Orlando at Dallas (December 22) With Tracy McGrady not playing due to back spasms and Grant Hill out for the season, the Mavs again faced (as they have a couple of times this season) faced a team that was missing their best player or two. Orlando scored the first 5 points of the game, but Dallas went on a 12-5 run to go up 12-10 with 7:20 left. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter with neither team holding more than a 2 point lead. A jumper by Tim Hardaway gave Dallas a 24-21 lead after 1. 3-pointers by Wang Zhizhi surrounded a Troy Hudson jumper to open the 2nd quarter and Dallas led 30-23 a minute in. Dallas led 35-29 with 8:45 left and scored the next 7 points to go up 42-29 with 7 minutes remaining. Dallas led 44-35 with 4:15 to go and went on a 10-2 run to go up 54-37 with 1:35 left. Dallas led 58-41 at the half. Dallas shot 48% FG and Orlando shot just 31% FG. Dallas took a 22 point lead on 2 Michael Finley free throws to lead 65-43 with 10:15 remaining. Dallas led comfortably the rest of the quarter and led 78-58 after 3. Orlando opened the 4th quarter with a 9-1 run, including 7 points by Patrick Ewing, to pull within 67-79 with 8:45 to go, but 3-pointers by Hardaway and Steve Nash surrounded a Jeryl Sasser tip in to give Dallas an 85-69 lead with 7:45 remaining. 3-pointers by Wang and Hardaway gave Dallas their largest lead at 94-71 with 4:35 left. Dallas won 102-80. It was a game Dallas should have won easily and they did. Orlando struggled offensively shotting just 33.3% FG and only had 2 players in double-digits, while Dallas shot 43.2% FG and had 6 players in double-digits. With the balanced scoring, there was no dominate player for Dallas. Tim Hardaway was the high man with 18 points including 5-14 FG and 4-8 3-pointers and 5 assists. Michael Finley had 16 points and Steve Nash had 15 points and 5 assists. Dirk Nowitzki only had 12 points and 6 rebounds, but was limited in minutes (hardly played in the 2nd half) due to spraining his right ankle in the 1st half (his left ankle is the one that was bothering him before) - he only played 19 minutes. He is expected to play in Wednesday's game vs San Antonio. Eduardo Najera had his first ever double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Juwan Howard was quiet with 10 points and 5 rebounds. Wang Zhizhi had a very nice outing with 9 points on 3-8 FG and 3-6 3-pointers and was actually aggressive on the boards with 6 rebounds. And he actually passed the ball to collect his first regular season assist in his career (had 1 in the playoffs). His defense is still lacking, though, as Patrick Ewing felt like a kid again whenever Wang was guarding him. Shawn Bradley (sprained ankle) and Adrian Griffin (back spasms) did not play. Mike Miller led the way for Orlando with 20 points including 8-21 FG, but did not get much help as Ewing was the only other Magic player in double-digits with 16 points to go with his 5 rebounds. Horace Grant had 11 rebounds with his 5 points and no other Magic player deserves mention. Quotes Don Nelson: "We did a good job, what we were supposed to do. We took advantage of a team that had some of their best players out. We just had to be aggressive and keep doing what we've been doing over the last month or so." Nelson on Najera: "He got an opportunity when we were playing stale, and he's opened the eyes of the head coach. He was doing a lot of the hustle things at first. And now, he's doing more, he's making a contribution to this team." Nelson on Wang: "I keep telling you he is a player. The things that are hardest to learn in this league, he learns easily. The teachable things, he doesn't do so well. But he rebounded tonight, and this was a night we needed rebounds." Nelson on Nash: "Steve has made a lot of difficult shots. On a degree of difficulty scale, I'd say he's had quite a few that are 10s. He's making fadeaways, running floaters. But, we've encouraged him to shoot more this season, and he's doing it." Michael Finley: "It's a good feeling. We've taken our lumps earlier in the season. We've come into a pretty decent comfort zone as far as winning. We'll have to just continue to do what we've been doing to win these ballgames." Finley: "We didn't want a game like this to slip away." Finley on Hardaway: "Tim hit some big shots. At one point, it seemed like we couldn't get anything to go into the bucket. And Tim stepped up