Dallas went 2-3 on the tough road trip Nov. 29 - Dec. 5. The Phoenix game started a 5 game home stand. Dallas is a much better team when they pass the ball around, instead of playing one-on-one. The Mavs are averaging 24.2 assists in wins and only 15.5 assists in losses. Dallas still hasn't out-rebounded an opponent this season. They have been out-rebounded in every game except for the 11/19 game vs Sacramento where the boards were even. Gary Trent is expected to return to action for tonight's game vs San Antonio. Nelson said that he will limit Trent's minutes (but, you never know as Nelson doesn't always do what he says). Trent was shooting around before the game vs Phoenix. Erick Strickland was also out shooting around before the game, but he was shooting right handed (he's a lefty and it was his left shoulder that was injured). He isn't expected back for another month [but, knowing him, he'll be back early]. Steve Nash had his sprained right ankle placed in a cast a week ago and is expected to be out at least another week. The team and doctors felt that the cast was the only way to keep Nash off his ankle (both Nash's work-horse attitude and the Mavs' temptation to play him due to needing a point guard) so that it would have a chance to fully heal. Surprisingly, Robert Pack returned to action on Tuesday vs Vancouver. Even the announcer had it wrong as the starting point guard was introduced as "Hubert Davis", but it was Pack that came out and started. The troubled teen was suspended by Dallas last Monday. Leon Smith is reportedly in Dallas receiving psychiatric care. He was arrested in Chicago December 3 for threatening his ex-girlfriend and again December 4 for vandalizing his ex-girlfriend's mother's car. He had an arrest warrant issued for him for violating bond and leaving Chicago [though stupid by those who instructed him to get his care in Dallas, at least he is receiving professional care]. The Mavs suspended him indefinitely without pay following the news of his arrest warrant. I haven't heard if the warrant is still in effect - Smith's lawyer was going to try to get a court order blocking the warrant since Smith is receiving psychiatric care. Dallas at Minnesota (December 4) Dallas went on a mini 8-1 run to take a 15-7 lead with 7 minutes left. Neither team was able to make much of a rally for the rest of the quarter and Dallas led 29-17 after 1. Dallas shot 14-23 FG in the quarter while Minnesota shot 6-24 FG. Minnesota slowly cut away at Dallas' lead and the Mavs led 41-39 with 4:30 left. Dallas went scoreless over the final 3 minutes of the half and Minnesota scored 6 points to tie the game at 45-45 at the half. Dallas was ice cold in the 2nd quarter shooting 4-22 FG while Minnesota shot 10-22 FG. Dallas led 56-53 with 5:30 left and the Mavs scored the next 7 points to go up 63-53 with 3:20 remaining on a 3-pointer by Dirk Nowitzki. Minnesota was not able to cut into Dallas' lead and the Mavs led 74-62 after 3. The teams opened the 4th quarter trading layups and then Minnesota gave Dallas a gift as Nowitzki hit 3 technical free throws (1 for Malik Sealy and 2 for Flip Saunders) to give Dallas a 79-64 lead with 10 minutes to go. Minnesota cut Dallas' lead down to 13 with 7:30 left, but Michael Finley answered with a 3-pointer. Minnesota again cut Dallas' lead down to 13 on a 3-pointer by Kevin Garnett with 2:15 left, but Dallas held Minnesota scoreless the rest of the game. Dallas won 103-84. The stats do not show it, but the big factor for this game was Shawn Bradley. The Mavs' strategy for the game was to double Kevin Garnett when ever he got the ball and Bradley was the man helping out. As a result, Garnett did struggle in this game (though you can't tell it from his 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists numbers). Joe Smith had a terrible game with 10 points including 4-15 FG, but did have 17 rebounds. Dallas shot 45.8% (38-83) FG and Minnesota shot only 33% (31-94) FG. The Mavs were led, as usual, by Michael Finley's 33 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists and he played all 48 minutes. Cedric Ceballos chipped in 25 points including 11-18 FG and 12 rebounds in 47 minutes and Dirk Nowitzki had 19 points and 8 rebounds. Quotes Don Nelson: "Boy, did we play well. I've been waiting for a game like that for a long time, where