Gary Trent re-injured his strained left groin in the 1st quarter of the New Jersey game and was placed on IR on Tuesday. There is no time table for his return. Dallas signed Greg Buckner for the rest of the season. With the win vs Detroit, Don Nelson reached the 900 win milestone as a coach. He joined Dick Motta (935), Red Auerbach (938), Bill Fitch (944), Pat Riley (973), and Lenny Wilkens (1166) as the only coaches with at least 900 career wins. With the Golden State game, the Mavs have reached the halfway point of the season. Dallas has a record of 16-25, but have won 5 of their last 7 games. Dallas at New Jersey (Jan. 22) New Jersey scored 9 straight points to go up 11-4 with 7 minutes left. New Jersey led 15-6 with 5 minutes remaining and Dallas went on an 11-1 run to go up 17-16 with 2:15 to go. Gary Trent was on a break with 4:20 left and was fouled from behind with no call. Trent went down injured and left the game a short time later having re-aggravated his strained left groin. He returned briefly at the end of the quarter, but missed the rest of the game. Dallas led 23-19 after 1. New Jersey led 31-30 with 7:45 left and Dallas went on an 11-2 run to go up 41-33 with 4:30 remaining. New Jersey ate away at Dallas' small led. A long tap in at the buzzer by Michael Finley gave Dallas a 52-50 lead at the half. Cedric Ceballos had 15 points in the half. The game remained close with Dallas holding a 1 to 6 point lead the entire quarter. Dallas led 75-74 after 3. Ceballos had 15 points in the 3rd quarter. The teams traded leads to open the 4th quarter. Dallas led 91-86 with 4 minutes left on a 3-pointer by Dirk Nowitzki. Scott Burrell missed a layup and the rebounded was tapped around before being snagged by Kendall Gill who made the layup and was fouled. He made the free throw. A jumper by Stephon Marbury tied the game the game at 91-91 with 2:26 to go. Finley hit a short jumper, but Kerry Kittles nailed a 3-pointer with 1:30 remaining. A jumper by Ceballos gave Dallas a 95-94 lead with 1:10 left. Kittles missed a 3-pointer with 54 seconds left, but blocked Ceballos' baseline floater with 32 seconds left. Marbury drove for a layup with 25 seconds left. After a timeout, the Mavs had a messed up play where Finley lost his dribble in the corner, was doubled-teamed, made a dangerous cross-court pass to Hubert Davis, Davis drove and missed an off-balanced runner with 6 seconds left. The Mavs immediately fouled Burrell who made both free throws with 4.3 seconds. The Mavs called timeout and brought the ball to half court. The ball was inbounded to Nowitzki who stepped in and stepped on the 3-point line and missed the long 2 with a second left and the clock ran out. New Jersey won 98-95. This team struggles to finish games. The Mavs had plenty of timeouts, but no one called one when Finley got trapped in the corner and the play was completely blown. A timeout and fresh start at a clean play may have saved this game. Instead, they kept going with the bonehead, out-of-sync play which resulted in a poor shot by Hubert. The players have to look at themselves for blame for this loss. New Jersey did receive some help from the refs in that they shot 21-27 free throws and Dallas only shot 6-8 free throws, including only 1-2 in the 3rd quarter and none in the 4th. And the Mavs were being fouled, they just weren't getting any calls. Kendall Gill was the key player for New Jersey with 23 points including 9-15 FG and 7 rebounds. Stephon Marbury had 20 points and 8 assists. Kerry Kittles struggled in the game, but had a key 3-pointer and block at the end. He had 9 points including 3-14 FG and 2-9 3-pointers. Cedric Ceballos carried the Mavs with 36 points including 17-26 FG and 8 rebounds. Michael Finley really struggled and only had 10 points on 5-18 FG, but did have 7 rebounds and 9 assists. Hubert Davis had 13 points on 5-7 FG and 3-3 3-pointers and missed only his 6th free throw of the season. Steve Nash returned to action, but only plyed 6 minutes. Quotes Don Casey: "The play of the game for us was Kendall's rebound and stickback." Casey: "We're hot right now. At this point, we need every game. It's a big win because we have