Cleveland at Dallas (March 14) Dallas was again without Josh Howard, Devin Harris, Adrian Griffin, and Keith Van Horn. With all the injuries and wanting to continue bringing Jerry Stackhouse off the bench, Rawle Marshall got the surprise start. He didn't do too bad - nothing stellar, but nothing that hurt the team. The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with 5 ties, Dallas' largest lead at 1 point, and Cleveland's largest lead at 4 points. Cleveland led 22-19 after 1. Cleveland scored the first 2 buckets of the 2nd quarter to take a 7 point lead a minute into the quarter. Cleveland led 30-25 with 9:40 remaining and the Cavs went on a 13-2 run to go up 43-27 with 5 minutes left. Dirk Nowitzki converted a 3-point play (and he had shot 1-11 FG up to that point), but Cleveland then scored the next 6 points to take their largest lead at 49-30 with 2:10 to go. Cleveland led 53-34 at the half. LeBron James had 10 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 10 points in the 2nd quarter. Cleveland shot 13-20 FG in the 2nd quarter in out-scoring Dallas 31-15. Dallas only shot 38% FG in the 1st half while Cleveland shot 56% FG. The teams traded buckets the first few minutes of the 3rd quarter and Cleveland led 57-38 with 10:30 remaining. Dallas then (finally) kicked up the play a notch on both sides of the court and mounted a furious comeback. The Cavs went scoreless over the next 6 minutes in missing their next 7 shots, including a monster block by Erick Dampier on a power dunk attempt by Drew Gooden, and committed 4 turnovers as Dallas scored 11 straight points to pull within 49-57 with 5:20 left. After a bucket by James with 4:25 to go, Dallas continued their rally by closing the quarter with a 12-2 run, capped by a banker by Nowitzki with 1.5 seconds remaining, to tie the game. Cleveland was so demoralized that they simply inbounded the ball after Nowitzki's make and held it, letting time run out instead of trying to get off a last shot. The game was tied at 61-61 after 3. It was a record setting quarter for Dallas as the Mavs out-scored Cleveland 27-8 in the 3rd - 8 points broke the opponent record low for fewest points in any quarter [old: 9]. Cleveland shot just 3-16 FG. Dallas continued their rally by opening the 4th quarter with a 9-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Nowitzki, to go up 70-63 with 9:45 to go. It was a 32-6 run that spanned the 2 quarters. Cleveland finally recoved some and Dallas' lead would get no larger than 7 points. An 8-2 mini-run, capped by a 3-pointer by Damon Jones, pulled Cleveland within 74-76 with 5:50 remaining. The teams traded misses, Nowitzki hit a jumper, the teams traded misses, and Jason Terry stole the ball, got the layup on the break, and was fouled. After high-fiving some of the fans, he hit the extra free throw to give Dallas an 81-74 lead with 3 minutes left. Dallas led 85-78 with 1:30 to go and James connected on consecutive layups to make it a 3 point game with 20 seconds left. Terry was intentionally fouled and hit 1-2 FT. After a Cleveland timeout, James put back his own miss to pull Cleveland within 84-86 with 15 seconds remaining. Darrell Armstrong was intentionally fouled and hit both free throws (his only points of the game). Cleveland missed on several attempts inside before Nowitzki finally snagged the rebound and he was fouled. He hit both free throws to make it a 6 point game with 6 seconds to go. After Cleveland's last timeout, Jones nailed a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left and Terry was intentionally foul. He missed the first free throw, but made the 2nd to make it a 2 possession game and Cleveland didn't bother trying to attempt another shot. Dallas won 91-87. It was a terrible 2nd quarter by Dallas and solid one by Cleveland and a terrible 3rd quarter by Cleveland and solid one by Dallas. The difference was that Dallas was able to carry the momentum over from the 3rd quarter into the 4th while Cleveland struggled to regroup after a poor quarter. In the 3rd and 4th quarters, Dallas decided to use the "anyone but LeBron" defense and double-teamed him aggressively when he got the ball in the 2nd half. It worked as the other Cavs were not able to consistently produce. As impressive as the comeback was (and bash the Mavs for getting down so big in the first place), it is more so when you consider that Dallas hardly used the 3-point shot to get back in the game. Dallas only attempted 10 3-pointers and one of the makes came late in the 3rd quarter and the other early in the 4th quarter. It was the 4th time this season that Dallas has come back from 19 or more down - Dallas had only