Jamal Mashburn may return as early as Saturday vs Vancouver.  There is
some talk about whether or not he will wear a face mask - the doctors want
him to wear one, but he doesn't want to wear one.


Dallas Mavericks at Orlando Magic

First, let me make a blanket statement about the officiating of this game:
it was terrible the entire game (bad calls both ways, but it seemed worse
for the Mavs) and horrendous in the last few minutes of regulation.  Okay, 
I won't say anything else about it (else this would become _really_ long).

The game stayed pretty close in the 1st quarter.  Orlando went up 18-12
with 5:25 left, but Jim Jackson answered with a 3-pointer.  Chris Gatling
hit a basket to tie the game 21-21 with 2 minutes remaining.  The game was
tied 25-25 after 1.  Orlando lost Nick Anderson for the game midway
through the quarter when he landed on his right wrist after blocking a
shot.  It was a sprained right wrist - x-rays were negative.  Dallas shot 
55% FG and Orlando shot 36% FG, but hit 3-3 3-pointers.  Jackson had 11 
points.
 
Mavs rookie Samaki Walker was in the game to start the 2nd and scored the
first 4 points of the quarter.  Walker looked good offensively and was
productive, but so was the guy he was defending - Rony Seikaly.  Seikaly
scored his 8th point of the quarter and tied the game at 33-33 with 8:50
to go.  The game was again tied at 39-39 with 5:30 left as neither team
could establish a run.  The small leads and ties continued for the rest
of the quarter and Orlando led 53-50 at the half.  Dallas shot 51%
(20-39) FG including 2-5 3-pointers and Orlando shot 45% (19-42) FG 
including 5-12 3-pointers.  Orlando out-rebounded Dallas 23-17.  Gerald 
Wilkins had 15 points, Seikaly had 16 points and 8 rebounds, and Derek 
Strong had 6 points.  Jackson had 13 points, Chris Gatling had 10 points 
and 5 rebounds, George McCloud had 9 points, and Samaki Walker had 8 
points.

The small leads and lead changes continued in the 3rd.  McCloud scored 5
straight points to put Dallas up 65-61 with 5:30 left.  In the first big
run of the game, Orlando went on a 7-0 (5 of which came from free throws)
to go up 68-65 with 3 minutes remaining.  Orlando led 78-72 after 3.
Strong had 12 points and Gatling had 15 points.
 
Orlando led 82-77 with 8:55 left.  The teams traded a couple of baskets
and Orlando was up 88-83 with 5:20 left.  Orlando got their largest lead
at 92-83 with 2:18 left on a breakaway layup.  Jason Kidd hit a 3-pointer
(his first field goal of the game) with 2 minutes left.  Oliver Miller
passed ahead to Jackson for 2 to bring Dallas with in 4.  92-88 Orlando
1:33.  Miller stole the ball and fed Kidd who took it in for the layup
on the break.  92-90 Orlando 1:20.  Darrell Armstrong [traveled and] got
a layup with 35.3 seconds left to put Orlando up 94-90.  Gatling made
2 free throws with 28 seconds left.  Instead of fouling them, the Mavs
let Orlando run their offense and concentrated on D.  It worked as
Armstrong's shot was slightly blocked and it was a 24 second violation
on Orlando.  Dallas ball with 3.4 seconds left and down by 2.  McCloud
inbounded to Kidd who drove toward the basket, drew 3 defenders, and 
feed the wide open Miller under the basket for the slam at the buzzer.  
94-94 - Overtime.

Gatling hit a baseliner to open the overtime.  After several Dallas
misses, a few Orlando misses, and a few Orlando turnovers, Wilkins hit
2 free throws.  96-96 with 3:30 left.  Miller got 2 on a goaltend by
Strong.  At the other end, Miller blocked Seikaly's shot and Orlando
committed another 24 second violation.  A phantom offensive foul was
called on Gatling, but Orlando wasted the favor by turning the ball
over on a bad pass.  The teams traded two misses and it was still
98-96 with a little over a minute left.  Kidd passed into Miller for
2 inside.  Strong hit a 10-footer for Orlando's first basket in the
overtime and first points in 2 1/2 minutes.  100-98 Dallas with 44
seconds left.  Gatling fed Miller for the layup and he was fouled.  He
made the extra to put Dallas up 103-98 with 30.8 seconds left.  Wilkins
swished the quick long 2 (his foot was on the line) with 26.9 seconds
left.  Orlando intentionally fouled Kidd who hit 1 of 2 free throws.
104-100 with 22.5 seconds left.  Wilkins missed the 3-pointer, Gatling
hit 2 free throws, Grant missed the 3, Gatling hit 2 more free throws,
and someone for Orlando scored the meaningless last 2 points at the
buzzer.  Dallas 108, Orlando 102.

Oliver Miller, who was not felling well and nearly did not play in the
game, scored 7 points in overtime.  Dallas went on a 25-10 run over the
last 2 minutes of regulation and overtime (25-8 if you discount the
meaningless last basket).  Jason Kidd had a season high 18 assists (16
came in regulation), topping his 17 assists from the Chicago game.  The
Mavs seem to have gotten their turnover problem a little bit under control
as this was the 3rd consecutive game the team had 15 or fewer turnovers 
and the 6th consecutive with fewer than 20 turnovers.


Quotes:
Jim Cleamons: "I was happy the way the game turned out.  I thought we 
played well.  Turnovers were down, which I was happy about."

Cleamons: "This is a huge confidence builder.  We were down, but I had a 
funny feeling.  I called time out and told them to play the game out.  We 
hung tough, didn't bow our heads and showed some guts."

Cleamons: "Oliver was playing, boy.  And we rode him to the finish."

Oliver Miller: "When we had 3.4 seconds left, Jason got me the ball and I 
just went up as quick as I could.  When I dunked it, then I heard the 
buzzer and I was really happy."

Miller: "I don't think I would've played as hard if [the fans] didn't boo 
me.  They're just mad because I didn't come here.  It's alright.  They 
got Rony Seikaly.  We got the win."

Miller: "I probably wouldn't have even played if [the fans] hadn't started 
booing before the game.  They were mad I didn't come here.  Now they're 
really mad because I did come here.  I'm sick, but I feel so good."

Jason Kidd: "I don't know what they were thinking, but I knew we just had 
to go out there and continue to play.  Everybody talks about us struggling, 
but you've got to look around.  We have new personnel, a new coach.  I 
think we've just been learning and our record is misleading.  We've been 
in a lot of ball games, but couldn't execute down the stretch."

Jim Jackson: "Any win on the road is special for us.  We have been close 
so many times, but unable to finish it off."
 
Brian Hill: "This was a very bad loss for us tonight.  I thought we had 
the game won, and unfortunately we didn't play with any poise or composure 
down the stretch.  We just turned the ball over and let them right back 
into the basketball game."

Darrell Armstrong: "I'm not going to run away from what I did [his airball
near the end of regulation].  I've just got to execute a little bit better 
down the stretch.  There's something I can't afford to do and that's give 
the ball up at the end of the game, especially at the end of the game."

Rony Seikaly: "This is a terrible, terrible loss.  A total collapse."
 
Dal-Orl boxscore