Portland at Dallas (November 8) In the second home game of the season, the Mavs started off well as Portland was very cold. Dallas led 6-0 as Portland missed their first 8 shots. Dallas went up 16-9 and 20-13 only to see Portland go on a 10-6 run to go up 26-23 after 1. Kevin Ollie had 4 assists and Hubert Davis had 11 points. Kenny Anderson had 14 points. The Mavs regained the lead during the 2nd quarter and the teams stayed close during the quarter. Dallas led 50-45 at the half. Davis had 14 points and Anderson had 19 points. The Mavs went up 58-49 midway through the 3rd only to see Portland take over the game and go on an 18-4 run started by 8 straight points by Isaiah Rider. Portland led 67-62 with 2:18 remaining. The Mavs could do nothing in their so far usual 3rd quarter let down. Portland led 72-66 after 3. Rider scored 14 points in the quarter. Portland maintained about an 8 point lead through most of the 4th. Portland led 79-70 with 7 minutes left. Dallas pulled within 90-86 on a 3-pointer by Khalid Reeves with 2:32 left. Portland then scored the next 4 points on 2 free throws by Arvydas Sabonis and an alley-oop by Rasheed Wallace to got up 94-86 with 1:52 to go. The Mavs started playing the foul-and-make-them-make-their-free-throws game. Sabonis hit 1-2 free throws and Michael Finley hit a layup and Portland led 95-88 with 42 seconds left. Kenny Anderson hit 2 more free throws and Shawn Bradley hit a 3-pointer. Portland led 97-91 with 32 seconds left. Sabonis hit 2 free throws, Finley hit a 3-pointers, and Anderson hit 2 free throws as Portland won 101-94. Portland hit 9-10 free throws in the last 2 1/2 minutes. Shawn Bradley looked great in the game. As surprising as his 3-pointer was (and it was a clean shoot and only his 2nd 3-pointer of his career [out of 19 attempts]), it wasn't his best shot of the night. His best was when Bradley went driving across the lane, got shoved by Sabonis (no call, of course), and threw up a wild hook while falling down that went in. Kurt Thomas' temper showed in the game. Dennis Scott was absolutely not a factor in the game. Anstey did not look good in his 2 minutes. Sabonis took the ball right at him and scored on him twice and Anstey was also called for an offensive foul in his limited minutes. There were some unhappy players and gripping after the game. Reeves, Erick Strickland, Samaki Walker and Kurt Thomas questioned the way Cleamons used them. A team meeting was scheduled for Monday. Quotes Mike Dunleavy: "Bradley was as tough as anybody in the low post that we've seen all year. He was making shots when he didn't have position and he buried that last three on us. He played a heck of a game. I had no problem with the defense we were playing on him. They were all contested shots." Kenny Anderson: "They're new and improved. They're a feisty team. They played hard and never gave up. But in the second half we started playing better defense and that carried us." Jim Cleamons: "In our system, standing around is suicide. And that's exactly what we did. We got the lead by moving, passing, and cutting. Then we stood around and gave the thing away." Cleamons: "What we have to do is regroup, come back with a lot of resolve Tuesday. We've said many times that this is a young team, and young teams will face adversity. We need to continue to play together." Cleamons: "We started off 3-0 and we've dropped two straight so what we have to do is regroup and go from there. We have to learn to continue to play together." Shawn Bradley: "I'm not sure what happened, but somehow we let one get away. I think we thought we had it won and we relaxed. We just sort of stood around and watched like, `Duh?' " Bradley: "We had our opportunities to win. We're still young and learning. We're not letting these things demoralize us. We need to get the momentum back." Bradley: "We're still young and we're still learning and we've got to get to know each other. It's a long rebuilding process. We won a big game early [against Seattle] and what we have to do is take that momentum and work off of it." Bradley on the frustration the teams is currently feeling: "We've got to take care of that right away, before it becomes a problem. It's too long of a season. We've done too many good things, and we have an opportunity to do too