Another game, another injury. Keith Van Horn suffered a bruised right hip during the Lakers game and did not return. He also missed the Phoenix game, but was back in action for the Orlando game. Josh Howard did not play in the 2nd half of the Lakers' game due to his sprained ankle tightening up, but was fine for the rest of the home stand. Another game, another injury. Marquis Daniels suffered a strained neck on a flagrant foul by Kurt Thomas during the Phoenix game and left the game. He missed the next 2 games due to the injury. Hey, we made it through the Orlando and Minnesota games without a new injury! Jerry Stackhouse is practicing with the team and hopes start his season Friday vs Seattle. Darrell Armstrong was given the microphone prior to the Minnesota game to wish the fans happy holidays. A long time Washington fan, he couldn't resist throwing in, "And how about them Redskins!" (Washington blewout the Cowboys 35-7 earlier in the day). The comment drew laughs, groans, and some boos. The team got the last laugh as Dallas fined Armstrong $1,000 for the comment and said that they will contact the Cowboys and ask them which charity they would like the money to be sent to. LA Lakers at Dallas (December 12) Josh Howard returned to action after missing 8 games with a sprained right ankle. Dallas scored 5 straight points to go up 17-12 with 6 minutes to go, but that was the largest lead of the quarter. A jumper by Kobe Bryant and 3-pointer by Sasha Vujacic put the Lakers up 26-25 with 2 minutes left. 2 free throws by Dallas and a bucket by the Lakers was all that was scored over the rest of the quarter. The Lakers led 28-27 after 1. Bryant had 12 points. The Lakers shot 54% FG and Dallas shot 42% FG, but Dallas shot 10-11 FT while the Lakers shot just 1-2 FT. After the teams traded buckets to open the 2nd quarter, the Lakers scored 10 straight points to go up 40-29 with 7:50 remaining, but that would be their largest lead of the quarter. Early in the quarter, Keith Van Horn went down hard and left the game with a bruised right hip and did not return. The Lakers led 56-48 with 1:45 left and Dallas closed the quarter with an 8-2 run. The Lakers led 58-56 at the half. Bryant was up to 27 points as Dallas couldn't do anything with him. Howard did not play in the 2nd half due to his ankle tightening up during halftime. The Lakers led 64-58 with 9:30 left and Dallas then went on a 17-5 run to go up 75-69 with 5 minutes to go. Dallas held a small lead the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 87-82 after 3. A jumper by Devean George pulled the Lakers within 90-91 with 8 minutes remaining, but Dallas then scored the next 5 points to go up 96-90 with 5:25 to go. The Lakers then went on a 9-2 run to go up 99-98 with 2:40 left. Dallas hit 4 straight free throws to regain the lead at 102-99 with 2 minutes to go. The Lakers missed, but got the rebound and set up their offense again. Kwame Brown got 2 inside with 1:20 left. Jason Terry missed. The clock was running down and the ball got knocked loose, but Bryant got it back and turned and flung a 3-pointer in at the shot clock buzzer to put the Lakers up 104-102 with 34 seconds remaining and Dallas called timeout (their last). Bryant blocked DeSagana Diop, but Bryant fouled Diop on the rebound, sending him to the line. Diop hit 1-2 FT with 27 seconds left. Dallas wasted time, but eventually intentionally fouled Bryant and he went to the line with 18 seconds to go. He hit the 1st, but missed the 2nd, but Dallas did a poor job of boxing out and Luke Walton got the rebound and was fouled. Walton hit both free throws to make it a 4 point game. Devin Harris came down an nailed a 3-pointer with 8 seconds left (Dallas' first field goal in 5:40). Smush Parker was fouled and he hit both free throws with 5 seconds to go. Terry brought the ball up and his long heave clanked off the back of the rim. To add injury to insult, Dirk Nowitzki got inadvertently smacked in the face after the final buzzer and was down on the court for a few minutes (he didn't miss any games). The Lakers won 109-106. It wasn't a good performance by Dallas as they couldn't do anything right defensively. I think Avery Johnson described Dallas' performance perfected when he said that the team looked lethargic all night. In a year where Dallas is emphasizing defense, the Lakers shot 50% (39-78) FG including 5-15 3-pointers and let Kobe Bryant go off for 43 points. Dallas shot 46.7% (34-73) FG including 4-13 3-pointers. Dallas can look in the mirror for this loss as they missed 4 free throws in the last 6 minutes of the game and didn't box out on a critical rebound after Bryant's miss late in the game. Dallas lost despite having a really high 44 free throws attempted (they missed 10 in a 3 point loss). The Lakers shot 26-30 FT. With all the fouls, most of the big men for both teams were in foul trouble. Dallas did out-rebound the Lakers 47-35 including 17-10 offensive. Both teams were clean with the ball as Dallas had 10 turnovers and the Lakers had 8 turnovers. No question the star of the game was Kobe Bryant. Dallas could do nothing to contain him. Bryant had 43 points on 15-33 FG and 10-12 FT, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals. And he got a little bit of surprise help from from Kwame Brown. Brown had 12 points on a perfect 6-6 FG and 4 rebounds. Lamar Odom had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. He also had 5 assists. Chris Mihm had 10 points. Luke Walton only played 7 minutes, but he had 7 rebounds including 4 offensive and a critical one late in the game. Dirk Nowitzki led the way for Dallas with 27 points including 9-12 FT and 15 rebounds (only 1 offensive). Marquis Daniels was solid with 23 points including 9-15 FG and 6 rebounds including 4 offensive. Jason Terry had 20 points and 5 assists. And Devin Harris had 19 points including 10-10 FT. Yup, Dallas lost despite having 4 players with 19+ points. DeSagana Diop had 7 points and 8 rebounds including 5 offensive. Erick Dampier was limited to 16 minutes due to foul trouble. He had 2 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 fouls in that time. Thanks to the foul trouble, DJ Mbenga saw action late in the 2nd quarter and had one of the highlights of the night (Bryant had all the others) with a stuff on a Bryant slam attempt. Quotes Phil Jackson: "Well, we had a short time out, under 2 minutes to play, and things were going a little