Dallas at Minnesota (December 18) Minnesota placed Terrell Brandon on IR just prior to this game with a left knee injury. Dallas led 8-7 with 7:50 left and Minnesota went on an 18-5 run to go up 25-13 with 2:55 remaining. The teams traded 3-pointers to close the quarter and Minnesota led 30-19 after 1. Minnesota shot 13-25 FG and Dallas shot 6-20 FG in the quarter. Chauncey Billups had 11 points. Dallas pulled within 31-35 with 8:50 to go, but Minnesota scored the next 12 points to go up 47-31 with 5 minutes left. Minnesota took their largest lead at 58-36 with 2 minutes left as Dallas struggled mightly. Minnesota led 61-45 at the half. Minnesota had balanced scoring and Steve Nash had 11 points. Adrian Griffin left the game during the 2nd quarter with back spasms and did not return. Minnesota continued their dominance in the 3rd quarter with twice pushing their lead up to 22 points, the last being at 80-58 with 5:43 to go. Dallas didn't give up and ate away at Minnesota's lead. The Mavs closed the quarter with a 9-2 run and Minnesota led 86-73 after 3. The momentum had swung and Dallas continued to chisel away at Minnesota's lead (wasn't really a run). Minnesota led 94-87 with 5 minutes left and Michael Finley scored the next 7 points to tie the game at 96-96 with 2:20 to go. Joe Smith hit a turnaround jumper with 1:50 remaining. Finley missed a jumper, but Eduardo Najera got the rebound. Dallas got the ball to Finley in the corner and he drove baseline and exploded with the monster dunk over Smith to tie the game at 98-98 with 1:20 remaining. Wally Szczerbiak missed and Tim Hardaway drained the 18-foot jumper with 47 seconds remaining to give Dallas their first lead since 7:49 left in the 1st quarter. Szczerbiak drove for the layup to tie the game at 100-100 with 34 seconds left. Hardaway handed the ball to Dirk Nowitzki near the top of the arc, Nowitzki passed the ball back to Hardaway and set the screen, and Hardaway drained the clutch 3-pointer with 18 scored left. Minnesota had trouble running their play, but Kevin Garnett got a good look at the basket, but his 3-pointer rattled out. Nowitzki snagged the rebounds and was fouled. He hit both free throws. Najera made a dumb mistake by fouling a 3-point shooter with 4 seconds left and Sam Mitchell hit all 3. But the Mavs got the ball inbounded to Nash, who was fouled and he hit both free throws to seal the game. Dallas won 107-103. What a comeback. Of course, it would be nice if the Mavs wouldn't dig themselves such a big whole (the 8th time this season Dallas had a 20+ deficit and the 2nd time they've won after going down so deep - and they did rally back in a few of the losses). The 22 point deficit overcome tied the 2nd largest in Mavs history and was the largest give-away in Minnesota history. It was a tale of two halves (or more accurately, first 2 1/2 quarters vs last 1 1/2 quarters). Minnesota shot 51.1% FG and Dallas shot 35% FG while Minnesota out-rebounded Dallas 24-18 in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, Dallas shot 52.5% FG and Minnesota shot 39.5% FG while Dallas out-rebounded Minnesota 19-13. The 4th quarter, of course, was dominated by Dallas. Dallas out-scored Minnesota 34-17 in the 4th while shooting 9-18 FG and 14-15 FT (Minnesota was in the penalty with 8 minutes remaining) and Minnesota shot 7-22 FG and 3-5 FT. The two heros of the game were Michael Finley and Tim Hardaway. Finley had 11 points in the 3rd quarter and 10 in the 4th quarter, while only having 5 points (1-8 FG) in the 1st half. He finished with 26 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks (all in the 2nd half). Hardaway played the entire 4th quarter and 7 of his 15 points came in the quarter, including the 5 big ones. Dirk Nowitzki finished with 24 points (16 points in the 2nd half) and a team high 15 rebounds. Steve Nash was the only Mav to play steady throughout the game and had 23 points and 5 assists. Juwan Howard played terrible with just 3 points including 1-4 FG and did not play in the 4th quarter with Don Nelson electing to go with Eduardo Najera. Najera again provided what the Mavs needed in energy and rebounds, even though he made some mistakes at the end of