comeback from such a large deficit 13 times prior to this season. Dallas had 17 2nd chance points in the 2nd half while Cleveland had just 6. As for the game numbers, Dallas shot 42.4% (36-85) FG including 2-10 3-pointers and Cleveland shot 42.5% (34-80) FG including 3-9 3-pointers. Dallas shot 17-23 FT (including 6-8 FT on intentional fouls) and Cleveland shot 16-18 FT. Cleveland had the slight edge on the boards in out-rebounding Dallas 47-45 and Dallas had 1 more offensive board at 14-13. Dallas had 9 turnovers (just 1 in the 2nd half) and Cleveland had 14 turnovers. It was the last regular season game vs an East team at the AAC for this season and the Mavs won them all - a perfect 15-0 vs the East in Dallas. With Dallas' win and New Orleans' loss, the Mavs formally clinched a playoff berth. It is the earliest in the season that Dallas has ever reached the 50th win mark (3/14, 64th game; was 3/16, 66th game in 02-03). Lots of heros in the game for Dallas, but I've got to start with Erick Dampier. In the 2nd half, he played solid defense, was aggressive with the boards, and had that monster block that added to the Mavs' momentum. For the game he had 7 points including 3-4 FG, 13 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 2 blocks. Dirk Nowitzki overcame his 1-11 shooting start to shoot 11-17 FG (starting late in the 2nd quarter) and helped carry the Mavs to the win. 13 of his 30 points came in the 4th quarter. He also had 13 rebounds and 6 assists. Marquis Daniels again played well in starting for the injured players and had 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. Jason Terry overcame a poor 1st half and took to heart some unkind words from the coach during halftime to come out with a solid 2nd half. For the game, he had 20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. DeSagana Diop was fairly quiet against his former team and had 2 points and 4 rebounds in 15 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse struggled with his shot and had 9 points including 4-14 FG. He also had 5 rebounds and 2 assists. The rookies saw some time in the 1st half has Avery Johnson was trying to find anything that would work, but both stayed on the bench for the entire 2nd half. Rawle Marshall had 4 points on 2-3 FG in 13 minutes and Josh Powell missed his only attempt and had 2 rebounds in 8 minutes. Darrell Armstrong had 2 points and 3 assists in 11 minutes. DJ Mbenga played 3 minutes and didn't have a stat. LeBron James looked great with some awesome dunks and impressive moves, but he needed more help than he got, especially when Dallas started double-teaming him. He had 36 points (18 in each half), 12 rebounds, and 5 assists. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds including 8 offensive. Flip Murray was the only other Cav in double-digits with 12 points. Drew Gooden had 9 rebounds, but shot just 2-6 FG for 4 points. Eric Snow had some open looks thanks to the James double-teams, but Snow bricked most of them in shooting just 1-7 FG. He had 3 points and 5 assists in 31 minutes. Quotes Avery Johnson: "I thought this was a gutsy performance by our team. Cleveland really jumped out on us and put us in a big hole and our team responded in the 2nd half. Our 3rd quarter defense was pretty special. Tonight's game ball goes to Erick Dampier. We don't win this game tonight without Erick Dampier. We chose to change the lineup at the beginning of the 3rd quarter and put Stack out there and Damp and those guys came through for us in a lot of ways that don't really show up on the stat sheet. Jason Terry responded after a lethargic 1st half and came out in the 2nd and decided that he wanted to be Jason Terry again. So, again, we're fortunate to win this game. Cleveland is a much improved team. We had no answer for LeBron James, like a lot of teams. But I thought we were a little more physical with them in the 2nd half. We seemed like we were apologizing for being on the court in the 1st half. I was really disappointed with that. But again, it doesn't get any easier. It seems like we just got here to change our suits and clothes and now we are back again playing against a team that's been playing really well in the 2nd half of the season in the Rockets." Johnson on starting Marshall: "I didn't want to start Stack and Rawle did okay for his first game. He had 2 turnovers in there, but it's not like he's played 50 games this year. His first game basically, first start. He got to the gym - normally I'm here first - he got to the gym before me. Maybe he never went home, maybe he stayed here all day. He's no answer, that's part of it. But those 14 minutes he played allowed