bit south for us and some things happened to us. I told our guys to play smart and stay within the context of what we're trying to get accomplished out there. We were able to come back from that little 5 point deficit late in that game and get that win. It was a substantial win. It was a good win for us." Jackson: "It's a confidence builder for this team. It shows we can overcome odds." Jackson on Bryant's 3-pointer: "Well, he had to double kip on the thing to get enough energy on that shot. It was quite an effort to get that shot up there. We're not amazed, to say the least. We are trawled by it and it's a beautiful thing to see, but its something we've grown accustom to over the years." Jackson on resting Bryant to start the 4th quarter: "He said he wasn't ready to come out. But then he sat down for a while, came back, and made a shot like that. We wanted him to rest his legs. Your legs can suffer when you take as many shots as he does." Jackson on Brown: "All of a sudden he played so well we had to leave him in the ballgame." Kobe Bryant on his 3-pointer: "It was just a broken play. I was going to pick it up and launch it earlier than that, but the ball kind of got away from me and I picked it up, took a look at the clock and saw that I had 1 second and from experience I knew I could square my shoulders up in time to get a good look at it." Bryant on the comeback: "We're getting much better at being poised and executing our system even though we may be down 5 points late in the 4th quarter. We just stick to doing what we do and just being patience and get good looks and relying on our defense to get big stops." Bryant on sitting to open the 4th quarter: "It was funny. I didn't want to come out of the game, period. We [he and Phil Johnson] had a fun exchange. He knows how competitive I am and how badly I wanted to win this game. But he also saw a couple of my shots were falling short." Bryant on Brown: "I'm very happy for Kwame, the way he played tonight in the 4th quarter. He was posting hard. I'm happy for him." Kwame Brown: "I was just trying to get the trust back from my teammates. I know how it is when you're on a team and they're expecting big things from you and they haven't gotten them. Teammates start to look away from you, you look down on yourself, so hopefully I can show them I can catch the ball, for one thing, and I can move. But it's only one game." Avery Johnson: "We were just battling up hill all night. We couldn't get anything going. We started off the game probably the worst we've started in the last 10 games. We were lethargic, didn't have any energy, didn't move the ball. We only had 5 assists at the half. Our attitude tonight, I couldn't put my finger on it. I thought we tried to come back and battle a little bit in the 3rd quarter - we got to the basket a little bit - but our defense wasn't very good at all tonight. We just couldn't bounce back tonight. Kobe hit a tough shot on us with a second to go on the clock and we couldn't come back and win in the 4th quarter with our defense like we have recently." Johnson on why the team wasn't focused: "I can't put my finger on it. I don't like losing period and losing at home really stings. I think we tried a little bit in the 3rd quarter, got some energy and got the ball moving a little bit. Devin came in and gave us a little spark. We thought we guarded Kobe pretty good in that stretch, but he finished pretty strong." Johnson on using timeouts: "We needed to use them. We were on our heels all night and we felt the ones we did call we benefited from it because we needed them. We couldn't get it in gear tonight." Dirk Nowitzki: "It was a tough loss. It could have gone either way, but Kobe made a tough shot from I don't know how many feet." Nowitzki: "Our offense was good enough to win the game, but defensively we started off soft. They got whatever they wanted." Nowitzki on Bryant: "We know he's one of the best scorers in the league. Obviously, that shot he made was unbelievable. He was well beyond the 3-point line and that's why he's the man that he is. We expected him to have a big game" Nowitzki: "Kwame Brown was huge down the stretch. You expect Kobe to make some plays, but not Kwame Brown. I think we did a poor job on him. Kwame Brown can't have 5 or 6 layups down the stretch." Nowitzki on getting popped in the face after the final buzzer: "My neck popped a little bit. I'll be stiff tomorrow, but I'll be all right." Josh Howard on the loss: "It's disappointing, but we had opportunities and couldn't pull it out. I really can't point a finger at what we did wrong or how we did it wrong, but guys competed tonight and that was a good thing." Josh Howard on Bryant: "He got his 30 shots up and he hit half of them. He was regular Kobe tonight; he played a great game." Howard on his ankle: "I wanted to be out there [in the second half], but the ankle got stiff at halftime and coach said it was best not to play." Keith Van Horn on his injury: "They said I may have messed up a nerve in my hip or my back. Hopefully it will be all right in the morning and we'll go from there." Devin Harris: "It hurts a little bit with him [Bryant] hitting a shot 40-feet away from the basket falling away. We had chances - squandered a lead in the 4th quarter - so we didn't deserve to win this game because we didn't execute the way we have in the past couple games." Harris on Bryant: "A lot of his shots were easy. Just normal shots where he got into the pocket; not making his shots tough. We did a better job in the 2nd half; trapping him a little bit more, making his catches a little bit tougher, and we got a little bit of a lead. In the end, he hit some tough shots." Harris on why the energy level was low: "Can't really say. It was just one of those days, I guess. We struggled early and picked it up in the 2nd half, but it wasn't enough for us." DeSagana Diop on going 1-2 FT near the end: "That was a tough one. If I make that free throw or rebound [Bryant's missed foul shot], it could have been different." Los Angeles Lakers 109, Dallas Mavericks 106 at Dallas (December 12) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% LA Lakers 28 30 24 27 - 109 .540 .333 .500 .867 Dallas 27 29 31 19 - 106 .500 .308 .466 .773 Halftime: LA Lakers 58-56 3rd Q: Dallas 87-82 Technicals: none Refs: Dick Bavetta, Bill Kennedy, Pat Fraher Attendance: 19,680 (sellout) Los Angeles Lakers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kobe