the game. He had 7 points and 6 rebounds before fouling out with 4 seconds left. After dominating the Mavs last year to the tune of 27.3 points while shooting 55% FG and 14.7 rebounds, Garnett is struggling against Dallas this year. I had figured that Saturday's game where Garnett had just 23 points and 5 rebounds was an anomaly. But he came back with this stinker of a game. Garnett only had 15 points (6-15 FG) and 7 rebounds, but did have 6 assists. He only had 4 points in the 3rd quarter and had a donut in the 4th - and only attempted 3 shots in the quarter. Minnesota needed Garnett to step up with Dallas rallying back, but instead he disappeared. Give Dallas' defense some credit, but also credit Garnett with not being aggressive enough. Joe Smith was the only Timberwolf to show up in the 4th quarter as he had 10 of Minnesota's 17 points. He shot 5-5 FG in the quarter, but did miss 2 free throw attempts while Dallas was on their 7-0 run. Smith finished with 18 points including 7-11 FG and 7 rebounds before fouling out with 6 seconds left. Surprisingly, Chauncey Billups was the high man with 23 points including 4-7 3-pointers and 7 assists. He filled in nicely for the injued Terrell Brandon. Wally Szczerbiak had 13 points and Gary Trent had 10 points on 5-7 FG and 8 rebounds. It was an exciting game (though it didn't look to be for a good chunk of the game) between two teams already jostling each other for playoff position. The Mavs stole this one and really had no right to win this game for the way they played for 2 1/2 quarters. But the game does go for 48 minutes and Minnesota has no one to look at but themselves for letting this one slip away. A team has to play very well to comeback from a 20+ deficit, but they need a lot of help by their opponent playing poorly. Quotes Don Nelson: "It was clearly our best comeback of the year. You don't win many games like this coming from 22 down on the road against a good team. So we're going to cherish this one for as long as we can, which is about 24 hours. Along with being pretty good in the 4th quarter, we were lucky to even have a chance to win this game, because they really had us in serious trouble." Nelson: "Our best comeback of the year, and probably in a long time. We never gave up. We kept plugging away. We couldn't get anything going early, but we stayed with it - and thank goodness they had a cold shooting 4th quarter. I was reluctant to make any subs. I guess that's how you get experience. Eddie made 3 mistakes down the stretch, but he was big for us at the end." Nelson: "You don't win many games like this - coming from 22 down on the road, against a very good team. We know circumstances prevailed for us tonight. Minnesota's the kind of team we want to become this year. They're already there. We've made some positive steps in the last 2 games, and we've proven we can play with them." Nelson on Hardaway: "Tim's been playing with a lot more confidence in the last 2 weeks. In the first few weeks of the season, he wouldn't have hit those shots." Nelson on Hardaway: "We had the ball in his hands, we had action on both sides. He took what was available. That's his shot. He just rhythmed up. He's accustomed to making big shots." Michael Finley: "The Cardiac Mavericks are back." Finley: "It was a big win for us. A lot of people will not see the significance of it now, but later on in the season, when we're jockeying for playoff position - where one win might mean a position or 2 - the importance of this win will show." Finley: "Being one of the premier shooting teams in the league, no lead is too big for us to overcome. We know we have the shooters that can get us out of it." Finley: "I think the 1st half was not Dallas Maverick basketball. It wasn't me personally - I was playing a little passive. I just wanted to be aggressive. Coach Harris challenged me, Dirk, and Steve in the huddle and said the reason we're getting manhandled is because their team was manhandling the 3 of us. We took that personally. I just wanted to come out in the 3rd quarter and lead by example." Finley on his monster dunk: "My coach called my number. When your coach calls your number, you have even more confidence