Steve Nash missed the last 3 practices due to the flu. He did play in the
Clippers game.
LA Clippers at Dallas (April 4)
Dallas came out really sluggish and the Clippers shot out to a 12-2 lead
with 8:40 remaining. Dallas finally started to play and scored the next 8
points. The Clippers led 16-15 with 4:20 to go and scored the next 10
points to go up 26-15 with 3 minutes left. Dirk Nowitzki hit a jumper at
the buzzer and the Clippers led 27-21 after 1. Corey Maggette scored 9
points. The teams traded baskets and Dallas scored 6 straight points to tie
the game at 29-29 with 8:30 left. The Clippers scored the next 6 points to
hang on to a single-digit lead. Steve Nash drove for a wild layup with 4
seconds remaining to give Dallas their first lead of the game. Dallas led
44-43 at the half. Dallas mostly held a single-digit lead in the 3rd
quarter. Dallas led 70-67 with 2 minutes to go and scored the last 7 points
of the quarter to go up 78-68 after 3. Dirk Nowitzki had 11 points in the
quarter. The Clippers scored the first 5 points of the 4th quarter to pull
within 73-78 with 10:40 to go, but Dallas then went on a 20-6 run to go up
99-79 with 6:30 left. The run was capped by a beautiful baseline drive,
behind the basket flip up and in by Michael Finley - Finley was fouled
driving and the refs first waved the basket off and then huddled and
reversed their call (counting the basket was the correct call as Finley
never put the ball back down). Not surprisingly, Alvin Gentry was not happy
with the call reverse and picked up a technical protesting (Nowitzki made
the T free throw and Finley missed the foul free throw). Maggette hit a
3-pointer, but Dallas scored the next 8 points to push their lead to 107-82
with 3:45 remaining. Dallas led in the 20s the rest of the game. Dallas
won 115-90.
Dallas had yet another slow open and it was a really ugly 1st half. I'm
still surprised that Dallas actually had the lead at the half - even more
surprising was that both teams were shooting in the high 40s in the half as
it seemed that both teams were struggling to find the basket. The game
improved in the 3rd quarter as both teams picked up their play - and picked
up the pace. Dallas just kicked it into a higher gear in the 4th quarter.
It seemed like one minute Dallas had a single-digit lead and the next minute
Dallas had a 20 point lead. Dallas out-scored the Clippers 37-22 in the 4th
quarter and 71-47 in the 2nd half. Dallas shot 52.6% (50-95) FG and the
Clippers shot 43% (34-79) FG. Dallas also out-rebounded the Clippers 50-39
including 18-14 offensive. Dirk Nowitzki led the way with 25 points
including 9-14 FG and 8 rebounds. Michael Finley had 20 points including,
10 points in the 4th quarter, and 5 assists. Nick Van Exel had his 2nd
start as a Mav and, as with his other start, the Mavs struggled in the 1st
quarter - I don't like him as a starter with this team (no problem with
playing Nash and Van Exel at the same time in the 4th, though). 8 of Van
Exel's 12 points came in the 4th quarter. Steve Nash was turnover prone
early, but finished with 11 points, 7 assists, and 4 turnovers. Greg
Buckner had a very nice game with 13 points including 6-7 FG and 5 rebounds.
Evan Eschmeyer had 4 points and 10 rebounds including 5 offensive in just 15
minutes in his first game in a month. The Clippers were led by Michael
Olowokandi, who dominated Dallas inside, with 19 points and 8 rebounds, but
also had 7 turnovers. Elton Brand had 13 points and 9 rebounds including 7
offensive. Jeff McInnis had 17 points and Corey Maggette was the 4th
Clipper in double-digits with 16 points.
Quotes
Don Nelson: "We have a showdown in San Antonio. It will be an important
game and I think both teams are looking forward to that. It will certainly
have a playoff intensity and atmosphere down there and I am looking forward
to it. Tonight we had a very slow start and I guess that was to be
expected. I have had Nash out for 3 practice days. I had to explain to
our team at half time what happened to [the Clippers] in Utah when they let
their guard down and lost an important game. We didn't want the same thing
to happen to us. We played a very fine 2nd half, although we weren't
really in control until the 4th quarter. At least we played with intensity
for all but 6 or 7 minutes of the game."
Nelson: "I have been a Buckner fan a long time. Even without Buckner in
the lineup, we are doing so well and that surprised me. To have him back
and have him in our rotation makes me very comfortable. He is really a
good basketball player. He compliments the guys on the team. Not only
does he defend, but he is working on his jumper and playing a little point
guard. He is comfortable running a couple of sets. He puts a burden on
the other team."
Nelson: "Eschmeyer was very strong tonight. It was a kind of game that I
expected him to do well in and he did. Bradley was also very active and
pretty good. If I can get those big guys to play at that level every
night, we are pretty solid at the center spot. I thought Raef struggled a
little bit and seemed a little uncomfortable out there. Nick seems to be
fitting in better than Raef now. They have kind of reversed their roles
[Van Exel struggled right after the trade and LaFrentz played well].
Hopefully before this is all over they will be comfortable in their roles."
Dirk Nowitzki: "We weren't ready at the beginning of the game, we looked
a little rusty. But in the 2nd half, we played some defense, started
running, and made some shots."
Nick Van Exel: "The intensity was down in the 1st half. We started off
slow in the 1st quarter. Steve, like he's been doing since I got here,
coming out and trying to pick up the tempo to get it to where we like to
play. Once we did that, it opened the game up."