Bryant 43 15-33 3-9 10-12 43 2-5 2 2 3 4 1 Smush Parker 26 1-4 0-1 3-4 5 0-1 4 1 4 1 0 Lamar Odom 38 5-9 0-0 5-6 15 3-11 5 3 5 0 0 Brian Cook 17 0-2 0-0 4-4 4 0-0 0 1 4 1 0 Chris Mihm 17 4-6 0-0 2-2 10 1-2 1 0 3 1 0 Kwame Brown 27 6-6 0-0 0-0 12 0-4 3 0 3 0 0 Devean George 25 3-10 1-3 0-0 7 0-3 0 0 5 0 0 Sash Vujacic 22 1-2 1-1 0-0 3 0-1 2 0 3 0 0 Laron Profit 17 3-4 0-1 0-0 6 0-1 0 1 4 0 0 Luke Walton 7 1-2 0-0 2-2 4 4-7 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 39-78 5-15 26-30 109 10-35 17 8 35 7 1 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Marquis Daniels 44 9-15 0-1 5-5 23 4-6 3 2 4 0 1 Jason Terry 38 5-13 3-7 7-9 20 0-1 5 0 1 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 42 9-20 0-3 9-12 27 1-15 2 4 4 0 1 Josh Howard 12 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-3 0 1 1 1 0 Erick Dampier 16 1-1 0-0 0-2 2 2-4 1 0 5 0 1 DeSagana Diop 30 2-5 0-0 3-4 7 5-8 0 0 3 0 1 Adrian Griffin 27 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 3-4 1 1 3 0 0 Devin Harris 22 4-8 1-1 10-10 19 0-3 1 0 2 1 0 Keith Van_Horn 5 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 1 0 0 Josh Powell 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 1 0 0 DJ Mbenga 3 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 1-1 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 48 34-73 4-13 34-44 106 17-47 13 10 25 4 5 Phoenix at Dallas (December 14) Dallas faced a team as snake bitten as they were. In addition to Jerry Stackhouse's continued absence, Keith Van Horn did not play. In addition to Amare Stoudemire's continued absence, Leandro Barbosa and James Jones did not play. Citing the team's good play while he was out, Josh Howard asked to come off the bench. Phoenix lead early and a 3-pointer by Steve Nash gave Phoenix a 15-8 lead with 7 minutes remaining. Dallas then went on a 22-4 monster run to go up 30-19 with 45 seconds to go. Phoenix scored the last 5 points of the quarter. Dallas led 30-24 after 1. Dallas out-scored Phoenix 20-4 in the paint. Dallas opened the 2nd quarter with a 6-2 mini-run to go up 38-28 with 8 minutes left. Dallas led the rest of the quarter, but could not get their lead larger than 11 points. Dallas led 52-44 at the half. For the half, Dallas shot 47% FG and Phoenix shot 37% FG. Phoenix scored the first 6 points of the 3rd quarter to pull within 50-52 with 10 minutes remaining, but Dallas then scored the next 6 points and continued to lead. Kurt Thomas wacked Marquis Daniels across the head and was assessed a flagrant foul. Daniels stayed in the game for a few more minutes, but then left for good with 5:15 to go with a strained neck. Dallas led 77-70 after 3. Dallas' lead hovered around 10 points over the first 4 minutes of the 4th quarter. Phoenix scored 6 straight points to pull within 84-90 with 7 minutes left, but Jason Terry ended the run with a 3-pointer. Dallas led 97-90 with 3:30 to go and Thomas connected on consecutive buckets to pull Phoenix within 94-97 with 2:25 remaining. Phoenix used Hack-a-Diop in intentionally fouling DeSagana Diop and he missed both free throws, but Shawn Marion missed on the other end. With the shot clock running down, Devin Harris drove for a layup with 1:30 remaining to put Dallas up 99-94. The teams traded 2 free throws and there was a minute to go. Nash missed with 50 seconds left and Terry missed with 28 seconds to go. Nowitzki blocked Boris Diaw's attempt out of bounds and Phoenix called timeout with 19 seconds remaining. Marion missed and a free throw by Harris capped the scoring. Dallas won 102-96. It was an entertaining game, though Dallas made life difficult for themselves by missing so many free throws. Dallas shot 18-32 FT. Phoenix shot 16-20 FT. From the field, Dallas shot 46.1% (41-89) FG including 2-12 3-pointers and Phoenix shot 39.8% (37-93) FG including 6-21 3-pointers. The Mavs dominated Phoenix in the paint in out-scoring them 52-30 inside. The Mavs also out-rebounded Phoenix 54-44 including 15-9 offensive. Both teams were clean with the ball with 8 turnovers each. And both teams went with tight rotations as Phoenix played 7 players and Dallas played 8 (and lost one during the game). Coming off the bench suited Josh Howard (though he returned to a starter in the next game) as he had a career high 18 rebounds including 5 offensive to go with his 15 points. Dirk Nowitzki also had a double-double with 29 points and 13 rebounds. 6 of his boards were offensive! [He averaged only a little over 1 per game prior to this game.] Erick Dampier was the 3rd Mav with double-digit rebounding with 12 boards. He also had 3 points on 1-4 FG and 1-4 FT. Jason Terry was solid with 23 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. Marquis Daniels had 15 points before leaving during the 3rd quarter. Devin Harris had 13 points and 4 assists. Adrian Griffin had 4 points and 5 rebounds. DeSagana Diop was the only other Mav to play and he had no points, 1 rebound, and 1 block in 15 minutes. Shawn Marion was a monster on the boards, but missed a couple of shots late. He had 23 points and 19 rebounds. Steve Nash looked great in the 1st half with 16 points including 5-12 FG, but only had 4 points including 1-6 FG in the 2nd half. He also only had 5 assists for the game. Boris Diaw had 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists (with everyone wondering why he didn't produce in Atlanta [okay, only those who remembered that he was with Atlanta last season]). Kurt Thomas had 14 points and 7 rebounds before fouling out with 2:40 left in the game. Raja Bell had 12 points including 4-14 FG and 0-6 3-pointers. Quotes Avery Johnson: "We are obviously thankful for this win. We got off to a good start in the 1st quarter and set the tone for the whole game. I thought our defense was pretty steady and we are fortunate that they shot below 40%. We tried to contest as many shots as we could and tried to make it tough on a lot of their scorers. They only had one guy in double figures at the half and a lot of their other guys caught fire in the 2nd half, but we closed it off in the last 2 minutes of the game." Johnson on Howard: "Josh bounced back for us with a career high 18 rebounds. Damp got 12 rebounds for us and Dirk got 6 offensive rebounds, which is something we have been talking about. It was a tough game, a tough win and we were fortunate to win this game." Johnson: "Last game we only scored 22 points in the paint and that