many more good things to let that stuff creep into the locker room. We've got to get together as a team and talk about things." Khalid Reeves: "We were in a good position to win. Things just broke down. It's very frustrating. You just don't know [how frustrating]." Reeves on the triangle offense: "You tell me, is it working for us? It's very frustrating. But we're not going to change. Getting [Cleamons] to change is like trying to change spots on a leopard." Reeves on his being pulled in the 3rd quarter and then Portland making a run: "It seems like as soon as I go out [the opponents] just do their thing." Kurt Thomas on the amount of playing time he received: "I can't sit around so much, I just get stiff. If I'm out there I'm healthy. Use me. Until I'm part of a regular rotation I'm going to struggle. We all are." Portland Trailblazers 101, Dallas Mavericks 94 at Dallas (November 8) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Portland 26 19 27 29 - 101 .418 .429 .420 .871 Dallas 23 27 16 28 - 94 .406 .529 .432 .625 Halftime: Dallas 50-45 3rd Q: Portland 72-66 Technicals: Dallas Illegal D 9:42 4th, Isaiah Rider 8:51 4th, Stacey Augmon 8:17 4th, Kurt Thomas 8:17 4th, Rasheed Wallace (taunting) 1:52 4th Flagrant fouls: Kurt Thomas 10:12 2nd Refs: Eddie F. Rush, Blaine Reichelt, Jim Capers Attendance: 11,162 (cap 18,042) Portland Trailblazers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Rasheed Wallace 35 5-8 0-1 2-2 12 2-5 1 1 1 2 4 Brian Grant 33 1-8 0-0 0-0 2 3-8 1 2 5 0 0 Arvydas Sabonis 28 6-11 1-2 7-8 20 1-16 1 2 2 0 0 Kenny Anderson 43 6-12 4-5 12-12 28 1-1 8 3 3 3 0 Isaiah Rider 38 10-22 1-6 3-4 24 4-11 5 4 1 1 0 Stacey Augmon 22 3-9 0-0 1-2 7 1-4 0 1 3 2 1 Kelvin Cato 13 2-6 0-0 1-2 5 3-7 0 1 3 0 0 John Crotty 10 0-1 0-0 1-1 1 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Jermaine O'Neal 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 Vincent Askew 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 34-81 6-14 27-31 101 15-54 16 14 20 8 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 37 7-20 2-5 5-8 21 3-9 4 1 1 2 0 A.C. Green 37 4-8 0-0 2-2 10 2-10 1 1 4 0 0 Shawn Bradley 44 10-19 1-1 5-9 26 3-12 4 0 3 1 7 Khalid Reeves 30 3-6 2-4 2-3 10 1-4 4 1 4 1 1 Hubert Davis 38 8-15 3-4 1-2 20 1-2 0 0 3 3 0 Kevin Ollie 15 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 6 2 2 0 0 Chris Anstey 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 1 0 1 Kurt Thomas 13 1-7 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 2 4 1 0 Dennis Scott 21 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 0 1 0 Erick Strickland 3 1-2 1-2 0-0 3 0-1 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 35-81 9-17 15-24 94 11-42 19 9 23 9 9 Quotes from the meeting the players (with Cleamons) held Monday Jim Cleamons: "I think we got some things done. Spirits are good, so we just have to keep working. I have to be patient with them, and they have to be patient with each other." Cleamons: "They can get frustrated with the offense, and they can get frustrated with each other, but we have to walk through these little moments of anxiety so we can continue to grow." Shawn Bradley: "I didn't say anything I'm ashamed of or that I think was inappropriate. The key for us this year is that we all stay on the same page. We have to do that in order to have a chance." Bradley: "You get a couple of losses and it's just natural to say: 'What's going on? You're doing this. You're doing that.' I've been on three bad teams that have done that. I just don't want to see that happen here. We have too many good guys on this team, and too many people have worked too hard to turn this organization around, to fall into that trap." Dennis Scott: "I thought the meeting was very positive. Guys got things off their chest. The biggest thing [Cleamons] got across today was recognizing each other's strengths on the court. This is the system that we're working with, so let's find our strengths within the system." LA Lakers at Dallas (November 11) Kobe Bryant (sprained right ankle) and Corie Blount (sprained right ankle) did not play. Ugh. Well, I would have had a great time if I had been rooting for the Lakers. I should have taken the hint of what the night was going to be like as the Mavs' mascot missed a dunk during the intro and Nick Van