us to not play Stack 40 minutes. So again, he contributed and a total team effort. But I really thought Damp was a key to this game tonight." Johnson on defending James: "Yeah, we tried to make some of the other players score. But I think on his drives we put more bodies on him. The guy was walking from point A to point B without any resistance. I want our guys - you know what I want, you know what I dream about at night? You want me to tell you what I dream about? Okay. I dream at night that I want these guys to play like they play on the playground when it's 7-7, 8 is game, and if you lose, you've got to wait an hour. So in that situation, boy, you're playing physical because there are no free throws in sandlot ball or playground. There are no free throws, you just foul. And when you get the ball, you drive. You don't shoot bail-out jump shots. You want to get to the basket. So that's what I told them at halftime. That's the kind of stuff that I dream about, that they would not act like they're in the NBA all the time; that they would play like they play some time in the summer when it's 7-7 and if you lose, you've got to wait a long time before you get there again. And they decided to do that in the 2nd half." Dirk Nowitzki on the 1st half: "LeBron was on a roll and we couldn't stop Ilgauskas. Offensively, we never really got anything going. It was a tough outing early." Nowitzki: "We talked at the half about being more aggressive. In the 3rd quarter, we hit them [defensively] at halfcourt and really started to pick our energy up more than anything and it really worked well. We finally found a way to stop Ilgauskas a little bit and keep the ball out of his hands. We doubled LeBron when he came off of screens to get the ball out of his hands some." Jason Terry: "Avery challenged me at halftime. He told me to get aggressive. Guys looked for me, I got a couple of open shots and Dirk put us on his back in that run in the 3rd." Terry on 50 wins: "We're mentally tough and we're very focused and determined to improve on last season. It also says something about the coaching staff and our system. It says something about our city, our fans. We're just a good ball club right now from top to bottom." Jerry Stackhouse on the comeback: "We made sure we got something good pretty much every time down. We played loose, but we knew what we wanted to get and we worked the shot clock. A lot of time, even though we didn't make shots, we had good shots, wide-open looks, and looks that we want to get in our offense. The real key is what we did on the defensive end. We didn't let them get 2nd chance opportunities. We rebounded the ball and were able to get out in transition. We didn't have to come up and set up every time; we were able to get some easy baskets." Stackhouse: "In the 1st half, we didn't help at all and [James] was getting easy baskets and then Ilgauskas was stepping in and getting easy baskets in the lane. We were able to slow it down and crawl back in the 2nd half. Stackhouse on the halftime lecture: "Everyone responded. We knew it was just a bad 1st half." Stackhouse on the 3rd quarter: "It was some good defense and some good fortune. We'll take them both." Stackhouse on the comeback: "The real key is what we did on the defensive end. We didn't let them get 2nd chance opportunities. We rebounded the ball and were able to get out in transition. We didn't have to come up and set up every time; we were able to get some easy baskets." Erick Dampier: "We made adjustments in the 2nd half and went out there and played the way we are capable of playing. We just have to start every game like that from the beginning and don't make ourselves have to come from behind." Dampier on his monster block: "Any time you get a block like that, it sets a tone for the defense. It seemed like we stepped it up from there." Marquis Daniels on Nowitzki: "He did exceptionally well. He was big for us down the stretch, getting key rebounds, and being a good leader out there. He was Dirk." Darrell Armstrong on his game clinching free throws: "If your life's on the line and you need some free throws, call me." Rawle Marshall on starting: "They told me this morning in shoot around. It was real surprising, but I was ready to just go out there and try to play to the best of my abilities. I thought I did all right for my first start, first league minutes. It was all right. It was a good start. A little nervous, but once I got to run up and down a couple possessions, I was all right." Marshall on if he'll continue starting: "You would have to ask Avery about that. I am just going to stay ready; keep working hard and whenever they