all of the players on the floor play well for a long, long period of time, and we got it tonight." Nelson: "We kept our composure. I couldn't hardly make a substitute because they were playing so well." Nelson: "I try not to get too high with wins like this and too low with the tough losses. Being a long season, you're going to have some real great wins like this that it doesn't look like on the schedule that you'll get, but somehow you find a way to do it. And then there will be some eggs that we'll lay. But when you're on the road for a long period of time, there's nothing like winning a game, and this is 2 in a row." Michael Finley: "We had a complete team effort. That's 2 games in a row where everybody played as a team both offensively and defensively. When we do that we're a tough team to beat. Everything was clicking for us tonight, and it was good." Dirk Nowitzki: "Biggest of all road wins. Beating a very good team on the road. Last year we lost all those games." Nowitzki: "I thought we did a fantastic job of fronting them. That was our game plan, not let them get off in the low post. The game plan worked great for us." Cedric Ceballos: "They're a very good basketball team. They use each other well and Kevin [Garnett] is unbelievable. They just need to understand we played well tonight." Ceballos: "I started feeling it, and they started going to me more, and I tried to contribute and make shots. We were on fire, and we were hitting things." Flip Saunders: "When we are shooting 33%, we are not going to beat anybody. You won't even beat a college team shooting like that." Saunders: "I realize the team is really struggling." Saunders: "We're struggling. I thought we played a lot harder than in the last game, but we didn't always play smart." Saunders: "We're too much of a chameleon. Right now we're playing too much like the other team instead of doing what we do best. We lack confidence." Kevin Garnett: "Terrible day at the office. UPS was late, lights going out, fax ain't working." Garnett: "Basketball is a weird game. Sometimes, you can't hit the blind side of a barn with a bowling ball. The next night, you can stand backwards, shoot with your left hand and your eyes closed, and they go in." Garnett: "Flip told us to enjoy the good stuff. We have to go through tough times like this. We have to stick together as a team, practice hard and get ready for the next game." Dallas Mavericks 103, Minnesota Timberwolves 84 at Minnesota (December 4) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 29 16 29 29 - 103 .479 .333 .458 .793 Minnesota 17 28 17 22 - 84 .390 .059 .330 .875 Halftime: 45-45 3rd Q: Dallas 74-62 Minnesota's largest lead: 3-0 11:45 1st Dallas' largest lead: 103-84 final Lead changes: 5 Technicals: Malik Sealy 10:18 4th, Flip Saunders 10:11 4th (2 - ejected), Joe Smith 2:37 4th Refs: Joe Forte, Ron Olesiak, Gary Benson Attendance: 16,671 (cap 19,006) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (sprained right ankle), Robert Pack (strained right groin), Gary Trent (slightly torn left hamstring), Wally Szczerbiak (sore right knee) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Cedric Ceballos 47 11-18 1-1 2-2 25 6-12 3 0 0 2 1 Dirk Nowitzki 43 6-13 1-3 6-6 19 0-8 3 1 4 0 0 Shawn Bradley 38 3-5 0-0 1-2 7 1-9 1 2 4 1 2 Michael Finley 48 11-27 1-2 9-11 32 2-8 5 1 3 1 1 Hubert Davis 39 4-9 1-2 0-0 9 0-1 2 2 1 0 0 Rick Hughes 10 1-2 0-0 2-4 4 1-1 0 1 2 0 0 Damon Jones 10 2-8 0-4 3-4 7 0-2 1 1 1 0 0 Sean Rooks 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 3-3 0 3 2 0 0 Totals 48 38-83 4-12 23-29 103 13-44 15 12 17 4 4 Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kevin Garnett 38 8-19 1-3 3-3 20 4-6 5 4 4 1 1 Joe Smith 36 4-15 0-0 2-2 10 9-17 0 5 4 0 2 Dean Garrett 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Anthony Peeler 35 5-10 0-2 4-4 14 0-3 2 2 3 1 0 Terrell Brandon 29 3-15 0-7 3-3 9 2-3 4 0 2 2 0 Radoslav Nesterovic 22 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 3-5 0 0 1 0 4 Bobby Jackson 19 5-9 0-1 3-3 13 2-3 3 0 3 0 0 Sam Mitchell 25 0-6 0-0 5-7 5 1-3 1 0 1 0 0 Malik Sealy 23 5-13 0-2 0-0 10 2-7 3 1 5 1 1 Tom Hammonds 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 William Avery 6 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 1-2 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 31-94 