Steve Nash had 8 points and a team high 9 assists in 24 minutes and Dirk Nowitzki had 12 points and 8 rebounds in 24 minutes in the All-Star game as the West beat the East 135-120. Nash and Nowitzki were on the court at the same time when they were in the game. Steve Nash finished 3rd in the 3-point shooting contest. Nash had 15 points in the first round (Wesley Person had 21 points and Predrag Stojakovic had 22 points) to advance to the finals (top 3 advanced). Nash had 18 points in the finals. Person and Stojakovic both had 19 points and Stojakovic had 9 points and Person had 5 points in the 24 seconds tiebreaker. The NBA suspended Juwan Howard for 1 game and fined him $7,500 for throw an elbow at Jamaal Tinsley during the Dallas-Indiana game. Howard missed the New Jersey game. Dallas at Indiana (February 5) Indiana was playing without starter Jermaine O'Neal due to a sprained ankle. It was a high scoring affair in the 1st quarter as Dallas led 36-35 after 1. Michael Finley had 12 points in the quarter. In a bizarre incident, Don Nelson received a technical for calling a play (1-and-flop) as the ref thought Nelson was yelling at him when he was simply yelling at his players what play to run. Then Del Harris was hit for a technical when he tried explaining to the ref (a little vocally) that Nelson was just calling a play. The whistle happy refs hit Jamaal Tinsley with a T for complaining less than a minute later. The high scoring continued in the 2nd quarter and Dallas led 67-58 at the half. Dallas struggled to score in the 3rd quarter, but Indiana did not and the Pacers took an 89-85 lead after 3. Dallas regained their shooting touch and shot out to a 112-102 lead with 4:30 remaining. But the Pacers came back, with little used Austin Croshere playing a huge role with 8 points, with an 18-8 run to close the quarter. Dallas led 120-117 with a few seconds left and it was Pacers' ball under their own basket. Indiana inbounded to Croshere behind the arc and he pump-faked as Dirk Nowitzki flew by him and nailed the 3-pointer with a second left. Steve Nash missed at the buzzer and it was overtime at 120-120. The wildness continued in the overtime as the teams were able to match shots and the game was tied at 131-131 with 5.4 seconds left and Tinsley headed to the free throw line. He missed the first free throw and missed the second, but Nash grabbed Jeff Foster's wrist as Foster tried to grab the rebound and Nash was called for the foul. Foster went to the line and proceeded to clank both free throws and Nowitzki grabbed the rebound and Dallas called timeout with 1.3 seconds remaining. The ball was again in Nash's hands and he hit the runner, but it was ruled after time had expired and we had double-overtime at 131-131. The Pacers held small leads in the 2nd overtime and led 138-134 on a dunk by Austin Croshere. Tim Hardaway drained a 3-pointer, Croshere hit 2 free throws, and Nowitzki hit 2 free throws and the Pacers' lead was only 140-139 with 9.2 seconds left. Dallas did not allow the Pacers to inbounds to Reggie Miller and Indiana got the ball into Jonathan Bender, who was immediately fouled. Luck was still going Dallas' way as Bender missed both free throws and Dallas rebounded. Nowitzki was fouled driving and he made both free throws to give Dallas a 1 point lead with 3.6 seconds left. Dallas again covered Miller on the inbound and Finley tapped the inbounds out of bounds to knock some more time off the clock. With Miller still covered, Indiana got the ball into Bender on the baseline and his jumper clanked of the side of the backboard as time ran out. Dallas won 141-140 in double-overtime. What a wild and crazy game. Free throws simply lost the game for Indiana as the Pacers shot a mere 2-8 FT in the 2 overtimes and Dirk Nowitzki's 2 free throws gave the final margin. Dallas shot 38-42 FT and Indiana shot 28-37 FT. Free throws made were the difference in this game as Indiana made 3 more field goals than Dallas and 3 more 3-pointers. This was the first of a back-to-back series for Dallas and there was some concern about burnout for the next night's game due to