a tough road game on Monday." Casey: "It's a good win. If we would've come this close and lost, it would've been a sour plane ride. We need every building block we can get." Kendall Gill: "Dirk Nowitzki is the best shooting big man I've ever seen. He's not 6-10, he's 7-1. It was a very scary game. I'm glad we came up with the big play." Gill: "I'd been defending Michael Finley, but Ceballos was hot. I told Casey, 'Put me on him. I don't believe he can score on me.' He doesn't play against me much. He probably doesn't know I steal the ball. He put it in a place I could get at it. I just took advantage of him not knowing my abilities. Next time, he'll know." Gill: "When I got the ball, I knew I was gonna shoot it. I wasn't going to pass it. I just went ahead with the play, and it seemed like they opened up the lane for me." Gill: "This was a huge game for us. We stood tall and this win comes up huge because we have to play one of the toughest teams on the road." Gill: "This was a huge game for us. This is our 5th close game in a row, and we didn't want to go on the road losing. It's big for our confidence. Most people think games in January aren't big, but this one was." Keith Van Horn: "It's not a position you want to be in, but I'll gladly be in foul trouble every night if it gets a win." Van Horn: "Kerry's shot and Kendall's putback were probably the two plays that put us over the edge." Van Horn: "I think a lot of people fail to realize when a guy scores 30 or 40 points his team loses. They focus in on one guy." Van Horn: "This is the kind of game where we needed to make some solid baskets, which is what we did. I didn't have one of my better games, but as long as we win, I'm a happy camper. I'm glad we came out on top." Kerry Kittles: "I think we did a good job. It was a great team effort. We gave it all we had and stuck together." Don Nelson: "All losses are hard. We had opportunities to win this game, but we missed too many easy shots. There were about 8 or 10 layups and 6 or 7 open shots today we missed. We didn't get to the free throw line enough. If you don't get to the line often, you have to make plenty of shots." Nelson: "If Trent doesn't get hurt we probably win this game on the road." Cedric Ceballos: "I don't know where [Kittles] came from, but he and Stephon played really well today." Ceballos on Kittles' block: "I don't know where he came from. I saw the shot go up clean, and he just came out of nowhere and got it." Michael Finley: "We just shot ourselves in the foot once again in a game we should have had. Every loss is tough, but this one was tough because we were put in a situation where we could have won the ballgame, but we just came up short." Finley: "I personally couldn't get the ball in the bucket, but coach kept calling my number. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong in those last couple of minutes." Finley on the Mavs' 2nd to last play: "Everybody was on different pages. I was calling for Ced to come get the ball. He thought that the play was called for Dirk to get the ball. Everybody was just scattered, and it was kind of hectic at the end. And I ended up throwing a pass to Hubert that almost was stolen, and Hubert threw up a desperation runner, and that's how the game went." Dirk Nowitzki on his missed long 2 at the end: "That was a bad move. They switched everything, so I had Marbury on me, and I didn't want him to steal the ball, so I did a spin move and I was on the line. Maybe I should have shot it over him." New Jersey 98, Dallas Mavericks 95 at New Jersey (January 22) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% New Jersey 19 31 24 24 - 98 .493 .214 .446 .778 Dallas 23 29 23 20 - 95 .459 .538 .471 .750 Halftime: Dallas 52-50 3rd Q: Dallas 75-74 Dallas' largest lead: 43-35 3:54 2nd Dallas' last lead: 95-94 1:11 4th New Jersey's largest lead: 15-6 5:02 1st Lead changes: 17 Technicals: Keith Van Horn 6:33 2nd Refs: Joe DeRosa, Derrick Stafford, George Toliver Attendance: 13,682 (cap 20,029) New Jersey Nets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kendall Gill 37 9-15 0-0 5-5 23 3-7 4 0 1 5 0 Keith Van_Horn 21 6-10 0-0 0-0 12 1-3 1 3 5 0 0 Jamie