call my number, try to go in there and work as hard as I can." Marshall on the difference between the NBA and NBADL: "It's totally different. There aren't any guys like LeBron in the D-league. The other role players are all good players; real different talent-wise." Mike Brown: "2 games in a row we played a playoff opponent in their building, we got up, they stepped it up, and we didn't know how to respond. Bottom line. That's it." Brown: "It's 2 games in a row in playoff teams' building where we had a lead and our opponent just decided, 'Hey, let's turn it up.' They turned it up and we did not respond. We go away from everything that we are taught because they decide to step it up a notch. The crowd is loud and the intensity of the game vs a playoff team in their building is a lot. Twice that's been too much for us to handle." Brown on the let down: "You can throw everything in there from the defense to the loose balls to the offensive rebounds to transition defense. They stepped it up, like good solid playoff teams should do, and we didn't respond." Brown: "I'm disappointed because I felt like we did not respond to a playoff team, on the road, when they decided to turn it up. That's what hurts me more than anything else. We got rattled and they took us out of everything we're supposed to do. Everything. Myself, my assistants, and my players didn't respond. That's disappointing." LeBron James: "They shot 30% the 1st half and didn't make a lot of shots. Dirk wasn't making any shots, and we knew they would heat up. It was, were we going to counter their attack or let them make their run and not counter it? And that's what happened, we didn't counter it and the 3rd quarter was a disaster." James: "The 3rd quarter was a disaster. We weren't able to counter their attack. They made big shots and we weren't able to make any shots. We knew they would heat up but we didn't counter it." James: "If we want to be an elite team, we can't get up on these teams like this and allow them to come back. It's correctable. We have to learn from these 2 road games." James on Dallas' comeback: "They started making shots. They put the pressure up on us and we couldn't make shots in the 3rd quarter. That's what happens against a team like this." Zydrunas Ilgauskas: "We had them down and they turned up their intensity. The crowd got into it and we - the 2nd night in a row - couldn't respond to it. We made a lot of mental errors and breakdowns, and that fueled their fast break and it just kind of snowballed." Ilgauskas: "They made their run and we couldn't contain them. Their crowd got into it and it just snowballed from there." Ilgauskas: "We had them on their heels, but they're a good team so we knew they were going to make a run. We couldn't sustain it and we just fell apart." Ilgauskas: "This was a good opportunity for us. They came out flat. We had them on their heels. We could not sustain. It was right there for us to take. We just fell apart." Ilgauskas: "This time, we were up more than we were against Miami. But both [losses] hurt just as much. We fell apart in [both games] in the 2nd half." Ilgauskas on Nowitzki: "It's hard to contain a player like him the whole game. Sooner or later, he's going to get rolling. We did a good job on him in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, he made some shots and his confidence was up and he started rolling." Dallas Mavericks 91, Cleveland Cavaliers 87 at Dallas (March 14) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 19 15 27 30 - 91 .453 .200 .424 .739 Cleveland 22 31 8 26 - 87 .437 .333 .425 .889 Halftime: Cleveland 53-34 3rd Q: 61-61 Technicals: none Refs: Kevin Fehr, Steve Javie, Michael Smith Attendance: 20,425 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Keith Van Horn (sprained left MCL), Adrian Griffin (strained right hamstring) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Marquis Daniels 43 7-15 0-1 3-4 17 3-5 3 0 4 0 0 Jason Terry 40 7-17 1-4 5-7 20 1-3 2 1 1 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 45 12-28 1-3 5-5 30 1-13 6 1 0 0 2 Rawle Marshall 13 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 2 1 1 0 DeSagana Diop 15 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 0 0 2 0 1 Jerry Stackhouse 32 4-14 0-1 1-2 9 2-5 2 0 2 0 0 Erick Dampier 30 3-4 0-0 1-3 7 5-13 1 2 1 1 2 Darrell Armstrong 11 0-2 0-1 2-2 2 0-0 3 1 0 0 0 Josh Powell 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 1 3 0 0 DJ Mbenga 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 36-85 2-10 17-23 91 14-45 17 9 14 4 5 Cleveland Cavaliers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Ronald Murray 38 5-11 0-0 2-2 12 0-2 3 4 