the high minutes a number of players logged, but Dallas pulled out the W in this game. Michael Finley easily had his best game since his return from injury and played a team record tying (for a 2OT game) high 57 minutes. Finley had 31 points including 11-12 FT, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists. Nowitzki was a stud with 38 points on 10-22 FG, 4-8 3-pointers, and 14-15 FT and 17 rebounds in 53 minutes. Steve Nash chipped in 25 points and 10 assists and Tim Hardaway was the 4th Mav with 20+ points with 21 points on 9-13 FG and 3-6 3-pointers. Juwan Howard had 13 points and 5 rebounds. Jalen Rose had 33 points (but only 1-7 3-pointers), 5 rebounds, and 7 assists before fouling out in the 2nd overtime. Austin Croshere had a career high 32 points including 12-18 FG and 4-5 3-pointers and 12 rebounds off the bench - he got more minutes than usual due to Jermaine O'Neal's absence. Reggie Miller had 23 points including 5-11 3-pointers. Rookie Jamaal Tinsley was an assist-maniac with 19 assists to go with his 18 points on 5-16 FG, 4-9 3-pointers, and 4-6 FT in 56 minutes. Jeff Foster had a double-double with 11 points on 5-7 FG and 1-4 FT and 13 rebounds before fouling out in the 2nd overtime. Jonathan Bender had 11 points and Travis Best had 10 points. Indiana lost despite having 7 players score in double-digits. Quotes Don Nelson: "First of all I'd like to compliment the Pacers. The game could have gone either way. It was a very emotional game and it was a lot of in-and-out for both sides overall. We let it all hang out this game and I'm sure I burned out a few players for tomorrow's game. But we have some momentum on our side. So tomorrow well see what happens. Free throws are really why we won. We wanted to make sure to keep the ball out of Reggie's hands, especially in the end for free throw purposes. I have no comment on the officiating." Don Nelson: "The free throw won it for us and lost it for them. They certainly had opportunities to put us away and didn't. Chances are somebody's going to get a break when you miss your free throws. We were very lucky to win this game." Nelson on not letting Miller get the ball at the end of the game: "He was not going to get the ball. We had him double-played, overplayed, waylayed, and parlayed." Nelson: "Michael Finley had an outstanding game. It's the first game I've seen him have that kind of rhythm in a long time. That's why I left him in the game. I didn't want to take him out and have him lose that rhythm." Dirk Nowitzki: "They missed 4 free throws in a row there, so I guess we were lucky. We've been in close games before. We knew we could win it. Then they missed all those free throws and it gave us some life." Nowitzki: "It was a great win for us. It was real big to get this one tonight. I thought in the 1st half we shot the ball well and got a little lead at half time. The 3rd quarter was not too great and then in the 4th quarter the game could have gone either way. And then in overtime it just came down to the free throws. They missed all their free throws to help us win it. We are never afraid to shoot the ball. We are an up and down team, that's the way we like to play. The other day versus LA, we were just cold. Tonight we were a little hotter." Nowitzki: "I'm not tired; it was an emotional game. The emotions were flowing and it was just a fun game to be in. It was even more fun to win." Steve Nash on his shot at the end of regulation that was ruled after the buzzer: "Everyone who saw it on TV said that the clock started before I caught the ball. I caught the ball, I didn't even pump-fake, and I took a dribble and then shot it. If that takes 1.3 seconds, oh well." Nash on if he was tired, but commenting on the officiating: "Tired? I feel a bit more violated than anything else." Tim Hardaway: "I thought Tinsley was going to make his, even though he's a rookie, because he's a good free throw shooter. But Bender and the other guy, I knew they weren't going to make theirs because they've never been in that predicament before." Hardaway: "We were not lucky. We were able to gut it out and get the W. I