and made big shots. That's what he has been doing for us as of late." Tim Hardaway: "It was a team effort. We went out there and played hard. We just wanted to get this win before the Christmas break. They've got injuries and it's kind of tough on them right now. We've got a job to do - just win." Hardaway: "I'm having fun and enjoying it. I told everyone to bear with me and here it is." Eduardo Najera: "I knew that we needed rebounds for us to be able to win. As soon as I went into the game, I was trying to hit the boards. I didn't care at all about what offense I had, I just wanted to rebound." Doc Rivers: "It's tough to make shots when you don't have your guys who create shots. We were just trying to create points any way we could. It's tough, but I thought we never gave up. We kept trying to find a way, and that's positive." Rivers: "It's tough to make shots when you don't have guys to create shots, and two of the best creators are on the sidelines." Rivers on Miller: "He actually played very well to be banged up. Darrell was really struggling tonight. In retrospect, sometimes you think you shouldn't have even played them, especially Darrell, because he's so banged up." Mike Miller: "They just had a lot more firepower than we did tonight. Anytime you go out there, you have a chance to win you have to think like that but by the 4th quarter tonight, it was pretty obvious where this was going." Miller: "My back is a little sore, but that's part of the game. You've got to keep playing. I've got to try to get healthy before the next game. It doesn't matter who's out there on the court, we've got to come out there and see if we can get some wins." Darrell Armstrong: "We're banged up, no question. But the guys we had out there kept battling. You don't use that as an excuse. You just keep playing hard and hope for the best." Patrick Ewing: "They got everyone contributing, with 6 guys in double figures. That's tough to beat." Horace Grant: "The Mavs go 10 deep. You can't beat a team like that on pick-and-rolls the whole night, but that's all we've got now with T-Mac out. You need that inside-out game, which we don't have. It'll be different when he comes back." Dallas Mavericks 102, Orlando magic 80 at Dallas (December 22) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 24 34 20 24 - 102 .431 .435 .432 .815 Orlando 21 20 17 22 - 80 .385 .182 .333 .720 Halftime: Dallas 58-41 3rd Q: Dallas 78-58 Technical fouls: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 7:47 2nd, Juwan Howard 6:51 2nd, Andrew DeClercq 6:51 2nd, Eduardo Najera 0:42 2nd Refs: Mike Callahan, Tony Brothers, Jason Phillips Attendance: 19,920 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Shawn Bradley (sprained ankle), Adrian Griffin (back spasms), Tracy McGrady (back spasms) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 28 5-10 0-0 0-0 10 2-5 3 0 1 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 19 4-8 1-2 3-4 12 1-6 0 1 2 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 25 2-8 0-0 2-4 6 4-9 1 1 5 1 1 Michael Finley 39 5-11 0-1 6-7 16 0-3 4 1 0 0 0 Steve Nash 34 5-12 2-6 3-4 15 1-3 5 2 1 0 0 Eduardo Najera 29 4-7 0-0 2-2 10 5-10 1 0 3 0 1 Tim Hardaway 28 5-14 4-8 4-4 18 0-3 5 2 1 1 0 Wang Zhizhi 17 3-8 3-6 0-0 9 0-6 1 0 2 0 1 Danny Manning 10 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 0-1 2 0 0 0 0 Donnell Harvey 11 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-3 0 1 2 1 0 Totals 48 35-81 10-23 22-27 102 14-49 22 8 17 4 3 Orlando Magic REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Horace Grant 19 2-6 0-0 1-2 5 4-11 1 0 0 1 0 Monty Williams 24 3-6 0-0 2-4 8 3-7 0 3 2 0 1 Andrew DeClercq 15 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 3-4 1 0 0 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 24 2-11 1-8 1-2 6 3-3 4 1 3 0 0 Mike Miller 33 8-21 3-9 1-2 20 2-4 1 1 1 1 0 Pat Garrity 31 2-7 0-4 2-2 6 4-7 1 0 4 1 0 Troy Hudson 27 2-11 0-1 2-2 6 0-1 4 3 2 0 0 Don Reid 10 3-6 0-0 2-2 8 1-6 0 1 0 0 0 Jud Buechler 22 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-3 1 0 1 1 1 Jeryl Sasser 15 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 1-3 1 1 3 0 0 Patrick Ewing 20 5-11 0-0 6-7 16 1-5 1 3 3 0 1 Totals 48 29-87 4-22 18-25 80 22-54 15 13 19 4 3 ---- To all who celebrate Christmas, hope you have a very wonderful Christmas and are able to spend time with your family on tomorrow's special day! patricia