Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Clippers  (December 10)

It was an extremely empty arena and the reported attendance of 5,174 was
greatly exaggerated.  Richie Whitt reported that there was no more than
2,000 in attendance.  One of those in the stands was Brian Williams.
Don't get your hopes up, Clippers fans, Williams visited the Mavs' locker 
room after the game.  Williams has expressed interest in signing with the
Mavs, but the Mavs don't have any money to offer him.
Williams on the Mavs: "I really like their coach.  I liked him at Chicago.
I think they've got a couple of great guards and small forwards.  And
they've got the best 6th man [Gatling] in the league."
Williams on the Mavs having no cap room: "Who knows?  What will they have
after July 1?"
Williams when asked if he is willing to sit out the rest of this season:
"You never know.  I've already sat out November."

Jamal Mashburn returned to play after breaking his right cheekbone in the
last Clippers game (November 21).  He was not wearing a full face mask,
but a plastic patch over the top of the cheekbone that was taped to his
face.  Mash's first two shots were outside, but most of the rest involved
taking it strong to the hole.
 
The teams traded baskets to start the game and the game was tied 6-6.  The
Clippers then went on a 8-2 run to go up 14-8 with 7:50 remaining as the
Clippers made 7 of their first 9 shots.  The teams traded baskets and 
3-pointers and the Clippers led 19-13 2th 5:30 left.  Dallas went on a 
7-0 run including a tough 15-footer with the kiss high off the glass and 
3-pointer from Jason Kidd to give Dallas a 20-19 lead with 3:35 left.  
Dallas led 24-23 with 1:45 left and the game was tied 27-27 after 1.  Kidd 
had 7 points, George McCloud had 8 points, and Jim Jackson had 8 points.  
Pooh Richardson had 8 points and Loy Vaught had 6 points.

The game was tied 34-34 with 8:30 left as Chris Gatling scored all 7
points for Dallas.  The Clippers were shooting really well at 60% FG.  
The teams traded 3-pointers and then Dallas went ice cold.  The Clippers 
went on a 7-0 run to go up 44-37 with just under 6 minutes left as Dallas 
shot 4-14 FG in the quarter.  The Clippers led 50-43 with 2:33 left.  The 
teams traded 3-pointers and the Clippers scored the last 4 points of the 
half to take a 57-46 lead into halftime.  The Clippers shot 12-20 FG in 
the 2nd quarter.  The Clippers shot 61.5% (24-39) FG including 5 
3-pointers and Dallas shot 40.4% (19-47) FG.  Richardson had 11 points, 
Malik Sealy had 9 points, Vaught had 8 points, and Brent Barry had 8 
points.  Kidd has 12 points, Gatling had 7 points, Jackson had 8 points, 
and McCloud had 8 points.

After a Kidd turnover, Rodney Rogers converted the 3-point play to 
give the Clippers a 60-46 lead with 11:21 remaining.  McCloud scored 4 
consecutive points and the teams traded two free throws to put the game 
at 62-52 Clippers with 8:47 remaining.  The Clippers led 67-56 with 7 
minutes to go when it became the Chris Gatling show.  Gatling scored the 
next 6 points including 2 free throws.  The Clippers scored 4 points and 
then Gatling scored 6 more points including 4 free throws to cut the
Clippers' lead down to 71-68 with 2:50 left.  Dallas scored the last 4
points of the quarter.  The Clippers led 75-74 after 3.  Gatling had 14
points in the quarter on 4-4 FG and 6-6 FT to up his game total to 21 
points.

Gatling got the slam to give Dallas the lead after Mashburn stole the ball
(and got away with knocking Terry Dehere down).  The Mavs' defense was
obviously a lot more intense and Dallas led 82-78 with 8:54 to go.
Richardson hit a sweet tough 17-foot banker and Dallas then went on a 9-0
run as the Clippers went scoreless over 3 minutes.  Dallas led 91-80 with
4:46 remaining.  Dallas led 93-82 when the Clippers tried to rally back
with a 6-0 run.  Dallas led 93-88 with 1:10 remaining.  The game wasn't
quite over yet as Kidd was called for traveling due to the backcourt press
with Dallas up 95-90 with 46 seconds left.  Fortunately, the Clippers
missed the 3-pointer and Gatling made 2 free throws.  Darrick Martin
swished a 3-pointer, but the long inbounds pass found Kidd behind the
defense for the easy layup.  Dallas won 100-95.

The Clippers committed 11 of their 17 turnovers in the 2nd half and 7
turnovers in the 3rd quarter.  Gatling finished with 30 points on 9-13 FG
and 12-15 FT and 7 rebounds in 27 minutes.


Quotes
Jim Cleamons: "I think it was just desire on their part and they 
outhustled us [in the 2nd quarter].  I felt that we definitely need to 
step it up, we played a team averaging 89 points and gave them 57 in a 
half."

Cleamons: "We were a step slow in the first half.  In the second half, we 
definitely needed to step it up.  Whether we win or lose, we have to be 
more active and hustle all the time."

Cleamons: "We've still got a long way to go, but I'm happy for the
players, I'm happy for the players, I'm happy for the franchise.  But
we've got to keep building.  By no stretch of the imagination are we where
we want to be and need to be, but we've got the train on the right track."

Chris Gatling: "We just turned up our intensity level [in the 2nd half], 
the guys came in and really played hard.  I think we just tried to turn up 
our defense, and good defense makes good offense.  At times we are going 
to come out lackadaisical because we are a young team, but I think we 
can't let that bother us and we just have to overcome all those obstacles 
that come our way."

Gatling: "My shots were there.  I just try to take what's given to me and
feed off my teammates."

Jim Jackson on Gatling's comment: " We were feeding off of you."

Jason Kidd: "We've always lost.  So we all want to win.  We'll do anything
to win.  I don't think we quite understood how to win, especially down the
stretch, last season."

Bill Fitch: "I don't think any one man beat us.  Gatling had two good 
nights against us.  As good as he played, we still had our opportunities.
There's no explanation for our production on the offensive end."

Fitch: "There's no explanation for our production at the offensive end in 
the 2nd half.  In the 1st half we took the ball inside and executed fairly
well.  In the second half we got impatient and guys missed assignments and 
some layups."

Dal-LAC boxscore