Feick 38 2-8 0-0 2-2 6 4-12 3 1 0 0 0 Kerry Kittles 27 3-14 2-9 1-2 9 0-5 0 0 0 1 2 Stephon Marbury 42 7-15 0-2 6-8 20 0-3 8 4 3 1 0 Scott Burrell 24 0-2 0-1 2-2 2 0-7 0 0 3 2 0 Johnny Newman 22 3-7 1-2 4-5 11 1-2 1 1 1 1 0 Lucious Harris 21 4-8 0-0 0-0 8 1-3 2 0 1 1 0 Elliot Perry 6 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 2 1-1 0-0 1-3 3 0-0 0 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 37-83 3-14 21-27 98 10-42 19 10 18 11 2 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 36 4-11 3-5 0-0 11 0-10 3 2 3 0 1 Gary Trent 9 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 1-2 1 2 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 27 4-6 0-0 2-2 10 2-11 0 2 5 0 1 Michael Finley 38 5-18 0-1 0-0 10 2-7 9 2 3 1 1 Erick Strickland 21 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 0-3 4 1 2 0 0 Greg Buckner 24 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 0 5 0 0 Cedric Ceballos 37 17-26 0-0 2-3 36 3-8 3 2 2 1 0 Hubert Davis 29 5-7 3-3 0-1 13 1-1 2 0 3 0 0 Steve Nash 6 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 Damon Jones 13 2-6 1-4 0-0 5 0-0 2 2 1 0 0 Totals 48 41-87 7-13 6-8 95 9-44 24 14 26 3 3 Dallas at Detroit (Jan. 23) The game was tied 10-10 with 6:15 left and Dallas went on a 13-4 run to go up 23-14 with 1:45 left. Dallas led 25-19 after 1. Erick Strickland had 11 points in the quarter. Dallas held a 4 to 9 point lead for the first half of the 2nd quarter. Dallas led 42-33 with 4:30 left and Detroit scored the next 10 points to go up 43-42 with 2:23 remaining. Dallas led 51-49 at the half. Jerry Stackhouse had 13 points in the 2nd quarter. It was a close 3rd quarter with neither team having more than a 6 point lead. Detroit scored the last 7 points of the quarter to go up 76-70 after 3. Detroit led 80-72 with 10:45 left and Dallas scored the next 7 points to pull within 79-80 with 9:15 to go on a 3-pointer by Strickland. Detroit led 87-84 with 5 minutes left and Shawn Bradley hit 2 free throws and Greg Buckner nailed an open jumper to put Dallas up 88-87 with 3 minutes left. Jerome Williams got a putback and Buckner got a layup from Michael Finley. Cedric Ceballos hit a jumper to put Dallas up 92-89 with 1:45 left. Christian Laettner missed a 3-pointer and Buckner hit another open jumper with the assist to Finley with a minute to go. John Crotty missed a 3-pointer and Steve Nash hit 2 free throws to give Dallas a semi-comfortable 95-89 lead with 50 seconds remaining. Lindsey Hunter missed a 3-pointer and Ceballos hit 2 free throws. A dunk by Stackhouse and a free throw by Buckner capped the scoring. Dallas won 99-91. Greg Buckner was open for his 3 shots in the last 3 minutes as Detroit was doubling Finley off of him and Finley did the smart thing in finding the open man. To Buckner's credit, he hit each shot and was the hero of the game. The Mavs closed the game with a 15-4 run. The win gave Don Nelson 900 career coaching wins. Buckner finished with 8 key points on 3-4 FG and 2-6 FT [he _has_ to work on his free throws] and 6 rebounds. Cedric Ceballos had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Michael Finley had 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Erick Strickland finished with 16 points (11 of those in the 1st quarter), 5 rebounds, and 5 assists and missed only his 6th free throw of the season. Jerry Stackhouse tried to carry Detroit in Grant Hill's absence and had 36 points including 14-30 FG and 1-7 3-pointers, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Quotes Don Nelson: "It is my 900th win and I don't mean to underplay that. But it was won the way it should have been won. It was a hard-fought game; I'm all sweaty. There were a lot of decisions that went in the game and a lot of different strategies. I guess if I'm going to remember that one, that's what I'm going to remember." Nelson on win #900: "I'm glad that's over, so we won't have to talk about it anymore after tonight." Nelson: "I'm just glad I won't have to talk about it any more. The thing I'm happiest about is that it was won the way games are supposed to be won. I'm only going to remember that everyone played hard for us, we changed strategies and