that you have to go out and make the play. In that situation, you want to make sure you're either going to get fouled or going to get an easy basket so that means going to the basket." Finley on his monster dunk: "I just wanted to make an aggressive play. The coach was calling my number and I had to come through. I either wanted to get fouled or get an easy basket, and Joe Smith - who's one of the premier shot blockers in the league - and the only play I had was to go up over him and dunk the ball." Finley on Hardaway's 3: "If you look at his career, he's made big shots. It was his chance to take advantage of the situation, not only with the 3, but with the 2 he hit before that. He just made some big shots for us and that's one of the reasons that we have him here." Steve Nash: "Minnesota's playing great this season. We were really lucky to get a win tonight. We've got to continue to develop. It's a situation where you have two very similar teams - a lot of depth, a lot of youth, we both like to get out and run in the open court and shoot a lot of 3-pointers. It's an exciting game when we play." Nash on the comeback: "I think we started making some shots and playing some defense. Most importantly, it's the defense. Any time a team has a huge lead like that, you have to play well defensively to come back." Nash: "We struggled early, and we kind of got it going and we stuck together. It's a game we could have easily gone away and let it go and came back on Thursday night at home. But we kept fighting and we stuck with it. Any time a team has a huge lead like that, you have to play well defensively to come back." Tim Hardaway: "We feel good about ourselves. Even though we dug ourselves a hole - a 22-point lead they had - we just had to come back. Teams have come back on us, we came back on them, and I think the defense we played at the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th quarter - that's when it started turning around. That's when we started making shots and we started playing really good defense." Hardaway on his 3-pointers: "I like taking big shots. I love the ball in my hands in game situations. I take big shots and I feel like I can make them. With hesitation, you come up short. Don't hesitate. I came off the screen-and-roll and Kevin Garnett gave me a lot of room and I shot it. I've got confidence in my stroke." Hardaway: "If I have the ball in my hands, I feel like I'm going to make the shot. Nothing has changed with me." Hardaway: "If I hesitate, I come up short, so I'm not going to hesitate and I'll make it. Kevin Garnett gave me too much room and I shot it." Hardaway: "That's big, that's big. It shows where we can go - what we can do, how we can play this game - if we just trust one another and understand what we're doing on the defensive end. We've got enough scorers. That's where you win games: defense, defense, defense." Hardaway: "It feels good to come back, down by 22 in someone else's gym. Their record is [good] and they're playing well. Even though they miss Brandon, Billups played a hell of a game tonight." Flip Saunders "Well, it's a bad loss. When you go out and you're missing Terrell and establish things early and play so well in the 1st half, it's tough to see things go the other way. The things we did so well to give us the lead - pound the glass, move the ball - we didn't do in the 2nd half." Saunders: "I told our guys Dallas has come back from 20 points down 6 times. A 20-point lead on these guys is like a 10-point lead on anybody else. We had some mental breakdowns." Saunders: "The 1st half we played a lot of zone. The 2nd half we couldn't get into it, because we couldn't put the ball in the basket." Saunders: "They were the more aggressive team in the last 20 minutes of the game - and in this matchup, whichever team is more aggressive has the upper hand. As I said before, we just stopped doing the things we do well." Kevin Garnett: "It's pretty frustrating. As one of the leaders of this team, you have to look at yourself first and see what you could have done differently. We just weren't aggressive come the 4th quarter. When a team's rolling, hitting the shots and in a rhythm, it's up to us as a