is not our game. That tells me we are relying only on our jumpshots. We saw Dirk with a jumphook in the paint tonight, which is something that has been inconsistent, but he tried tonight to get in there and make some plays. Our 3-point shooting wasn't good tonight. We were 2-12 from the 3. We didn't shoot free throws really well either, so it was good we got those points in the paint." Dirk Nowitzki: "We all know they play a small lineup with Amare out. I think we did a great job of getting down and getting some people post positions, taking it to the basket. They don't really have a shot blocker down there. We worked the offensive glass pretty good with Josh, myself, Damp, and everybody. I think when they go small, you've got to punish them inside a little bit and I thought we did a decent job of that." Nowitzki: "Our defense was a lot better. They spread the floor with so many shooters. They're still a tough team. They kept on battling and battling, and stayed in the game. But for us, we needed this win." Nowitzki: "It's great to have [Howard] back. He's one of our most active players on both ends of the floor. He's looking good. He's looking like the normal Josh, the regular Josh. He's all over the place, jumping over the rim, and it's great to see." Nowitzki: "We have a long way to go. So far we've done all right. We beat some good teams. We showed some progress on defense every once and a while. We're not consistent enough yet, but we're right up there with everybody else. I don't think there's one team that we have to be scared of. We can beat anybody at home or on the road. I think we have a chance in every game." Josh Howard: "I just went out there and tried to do what I could do to help my team." Howard: "Everybody on the team is sold on Avery's defensive scheme and that was to stop the pick-n-roll and to call out switches and to communicate a whole lot better than what we have been doing in the past." Howard on 52 points in the paint: "That just comes from guys working hard, trying to get in the right position and let the perimeter players find us." Howard on his health: I wouldn't say that I'm a 100%, but like I said before I just have to do what I do to help this team win." Howard on asking to come off the bench: "I didn't have a reason. Things had been going pretty well with that other lineup. I just wanted to try it and see how it went. When I got out there, I just tried to help the team however I could." Jason Terry: "I thought everyone came out and played great tonight, but take your hat off to Josh Howard. This guys out there on one leg and he's giving it all he has. He did a lot of hard work rehabbing just to get back to practice, let alone come out and give us the effort he gave us tonight with 18 rebounds and 15 points. He was just tremendous all night long." Terry: "Well, we know our strength is our depth and if someone goes down we can make do. We hate to see the injuries, but at the same time we're not going to let that stop us. We keep fighting on and tonight we did the job defensively. We just played hard and contested their shots and rebound and we won the rebound game tonight." Terry on 52 points in the paint: "With or without a defensive presence in the middle, in this league you have to win the points in the paint. Usually the team that wins that battle wins the game. That was a big emphasis after the Laker game." Terry on Nash: "We were just trying to contain him. He's the toughest guard in the league to stay with." Terry: "I just tried to stay aggressive. They were going under on the pick-n-roll so I had to make them pay. Dirk's doing a great job of screening them tight and getting me open. My job is to put it in the hole and make plays." Mike D'Antoni: "We played as hard as we could. I think overall it was a good game. It was exciting, but we didn't quite have enough. Every time it seemed like we had a shot to get within 1 point or even, we didn't make it, and on the road you have to make big shots. We could not do that tonight." D'Antoni: "If you're going to be small, you can't be slow. It's a bad combination." D'Antoni on how Phoenix has remained competitive without Stoudemire: "Having Steve Nash and Shawn Marion. You have to have talent and we have a lot of talent even with Amare out. Shawn goes for 23 points and 19 rebounds. We have great players. With Leandro Barbosa's speed being out and not having James Jones to hit some shots, we don't quite have enough right now. That's no excuse for Monday night or the games coming up. We just have to find ways to win; hold serve until we get some of our reinforcements back." D'Antoni on being out-rebounded and giving up 20 2nd chance points: "They have a big team and that's their game. It's predicated on size; that's their strength. The only thing that bothered me in the 1st half was that they had 12 2nd chance points. You don't give them 12 2nd chance points, shoot 37% and think you are up at halftime. We were only down 8 and I thought that was pretty good. Even at the end of the game, you shoot 39% and have a chance to win and they get 20 2nd chance points. We are doing something good. We just have to be more diligent about getting the ball. Any loose balls have to be ours. We have to be quicker to the ball." Steve Nash: "I didn't shoot well and you have to give them some credit for that. If we were a healthy team, we would be concerned, but it's tough when you are playing with a short bench. We've just got to stay confident." Shawn Marion on only playing 7 players: "It's tough, but at the same time we put ourselves in a situation to win the game. I think we just let them get too many 2nd chance points. They did some things early that we weren't ready for. We figured it out, but other than that I thought we had a chance to win the game." Marion on lossing 3 straight games: "It happens, it's part the game. You got to look at closing this road trip 2-1. It's a 3 game road trip right now and we need to go 2-1." Raja Bell on Dallas going inside: "When we did defend it, they got the rebound and put it back in. I'm sure they saw us as someone who was undermanned and thin in the post." Jim Jackson: "They killed us on the board. They had too many 2nd chance points. I think that was the deciding point of the game." Dallas Mavericks 102, Phoenix Suns 96 at Dallas (December 14) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 30 22 25 25 - 102 .506 .167 .451 .563 Phoenix 24 20 