made adjustments and then we found a way to win it in the end." Nelson: "We changed strategies, made adjustments and found a way to win it at the end. Buckner has the heart of a lion. I think he'll be quite a player in this league. We had mismatches and they had a point guard on Michael Finley. That was the difference. The mismatches on Michael and Cedric." Nelson on Buckner: "I don't blame them for leaving him, because he's not known to be a shooter. He's known to be a defender. But we saw him make shots in the summer league, and I think it's a confidence thing. He's got the heart of a lion." Greg Buckner: "I have to shoot to get the respect of the guys in the league. They missed Grant. Any time you take a guy away who can do it all on any given night, it hurts." Buckner: "Stack is a great player, but Grant is one of the top 3 players in the league, and he does everything. It's always going to help us when we don't have to face a guy like that." Buckner: "Michael Finley told me that I have to shoot to get the respect of the guys in this league. Tonight I had to make the shots because they were leaving me open. Teams double off me because I don't shoot that much and I'm a rookie." Buckner: "I work on those shots every day. It's just a matter of shooting with some rhythm. I have to shoot to get the respect of the guys in this league. Tonight I had to make the shots because they were leaving me open. Teams double off of me because I don't shoot that much and I'm a rookie." Buckner: "It seems like I've been in Dallas for a long time, and I'm finally getting an opportunity to prove to Coach Nelson that I can help him. I have to shoot to get the respect of the guys in this league. But I've been around this team so long, I think our guys have confidence in me." Michael Finley on Greg Buckner: "I call him Prime Time because, being in Dallas, Prime Time Deion Sanders is known for his defense and sometimes helping out on offense. That's what Buck does for us." Cedric Ceballos: "We told Buckner to just keep his eyes open and success will come with that. The points will come. You can't look the ball into the basket." Ceballos: "That's the way this team plays - we go to whoever is hot at the time. And we love winning. Yesterday, after the New Jersey loss, everyone was quiet. The room was quiet, the bus was quiet and the plane was quiet. But the nice thing about this league is that you can come right back and get it off your back. That's what we did tonight." Ceballos: "We were hurting from that Jersey game emotionally. I hadn't seen that locker room that quiet in awhile. Even the bus ride [after the game], the plane ride, the bus ride today was quite, even the locker room today was quiet. The great thing about back-to-back games, when you have a bad loss you can always come back and shake it and get a win. But we should have had a sweep on this trip." Ceballos: "I love winning. It's much better than losing." Alvin Gentry: We have to have all of our guys step up, and the only way we're going to be able to do that is as a collective group. We have to play great team defense, move the ball on offense, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that. It's hard when you're playing guys out of position. We did the best we could with what we had." Gentry: "Obviously, it hurts when you lose the best player in the league. We can't mope about it - we just have to regroup and get going again. I thought we played hard tonight, we just didn't make any plays down the stretch. They hit some big shots and we didn't." Jud Buechler: "It was tough. The feel out there without [Hill] is totally different. He's our go-to guy, our franchise player. The whole time I'm thinking, let's run something for Grant, and he's behind the bench. In all of our losses this year, we've made bad decisions." Buechler: "Life without Grant Hill is tough and we are starting to find that out. Sometimes you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone." Michael Curry: "We had a couple of bad offensive possessions when we went up by 8 and they made back-to-back 3s. It all starts at the defensive end for me. We can't let teams go on 8-0 and 10-0 