1-17 21-24 84 24-50 19 13 23 5 8 Dallas at Milwaukee (December 5) Milwaukee held small leads the entire 1st quarter and led 14-7 with 6:30 left and 24-16 after 1. Milwaukee led 28-23 with 10:30 remaining and crushed the Mavs with a 17-2 run to go up 42-25 with 6 minutes left as Dallas was ice cold shooting 1-14 FG during that stretch. The Bucks led 51-35 with 1:45 to go and Dallas closed the quarter with a 7-2 run. Milwaukee led 53-42 at the half. Milwaukee led 59-49 with 8:45 left and Dallas again went cold and the Bucks went on a 10-3 run to take a 69-52 lead with 3:50 left. The Mavs did answer by rattling off the next 9 points, but Milwaukee scored the last 6 points of the quarter and led 75-61 after 3. Milwaukee led in the high teens for the first 6 minutes of the 4th quarter and led 91-70 with 5:45 left. Damon Jones drained a 3-pointer to start a 12-0 Dallas run where Finley's 3-pointer with 2:45 remaining cut Milwaukee's lead down to 91-82. The teams traded 4 points and Bruno Sundov hit 2 free throws with 1:30 left and Milwaukee led 95-88. Ray Allen hit 2 free throws and Jones converted the 3-point play with 56 seconds left - but the Mavs were running out of time. Glenn Robinson hit a jumper with 33 seconds left to give Milwaukee a 99-91 lead. Dirk Nowitzki missed a 3-pointer with 29 seconds left and that was game. Milwaukee won 103-97. Except for the late rally, the Mavs played like crap. The only Mav to have a good game was Michael Finley with 29 points, but he only had 1 assist. Of course, it didn't help that Dirk Nowitzki (2-9 FG) couldn't hit anything and Shawn Bradley was just terrible in the 22 minutes he played (0-8 FG, 3 rebounds, and 0 blocks). Damon Jones showed fire and hustle in helping the Mavs rally at the end as 16 of his 18 points came in the 4th quarter. He also had 5 assists. As a team, Dallas shot 40.7% (33-81) FG and only had 8 offensive rebounds. Former Mav Sam Cassell had as many assists (18) as the Mavs had as a team. Cassell also chipped in 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 steals. Quotes George Karl: "The score was a little closer than the game was." Karl on Dallas' rally at the end: "Sometimes we have the tendency of being lazy at closing out games and quarters." Karl: "Sam was fantastic tonight. He really played a fantastic floor game." Sam Cassell: "We're still learning how to win and how to close teams out. As long as we win enough to stay at the top of our division, we'll be in good shape when we really kick it in." Cassell: "We're still young and learning. We need to keep on working to play a full 48 minutes. When we do that, we'll put teams away." Cassell: "There's no delight in high assists or scoring. As long as I get the W, that's fine for me." Cassell: "I just made a conscious decision to get the ball to my teammates in the right places. I've got guys around me who can knock shots down." Cassell: "We have a lot of guys that can shoot the ball. It makes it easy when I am hitting my shots. That opens it for them and then we are hard to stop." Cassell: "I got the guys the ball tonight and they put it in the basket." Ray Allen: "When Sam's on, we just feed off him. He had it going tonight, and we just got open for him." Allen: "We have to find that 4th and 5th man. It's great for me to know Ervin [Johnson] will give us that output. It gives me confidence to know we have someone else capable." Don Nelson: "Not one starter had a good game. We're a little weary, but I don't want to use that as an excuse." Nelson: "I don't want to use [fatigue] as an excuse, because it shouldn't be an excuse. We should be professional enough to play, but we didn't have a starter play worth a darn today. Not one starter had a good game, as far as I was concerned. It was just a difficult game to coach and play in." Nelson: "We weren't competitive enough." Nelson on Cassell: "He had a terrific game. He didn't beat us with his scoring. He beat us with his passing." Michael Finley: "It was game we could have definitely won. But we started out slow." Finely: "It was a game we could have definitely won. I think, in a way, fatigue was a factor. Hopefully, next time we'll be more mentally ready." Damon Jones: "If we would've had 2 more minutes, maybe we could have pulled it out. When you get down like that, it's hard to come back." Cedric Ceballos: "We should have had that one. We just ran out of gas." Milwaukee Bucks 103, Dallas Mavericks 97 at Milwaukee (December 5) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Milwaukee 24 29 22 28 - 103 .533 .200 .494 .895 Dallas 16 26 19 36 - 97 .386 .458 .407 .769 Halftime: Milwaukee 53-42 3rd Q: Milwaukee 75-61 Dallas never led Milwaukee's largest lead: 91-70 5:43 4th Technicals: Milwaukee Illegal D 8:11 3rd, Sam Cassell 3:33 3rd Refs: Jess Kersey, Monty McCutchem, Derek Richardson Attendance: 12,214 (cap 18,717) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (sprained right ankle), Robert Pack (strained right groin), Gary Trent (slightly torn left hamstring) Milwaukee Bucks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Glenn Robinson 30 8-17 0-3 1-2 17 2-6 3 5 3 1 1 Scott Williams 22 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 0-5 1 2 5 3 0 Ervin Johnson 29 6-8 0-0 3-4 15 4-6 1 0 5 1 0 Ray Allen 31 6-15 2-5 6-6 20 1-4 2 3 1 0 0 Sam Cassell 40 6-12 0-0 4-4 16 1-6 18 7 3 6 0 Tim Thomas 28 5-11 0-0 3-3 13 1-4 1 1 1 0 0 Vinny Del_Negro 21 3-6 0-1 0-0 6 0-4 3 1 0 2 0 J.R. Reid 21 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 1-3 0 0 1 1 1 Danny Manning 10 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-5 0 2 2 1 0 Robert Traylor 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 2 1 0 0 Haywoode Workman 4 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 42-85 2-10 17-19 103 10-43 29 24 22 15 2 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Cedric Ceballos 34 5-13 1-2 0-0 11 1-4 1 3 3 2 0 Dirk Nowitzki 38 2-9 1-5 8-11 13 1-10 6 5 4 2 0 Shawn Bradley 22 0-8 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 0 1 3 0 0 Michael Finley 40 11-23 3-6 4-5 29 1-4 1 3 3 4 0 Hubert Davis 35 6-11 3-6 3-3 18 0-3 2 5 1 2 0 Sean Rooks 20 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 0 2 2 0 1 Damon Jones 26 6-10 3-5 3-5 18 0-2 5 2 1 1 0 Rick Hughes 20 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 3-6 3 1 2 0 0 Bruno Sundov 5 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 0-1 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 33-81 11-24 20-26 97 8-37 18 22 19 12 1 Vancouver at Dallas (Dec. 7) Cherokee Parks scored the first points of the game on a jumper a minute into the game. Cedric Ceballos (6) and Dirk Nowitzki (5) then combined for the next 11 points to give Dallas a 13-4 lead with 8:30 left. The Mavs held small leads the rest of the quarter and led 28-23 after 1. Vancouver opened the 2nd quarter by scoring the first 7 points to take a 30-28 lead with 10:30 left. The teams traded small leads as neither team held more than a 3 point lead the rest of the quarter. Vancouver led 51-50 at the half. Nowitzki had 22 points in the half. The game see-sawed back and forth in the 3rd quarter with neither team having a lead larger than 4 points. Dallas led 78-75 after 3rd. The game continued to see-saw in the 4th and Vancouver led 91-89 with 5 minutes left. Dennis Scott then hit a 3-pointer, Shareef Abdur-Rahim made a Mavs illegal defense technical free throw, and Abdur-Rahim tipped in a miss to give Vancouver a 97-89 lead with 4 minutes left. The Mavs didn't have a rally left in them as Vancouver answered each basket and free throw Dallas scored. Vancouver won 104-95. Even though Vancouver played a very good game, I still have to rip the Mavs for loosing this one. Vancouver had lost 30 consecutive road games before this win. The Mavs finally had a point guard back as Robert Pack made his unexpected return - and he started the game stellar as he was focusing on dishing the ball and handed out 8 assists in the 1st quarter. However, the Mavs went away from the passing game after the 1st - Dallas had 12 of their 22 assists in the 1st quarter. For Vancouver, Shareef Abdur-Rahim played well, as usual, and had 26 points including 9-11 FT and 15 rebounds. Michael Dickerson provided the needed offensive help for Abdur-Rahim and contributed 21 points. Mike Bibby looked good with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. Dirk Nowitzki had a strong 1st half with 22 points, but only attempted 2 field goals in the 4th quarter and didn't connect on either. He had 31 points and 7 rebounds and Cedric Ceballos pitched in 23 points and 12 rebounds. Michael Finley had 17 points and 9 rebounds and played all 48 minutes - but he