Still no word from Doug Christie and the status of his ankle as he is still in Seattle. Rumors are floating that he may retire. Jerry Stackhouse is still having problems with his knee and there is no time frame for his return. When ever he practices, it swells up. Keith Van Horn was in uniform for the Houston game, but did not play - coach's decision (probably precautionary due to his injured right middle finger). Houston at Dallas (November 22) Houston was short-handed as Tracy McGrady remained out with a strained back and Rafer Alston was also injured. Unfortunately, an opponent missing a star player is usually a bad thing for Dallas as for some reason the Mavs underperform in such cases. This game was no exception as Dallas looked very poor in the 1st quarter. How bad was it? Dallas did not collect a single rebound in the first 9 minutes of the game. Houston used a 9-2 run to go up 21-14 with 3:15 to go. 3 straight free throws by Yao Ming gave Houston their largest lead at 27-18 with 45 seconds left. Houston led 27-19 after 1. Dallas had to be feeling fortunate only to be down by 9 points as Houston shot 50% FG and 11-12 FT and Dallas shot 35% FG and 3-5 FT and the Rockets out-rebounded Dallas 14-7. Yao had 13 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 10 points. Dikembe Mutombo opened the 2nd quarter with a dunk to give Houston their first double-digit lead. Stromile Swift started the 2nd quarter and picked up 4 fouls in 7 minutes on the court. A jumper and 3-pointer by Derek Anderson gave Houston their largest lead at 50-38 with 2:45 to go. After a minute where the teams traded turnovers and misses, it became the Jason Terry show. Terry caught fire and spurred the Mavs to close the quarter with a 10-3 run over the last 2 minutes of the quarter. 3-pointers by Terry started and ended the run (with the last coming with just a couple of seconds left in the quarter) and he had 7 point during the run. Houston led 53-48 at the half. Dallas got a lecture during halftime and came out a little better in the 2nd half. Yao picked up his 4th foul early into the quarter, but stayed in the game and never picked up a 5th as the refs completely swallowed their whistles when ever he would commit a foul from there on out. Dallas opened the quarter with a 15-5 run to go up 65-58 with 6 minutes to go. The game then slowed down as it became a progression to the line as the next 8 points came from the line (including a brief appearance of Hack-a-Diop where DeSagana Diop was intentionally fouled off the ball - he hit 1-2 FT) and Dallas led 68-63 with 4:40 remaining. Dallas held a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Only a 3-pointer by Luther Head was scored in the last 2 minutes of the quarter. Dallas led 77-74 after 3. There were 27 free throws attempted in the quarter. Dallas scored the first 2 buckets of the 4th quarter to go up 81-74 with 10:45 left. Houston then went on an 8-1 run to pull within 82-83 with 8-20 remaining. After a 3-pointer by Terry, Anderson hit consecutive jumpers to tie the game at 86-86 with 6:30 to go. Nowitzki hit a jumper, Swift hit 1-2 FT, Diop hit 1-2 FT (again on Hack-a-Diop), and Nowitzki hit a jumper to give Dallas a 92-87 lead with 5:15 left. 4 straight free throws by Diop (not Hack-a-Diop) gave Dallas a 98-89 lead with 1:40 to go. Anderson hit a jumper with 1:25 left. Terry missed with a minute left, but Dallas got the offensive rebound and ran more time off the clock before Josh Howard missed. Head was fouled driving and hit both free throws to pull Houston within 93-98 with 32 seconds to go. Nowitzki was intentionally fouled and he hit both free throws. Head turned the ball over and 2 free throws by Terry capped the scoring. Dallas won 102-93. Once again Dallas played down to their competition. It's amazing: they've blown out Detroit and San Antonio and yet struggled against New Orleans, Atlanta, Utah (loss) and injury troubled Phoenix, Denver, and now Houston. Fortunately, Dallas did get their act somewhat together in the 2nd half and were able to come out with a win. After allowing Houston to shoot 53% FG in the 1st half, Dallas held them to 37% FG in the 2nd half. And after being out-rebounded 21-16 in the 1st half, Dallas out-rebounded Houston 29-13 in the 2nd half. For the game, Dallas shot 47.2% (34-72) FG including 7-15 3-pointers and Houston shot 44.9% (31-69) FG including 8-14 3-pointers. Both teams would have had easier nights if they had just done a better job of hitting their free throws. Dallas shot 27-41 FT (grumble) and Houston shot 23-31 FT. Despite not having a single rebound in the first 9 minutes of the game, Dallas ended up out-rebounding Houston 45-34 including 17-8 offensive. Both teams were fairly clean with the ball as Dallas had 10 turnovers and Houston had 12 turnovers. Thus ended Dallas' 4 game home stand - they won all 4 and are currently on a 6 game winning streak. Next up, after 2 days off, is a road-and-home