny Crawford Attendance: 14,1222 (cap 19,596) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 30 4-7 0-1 0-0 8 0-6 6 0 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 25 9-18 1-5 2-2 21 0-5 2 1 3 1 0 Shawn Bradley 17 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 2-8 0 0 3 2 2 Michael Finley 30 6-12 2-4 0-0 14 3-10 4 1 2 3 0 Steve Nash 28 3-6 1-2 6-7 13 2-3 8 0 3 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 15 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 3-9 0 2 6 0 1 Juwan Howard 21 4-12 0-0 3-4 11 0-2 2 1 3 1 0 Tim Hardaway 21 4-7 2-5 0-0 10 0-0 6 2 3 1 0 Johnny Newman 20 2-4 0-0 0-2 4 0-1 1 2 5 1 0 Danny Manning 16 5-6 0-0 0-0 10 1-2 4 0 3 0 0 Eduardo Najera 10 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 0-3 0 0 0 2 1 Donnell Harvey 7 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 45-90 6-17 15-19 111 11-49 34 9 34 11 4 Golden State Warriors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Danny Fortson 32 6-12 0-0 5-6 17 3-11 1 4 4 1 0 Antawn Jamison 24 0-11 0-1 0-0 0 2-5 0 1 0 0 0 Erick Dampier 19 5-7 0-0 2-7 12 1-1 0 4 4 0 1 Larry Hughes 33 5-11 0-1 0-0 10 2-3 3 2 1 0 1 Jason Richardson 26 1-6 0-1 0-2 2 0-5 4 1 3 0 0 Bob Sura 22 4-10 0-0 0-2 8 3-4 3 0 0 1 1 Adonal Foyle 10 0-2 0-0 1-8 1 0-3 0 1 0 0 1 Chris Mills 20 4-9 0-3 3-7 11 1-3 0 1 1 0 1 Troy Murphy 18 4-6 0-0 0-0 8 2-9 2 2 5 0 0 Mookie Blaylock 18 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2-3 1 1 1 1 0 Marc Jackson 9 2-3 0-0 5-6 9 1-2 1 2 3 0 0 Cedric Henderson 9 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-83 0-6 16-38 82 17-49 16 21 22 3 5 patricia