thought that Jamaal Tinsley was going to make his because he is a good free throw shooter. When he missed the first one, I thought oh, that's cool, maybe he'll miss the second. I knew the other 2 guys weren't going to make them simply because they've never been in that predicament before. It's a big home game for them, they're still young, that's tough to do if you've never faced that situation before." Isiah Thomas: "It was kind of fun to watch. I thought both teams played well, but we lost and they won." Thomas on the missed free throws: "Thats part of growing up. The ends of games, pressure situations, young guys have to step up and make free throws." Thomas: "Austin played great. He hit some big shots and rebounded well. We missed an opportunity to win the basketball game tonight." Jalen Rose: "This is a tough one two swallow. I'm not into moral victories. We just have to step up there and make at least 1 free throw to make them have to make a shot. And we can't do it. That was the game." Rose: "We gave a valiant effort. We couldn't knock the shots down when we needed to. We had open looks but we just couldn't get it done. We've got to find a way to close these games out and put them in the win ledger. I can't dwell on personal stats because we lost the game. We just couldn't close it out. We've got to do a better job of that. Jamaal Tinsley: "You can't dwell on this because a loss is a loss and nobody is out there to lose basketball games. You might say it could have been luck of the draw, but free throws lost it for us." Tinsley: "I was tired but I wanted to play. I wanted to help this team win. We all know that the free throw line is our downfall. At the end of both overtimes we had chances to put the game away at the line." Austin Croshere: I was very disappointed, along with others, with this loss. We have lost 2 games here that we should have and could have won and gone into a break on a positive note. We are all pretty banged up right now and it's given me an opportunity to play a little more. This game allowed me to play through mistakes that I may not have been able to play through in other games. I only hope that when everyone is back that the rotation will still be there so I can get some meaningful minutes. I don't think this is a set back because I think that everybody played hard and everybody contributed." Jonathan Bender: "This was the wildest game I've played in. It was fun but not with the outcome. It would have been 10 times funner with the win." Dallas Mavericks 141, Indiana Pacers 140 at Indiana (February 5) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT 2OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 36 31 18 35 11 10 - 141 .486 .524 .495 .905 Indiana 35 23 31 31 11 9 - 140 .515 .424 .485 .757 Halftime: Dallas 67-58 3rd Q: Indiana 89-85 4th Q: 120-120 1st OT: 131-131 Technicals: Don Nelson 8:24 1st, Del Harris 8:24 1st, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 5:52 1st, Jamaal Tinsley, 5:06 1st, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 5:04 4th Flagrant fouls: Juwan Howard, 5:50 3rd Refs: Bill Spooner, Dee Kantner, Jim Clark Attendance: 15,530 (cap 18,500) Did not play due to injury: Greg Buckner (strained left calf), Eduardo Najera (left knee tendinitis), Jermaine O'Neal (sprained left ankle), Carlos Rogers (left shoulder strain) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 27 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-6 4 1 3 2 1 Juwan Howard 35 4-9 0-0 5-6 13 2-5 1 6 2 2 1 Dirk Nowitzki 53 10-22 4-8 14-15 38 2-17 1 5 3 3 0 Michael Finley 57 10-21 0-1 11-12 31 3-14 6 1 4 0 1 Steve Nash 45 9-17 2-3 5-5 25 0-1 10 3 4 0 0 Johnny Newman 12 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 1-1 0 0 3 1 1 Tim Hardaway 32 9-13 3-6 0-0 21 0-3 3 0 1 1 0 Shawn Bradley 14 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-3 0 1 2 0 1 Wang Zhizhi 15 3-5 2-3 1-2 9 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 58 46-93 11-21 38-42 141 9-51 25 19 22 9 5 Indiana Pacers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jalen Rose 45 12-25 1-7 8-8 33 1-5 7 2 6 0 0 Jonathan Bender 