Van Exel on Dallas' 2nd half defense: "The defense was great. They didn't
get as many open looks at the basket. We slowed Olowokandi down, we
changed up our defensive mindset, and we tried to get him out of the game
as best as we could and make other players beat us."
Van Exel on if Dallas was looking ahead to San Antonio: "That's overrated -
looking ahead. You don't really think about the next game. It may look
like it when we start off sluggish, but we just didn't come out with the
intensity we needed."
Raef LaFrentz on the 3rd quarter: "The match-up was good - I had Olowokandi
on me. We were going to try and involve him in the pick-and-roll and try
to get some open looks that way. I was able to knock down some shots."
LaFrentz on not looking past the Clippers to the San Antonio game: "Not
hard at all, really. This game is as big as that game. We had to win this
game to get to the showdown, so we really took it one game at a time. We
had to win tonight in order to make Saturday night more important."
Alvin Gentry: "They have a lot of weapons. I thought we played well the
1st half. We did a pretty good job, but we had a breakdown on
screen-and-rolls. You have to guard them on the screen-and-rolls. I
thought our effort was good but we gave up too many points in the 2nd half.
We didn't score like we did earlier in the season [against Dallas]."
Gentry: "We had some points where we played some good basketball, so it
shows the potential of this team."
Gentry: "They just outplayed us in the 2nd half. They got some separation.
They made some plays and we didn't."
Gentry: "They didn't make any adjustments. We just missed shots. You have
to score 100 points to beat this team. We were averaging 116 against them
and tonight we got 90.''
Gentry on Dallas: "They're good. They've got something to play for. They
feel like they have something to play for. They feel like they are going
to go deep into the playoffs so they are looking to get home court
advantage as far as they can. LaFrentz and Van Exel make them that much
better."
Elton Brand: "We still have a shot at a winning record, we still have a
shot at .500. Since the playoffs are out of reach, that is one of our
goals now."
Darius Miles: "We're playing hard, we're just not executing. So we really
didn't deserve to win."
Michael Olowokandi: "They played very well. They're the Dallas Mavericks,
No. 1. We were lacking on the defensive end. It crumbled from the top
and it exposes everything down below. People need to know what they need
to do. I'm not sure if it is ability or effort."
Olowokandi: "The last 3 games are indicative of our season. We had some
points where we played some good basketball, so it shoes the potential of
this team. This summer will bring a lot of shuffling. I'm sure the GM
and all the people whose responsibilities are to pull this basketball team
together, will make some good changes to make us a very competitive
basketball team next year. "
Olowokandi on miss a team meeting, which was why he did not start: "I'm
sorry I violated team policy, but I thought it was more important for me
to get some rest. We were back-to-back and we got in at 2 in the morning."
Dallas Mavericks 115, Los Angeles Clippers 90 at Dallas (April 4)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Dallas 21 23 34 37 - 115 .556 .357 .526 .714
LA Clippers 27 16 25 22 - 90 .492 .222 .430 .692
Halftime: Dallas 44-43
3rd Q: Dallas 78-68
Technicals: LA Clippers defensive 3 seconds 3:24 2nd, Alvin Gentry 6:27
4th
Refs: Danny Crawford, Jason Phillips, Sean Corbin
Attendance: 20,050 (sellout)
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Michael Finley 36 10-19 0-4 0-1 20 2-4 5 1 3 1 1
Dirk Nowitzki 37 9-14 2-3 5-5 25 2-8 2 2 1 2 1
Raef LaFrentz 20 3-10 1-3 2-4 9 2-6 0 1 5 0 0
Steve Nash 24 5-8 0-1 1-1 11 0-1 7 4 1 0 0
Nick Van_Exel 23 5-12 2-2 0-0 12 1-3 4 1 0 0 1
Greg Buckner 32 6-7 0-0 1-2 13 1-5 1 2 2 1 3
Evan Eschmeyer 15 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 5-10 1 0 4 0 1
Adrian Griffin 20 4-7 0-1 1-1 9 1-4 2 0 3 0 0
Eduardo Najera 15 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 1-4 0 0 0 1 0
Shawn Bradley 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 3-3 2 0 2 0 1
Avery Johnson 5 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 0-2 0 0 0 0 0
Wang Zhizhi 4 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 50-95 5-14 10-14 115 18-50 24 11 21 5 8
Los Angeles Clippers REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Elton Brand 36 4-8 0-0 5-6 13 7-9 3 2 1 1 2
Corey Maggette 33 5-12 1-5 5-6 16 0-1 2 1 2 1 0
Sean Rooks 8 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 2 0 0
Jeff McInnis 35 6-14 3-6 2-2 17 0-4 2 1 3 2 0
Eric Piatkowski 28 2-9 0-4 0-0 4 1-5 0 0 2 1 0
Michael Olowokandi 34 8-14 0-0 3-8 19 3-8 3 7 2 1 2
Earl Boykins 13 3-5 0-0 0-0 6 0-0 1 1 1 0 0
Quentin Richardson 25 2-8 0-2 0-0 4 1-3 3 0 0 1 0
Darius Miles 23 3-3 0-0 3-4 9 2-8 1 2 1 0 0
Doug Overton 2 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Harold Jamison 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0
Tremaine Fowlkes 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 34-79 4-18 18-26 90 14-39 15 15 14 7 4
patricia
(off to San Antone)