26 26 - 96 .431 .286 .398 .800 Halftime: Dallas 52-44 3rd Q: Dallas 77-70 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 7:57 2nd Flagrant fouls: Kurt Thomas (level 1) 7:54 3rd Refs: Joe DeRosa, Ron Olesiak, Derrick Collins Attendance: 19,731 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Leandro Barbosa (knee sprain), Sharrod Ford (sprained ankle), James Jones (sprained ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 41 10-22 2-6 1-1 23 1-3 4 2 3 1 0 Marquis Daniels 27 5-12 0-0 5-6 15 0-1 1 0 0 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 44 12-24 0-2 5-6 29 6-13 3 1 2 1 3 Adrian Griffin 16 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 0-5 0 0 3 0 0 Erick Dampier 31 1-4 0-0 1-4 3 3-12 0 1 3 0 2 Josh Howard 35 6-14 0-2 3-8 15 5-18 0 0 2 1 1 Devin Harris 30 5-8 0-2 3-5 13 0-1 4 3 4 1 0 DeSagana Diop 15 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0-1 0 1 1 0 1 Totals 48 41-89 2-12 18-32 102 15-54 12 8 18 5 7 Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Raja Bell 46 4-14 0-6 4-4 12 1-4 3 2 4 0 1 Steve Nash 40 6-18 1-3 7-7 20 0-3 5 1 3 0 0 Boris Diaw 43 7-19 0-0 0-0 14 2-8 5 2 1 0 1 Shawn Marion 41 7-16 4-6 5-8 23 3-19 3 2 3 1 1 Kurt Thomas 31 7-8 0-0 0-1 14 2-7 0 0 6 0 2 Jim Jackson 20 2-6 0-2 0-0 4 0-1 2 0 4 1 0 Eddie House 18 4-12 1-4 0-0 9 1-2 3 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 37-93 6-21 16-20 96 9-44 21 8 24 2 5 Orlando at Dallas (December 16) Marquis Daniels did not play due to his strained neck, but Keith Van Horn returned to action after missing the previous game with a bruised hip. Grant Hill was playing in his second game of the season. Dallas went on a 17-4 run, started by a 3-pointer and ended with a 3-point play by Josh Howard as Howard had 10 points during the run, to go up 19-9 with 6 minutes to go. A 3-pointer by Jason Terry gave Dallas their largest lead at 24-11 with 4:15 remaining, but Orlando then closed the quarter with a 10-2 run. Dallas led 26-21 after 1. The game stayed close in the 2nd quarter with either the game tied or Dallas holding a small lead, none larger than 5 points. Orlando scored the last 5 points of the quarter and the game was tied at 48-48 at the half. Both teams shot around 46% FG for the half. The game stayed close in the 3rd quarter with 5 points again the largest lead. Orlando led 59-54 with 7 minutes left and Dallas then scored the next 9 points to go up 63-59 with 4:30 to go. Orlando again closed a quarter strong in scoring the last 6 points of the quarter to go up 67-66 after 3. Dallas opened the 4th quarter with an 11-3 run to go up 77-70 with 8:40 remaining. A dunk by Erick Dampier gave Dallas a 91-83 lead with 4:30 left. Orlando then scored the next 7 points to pull within 90-91 with 2 minutes to go. Terry hit 2 free throws and Hill converted a 3-point play to tie the game at 93-93 with a minute left - the foul was on Howard, his 6th. Terry missed with 40 seconds left and Hill missed with 25 seconds left. Dallas ran the clock down and Dirk Nowitzki's jumper was short and we had overtime at 93-93. Nowitzki had 10 points in the 4th quarter. Dallas missed their last 8 shots of regulation. The teams traded misses to open the extra session and then the teams traded 2 points on each possession over the next 2 minutes and the game was tied at 99-99 with 2 minutes remaining. Devin Harris hit a jumper, Nowitzki stole the ball, and Dwight Howard was called for goaltending on a layup attempt by Harris and Dallas led 103-99 with 1:15 left. Hill hit 2 free throws, but Nowitzki answered with a jumper with 45 seconds to go. Hill missed and Nowitzki was intentionally fouled. He hit both free throws to make it a 6 point game with 15 seconds left. Orlando threw the ball away and Terry hit 1-2 FT. Jameer Nelson drove for the quick layup and a free throw by Darrell Armstrong capped the scoring. Dallas won 109-103. After missing 7 straight shots to end the 4th quarter, Dallas re-found their shot in going 6-7 FG in overtime. Dallas out-scored Orlando 16-10 in overtime. The Magic had 2 of their turnovers in overtime while Dallas had none. For the game, Dallas shot 50% (42-84) FG including 6-13 3-pointers and Orlando shot 49.4% (40-81) FG including 4-8 3-pointers. Dallas shot 19-26 FT and Orlando shot 19-27 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Orlando 42-34 including 8-6 offensive. Dallas had 13 turnovers and Orlando had 10 turnovers. Dirk Nowitzki led the way for Dallas with 10 points on 4-4 FG and 2-2 FT in overtime. He finished with 31 points including 12-19 FG, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Josh Howard had 24 points including 9-14 FG and 4 rebounds before fouling out in regulation. Jason Terry had 22 points and 4 assists. Devin Harris supplied the bench punch as he had 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. Adrian Griffin missed all 6 shots he attempted, but had a team high 9 rebounds. Erick Dampier had 4 points and 8 rebounds. DeSagana Diop had a rare unproductive game with no points (nothing attempted), no rebounds, no blocks, and 4 fouls in 11 minutes. As such, DJ Mbenga saw 10 minutes of action and had 4 points on 2-2 FG, 2 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Keith Van Horn's return was quiet with just 5 points and 3 rebounds in 24 minutes. Grant Hill had a wonderful outing in his 2nd game back from injury with 28 points and 6 rebounds. Steve Francis was fairly quiet with 16 points and 4 assists. Hedo Turkoglu had a nice outing off the bench with 17 points on 7-11 FG and 3-4 3-pointers. Dwight Howard had a quiet double-double (compared to the monster double-doubles he has been having) with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He also had 5 blocks. Jameer Nelson had 14 points and 5 assists and DeShawn Stevenson had 10 points. Kudos to the Maverick courtside season ticket holders who donated their seats. Thanks to them (and others who donated food, gifts, and flew the soldiers in) injured soldiers and soldiers fresh from Iraq were able to watch the game from the prime seats. The fans gave the soldiers a long standing ovation during one of the breaks and players and coaches from both teams came out after the game to sign autographs for the soldiers. Quotes Avery Johnson: "It was a gutsy performance by both teams. Nobody wanted to give up or give in. We made a lot of mistakes, but we have some correctable team. What a tough team in Orlando. They are really going to