4 2 0 Eric Snow 31 1-7 0-0 1-2 3 1-2 5 1 2 1 0 LeBron James 45 14-27 0-2 8-8 36 1-12 5 4 1 0 2 Drew Gooden 28 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 2-9 0 0 0 0 0 Zydrunas Ilgauskas 33 7-17 0-0 3-4 17 8-13 0 0 3 0 1 Damon Jones 30 3-6 3-5 0-0 9 0-1 3 1 5 0 0 Donyell Marshall 25 0-3 0-2 2-2 2 0-5 1 2 2 1 0 Anderson Varejao 11 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-3 0 0 3 1 1 Ira Newble 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-80 3-9 16-18 87 13-47 17 14 20 5 4 Dallas at Houston (March 15) Dallas was again without Josh Howard, Devin Harris, Keith Van Horn, and Adrian Griffin (and Howard and Harris did not travel with the team for the 3 game road trip). It was the 2nd night of a back-to-back and the 4th game in 5 nights in 4 different cities for Dallas. Houston, as they probably will be for the rest of the season, was without Tracy McGrady. 2 free throws by Yao Ming gave Houston their only lead at 8-6 with 7:50 to go. Dallas then scored the next 12 points to go up 18-8 with 5:10 remaining. Yao did score the next 4 points and was doing his best to single-handedly keep Houston in the game as he had all 12 of Houston's points. A 3-pointer by Jason Terry and bucket by Dirk Nowitzki again gave Dallas a 10 point lead at 27-17 with 1:10 left. Dallas led 28-19 after 1. Yao had 13 points and Terry had 10 points in the quarter. Stromile Swift made his only basket of the game to start the 2nd quarter, but Dallas then went on a 9-2 run to go up 37-23 with 8:10 remaining. Yao had consecutive buckets inside to pull Houston within 38-47 with 3:25 to go, but Dallas answered with consecutive baskets and Dallas' lead hovered around 10 points the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 57-45 at the half. Yao had 27 points on 8-10 FG and 11-14 FT and 11 rebounds in the half. Dallas shot 59.5% FG and Houston shot 50% FG in the half. Dallas led 63-50 with 10:15 remaining and Houston went on a 7-2 mini-run to pull within 57-65 with 7:35 to go. Dallas then used a 12-2 run to take their largest lead at 77-59 with 2:45 left. Dallas led 79-64 after 3. Terry hit the first basket of the quarter to give Dallas an 81-64 lead with 10:30 to go and Houston then rattled off the next 10 points, capped by a 3-pointer by Rafer Alston, to pull within 74-81 with 9:10 left. Jerry Stackhouse got a bucket and Alston hit another 3 to pull Houston within 77-83 with 7:15 remaining. Dallas scored the next 4 points and the teams traded 2 points. A bucket by Yao pulled Houston within 91-81 with 4:25 left and Houston would not score again in missing their last 4 shots and missing 2 free throws. Dallas won 95-81. With the shape Dallas is in right now, any win is a good win - especially coming in the last game of a 4 game, 4 city, 5 night stretch. The Mavs did lose focus a little bit in the 4th quarter which allowed Houston to get back in the game, but were able to hold on for the win. Houston never led in the game. Dallas shot 52.1% (37-71) FG including 5-8 3-pointers and Houston shot 43.8% (28-64) FG including 5-12 3-pointers. Dallas shot 16-20 FT and Houston shot 20-29 FT. Both teams had 36 rebounds and Houston had 1 more offensive rebound at 9-8. The teams meet up again next Tuesday in Dallas for the finale of the season series and Dallas has won the first 3 games. Dirk Nowitzki had another double-double with 30 points and 11 rebounds. He also had 3 assists and 3 blocks. Jason Terry had 19 points on 8-12 FG and 3-4 3-pointers and 4 assists. Rawle Marshall had a really nice game in his 2nd start. He was active and gets up and down the court like a gazelle. Marshall had 12 points and 2 rebounds in 26 minutes - he had 26 NBA minutes total prior to this game (13 in the last game and the other 13 scattered amongst 6 games). Marquis Daniels had another solid game with 12 points, 5 rebounds including 3 offensive, and 3 assists. DeSagana Diop didn't have a good game with nothing attempted, just 2 rebounds, and 5 fouls in 10 minutes. His defense on Yao Ming was not very good. Erick Dampier did a little better against Yao. Damp had 5 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists (including a nice pass ahead on a break), and 2 blocks in 30 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse had 12 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 turnovers. Darrell Armstrong had 1 point, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in 17 minutes. Josh Powell had 2 points in 12 minutes and DJ Mbenga had 2 points and 1 rebound in 6 minutes. Yao Ming was a stud in the 1st half and hardly heard from in the 2nd half. Dallas did have something to do with his poor 2nd half, but