Exel (who just loves Reunion) opened the game with a 3-pointer. The Mavs looked terrible. The only Maverick who looked good in the first half was Dennis Scott, who hit one of his hot streaks. Shaquille O'Neal was dominating and Bradley could do nothing to stop him. There were lots of dunks and alley-oops in the game - all by the Lakers. O'Neal had 3 dunks in the first 4 minutes as the Lakers went up 18-8. The dunk that I found the most impressive was the one where O'Neal got high in the air (it might have been an alley-oop) and slammed it so hard that the ball's bounced after the dunk went up above the box on the backboard. The Lakers led 27-21 after 1. O'Neal had 10 points in the quarter and the Lakers were shooting about 63% FG (and Dallas about 48% FG). The boards were about even - as there were the entire game. The Lakers built up a 48-33 lead in the 2nd quarter. Scott scored most of the points for the Mavs in the quarter. Shawn Bradley and Rick Fox got into a minor scuffle late in the quarter, but it didn't amount to much. The Lakers led 57-43 at the half. O'Neal chipped in 15 more points in the quarter for a total of 25 points for the half on 12-16 FG and 1-5 FT. The Lakers shot 58% (25-43) FG and Dallas shot 40% (16-40) FG. The Lakers shot 6-12 FT and Dallas shot 6-11 FT. Van Exel had 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Scott had 18 points including 4-5 3-pointers and 3 rebounds. No other Mavs had more than 8 points. Nick Van Exel did not play in the 2nd half due to back spasms. The Lakers continued to build on their lead and went up by 22 points in the quarter. They led 90-71 after 3. It looked to be more of the same in the 4th, until Jim Cleamons finally inserted Erick Strickland. The Lakers led 95-75 with 10:30 left. Behind Strickland's hustle, the lineup of Strick, Hubert Davis, Scott, Kurt Thomas, and A.C. Green went on a 14-2 run to bring Dallas within 97-89 with 5:40 left. The Lakers called timeout and reinserted O'Neal (Elden Campbell, Rick Fox, Robert Horry, Derek Fisher, and Eddie Jones were on the floor during the Mavs' run). Behind O'Neal and with help from the return of Dallas' turnover proneness and stagnant offense, the Lakers went on a 15-0 run to return the game to a blowout. During the run, Thomas and Samaki Walker picked up their 5th fouls and Chris Anstey was inserted into the game. He only lasted a couple of seconds as he received an elbow to the face from O'Neal while trying to stop O'Neal (another Mavs was called for the defensive foul). Anstey then went to the locker room to receive 3 stitches. Welcome to the NBA. O'Neal scored 7 points during the quarter. The Lakers won 118-96. The Lakers out-scored the Mavs 66-28 in the paint. Shaquille O'Neal had 10 dunks. MIAs for the game: Shawn Bradley and Michael Finley. Quotes Del Harris: "We got just a little bit careless there. The Mavericks put a little bit of a scare in the ol' coach." Harris: "There's a fine line between having fun and being careless. I thought we hot-dogged ourselves into a bit of a hole there in the 4th quarter." Harris: "The Mavs just frightened me a little in the late third and early fourth quarters. I've been around too long and I've seen a lot of big leads blown this year." Shaquille O'Neal: "I played well in the first half and my teammates played well in the second half. We relaxed a little at the end and they came back on us a little. But we're very focused this year and have a lot of guys who can do a lot of things." O'Neal: "In this league, everyone is a professional. We relaxed, so they came back on us a little bit. We played very well, but we can't afford to be overconfident." O'Neal: "The number one rule when you play against a shot-blocker is to go at him. Or go over him. And I did." O'Neal: "The rule when you play against a shot-blocker is you've got to take it to the hole. That's what I did." Jim Cleamons: "Shaq was just too much for us to handle. I'm glad there's only one player like him. He went at us with reckless abandon." Cleamons: "Shaquille O'Neal is a heck of a basketball player. His size and his athleticism is tremendous. I'm glad he's the only one in the league like it." Cleamons on Bradley playing on 4 minutes in the 2nd half: "I was frustrated by the way Shawn played, and I think he was frustrated with