back-to-back starting Friday and then a road back-to-back starting Monday. Jason Terry picked the team up at the end of the 2nd quarter which gave them a needed momentum boost going into halftime. He had a solid outing with 29 points including 11-18 FG and 4-8 3-pointers, 5 assists, and just 1 turnover. Dirk Nowitzki took advantage of Jeff Van Gundy for some strange reason of playing Derek Anderson on Nowitzki most of the game (the only thing I could come up with was maybe trying to keep Stromile Swift from picking up another foul) and Nowitzki had a game high 31 points including 11-19 FG. He also had 7 rebounds. The workman of the game was Josh Howard, who got banged up with a hard fall and then later got kneed in a sensitive place (and was called for the foul). He had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. He struggled with his shot some as he shot 5-14 FG. Erick Dampier missed the 2 shots he attempted and only shot 2-6 FT, but he helped with his defense on Yao Ming. The Rockets shied away some at going to Yao when Damp was on the floor and they went right to Yao when ever DeSagana Diop was matched against Yao. Dampier had 9 rebounds including 4 offensive. He was turnover prone with 5 turnovers (but one wasn't his fault as the pass was at his ankles in traffic and it was easy for the defender to knock it away). Marquis Daniels again started. His defense was poor in the 1st half, but improved in the 2nd half. He had 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. Devin Harris chipped in 7 points including 2-7 FG, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Outside of a monster block on Yao and Hack-a-Diop, Diop had a fairly quiet outing with 6 points on 6-8 FT, 2 rebounds (both offensive), and 2 blocks in 14 minutes. Josh Powell played 9 minutes and had 2 points and 3 rebounds. Once again Dallas gave a rookie a career night. Luther Head went nuts and the Mavs struggled to keep up with him - one of Avery Johnson's timeouts was a result of Head blowing by Harris for a layup and Powell and others not stepping in Head's path for the block or foul; Johnson yelled at a number of players in the huddle. Head had 28 points including 5-8 3-pointers, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. 15 of Yao Ming's 20 points came in the 1st half. He struggled with his shooting, especially late where he missed a couple of easy ones, in shooting just 6-17 FG. He also shot 8-9 FT and had 6 rebounds including 4 offensive. 14 of Derek Anderson's 19 points came in the 2nd half. He shot 7-10 FG and had 5 rebounds and 4 assists. No other Rocket was in double-digits. Stromile Swift had 9 points and 2 rebounds before fouling out in 19 minutes. He earned the coach's ire with an airball 3-pointer midway through the 4th quarter when the game was tight. Quotes Avery Johnson: "We won the game, but we are a work in progress. Tonight was a tale of 2 halves for us. We didn't defend very well in the 1st half. They put a lot of pressure on us. It was the Luther Head show. We had no answer for Luther tonight. We made some adjustments at halftime and came out with a better effort. We were fortunate to turn it around in the 2nd half. We turned the rebound game around. I am really disappointed with how we started the game off, but I am kind of glad we won the way we won so now they can start believing their own coach. They need to believe what I tell them about what team we have, where we are, how the league views us. Now they will realize what I am talking about." Johnson on the 1st quarter: "They came out and pretty much hammered us. Sometimes we just listen to the wrong voices. The Rockets probably haven't played their best basketball. But maybe our guys will listen to their coach from now on about what kind of team we have." Johnson on Diop: "We wanted to keep his confidence up. He's a good shooter and free throw shooter. We had a lot of confidence in him. He had a big block at the end of the game like he always does. Foul trouble kind of plagued him a little bit in the 1st half. I am trying to have our centers play collectively and consistently." Johnson on Terry: "Jason was looking to score, looking aggressive. I would like to see that consistently. I don't want him passing up his shot." Dirk Nowitzki: "We found a way to win and that's big." Nowitzki: "We made the game a lot harder than we should have." Josh Howard: "We started off sluggish in the 1st half with rebounding. Coach gave us a real stern talk at halftime and we came out in the 2nd half and did what we had to do to win the game." Howard: "We first wanted to control the rebounding game and we knew our offense we come around once we got comfortable." Howard on defending Houston: "We just tried to contain the perimeter. We knew that they were going to hit some shots from the outside and they did, but what it comes down to is that we shut them down when we needed to." Jason Terry on his run at the end of the 2nd quarter: "We