team to take them out of it." Garnett: "You have to finish games out. And as a leader on this team, I have to make sure that everybody's heads are right and be ready to do that. I was not aggressive enough tonight for my teammates to follow." Garnett: "In the 1st half, we were just playing basketball. We were dominating and crashing the boards collectively. You could sort of sense they were going to make their run in the 3rd quarter. You have to finish games out. I've got to make sure everybody's ready, not lackadaisical and not complacent, so we can finish games out. I take that responsibility." Garnett: "I was not aggressive enough for my teammates to follow me. I take this one. It was just weird, man. I'm at a loss for words. But I've got to evaluate this, look at it and say, 'What could I have done better?' I could have done a whole bunch of things." Wally Szczerbiak: "We were very, very passive. We didn't push the ball up the floor. We didn't get any easy baskets. We just set up in the triangle, in the post, and ran the same play every time in the 2nd half." Wally Szczerbiak: "They took away what we wanted to do. They took away our passing angles, they pressured us, they knew every single play we ran." Szczerbiak: "They made some shots at the end, but they didn't have by any means an extraordinary shooting night. If you don't put a team away when you're supposed to, and keep the pedal to the metal like we've done all year. This is resorting back to some of the ugly losses that we've had in the past. We've just got to figure out a way as players not to let it happen again." Szczerbiak: "KG had 3 shots in the 4th quarter, and I had 4 in the 1st half. They were going to take out of the game who they needed to and we kind of let them." Szczerbiak: "You've got to get into a flow. We were in a flow, playing with each other and not thinking out there. Then we started to get to thinking. You start to break down when that happens. You've got to have each other's back, and believe in each other's abilities." Chauncey Billups: "This is a very disappointing loss. We felt we had it under control. We knew their history. They're a loosey-goosey team that likes to run up and down the court and shoot. It just went their way." Billups: "They get up and down, shoot a lot of 3, and just play. There were a couple loose balls that we didn't get, that we should've got. It just went their way." Billups: "We ran our sets. We got some good shots, but didn't knock 'em down. It just didn't go our way in the 4th quarter." Billups on Dallas' defense of Garnett: "They're fronting him and as soon as we'd lob it over the top, 2 guys were coming and he'd be off-balance, trying to pass it out." Billups: "Nash is doing it this year, but Hardaway off the bench makes their team that much stronger. To have a guy like that coming off the bench, with his history? Man." Dallas Mavericks 107, Minnesota Timberwolves 103 at Minnesota (December 18) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 19 26 28 34 - 107 .433 .450 .438 .875 Minnesota 30 31 25 17 - 103 .464 .429 .458 .840 Halftime: Minnesota 61-45 3rd Q: Minnesota 86-73 Technical fouls: Dirk Nowitzki 11:31 3rd, Don Nelson 6:45 3rd Flagrant fouls: Gary Trent 11:21 4th Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Leon Wood, Joe Henderson Attendance: 17,079 (cap 19,006) Did not play due to injury: Shawn Bradley (sprained ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 27 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 1-2 0 1 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 45 7-18 2-6 8-9 24 5-15 3 4 5 1 0 Evan Eschmeyer 10 1-3 0-0 2-2 4 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Michael Finley 46 9-22 1-4 7-8 26 1-7 5 1 0 0 3 Steve Nash 42 7-13 2-3 7-8 23 0-4 5 2 2 1 0 Wang Zhizhi 4 1-2 1-1 0-0 3 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Tim Hardaway 25 6-10 3-6 0-0 15 1-1 3 1 1 0 0 Adrian Griffin 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Eduardo Najera 19 2-3 0-0 3-3 7 1-6 1 0 6 1 0 Donnell Harvey 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 1 0 1 Danny Manning 7 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 35-80 9-20 28-32 107 10-37 17 11 20 