runs. Jerry Stackhouse: "We got away from what we were doing at the end of the game. We have to get on the same page, especially late in games. Grant not being there is not an excuse for us not winning." Stackhouse: "We got away from what we were doing. We had the game right where we wanted it, but we started doing things that weren't conducive to winning." Stackhouse: "We got away from what we had been doing. We had the game right where we wanted it, and we started doing things that aren't conductive to winning games. Guys were trying to win, but they were doing too much. We got away from our roles." Stackhouse: "Missing Grant is not an excuse for losing this game. We were supposed to win this game and we were supposed to win in Chicago." Dallas Mavericks 99, Detroit Pistons 91 at Detroit (January 23) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 25 26 19 29 - 99 .500 .308 .469 .679 Detroit 19 30 27 15 - 91 .439 .261 .393 .652 Halftime: Dallas 51-49 3rd Q: Detroit 76-70 Detroit's largest lead: 80-72 10:41 4th Dallas' largest lead: 98-89 0:41 4th Technicals: Jerry Stackhouse 4:53 1st, Shawn Bradley 5:47 4th Refs: Ken Mauer, Phil Robinson, Mike Callahan Attendance: 13,047 (cap 22,076) Did not play due to injury: Gary Trent (strained left groin), Grant Hill (right hip contusion) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 44 8-17 0-0 2-4 18 1-10 6 2 3 0 0 Cedric Ceballos 41 8-18 1-4 5-6 22 3-10 3 1 1 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 33 5-14 1-4 3-4 14 0-4 5 4 5 0 0 Steve Nash 22 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 0-2 3 4 3 2 0 Erick Strickland 28 7-10 1-2 1-2 16 1-5 6 1 3 2 0 Damon Jones 9 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 2 0 0 Greg Buckner 20 3-4 0-0 2-6 8 0-6 1 1 3 3 0 Shawn Bradley 26 5-11 0-0 4-4 14 5-8 2 2 4 1 2 Hubert Davis 14 1-3 1-2 0-0 3 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Sean Rooks 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 1 Totals 48 38-81 4-13 19-28 99 10-45 27 15 25 9 3 Detroit Pistons REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jud Buechler 33 5-9 2-5 0-2 12 2-7 1 0 0 1 1 Christian Laettner 25 4-11 0-1 2-2 10 1-3 1 4 3 1 3 Terry Mills 17 0-4 0-1 0-0 0 2-7 2 3 3 2 0 Jerry Stackhouse 45 14-30 1-7 7-9 36 0-8 5 3 3 3 0 Lindsey Hunter 38 3-11 2-5 0-0 8 0-2 7 0 4 1 0 Michael Curry 28 2-7 0-1 0-0 4 0-3 1 2 5 0 0 Jerome Williams 26 4-8 0-0 3-6 11 5-10 1 2 2 3 1 John Crotty 25 3-9 1-3 3-4 10 3-5 3 1 2 0 0 Eric Montross 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 35-89 6-23 15-23 91 13-46 21 16 23 11 5 Golden State at Dallas (January 25) Dallas led 10-9 with 7:30 left and went on a 17-3 run to go up 27-12 with 2:15 to go. Antawn Jamison hit the last 2 baskets of the quarter and Dallas led 31-20 after 1. Jamison had 14 points and Michael Finley had 11 points in the quarter. Mookie Blaylock hit a short jumper to open the 2nd quarter and Dallas then went on a 10-2 run to go up 41-24 with 8:30 left. Dallas led in the teens the rest of the quarter and led 59-48 at the half. Finley had 22 points including 9-12 FG despite sitting out the last 6 minutes of the 2nd quarter. Dallas led 61-50 with 11:30 remaining and went on a 12-4 run to go up 73-54 with 8 minutes left. Then things got really ugly. With Dallas up 73-56 with just under 7 minutes left, Shawn Bradley and Mark Davis bumped a little and exchanged words and then Davis picked Bradley up by the waist and threw Bradley to the floor. A scuffle ensued amongst the players on the court and, after the players were separated, the refs announced that both Davis and Bradley were ejected. And if that wasn't ugly enough, 5 minutes later Steve Nash was going for a layup on a break when Vonteego Cummings came from behind and body slammed Nash while Nash was in the air. Again a scuffle ensued and the end result was that Cummings was ejected with a flagrant foul level 2 and Nash received a technical foul. Despite the garbage, Dallas led 89-72 after 3. Golden State made some small runs at Dallas in the 4th, but were answered by 3-pointers by Hubert Davis or slam dunks by Finley. Garbage time was in full effect with 5 minutes left. Dallas won 117-103. There