be a good team when they get themselves together, with the addition of Grant Hill coming back from injury. He looked like the old Grant Hill with a lot of his moves. With Turkoglu and Nelson coming off the bench, that is a good team for them. Johnson: "We were fortunate tonight that Dwight Howard didn't go off on us too much. We thought our double-teams bothered him a little bit. Dirk was pretty good in overtime. It was a total team effort. I thought Damp played well defensively in overtime, which really helped us out. Devin was steady and Griff finally had a good defensive possession on Grant Hill at the end. It was a gutsy, overtime win. We found out some more about our team in terms of being mentally tough. Johnson on Nowitzki: "I know he wanted that one back at the end of regulation, so we got it back to him a lot in the overtime." Johnson on Nowitzki: "He wanted the ball in overtime and we got it to him. He made some good passes. He had 5 assists and 2 offensive rebounds." Johnson on Mbenga: DJ gave us a huge spark. We don't think we would have been able to stay in this game had DJ not come in and provide that energy boost for us. He was really efficient in the 10 minutes that he played tonight." Dirk Nowitzki: "In the end, I knew I had to be aggressive for us to win the game. I thought we had a good start to the game and did a lot of things right, then we tend to relax a little too early, then we're in a dogfight. But in overtime we did some good things defensively to win the game." Nowitzki: "I just thought I didn't have the good looks early. I was stuck on 9 or 11 for a while. At the end I knew I had to be aggressive for us to win the game." Nowitzki on his shot at the end of regulation: "I was frustrated. That's a shot I need to make. I had a good look but luckily we had a good overtime." Josh Howard on Nowitzki in overtime: "That was Dirk being a superstar. He did what it took to win this game. When he does things like that, the sky's the limit for us." Howard: "A lot of people don't think I can score the ball but I can. I just keep surprising teams like I've been doing this whole year. Pretty soon they're going to have to stop putting big men on me and leaving me out there wide open." Jason Terry: "It was a very gutsy win for us tonight, definitely a team effort tonight. Our bench really came through and Devin really contributed off the bench with 18 points tonight. DJ gave us a solid 10 minutes off the bench. This is how our season has been going. We've been playing tough close ballgames, but we've been gutting them out. I like what we are doing." Terry on defense: "We're still not where we want to be yet. We're going to look at the film tomorrow and see tons of mistakes, but that's what the film is there for. It's there to help us address our problems and correct them for the next game." Devin Harris: "It was a struggle for us all night. We started real well, but we struggled all the way into overtime. We executed in overtime when we needed too and got some stops and pulled it out in the end." Harris on Nowitzki: "Vintage Dirk. We rode him all the way." Harris on Nowitzki in the 4th and overtime: "That was huge for us. Dirk really stepped it up. We were kind of struggling to get him the ball the first 3 quarters, but we found a way to get him the ball late and he made some big shots for us late and in overtime." Harris: "For the most part I feel real confident. When I get into the lane I'm feeling more confident that I'm going to make the right decisions. Avery's giving me the confidence to keep penetrating and make something happen." Erick Dampier on defending Dwight Howard: "I tried to play physical with him and make him work for all his catches." DJ Mbenga: "You never know. I was really surprised they put me in for that long. But I'm glad the coaches are trusting me." Brian Hill: "I thought it was a pretty good basketball game and we had a chance to win. I thought Grant's last shot was down; he gave it a great effort. With overtime he ended up with 37 minutes. I wasn't counting on an overtime. He had 32 at the end of regulation, which is right in the ballpark of where we want him to be. That group was playing well, so we wanted to leave that group out there." BHill on going to GHill late: "That was our best matchup. Grant attacks the basket as well as anyone in the league and puts a lot of pressure on opposing defenses. If he doesn't have a shot, he is creating shots for other people by drawing defensive help." BHill: "I thought the guy that really hurt us was Josh Howard. He made some shots that we are not used to seeing him make. Harris came in and made some big shots also. I can't fault our guys. We had a great effort and an opportunity to beat a good team on the road and just weren't able to pull it out." Steve Francis: "We didn't really turn the ball over that much today. They made some really tough shots. I don't really see anything we can blame the loss on. They hit big shots when they counted." Francis on GHill: "I am happy as hell. It felt like it was me making a come back. He's my teammate, but I felt like it was me playing. He looked great. He was a little winded. I think we did a good job and could have gone to him even more." Grant Hill: "I felt good. I took myself out twice - in the 1st half and at the start of the 2nd half. I got into a pretty good rhythm. We played a very good team well. If we play like that; it wasn't just because I was going, some days it will be Steve, some days it will be Dwight. We have some weapons and we play really good defense. We just have to learn how to win those type of games. GHill on his shot near the end of regulation: "I got what I wanted there. I got what I wanted most of the night. I just missed it. I'm disappointed in myself." Dwight Howard on his goaltend with a minute left in overtime: "I think it was a good block, but things happen. I can live with it. I had to help my team some way tonight. It wasn't working for me offensively so I tried to make a good play on defense." Dallas Mavericks 109, Orlando Magic 103 OT at Dallas (December 16) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 26 22 18 27 16 - 109 .507 .462 .500 .731 Orlando 21 27 19 26 10 - 103 .493 .500 .494 .704 Halftime: 48-48 3rd Q: Orlando 67-66 4th Q: 93-93 Technicals: Orlando defensive 3 seconds 1:32 1st, Del Harris 0:00 1st Refs: Joey Crawford, Kevin Fehr, Tony Brothers Attendance: 19,876 