15 4-8 0-0 3-6 11 1-1 2 0 5 0 0 Jeff Foster 33 5-7 0-0 1-4 11 3-13 1 4 6 3 0 Reggie Miller 44 6-16 5-11 6-7 23 0-4 1 3 1 1 0 Jamaal Tinsley 56 5-16 4-9 4-6 18 1-4 19 4 4 2 1 Austin Croshere 37 12-18 4-5 4-4 32 3-12 1 1 4 0 1 Travis Best 37 4-7 0-1 2-2 10 0-1 5 1 6 2 1 Bruno Sundov 22 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-7 0 0 2 0 2 Norman Richardson 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 58 49-101 14-33 28-37 140 10-47 36 15 34 8 5 Dallas at New Jersey (February 6) In addition to having tired players due to the double-overtime game from the night before, Dallas only had 9 players dressed to play as Greg Buckner and Eduardo Najera were injured and Juwan Howard was suspended for throwing an elbow in the Indiana game. But that didn't stop Dallas from coming out hot and full of energy as Dallas surged to a 34-27 lead after 1. Dallas continued their strong shooting in the 2nd quarter and led 64-52 at the half. Dallas shot 55.8% FG in the half while New Jersey shot 38.8% FG. New Jersey opened the 3rd quarter with a 15-6 run to make it a tight game as Dallas could not rebound in the quarter. Rookie Jason Collins scored 6 straight points and 2 free throws from Dirk Nowitzki closed the quarter. New Jersey led 86-84 after 3. New Jersey out-rebounded Dallas 17-5 in the quarter. New Jersey led 98-96 with 6:15 left and went ice cold for the rest of the game as Dallas closed the game with a 16-2 run as New Jersey shot just 1-9 FG down the stretch. Dallas won 112-100. Wow. To me, this win was more surprising than the Indiana win the night before as I expected Dallas to come out flat after using so much energy in the double-overtime game, not arriving at their hotel until 5 am, only having 9 players available, and playing the current best team in the East. Just goes to show you to never count these Mavs out. Dallas shot great at 60% for 2-pointers and hit 27-27 FT - a team record for makes without a miss. Only 3-pointers weren't falling for Dallas (5-20). New Jersey struggled at just 40% FG and missed 8 free throws. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with 22 points and 9 rebounds and Steve Nash was stellar with 18 points on 7-9 FG and 2-2 FT, 8 rebounds, and 12 assists. Dallas got a surprise lift with 15 points from Wang Zhizhi and 14 points on 7-9 FG from Adrian Griffin. Michael Finley only had 10 points, but only attempted 9 shots and Tim Hardaway struggled with 11 points including 3-12 FG and 1-9 3-pointers. Kenyon Martin led the way for New Jersey with 26 points. Keith Van Horn had 21 points and 6 rebounds. Jason Kidd again struggled shooting against his former team (not as bad as the 1-17 FG the last time, though). He had 14 points including 5-15 FG, 12 assists, and 6 steals. No other Net was in double-digits. Quotes Nelson: "I've got a pretty special team. In terms of the skill of these guys, the injuries we've had, I've never had a better start." Nelson: "We've had the best start I think I've ever had at the halfway mark. I can't remember a better one." Dirk Nowitzki on the short time between the Indiana and New Jersey games: "We've been there before. You get used to it. I thought it would be tough to come back, but obviously it wasn't. We ran the floor with them, shared the ball, made shots and were able to grind it out in the end." Nowitzki on missing Howard: "It was tough out there. They had a lot of offensive rebounds. They had a lot of second shots, second opportunities, but we rebounded when we had to. If we had lost a tough one last night, tonight would've been a different story." Steve Nash: "We had to hang in there. There were times we could have folded our tents. We were tough-minded. We hung in there when things could have easily gone the other way." Nash: "I barely had enough left in me. It was a very difficult game for us considering the circumstances. I feel very proud of the way we played because it's very easy to take an early break when you have a game before the All-Star break. Especially with a back-to-back and a double overtime game last night that was draining. I feel good." Nash: "I barely had enough