Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat  (December 4)

It was only drizzling in Dallas, but it was raining in Miami.

Eric Montross scored 6 points as Dallas took a 8-5 lead early into the
first quarter.  Dan Majerle hit the first of many 3s for Miami to tie the
game at 8-8 with 8:30 left.  Tim Hardaway hit his 3rd 3-pointer of the
quarter to put Miami up 22-15 with 3:50 to go.  Keith Askins hit another 3
for the last points of the quarter as both teams went dry for the last 40
seconds.  Miami led 29-21 after 1.  Miami shot 5-12 3-pointers in the
quarter.  Miami shot 50% FG and Dallas shot 46% FG.  Hardaway had 13
points.
 
After two consecutive Miami jams, Miami led 33-23 with 10:15 remaining.
Miami led 38-26 when Dallas went on a 9-0 run, which included a 3-pointer
by Jason Kidd, to cut Miami's lead down to 38-35 with 5 minutes left.
Miami responded by going on a 8-1 run to go up 46-36 with 1:20 to go.
Kidd banked a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the game at 48-43 Miami 
at the half.  Miami shot 50% FG including 6-18 3-pointers and Dallas shot 
44% FG including 2-6 3-pointers.  Hardaway had 19 points including 7-9 FG 
and 3-3 3-pointers (and 0 assists) and Alonzo Mourning had 8 points, 3 
blocks, and 4 rebounds.  Kidd 8 points, Jim Jackson had 8 points, and 
George McCloud had 9 points.
 
Dallas scored the first 4 points of the 3rd quarter to get within 1 at
48-47 with 9:35 left.  P.J. Brown hit 2 free throws a couple seconds later
and Isaac Austin hit a tough basket inside 3 minutes into the quarter for
Miami's first basket of the quarter as Miami started a 8-0 run to go up
56-47 with 7:35 left.  Miami led 61-53 with 5 minutes left as play started
to get really sloppy by both teams.  Miami closed the quarter with a 7-2
run that consisted of 2 3-pointers and a made technical free throw (T on
Chris Gatling for complaining about a non-call) to go up 76-65 after 3.
Miami shot 11-24 3-pointers.  Hardaway had 31 points including 11-13 FG
and 6-6 3-pointers.
 
Miami opened the quarter with a 7-2 run to go up 83-67 with 10:44.  Things
then ugly for both teams.  After 3 1/2 minutes, Gatling finally scored.
Oliver Miller collect a flagrant foul for barreling over Sasha Danilovic
and then Gatling was tossed on his second T for complaining.  Miami led
86-69 with 6:11 to go.  Majerle score 5 points and Danilovic hit a
3-pointer to make the game officially a blow-out at 91-69 with 5:12 left.
Miami won 101-79.
 
Dallas doubled-down on Mourning and any time a big man got the ball in the
post, but Miami kept passing out to the open man behind the 3-point line
and killed the Mavs from behind the arc.  When a team is that hot from
3-point land (as the Mavs can tell you from last year), you have little
chance of beating them.  Miami hit 15-35 3-pointers (Mavs opponent
records for attempts and makes).  Tim Hardaway was unconscious and
finished with 33 points on 11-13 FG, 6-6 3-pointers, and 5-5 FT (but did
have 7 turnovers).


Quotes
Pat Riley: "I just thought it was a great effort on our part, to come back
after an emotional win last night, guys playing big minutes and being able 
to hang in and do the tough things we need to win.  I think that's the 
mark of a team that's growing and wanting to be good.  I think we are on 
our way here at the beginning of the season."

Riley: "With some guys you worry if they don't score.  With these guys 
it's different.  They have grasped the idea of winning.  They don't really 
care who scores.  It's a mark of a team that is committed to winning."
 
Riley: "If [the 3s are] there, take them.  We were so wide open.  Teams 
are going to make a decision on whether to allow you to beat them from the 
inside or from the outside.  We were presented with so many open shots 
that we had to take them.  It was ridiculous."

Riley: "Most teams rotate hard on open shooters.  Tonight our guys were 
so wide open if they decided to drive the ball, they would just drive into 
a pack of players.  35 [3-pointers] is a number I don't want them to get 
used to, but when they present you with so many open shots [like] tonight, 
we had to take them.''

Tim Hardaway: "I was just on.  They were finding me and I was making good 
moves.  It was just clicking tonight.  We are going with whoever is hot 
right now.  Last night Sasha and Dan Majerle were hot, tonight it was me.
Everybody's not worried about their own stats.  It's just team oriented 
and the camaraderie here is great."

Hardaway: "We go with whoever's hot.  We pride ourselves on that as a 
team.  Nobody is worried about their own stats.  It's team-oriented, and 
the camaraderie here is great."

Hardaway: "I think we made a statement.  A lot of people still think 
we're not for real.  We're just going about our business.  We're not 
worried what other people think."
 
Jim Cleamons: "We turned the ball over.  A lot of our turnovers are 
sophomoric, that's the only way to put it.  Sometimes, the basketball 
seems to be a foreign object to us.  Until we become a better 
ballhandling team and accept a certain amount of pressure and then take 
care of the basketball, you are going to have nights that look like this."

Cleamons: "The frustration set in when the guys didn't think they were 
getting a fair shake."

Jason Kidd: "They're shooting the ball well.  And if they shoot the way 
they do, they're going to give a lot of teams trouble."
 
Kidd: "We didn't play well at all.  They shot the ball extremely well 
from three-point range.  We are struggling as a team both offensively and 
defensively and we have to find a way to fix it."

Kidd on the team's doubling down and leaving the 3-point shooters open:
"You'll have to ask the coach; to tell you the truth, I don't know what's 
going on.  We watched [Miami] kill New York with the 3s, and they did the 
same thing to us.  We took Alonzo away, but after they made all those shots 
in the first half, you've got to change something.  Nope, we didn't change. 
Did you see a change?"

Kidd: "After halftime, we didn't make adjustments.  We continued to trap.
They continued to make the threes.  It's not fun after they make 16 or
17."

Kidd: "You've got to take something away.  I think we were trying to take
Alonzo away and we gave up the 3-pointers."

Oliver Miller on his flagrant foul: "They knocked the [heck] out of my guy
[Kidd], so I'm going to do the same to theirs, no matter who it is."
 
Dal-Mia boxscore