3 4 Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kevin Garnett 42 6-15 0-1 3-3 15 2-7 6 4 4 0 2 Joe Smith 27 7-11 0-0 4-6 18 3-7 2 2 6 1 1 Radoslav Nesterovic 28 2-7 0-0 2-2 6 2-6 2 2 3 0 3 Chauncey Billups 41 7-17 4-7 5-5 23 0-2 7 0 4 1 0 Wally Szczerbiak 41 6-14 1-4 0-0 13 1-2 3 0 0 1 0 Gary Trent 21 5-7 0-0 0-0 10 4-8 0 2 3 0 1 William Avery 7 2-3 1-2 1-2 6 0-1 0 2 4 0 0 Sam Mitchell 9 1-1 0-0 4-5 6 0-0 2 0 2 0 0 Anthony Peeler 24 2-8 0-0 2-2 6 1-4 4 0 2 3 0 Totals 48 38-83 6-14 21-25 103 13-37 26 12 28 6 7 Milwaukee at Dallas (December 20) The game stayed close over the first half of the 1st quarter with Dallas mostly holding a small lead. Dallas led 18-14 with 4:15 remaining and scored the next 10 points, with 6 of them coming from Juwan Howard, to go up 28-14 with 2:30 left. Dallas led 31-20 after 1. Dallas led 36-26 with 9:50 to go and Milwaukee went on an 11-2 run, capped by a 3-point play by Darvin Ham, to pull within 37-38 with 6:50 left. Michael Redd converted a 3-point play with 4:10 remaining to give Milwaukee a 47-45 lead, but Steve Nash and Michael Finley hit 3-pointers and Dallas led 50-47 with 3:15 to go. Tim Hardaway hit a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left to give Dallas a 59-53 lead at the half. Dallas held a single-digit lead most of the 3rd quarter. The Mavs scored the last 7 points of the quarter to go up 87-75 after 3. The quarter was dominated by Nash and Finley as Nash had 14 points and Finley had 12 points - the only Mavs' point in the quarter not from those two were 2 free throws by Howard. Dallas led in the teens the entire 4th quarter, taking their largest lead at 105-88 with 5:45 remaining. Milwaukee scored 7 straight points to pull within 97-107, but Steve Nash scored the next 4 points. Dallas won 113-101. Wow. I must admit that I expected this to be a much tougher challenge. Though it was not a blowout, Dallas did control the game most of the way. Dallas shot 51.7% (45-87) FG and Milwaukee shot 38.9% (37-95) FG. And Milwaukee only out-rebounded Dallas by 3 at 53-50. The Mavs simply road the hot hand of Steve Nash and strong outing by Michael Finley - both had 33 points each. Nash shot 12-18 FG including 5-8 3-pointers and Finley shot 16-31 FG. Nash had 8 assists. Finley had 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Finley also played in his 31st complete 48 minute game as a Mavs [and understand that prior to Finley joining the team, there had been only 11 48 minute games (non-OT) by a Maverick]. Who would have thunk that Dirk Nowitzki would ever have a double-single with rebounds and points. Nowitzki couldn't find the basket with just 8 points on 3-14 FG and 1-2 FT, but snagged 12 rebounds [and this from a guy who couldn't rebound when he joined the league]. Tim Hardaway had yet another nice outing with 15 points. Juwan Howard was decent with 13 points including 4-6 FG and 9 rebounds. Danny Manning started and had 7 points and 8 rebounds. Eduardo Najera had a quiet game. For Milwaukee, both Glenn Robinson and Ray Allen had 21 points, but neither shot well. Robinson shot just 7-21 FG, but also had 8 rebounds. Allen shot 9-23 FG including 2-9 3-pointers and also had 8 rebounds, 4 steals, and 5 turnovers. Rookie Michael Redd continued his string of nice outings with 16 points including 3-3 3-pointers and 7 rebounds. Anthony Mason had 12 points and 9 rebounds and Sam Cassell had 12 points including 5-15 FG and 5 assists - he let the refs bother him, as sometimes occurs when he struggles. A very nice game from Dallas and not a good outing for Milwaukee. Quotes Don Nelson: "It was a high scoring game. I thought they did a good job guarding Nowitzki. I've seen other teams do a good job on him and he still ended up with 25 points. We withstood a poor shooting game by Nowitzki, although he did his job on the defensive end by rebounding. We withstood it because we have a pair of Larry Birds out there [referring to the 33 points Nash and Finley each scored]. Both of those guys are in a zone right now and that's great to see." Nelson: "They did a great job guarding Nowitzki, but I've seen other good jobs on him and he ends up with 25 or 30. But we withstood it and we got a pair