was no need for the ugliness that occurred in this game. While the WWF take down of Bradley was bizarre, the body slam on Nash was simply excessive and dangerous. I've seen a number of players get injured on such a play - and was greatful that Nash wasn't injured. I'm still trying to figure out why Bradley was ejected. From seeing the replays where the bumping occurred between the two players, I could see giving Bradley a technical foul for his involvement, but I didn't see anything done by Bradley worthy of ejection. Golden State should be ashamed of their acts in the game. Unfortunately, going by the comments below, they aren't. There is no need for that type of garbage in the NBA and the Mavs are very lucky that no one was injured. Even more bizarre and using less of his brain was Gary Trent. After Vonteego Cummings was ejected, Trent (who is on IR) went into the Golden State locker room and into the shower to confront Cummings. The two just exchanged words before Trent was escorted from the locker room by security. The league has rules against players entering the opponent's locker room, so I expect Trent to be fined. The league is reviewing the film from the incidents and will announce fines and suspension today. A small funny from the Nash incident: after the refs had figured out what they were going to call for the melee, one of the refs went over to Nash and told him that he was receiving a T and not being ejected. Nash put his arms around the ref, obviously happy he wasn't ejected. What might have helped set up Golden State's frustration (besides being blown out by the Mavs) and the garbage that occurred in the 3rd quarter was that the Mavs, for a change, received most of the calls in the 1st half (besides a terrible non-call on Bradley being mugged on a shot attempt in the paint). The Mavs finally found a team that gets less respect than they do. Of course, after the garbage in the 3rd, the game was tightly called the rest of the game. For the game, Shawn Bradley was having a great game before being ejected. He had 15 points, 12 rebounds including 7 offensive, and 3 blocks in 21 minutes. Michael Finley had a solid game with 30 points including 12-19 FG and 10 assists - despite not playing in a good chunk of the 2nd and 4th quarters. Dirk Nowitzki contributed 23 points and 7 rebounds and Cedric Ceballos had 18 points including 9-10 FT, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Antawn Jamison had a great game - in part due to Erick Strickland and Greg Buckner guarding him and at times there was no weakside help (or the weakside help was another guard) - with 33 points including 11-15 FT and 21 rebounds including 13 offensive. The 13 offensive boards is a Mavs' opponent record (old being 12). Dallas swept the series vs Golden State 4-0. Quotes Don Nelson: "We took care of business, and that's all that mattered to me." Nelson on Bradley: "He's stepping up. He's been more aggressive lately, and I like that." Nelson: "I'm real happy with the way the team stuck up for one another when we got into a confrontation. That means we're coming around a little bit." Nelson on the physicality: "I don't think it was anything we did. They're going through a hard time now, and I think they got a little carried away." Shawn Bradley: "I was surprised they kicked me out and I was really surprised [Davis] was able to body slam me like that." Sean Rooks: "Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt. We didn't want to start a rumble. We just wanted to play ball." Rooks: "Our guys did a good job of getting in there and letting them know that we're not going to take that. You can't let anybody come in and do whatever they want." Cedric Ceballos: "I don't know if they were frustrated or what. I've been the victim of flagrant fouls. Those things shouldn't happen on the court." Ceballos: "I've been a victim of some flagrant fouls the past couple of years. Those things shouldn't happen. I don't know if they were frustrated or what. There are a lot of men out here trying to make a living for themselves and their families. There's no reason to get taken out like that over 2 points." Erick Strickland: "We had to