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 28 9-14 2-4 4-4 24 1-4 3 1 6 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 43 12-19 0-1 7-8 31 2-7 5 3 1 2 1 Erick Dampier 30 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 0-8 0 1 3 0 2 Jason Terry 41 7-15 3-5 5-8 22 0-2 4 0 3 1 0 Adrian Griffin 37 0-6 0-0 0-0 0 1-9 4 0 2 1 0 Devin Harris 38 8-18 0-0 2-4 18 3-6 3 4 1 0 0 DeSagana Diop 11 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 4 0 0 Keith Van_Horn 24 2-5 1-3 0-0 5 0-3 0 1 1 2 0 Darrell Armstrong 4 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0-1 1 1 0 0 0 DJ Mbenga 10 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 1-2 0 1 0 1 2 Totals 53 42-84 6-13 19-26 109 8-42 20 13 21 7 5 Orlando Magic REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dwight Howard 40 5-11 0-0 0-0 10 3-10 2 1 2 0 5 Grant Hill 37 10-19 0-1 8-10 28 0-6 3 1 4 2 0 Tony Battie 23 2-7 0-0 0-0 4 1-2 0 0 1 0 0 Steve Francis 41 6-13 0-1 4-5 16 1-3 4 2 5 0 0 DeShawn Stevenson 29 3-8 0-0 4-7 10 0-3 1 1 1 2 1 Mario Kasun 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 0 4 0 0 Jameer Nelson 30 5-9 1-2 3-5 14 0-3 5 2 3 2 2 Hedo Turkoglu 38 7-11 3-4 0-0 17 1-2 3 1 5 2 0 Pat Garrity 17 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-3 0 2 2 0 0 Totals 53 40-81 4-8 19-27 103 6-34 18 10 27 8 8 Minnesota at Dallas (December 18) Marquis Daniels was out again due to his strained neck and Del Harris was not on the bench due to the flu. Both teams played poorly to start with a ton of bricks all around - 9 straight missed shots to open the game. With the scoring problems, neither team held more than a 4 point lead in the 1st quarter. Dirk Nowitzki converted a 3-point play with 30 seconds left to give Dallas an 18-16 lead after 1. Both teams shot 6-19 FG in the quarter. The teams combined to shoot 2-10 FG (1 made by each team) over the first 2 minutes of the 2nd quarter. A rare 4-point play by Nowitzki gave Dallas a 24-18 lead with 9:45 to go. A 3-point play by Devin Harris and bucket by Josh Howard gave Dallas their first double-digit lead at 35-25 with 4:30 remaining. Dallas led 43-34 at the half. Minnesota opened the 3rd quarter with a 13-5 run to pull within 47-48 with 8:15 left, but Dallas then scored the next 6 points to maintain their lead. Minnesota went on a 12-4 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Trenton Hassell, to go up 59-58 with 3 minutes left. Consecutive 3-pointers by Keith Van Horn put Dallas back on top. Eddie Griffin got a putback at the quarter buzzer. Dallas led 67-66 after 3. Van Horn had 10 points in the 3rd quarter. After only scoring 34 points in the 1st half, Minnesota scored 32 points in the 3rd quarter. Jason Terry opened the 4th quarter with a 3-pointer, but Minnesota then connected on consecutive buckets to tie the game at 70-70 with 10:30 left. Dallas then went on an 11-3 run to go up 81-73 with 6:35 remaining. Minnesota pulled within 80-84 with 4:15 to go, but Dallas then knocked down the next 4 buckets to go up 92-80 with 2 minutes left. Minnesota started playing ugly ball in fouling and going for the pretty much uncontested layup over the last minute of the game and cut some into Dallas' lead, but could get no closer than 5 points. Dallas won 102-95. After a poor shooting 1st quarter, Dallas picked their shooting up, while Minnesota struggled throughout. For the game, Dallas shot 50% (37-74) FG including 5-11 3-pointers and Minnesota shot 42.7% (38-89) FG including 4-14 3-pointers. Minnesota hurt their case by missing 7 free throws (5 by Michael Olowokandi). Dallas shot 23-27 FT (including 6-8 intentional) and Minnesota shot 15-22 FT. Dallas did give up far too many offensive rebounds as Minnesota had 16 offensive boards, but the T'wolves didn't not take advantage and only had 6 points off those rebounds. Minnesota out-rebounded Dallas 46-38 including 15-5 offensive (Dallas had 8 2nd chance points). Dallas finished their homestand with a record of 4-1. Next up is 3 games on the West coast. Josh Howard was in fine form with 23 points including 9-14 FG, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Dirk Nowitzki had 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks. 10 of Jason Terry's 14 points came in the 4th quarter. He only shot 3-13 FG for the game. Dallas had nice bench support as Devin Harris had 14 points and 6 assists and Keith Van Horn had 13 points. Van Horn kept Dallas in the game in the 3rd quarter as the rest of the team struggled. Erick Dampier had 3 points and 8 rebounds and DeSagana Diop had 6 points and 4 rebounds. Adrian Griffin chipped in 10 points and 3 rebounds. DJ Mbenga again played, but only 2 minutes, but did have 3 rebounds. Kevin Garnett was solid, but not spectacular. He made a couple of "wow" moves that had me wondering why they didn't go to him more. Garnett had 20 points (just 13 shot attempts), 16 rebounds, and 5 assists. Wally Szczerbiak was the high man with 28 points to go with 5 rebounds. 10 of Troy Hudson's 20 points came in the 4th quarter. Michael Olowokandi was worthless offensively (3 points on 1-5 FG and 1-6 FT and 2 3 seconds called), but did grab 10 rebounds. Trenton Hassell had 10 points. Quotes Avery Johnson: "We thought defensively we really competed at a high level. We know we gave up quite a few points in the last 2 or 3 minutes of the game, but we thought we were physical. We didn't win the rebounding game, they got us on the offensive glass. We have a lot of respect for the Timberwolves and their staff. I think Coach Casey has done a great job with them this year. He's a wonderful man." Johnson: "Both teams got out of the gate slow, but they came storming back in the 3rd quarter. They were out there communicating and pumping each other up. I thought DeSagana coming back in the game in the last 4 or 5 minutes helped. I thought Van Horn did a good job of keeping us going during a stretch in the 3rd quarter. We had 6 guys in double figures and that is pretty good. That is what I am looking for." Johnson on pushing the ball in the 4th quarter: "We talked about it because we were trying to see if we could get any easy baskets. We scored 35 points in the 4th and that is pretty good for our team. We were pushing to see what we could get, but it was tough because their defense is much improved this year. It was tough to score in certain situations." Johnson on Harris: "Devin has been steady for us in the 4th quarter. He's been coming up with some big shots, drives, and assists. 