his stamina also had a negative affect. After having 27 points on 8-10 FG and 11-14 FT and 12 rebounds in the 1st half, Yao had just 9 points on 4-7 FG and 1-1 FT and 1 rebound in the 2nd half. And he didn't get much help. Rafer Alston was the only other Rocket in double-digits with 18 points. Alston had 4 assists and 5 turnovers. Starters Keith Bogans had 6 points including 2-12 FG and Juwan Howard had 7 points including 3-11 FG. Bogans also had 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Rookie Luther Head started and had 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. Quotes Avery Johnson: "Obviously we needed to come out and play well. We struggled to guard Yao in the 1st half but made it a lot tougher on him in the 2nd. Yao is playing the best basketball I've seen since after his surgery. We were fortunate to hold Houston off after they made their run. Overall it was a pretty good defensive effort on our part." Johnson: "Rawle Marshall's contributions were big. He's a rookie and you never know what he'll do in the next game. Right now, nobody knows his name. Let's keep it that way." Johnson on Marshall: "Nobody knows his name now and we'll see what happens in the long run. He's a rookie and may not get off the bench next game. We thought the defensive effort he gave us on Luther Head was very important." Johnson on Nowitzki: "Dirk battles every game for us. There is not one coach that would not want him on their team." Johnson: "I never give the team an opportunity to make excuses because of injuries. This is the NBA and every team has injuries at this time of the season." Dirk Nowitzki: "We're obviously going through a tough stretch right now, a lot of injuries, being on the road, our 4th game in 5 nights. It's good we have a deep team. Rawle Marshall played a great game tonight." Nowitzki: "My shot wasn't feeling great. I tried to be more aggressive, get in the lane. I was lucky to get my own rebound once, went back up, and got fouled." Nowitzki on Yao: "He's been playing phenomenal since the All-Star break. His turnaround is money. He is so big and so skilled." Nowitzki on San Antonio: "It's kind of hard not to get caught up in the race. You're half a game up, half a game down. There's pressure on every game now." Jason Terry on Yao: "An animal. He is playing like a beast. He is playing real aggressive. This is the best I have seen him play since he's been in the league." Terry: "Under the circumstances, I think we are doing quite well. We are doing the same things as if we had all our guys healthy. Nothing really affects us. There are no excuses. Everyone is hurt in this league." Jerry Stackhouse: "We don't worry about Yao. He and Tracy [McGrady] can get a hundred, but they still can't beat us if we keep the other guys in check. This is the best I have ever seen him play. He's the best center in the NBA right now on one end [offensive] of the court. Every team has to focus on him more than any other center in the NBA, even Shaq." Stackhouse: "We want to win every game we play and don't worry about what San Antonio does. We are a playoff team and either way we will line up against somebody. It would be great to be the number 1 seed, but we have to prepare and be ready as a team. We have some concerns but the positives are some of the others guys are getting to step up." Erick Dampier on Yao: "We tried to give him different looks in the 2nd half. Sometimes double-team him, but always contest him whenever he took a shot. He made 2 real tough shots in the 2nd half." Dampier on Yao in the 2nd half: "We tried to give him different looks, meet him at the foul line, ride him out, sometimes double him. Anybody can score if they get it low enough." Marquis Daniels on San Antonio: "Of course, you've always got them in the corner of your eye. Phoenix too. Home court advantage is very important in the playoffs." Rawle Marshall: "There are a lot of guys injured on the team and I wanted to come out and play hard. I wanted to focus on defense and I tried to play tough defensively and my offense came off that. It made me feel good and I had to be ready when the coach gave me the opportunity." Marshall: "I was much more calm in this game. I was just kind of thrown in there in the first game. This time I knew it was coming and I just tried to relax and I got a couple of open shots to fall." Jeff Van Gundy: "Well, it doesn't matter - me predicting one way or another - it's a matter of what you do. We surely didn't shoot well enough to win tonight. I don't think that precludes us from shooting well enough to win." Van Gundy on Yao: "No, we can expect much better from him defensively and on