of Larry Birds out there - a couple of 33s, for those of you new to sports writing. Both of those guys are just in a zone right now, I'm talking about Finley and Nash." Nelson: "We're on a bit of a roll right now. We're playing our best basketball of the year. It's really good to see. We've waited a long time to click like this offensively. Hardaway and Howard picked up the slack. I thought Manning did a good job in there too. He grabbed 8 rebounds and did a really good job. Eddie was great again. Everybody had to play really well to make up for the shooting slump that Nowitzki had. They're a good team, we really respect them and we were able to withstand them. I'm happy about that." Nelson: "We're on a bit of a roll right now. We're probably playing our best basketball of the year. I still think we've got some growing to do, but it's really good to see. We've waited a long time to see us click like that offensively." Michael Finley: "We played well tonight. Offensively we were flowing a little bit and defensively we had it going. We knew it was going to be a tough game and it was important for us to come out early and set the tone and we did that tonight." Finley: "The guys that came off the bench tonight did a great job as well. It was just a good game for us." Finley: "Confidence has never been a problem for us even after some of our losses. I always feel like this team can bounce back. Fortunately for us, we had a big win down in Minnesota and we were coming back to play at our home. This is a place where we need to win, in front of our fans and they got us going tonight. As of late, we have been performing very well and hopefully we can continue that." Finley: "Offensively, we can put up big numbers against any team in the league. It's our defense that's going to give us the big wins. We're taking a little more pride on the defensive end and hopefully we'll keep doing that." Finley: "Steve had it going in the 3rd quarter. I didn't think he was ever going to miss. For the most part he carried us, and then I was able to make some shots." Finley on Dallas' big 3 vs Milwaukee's big 3: "I didn't think it was a 3-on-3 contest. I thought whoever had the best team effort would win. Even with me and Steve scoring, everyone picked it up defensively. Offensively, guys came off the bench and knocked down big shots. As a team we won tonight." Finley: "Even if we had a wash between our 3 and their 3, it was going to come down to defense and the bench, and our bench played well tonight." Dirk Nowitzki: "I really wasn't showing up today, but Steve and Mike played phenomenal moving the ball and making big shots for us." Steve Nash: "We got in a rhythm in the 3rd quarter. It makes it easy on the team when you get hot from the perimeter." Nash: "When their big 3 don't all have a great game you seem to have a great chance of winning and I think you saw that." Tim Hardaway: "It's been like that all year. One of our big 3 always seems to have a big game; and when one doesn't, the others seem to pick it up." Eduardo Najera: "We came out tonight shooting the ball very well, especially Mike and Steve. They both had great games and they're the main reason that we won tonight." George Karl: "We never got control of the game. Nash did a great job. He had total control of the game. We fought our way back a couple times but they would make the 3 or Finley would make a spurt. We never got our big 3 really involved. They weren't making shots. Our best team was probably the team sitting on the bench most of the night." Karl: "We didn't play tough enough; we didn't play hard enough; and we didn't shoot it. Sometimes when you shoot it, you can get away with cheating the game a little bit." Karl: "You don't win on the road playing the way we played. We didn't play tough enough, we didn't play hard enough, and we didn't shoot it. Sometimes when you shoot it and make plays you can get away with cheating the game a little bit. But we didn't shoot it or play hard enough. Maybe if we had come back one more time in the 4th quarter, we might have dug in and made some plays. Dallas is playing well and they give us match-up problems in general. Mike Finley and Steve Nash just