14 points and 6 assists off of the bench. He and JT [Terry] have done some good things together. JT didn't shoot it as well as he normally shoots it. Guys are competing. We think overall we've had a decent homestand and now we are about to get back on the road." Johnson on trying to limit Garnett: "There is no way to do that. He was 20 and 16 tonight and he didn't look like he broke a sweat. He's just a warrior and I have a lot of respect for him and the way he competes on the basketball court." Dirk Nowitzki: "I thought Kevin was all over me the whole game. That really opened up a lot of things for the other guys. Devin got in the lane some, JT had some good shots, and Josh, when Szczerbiak was on him, really took it to him. It's all about a team effort combining everybody together and really pulling together. It was a big win." Nowitzki on Harris: "Devin makes a lot of things happen for us. He's a great finisher. He's going to be our point guard of the future. I like the way he's progressing." Josh Howard on the 4th quarter: "We went on a big run. Devin hit a big shot, Dirk hit a couple, and JT also stepped it up in the 4th quarter and we just finished them out." Howard: "All of us just stepped it up and made some plays in the last 4 minutes. We just went out there and ran our offense and did what Avery wanted us to do on the defensive end as well." Howard on the bench production: "If we can get that night in and night out, we can always end up victorious at the end of the night." Howard on the 4th quarter defensively: "Just maintaining KG and Wally. I think we did a good job. I think Wally didn't score until the last 2 minutes of the quarter and we just helped out on KG. We let our defense form our offense tonight and guys are real comfortable on offense right now." Jason Terry on the 4th quarter: "It was key for us to get stops and then push it right back at them. [Howard] grabbed 2 or 3 rebounds and just took off. It just opened up and we took it all the way in and either scored or got fouled. That's what we were looking to do, play at our pace. We were able to do that in the 4th quarter." Devin Harris: "We're really executing in the 4th quarter when we need too. Plays are running smoothly and Dirk is finding other guys for open shots." Harris on pushing the ball in the 4th quarter: "They weren't really getting back. We watched them all game long; they sent a lot of guys to the offensive glass. If they send 4 or 5 guys, that should create 3-on-2s and 2-on-1s for us at the other end." Harris: "We've got a very deep bench and we try to come in and be aggressive and do the things we're capable of doing. As long as we've got the starters doing what they're doing, then we've got guys contributing off the bench, we're going to be very tough to beat." Harris on his penetration: "When guys are coming over to block shots, like this Minnesota team, it's easy to drop it off to guys for easy dunks or kick it out to Dirk or Keith for open 3s." Dwane Casey: I thought Dallas came out and took us to the woodshed, especially in the 1st half. We came out and played hard basketball for 2 and a half quarters. The first part of the game, we didn't come out like a team that was on a 3 game skid. I am disappointed in that. We have another opportunity coming Wednesday night, but that was the most disappointing thing to me." Casey on the 3rd and 4th quarters defensively: "We lost Van Horn, and that got them going again offensively. We couldn't find Van Horn. We couldn't find Jason Terry, and those are 2 of their top shooters." Casey: "They did a good job on Kevin, but he still had 20 points and 16 rebounds. He had a pretty solid game. We have to have more distribution from other guys stepping up. On the offensive end, we had 89 shots. That's enough bullets to go to war with, but the fact that they shot 50% is more disturbing than Kevin getting more than 20 points." Wally Szczerbiak on the 4th quarter: "We just got cross-matched on a couple 3s; didn't pick up in transition and Keith Van Horn hit some open jumpers. We we're doing a good job the whole game of forcing them to make tough 2s - that's our philosophy is to make them finish over our big guys. We weren't giving up the 3-point shot, but then we got cross-matched and they were pushing the ball up the floor, we were defending the paint, and they hit some big 3s on us. That opened up the game and then we couldn't get back in it." Szczerbiak on the slow start: "That's a big problem. Our 1st halves have been miserable. We have to come out and we have to have an aggressiveness and set the tone for the game. It seems like it takes putting a small lineup in to start playing with some energy and some passion and getting the other team on their heels. The way the NBA game is played; every team is good; the more aggressive team will win. That's just how it is." Dallas Mavericks 102, Minnesota Timberwolves 95 at Dallas (December 18) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 18 25 24 35 - 102 .508 .455 .500 .852 Minnesota 16 18 32 29 - 95 .453 .286 .427 .682 Halftime: Dallas 43-34 3rd Q: Dallas 67-66 Technicals: DeSagana Diop 1:29 1st Refs: Violet Palmer, Derrick Stafford, Tony Brown Attendance: 20,134 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 37 3-13 2-6 6-8 14 0-2 3 3 2 1 2 Adrian Griffin 34 4-6 0-0 2-2 10 1-3 0 2 1 0 0 Josh Howard 41 9-14 0-0 5-5 23 0-7 4 0 3 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 37 6-16 1-3 6-6 19 0-7 2 2 1 2 4 Erick Dampier 22 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 2-8 2 2 4 0 0 Devin Harris 27 6-10 0-0 2-2 14 0-2 6 3 3 0 0 Keith Van_Horn 23 5-9 2-2 1-2 13 0-2 0 1 3 0 0 DeSagana Diop 17 3-3 0-0 0-0 6 1-4 0 0 4 0 0 DJ Mbenga 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 37-74 5-11 23-27 102 5-38 17 13 21 5 6 Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Trenton Hassell 38 4-9 1-1 1-2 10 0-0 0 1 2 1 0 Marko Jaric 37 3-9 0-0 0-0 6 1-1 6 1 6 2 0 Wally Szczerbiak 41 11-24 2-6 4-4 28 0-5 1 2 4 0 1 Kevin Garnett 37 7-13 0-0 6-7 20 3-16 5 4 3 2 1 Michael Olowokandi 27 1-5 0-0 1-6 3 3-10 1 3 3 1 0 Troy Hudson 28 8-16 1-5 3-3 20 1-2 3 1 2 1 0 Mark Madsen 14 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 1 0 3 0 0 Eddie Griffin 11 3-6 0-1 0-0 6 4-6 0 0 3 0 1 Rashad McCants 4 0-5 0-1 0-0 0 3-3 0 1 2 0 0 Anthony Carter 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-89 4-14 15-22 95 16-46 17 13 28 7 3 patricia