the boards. He had 1 rebound in the 2nd half and he was not active defensively. He's been playing great on offense, really great, and he's not been as good on the boards or defensively in the last 3 games." Yao Ming on if it was poor shooting in the 2nd half: "I have to go and watch the film, but I believe my teammates took quality shots. Those shots were good shots and some of them were wide open. I still think we need to defend the pick-and-roll better. They play the pick-and-roll very well with Nowitzki." Yao: "During the game, I'm focused. I'm trying to score or rebound or do whatever the team needs me to do." Rafer Alston on Dallas: "They pose mismatches all over the floor and they're a smart team. They're going to go to the mismatches and make you defend that. They're going to put you in rotation situations. If you can't close out to them and stop them from catching and shooting the 3, then you're going to be in for a long night." Alston on Yao: "If you've got a dominant big guy, that's the game - inside-out. You're posting him and he's scoring. He's playing at a high level right now and we're going to continue to go to him. I think for the rest of us, we have to find a way to help him out. We have to knock down basketball shots and open shots that we're taking, we have to find a way to consistently knock them down." Alston on ending the losing streak: "You've got to defend first. The only way other guys get involved is if we defend and rebound and we run and race it up the court. We have to put more energy into getting fast break points. Other than that, we're going to go to Yao and go to Yao and go to Yao. We have to knock down open shots when Yao is drawing double-teams and triple-teams and he's passing the ball out. We have to find a way to knock down open shots for him." Alston on the losing streak: "It's tough, but I think we're making it tough on ourselves. We're giving up fast break points, we're letting guys do whatever they want to do on the floor, we're not making it tough on them, we're not bumping them, we're turning the ball over at a high level, especially myself. We're making it tough on ourselves as well as playing tough teams. When you're playing tough teams, you have to find a way to make it easy on yourself and try to get shots at the basket every time down." Keith Bogans: "We've got to get stops. We've got to make shots, but the main thing is we've got to get stops on the defensive end. Defense wins ball games." Luther Head on the 2nd half: "We had confidence throughout the game. We were confident going through that stretch. We started making shots, Yao was doing well." Head: "It's about Yao and we have to give Yao the ball. That's a given, but we've got to step up. We're taking the right shots, but we've got to start knocking them down." Dallas Mavericks 95, Houston Rockets 81 at Houston (March 15) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 29 22 16 - 95 .508 .625 .521 .800 Houston 19 26 19 17 - 81 .442 .417 .438 .690 Halftime: Dallas 57-45 3rd Q: Dallas 79-64 Technicals: none Refs: Bernie Fryer, Phil Robinson, Derek Richardson Attendance: 18,222 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Keith Van Horn (sprained left MCL), Adrian Griffin (strained right hamstring), David Wesley (cracked right ribs) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 38 8-12 3-4 0-0 19 0-2 4 1 2 0 1 Marquis Daniels 36 6-10 0-0 0-1 12 3-5 3 2 3 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 40 10-20 2-3 8-8 30 1-11 3 1 1 1 3 Rawle Marshall 26 4-7 0-0 4-4 12 0-2 1 1 1 2 0 DeSagana Diop 10 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 1 5 0 1 Erick Dampier 30 2-5 0-0 1-2 5 3-7 3 1 4 1 2 Jerry Stackhouse 25 5-13 0-0 2-3 12 0-2 3 3 1 1 0 Darrell Armstrong 17 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 1-4 3 1 1 0 0 Josh Powell 12 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 2 0 0 DJ Mbenga 6 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 3 0 1 Totals 48 37-71 5-8 16-20 95 8-36 20 12 23 6 8 Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Rafer Alston 45 6-14 3-5 3-3 18 1-2 4 5 2 0 0 Luther Head 44 2-4 1-3 3-4 8 0-4 2 2 4 4 0 Keith Bogans 45 2-12 1-4 1-3 6 2-6 6 1 4 1 1 Juwan Howard 30 3-11 0-0 1-2 7 1-3 0 0 2 0 0 Yao Ming 38 12-17 0-0 12-15 36 3-12 2 2 4 1 1 Chuck Hayes 12 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0-3 0 1 2 1 0 Rick Brunson 11 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 Dikembe Mutombo 8 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 2-5 0 1 1 0 2 Stromile Swift 6 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 1 2 0 0 Totals 48 28-64 5-12 20-29 81 9-36 15 16 21 7 4 patricia