left in me. But when you think about it, you don't want to slow it down and grind with them in a halfcourt game. It's less tiring to run down court and try to sneak your points in." Tim Hardaway: "I'm very proud of this team, coming into 2 hostile places. After double overtime in Indiana, we had enough courage to come out here and play with only 9 people. We played a heck of a ballgame against the top team in the East." Hardaway: "We've got so many guys who can step up and make the big play." Byron Scott: "For whatever reason tonight, it really looked to me, in the 1st quarter especially, that we played last night and went to double overtime and that they were the team that was sitting there waiting on us. We just didn't have any energy for whatever reason. We were very soft defensively at the beginning of the game." Scott: "Offensively, we got in too many situations where the clock was running down and we had to make something happen. We didn't show a lot of discipline offensively. For whatever reason, we didn't have any energy. We were the ones who looked weary, punch-drunk. They were the better team tonight." Scott: We did a very bad job of executing. We never got into a flow offensively. We weren't aggressive. We got in too many situations where the clock was running down and somebody had to try and make something happen. We just didn't show a lot of discipline offensively tonight." Jason Kidd: "They're a team that likes to get the ball out and score. They want to want to get up and down. Their game is to play and get as many points and that means to try to get it into the 100s. They did that well tonight. They didn't look like the team that played last night; we looked like the team that played last night." Kidd on the end of the game where New Jersey shot 1-9 FG: "I think we just started rushing it, trying to get back into it as fast as we could. We were impatient." Kenyon Martin: "They made shots and we didn't make any. That's what the game came down to. Bottom line. There's not too much to say. We played their game tonight. We shot 29 3s. That's not our game. We settled for a lot of jump shots. We were normally pretty good at taking the ball to the hole but that wasn't the case tonight." Keith Van Horn: "We didn't attack the basket the way we should have. We were really ineffective against the zone, and they switched defenses and never allowed us to get in an offensive flow." Dallas Mavericks 112, New Jersey Nets 100 at Dallas (February 6) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 34 30 20 28 - 112 .603 .250 .513 1.000 New Jersey 27 25 34 14 - 100 .455 .276 .400 .667 Halftime: Dallas 64-52 3rd Q: New Jersey 86-84 Technicals: None Refs: Mark Wunderlich, Jim Capers, Tony Brothers Attendance: 16,179 (cap 20,049) Did not play due to injury: Greg Buckner (strained left calf), Juwan Howard (suspended), Eduardo Najera (left knee tendinitis) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Adrian Griffin 23 7-9 0-0 0-0 14 1-4 0 1 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 39 8-17 1-3 5-5 22 0-9 3 1 1 2 0 Shawn Bradley 24 2-6 0-0 4-4 8 0-3 0 1 3 1 3 Michael Finley 31 4-9 0-2 2-2 10 1-3 3 2 2 0 0 Steve Nash 41 7-9 2-2 2-2 18 1-8 12 4 1 0 0 Wang Zhizhi 19 4-7 1-4 6-6 15 0-1 0 1 5 0 0 Tim Hardaway 32 3-12 1-9 4-4 11 1-3 2 3 0 0 0 Danny Manning 19 4-6 0-0 0-0 8 2-4 0 1 4 1 0 Johnny Newman 12 1-3 0-0 4-4 6 1-2 0 0 1 1 0 Totals 48 40-78 5-20 27-27 112 7-37 20 14 19 6 3 New Jersey Nets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kenyon Martin 38 11-25 0-2 4-4 26 3-4 3 2 4 1 1 Keith Van_Horn 34 8-17 3-7 2-2 21 2-6 4 1 3 1 0 Todd MacCulloch 26 3-8 0-0 0-0 6 4-9 3 1 5 0 0 Jason Kidd 44 5-15 3-10 1-2 14 1-3 12 4 2 6 0 Kerry Kittles 32 4-9 1-5 0-0 9 2-9 2 3 1 2 0 Aaron Williams 6 0-0 0-0 3-4 3 1-2 0 0 3 0 1 Richard Jefferson 24 2-7 0-1 3-6 7 6-8 1 2 1 0 1 Lucious Harris 20 3-9 1-4 0-0 7 0-3 4 0 1 0 0 Brian Scalabrine 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 2 0 0 Jason Collins 12 2-5 0-0 3-6 7 4-4 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 38-95 8-29 16-24 100 23-49 29 13 23 10 3 patricia (finally almost over my cold)