kicked our butts." Karl: "I think my team has to start playing better together. My big 3 are talented all-stars, but right now we have not meshed as well as Dallas is meshing. We're holding onto the ball a little bit too long, we're playing in a crowd too often, and we're taking too many challenged shots." Ray Allen on Dallas' play: "Consistently throughout the whole game, they executed offensively. They ran the ball. They played just the way we want to play all the time. I think we didn't respect that. A lot of times we didn't get back in transition and they ran. The way they played today is the way I love to play, the way this team should play, the way we are supposed to play. We played that way a lot more last year, but it's not happening this time." Allen: "I think on our team we've become too selfish with the ball. We've become too selfish with the ball. We don't let the ball find a good shot and from the times I've watched them - just outside this game - they have played just like that. They're not selfish, they know they need each other and I think we are still not learning that yet." Allen: "I thought Steve was their catalyst tonight. He's so unselfish, and it's contagious with his teammates. He passes the ball in transition and gets his teammates open looks. Any time you get that confidence going real early, your shot comes around nicely." Sam Cassell: "It was a good game. They shot the ball well. They shot the ball extremely well tonight. They hit tough shots and we gave them some easy shots." Cassell: "We didn't play our style of game. We missed a lot of easy shots as a team, including myself. That happens, it don't happen usually, but it does happen. We can't hold our heads down about it. It's one game and we have to move forward." Anthony Mason: "It's very disappointing because every time we think we're making headway, we revert back. When I'm asked if we're there, I say it will take more games before we can even conceive that we're there. When we look like we're making headway, we go into a game with total disregard for effort on both ends. That's very disappointing because I think effort wins this game." Dallas Mavericks 113, Milwaukee Bucks 101 at Dallas (December 20) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 31 28 28 26 - 113 .581 .360 .517 .667 Milwaukee 20 33 22 26 - 101 .377 .444 .389 .792 Halftime: Dallas 59-53 3rd Q: Dallas 87-75 Technical fouls: Sam Cassell 8:40 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 3:06 2nd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 10:06 3rd, Dirk Nowitzki 6:51 3rd, Glenn Robinson 4:36 3rd, Milwaukee defensive 3 seconds 11:46 4th Refs: Ed F. Rush, Bill Kennedy, Jim Clark Attendance: 19,780 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Shawn Bradley (sprained ankle), Adrian Griffin (back spasms), Jason Caffey (strained left hip flexor) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 38 4-6 0-0 5-8 13 3-9 1 1 4 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 33 3-14 1-5 1-2 8 2-12 4 4 5 1 2 Danny Manning 27 2-3 0-0 3-4 7 3-8 1 2 3 0 2 Michael Finley 48 16-31 1-6 0-1 33 1-8 8 2 3 1 0 Steve Nash 39 12-18 5-8 4-5 33 1-4 8 3 1 1 1 Tim Hardaway 22 6-11 2-5 1-1 15 0-0 3 0 0 1 0 Eduardo Najera 25 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-6 1 0 5 3 1 Evan Eschmeyer 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-3 1 1 1 0 0 Wang Zhizhi 1 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 45-87 9-25 14-21 113 11-50 27 13 22 9 6 Milwaukee Bucks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Anthony Mason 35 5-9 0-0 2-2 12 3-9 2 0 2 0 0 Glenn Robinson 33 7-21 2-4 5-5 21 2-8 4 2 3 0 1 Joel Przybilla 9 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 1 1 2 0 0 Ray Allen 35 9-23 2-9 1-1 21 4-8 3 5 1 4 0 Sam Cassell 31 5-15 0-0 2-3 12 0-3 5 2 3 3 0 Ervin Johnson 11 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 0 0 0 Tim Thomas 26 3-9 1-2 2-3 9 1-3 1 1 2 0 3 Michael Redd 25 6-12 3-3 1-1 16 2-7 2 0 0 1 1 Darvin Ham 28 1-3 0-0 6-9 8 6-11 1 3 3 1 1 Rafer Alston 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Mark Pope 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 37-95 8-18 19-24 101 20-53 19 14 16 9 6 patricia