stick up for each other. We're playing good basketball, and we were beating them up. Maybe that was frustrating to them." Michael Finley: "Guys are going to pick on Shawn for one reason or another. He just appears to get the short end of the stick sometimes when it comes to technicals." Finley: "The thing with Nash was uncalled for. Look at the replay. He didn't attempt to go to the ball or make a play on the ball. He just took out Steve. I was a little upset with that. I let him know that." Steve Nash: "He was probably just frustrated. He took me out and I just kind of took exception to it. I was in the air and didn't really have a chance to protect myself." Garry St. Jean: "There was no intent to hurt anybody, but we were going to play hard. I thought they were just hard basketball plays." St. Jean: "This isn't a game for the meek. You have to stand and make a statement." Mark Davis: "He tried to push me in my face. He just started asking me, 'You want some of me?' He's 7-foot-6 and I'm standing too close to him to just let him swing one. And I've seen him be dirty and hit a couple people already since I've been in the league. So I wasn't going to be one of his victims." Davis: "I know Shawn Bradley from being dirty, catching other players with some sneaky stuff, trying to hit you and move back, so I wasn't going to be a victim of that. When he went to swing, I just [grabbed him]. Next thing you know, he was on the ground." Vonteego Cummings: "I don't have a problem with the ref calling the flagrant foul and wanting to throw me out, but my intention was not to hurt Steve Nash but to make sure he didn't make the layup." Cummings: "I wasn't trying to take him out, wasn't trying to hurt nobody. I was trying to make sure he didn't get the layup." Terry Cummings: "A game like this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's going to cost us some money, but it's a good thing because players stepped up. Ultimately that's what you're looking for in your teammates. You want to know that if something goes down, they're going to be there." Dallas Mavericks 117, Golden State Warriors 103 at Dallas (January 25) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 31 28 30 28 - 117 .537 .316 .488 .871 Golden State 20 28 24 31 - 103 .430 .143 .409 .788 Halftime: Dallas 59-48 3rd Q: Dallas 89-72 Golden State's largest lead: 7-4 9:18 1st Dallas' largest lead: 108-89 5:11 4th Technicals: Mark Davis 6:52 3rd (ejected), Shawn Bradley 6:52 3rd (ejected), Sean Rooks 6:29 3rd, Steve Nash 1:18 3rd, Don Nelson 6:30 4th, Jason Caffey 6:25 4th Flagrant fouls: Terry Cummings 7:20 2nd, Vonteego Cummings 1:18 3rd (level 2 - ejected) Refs: Joey Crawford, Gary Benson, Tim Donaghy Attendance: 13,164 (cap 18,187) Did not play due to injury: Erick Dampier (rehab left knee), Donyell Marshall (bruised ribs) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Cedric Ceballos 32 4-10 1-2 9-10 18 4-8 5 3 2 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 42 10-20 0-4 3-3 23 1-7 3 2 2 0 0 Shawn Bradley 21 5-13 0-0 5-6 15 7-12 1 3 1 0 3 Michael Finley 38 12-19 1-3 5-5 30 1-2 10 3 2 2 0 Erick Strickland 21 3-7 1-3 2-2 9 0-4 2 1 2 1 0 Hubert Davis 26 5-8 3-5 1-2 14 0-3 1 0 0 1 0 Greg Buckner 23 1-3 0-1 0-1 2 0-4 2 0 5 2 2 Damon Jones 9 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 2 0 0 Steve Nash 18 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 1-1 2 2 5 0 0 Sean Rooks 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 1 Bruno Sundov 3 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 3 0 0 Totals 48 42-86 6-19 27-31 117 14-41 26 16 25 7 6 Golden State Warriors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Mark Davis 17 1-7 0-0 1-2 3 3-4 2 3 4 0 1 Antawn Jamison 42 11-20 0-0 11-15 33 13-21 1 5 3 1 1 Jason Caffey 33 4-14 0-0 1-2 9 1-5 0 2 4 1 1 Sam Jacobson 29 7-10 0-0 1-2 15 1-2 0 0 5 2 0 Mookie Blaylock 37 4-11 1-2 2-2 11 2-6 7 3 2 2 0 Sam Mack 28 2-10 0-5 7-7 11 0-6 2 2 3 1 0 Terry Cummings 15 5-11 0-0 2-2 12 3-5 1 0 1 0 1 Vonteego Cummings 25 2-8 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 4 4 4 2 0 Tony Farmer 14 2-2 0-0 1-1 5 2-7 1 0 1 1 0 Totals 48 38-93 1-7 26-33 103 25-56 18 19 27 10 4 patricia