needed an energy boost at that point. The guys rebounded and kicked it to me and I was able to knock them down." Terry on his run at the end of the 2nd quarter: "It was big as far as momentum. It gave us some energy." Terry on his run to end the 1st half: "It was big. It brought us energy and it carried over to the 2nd half where we came out aggressive. We showed heart to come back after not playing well in the 1st quarter." Devin Harris: "We just had to get stops in the 4th quarter. Rebounding was the most important thing. We went the first 9 minutes without getting a rebound and its hard to get our running game going when we can't get a rebound. Once we got stops and rebounds, it was just a matter of time before we got back into the game. We picked up the pressure right before half and we cut the lead and in the 2nd half we made the right adjustments and got enough stops to get the win." Harris on Terry at the end of the 2nd quarter: "That really carried over to the 2nd half. He knocked down the majority of his shots tonight. Dirk was Dirk tonight and Josh really hit the boards in the 2nd half. We didn't want to settle for jump shots, we wanted to penetrated and attack the way we normally do." Jeff Van Gundy on the difference in the 2 halves: "Well, we got crushed on the boards in the 2nd half. And they blew by us on the dribble." Van Gundy on Swift's 3-point attempt late in the game: "That was a bad read to throw him the ball there. Its obvious it was not a great shot, but it was a decoy play and Yao was open in the middle of the lane and we inbound the ball to the 3-point line." Van Gundy on Head's game: "Fair. Its not about individual performances, it's about playing well enough as a team to be successful. We're asking a lot right now, and he's working hard at the game. He's trying." Yao Ming on the 2 halves: "Yeah, its different. The 1st half I know what I need to do and where my teammates positioning is at. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves so we've got to step up." Yao on playing without McGrady: "I have to find a way to score and cover the defense, and that's with Tracy here or not." Derek Anderson: "I thought the whole game we played well. We just did some bad things at the end, a couple execution things on the offensive side, and they got the offensive rebounds. You play good D and they get the rebound, that was just about it. I thought we played hard. But you have to play hard, smart, and consistent in this league." Jon Barry on the end of the game: "Well, we couldn't get a stop or a rebound. When we did get a stop they got offensive rebounds. Terry had a good 2 on second chances and Nowitzki had 1, all 3s. Tough to win the game." Luther Head: "I don't feel good because you compete hard and you still get a loss. Who likes that? I made some shots, but it's not about one person. A lot of guys have got to step up." Head: "I had some shots I had confidence I would make. I just made some shots today. It's not about one person. Tracy is out, so a lot of people have to step up." Dallas Mavericks 102, Houston Rockets 93 at Dallas (November 22) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 19 29 29 25 - 102 .474 .467 .472 .659 Houston 27 26 21 19 - 93 .418 .571 .449 .742 Halftime: Houston 53-48 3rd Q: Dallas 77-74 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 4:34 1st, Houston defensive 3 seconds 2:09 Refs: Danny Crawford, Tom Washington, Tommy Nunez Jr Attendance: 20,304 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Keith Van Horn (sprained right middle finger), Tracy McGrady (strained back) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 44 11-18 4-8 3-3 29 2-3 5 1 3 2 0 Marquis Daniels 33 4-9 0-0 2-3 10 1-3 4 0 4 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 40 11-19 3-5 6-7 31 1-7 2 1 3 0 1 Josh Howard 40 5-14 0-2 5-7 15 3-11 2 2 3 2 0 Erick Dampier 29 0-2 0-0 2-6 2 4-9 0 5 2 1 1 Devin Harris 26 2-7 0-0 3-5 7 1-5 4 0 1 1 0 DeSagana Diop 14 0-0 0-0 6-8 6 2-2 1 0 4 0 2 Josh Powell 9 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 2-3 0 1 2 0 0 DJ Mbenga 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 1 0 0 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 2 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-72 7-15 27-41 102 17-45 19 10 22 6 5 Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Luther Head 43 9-17 5-8 5-5 28 0-7 3 3 5 0 0 David Wesley 27 1-2 0-0 3-4 5 0-1 2 2 2 0 0 Juwan Howard 27 1-5 0-0 1-2 3 2-6 1 0 3 0 0 Ryan Bowen 18 1-5 1-2 0-0 3 1-3 1 0 1 0 0 Yao Ming 37 6-17 0-0 8-9 20 4-6 0 3 4 2 1 Derek Anderson 31 7-10 2-3 3-4 19 1-5 4 0 4 1 2 Jon Barry 22 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 5 1 1 Stromile Swift 19 3-8 0-1 3-5 9 0-2 0 0 6 0 0 Dikembe Mutombo 10 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-3 0 0 1 0 0 Moochie Norris 6 1-2 0-0 0-2 2 0-0 3 0 2 1 0 Totals 48 31-69 8-14 23-31 93 8-34 15 12 33 5 4 Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! patricia