himself. He needed to put a body on him. You give Shaq that kind of position, and the guy coming to double-team needs a cape." Shawn Bradley: "That's the best he's played against me, and that's the worst I've played against him. Tonight I felt like a human-highlight dummy." Bradley: "Shaq's just so strong. The way I usually play well against him is by hitting my open jumpers. But nothing was going right for me." Dennis Scott: "He told me before the game he was sorry, but he was going to kill us. I think he's still mad at me for beating him in college Georgia Tech over Louisiana State. He was an awesome force." Michael Finley: "Some nights you're the Louisville Slugger and some nights you're the ball. Tonight, we were definitely the ball. We got hit, and we got hit hard." Finley: "Of our six games so far, this by far was our worst display of team continuity and team energy. It's a good thing this happened early in the season, when we can still learn from it." Los Angeles Lakers 118, Dallas Mavericks 96 at Dallas (November 11) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% LA Lakers 27 30 33 28 - 118 .600 .467 .575 .613 Dallas 21 22 28 25 - 96 .431 .526 .442 .625 Halftime: LA Lakers 57-43 3rd Q: LA Lakers 90-71 LA Lakers' largest lead: 114-91 1:35 4th Dallas never led Technicals: Shawn Bradley 4:29 1st, Rick Fox 3:01 2nd, A.C. Green 3:30 3rd Flagrant Fouls: Kurt Thomas 0:21 4th Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Joe DeRosa, Leon Wood Attendance: 13,722 (cap 18,042) Los Angeles Lakers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Robert Horry 42 6-9 1-3 1-1 14 3-7 9 3 4 4 2 Rick Fox 33 6-10 4-4 0-0 16 1-4 3 3 5 2 1 Shaquille O'Neal 37 17-23 0-0 3-9 37 2-12 2 2 3 0 3 Eddie Jones 43 4-9 1-3 4-5 13 0-4 3 2 0 2 1 Nick Van_Exel 17 4-7 1-2 2-2 11 0-4 4 2 1 1 0 Elden Campbell 25 4-7 0-0 2-6 10 1-3 0 2 4 2 1 Jon Barry 8 1-4 0-1 2-2 4 0-0 1 0 2 1 0 Mario Bennett 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 1 0 1 0 0 Derek Fisher 27 4-10 0-2 5-6 13 3-5 6 3 2 0 0 Sean Rooks 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 48 46-80 7-15 19-31 118 10-41 29 17 22 12 9 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 36 3-11 1-4 1-2 8 2-3 0 4 3 3 1 A.C. Green 40 4-8 0-0 1-2 9 5-16 8 4 3 1 0 Shawn Bradley 23 2-12 0-0 2-2 6 1-3 0 1 3 0 2 Khalid Reeves 23 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 Hubert Davis 23 5-9 1-2 0-0 11 0-2 0 0 2 0 0 Dennis Scott 34 10-19 5-8 2-3 27 0-3 2 4 2 1 0 Kevin Ollie 5 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 Kurt Thomas 17 5-10 0-0 3-3 13 2-7 2 4 6 0 0 Samaki Walker 15 3-5 0-0 1-2 7 2-4 1 1 5 2 1 Erick Strickland 20 3-6 3-5 0-0 9 0-2 6 3 5 2 0 Chris Anstey 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Bubba Wells 3 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-86 10-19 10-16 96 12-40 23 23 31 9 4 Kurt Thomas was fined $7,500 for throwing an elbow at Stacey Augmon in Saturday's Mavs-Portland game. The mayor of Dallas has declared Thursday to Thursday to be A.C. Green week. Green will break the NBA consecutive games played streak next Thursday with 907 games played. The Mavs have scheduled lots of funs and games for the Golden State game and celebrities galore will be in attendance - including Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Rod Thorn, Cal Ripken Jr (who holds the baseball consecutive game record), and Randy Smith (whose record Green will be breaking). [Though it's not a Mavs thing, I feel it's a shame that no mention is being made of it. Smith's record is only the NBA record. Once Green breaks Smith's record, he'll have to play in 135 more consecutive games to break the pro basketball record. Ron Boone played in 1,041 consecutive games in the ABA and NBA.] A funny radio ad for tomorrow's games vs Philadelphia: Thursday the Philadelphia 76ers will be in town. Fortunately their fans won't. [The Philly fans have had problems this past week - first harassing the Sonics players during the game including one fan who got within two feet of Gary Payton and yelled at him for a minute before being ejected (while Detlef Schrempf was shooting free throws) and then two "fans" were arguing which of Payton and Allen Iverson was the better point guard and it escalated into a shooting match where two bystanders were killed.] patricia