only had 7 points on 2-7 FG and 3-5 FT in the 2nd half. Quotes Brian Hill: "They ran by us in the beginning of the game, we shot a lot of jump shots in the beginning of the game, which ended up being long rebounds and fast breaks. What we had to start doing was attacking them off the dribble." Hill on Dennis Scott: "He made a very big contribution. Besides just the way he played, he was just kind of a positive and steadying influence with the guys out on the floor. I've said all along in those situations you need to have some veteran guys on the floor who have been through it and he was a big help tonight, no question about it." Hill on the 4th quarter: "We took that game where we wanted to take it and then we wanted to slow it down and get the ball to Shareef in the post. Make them double team and try and open up the floor a little bit to see what we could get. It worked for us tonight." Hill: "I've said all along, in those situations you need to have some veteran guys on the floor who have been through it. After Monday night [a 102-99 loss], the guys were adamant they weren't going to lose. We weren't going to give up second opportunities. And we were able to get buckets and make 3-pointers down the stretch." Hill: "These guys expect to win more games than this. It's not a sense of relief. It's almost a sense of anger like we should have won one last night. We should have won one last week." Shareef Abdur-Rahim: "The best thing D. Scott has brought us is when he's on the court, he's someone who has been in situations like that before. We're a young team with me, Othella, Bibby and Dickerson and at times you need to mix it up and have an older guy out there." Abdur-Rahim: "I thought we just needed to win one to build some confidence. We weathered the storm, we dealt with some adversity. Now we have to try to turn it all the way around and get some wins." Abdur-Rahim: "The win is great. It helps to relax your mind a little bit. Now you know you could go out and just play and not worry about losing. Now we could go out and try to get into a winning streak rather than a losing streak." Brent Price: "Offensively and defensively, we did a much better job running our team and hitting our shots tonight." Michael Dickerson on Nowitzki: "He's a good player. He's such a tough match up. He could play the 5, the 4, the 3, and the 2 if he wants to. He's a tough match up. He's a good player. I think he could be an All-Star one of these days." Don Nelson: "It was a bad loss. That's why you don't get too high on the wins and too high on the losses. I'm very disappointed. It was a setback for us. I will take as much responsibility as anybody, but we need to step up to the plate. We just didn't play well enough to win." Nelson: "I didn't think I involved Mike near enough in the offense and it hurt us in the 2nd half. That was my fault." Nelson: "Our defense was awful, and is awful. We have to step up individually and take more pride in our defense. We can't expect that just because Shawn Bradley is in the game he's going to block every shot. The bottom line is we don't have very good individual defenders and we're trying to do it with some team concepts. When they break down, there are open shots." Robert Pack on his focus on assists: "I just wanted to make things happen. I felt like when I was out, guys weren't getting easy shots. I wanted to get guys easy shots, and that's what I can do with my speed - getting in the lane and being able to create shots." Cedric Ceballos: "It was a hard loss. Vancouver is a pretty good team. They don't get blown out a lot. Just like some other teams, they've fallen on some hard times. They have some players and they will be contenders." Ceballos: "We started off blazing because we were moving the ball. Everybody was getting a touch. When we slowed it down, we kind of put it into a 2-man offense." Hubert Davis: "We knew Vancouver was coming in here with a 30 game [road] losing streak. We're supposed to have that mentality not to let this happen." Davis: "Defensively, we didn't stop at all. Offense comes and goes at times, but defense is supposed to be constant. Everyone, including myself, didn't step up individually, and that was the key to the game. What is so bad is that we feel very confident at home and we are supposed to take care of our home court." Dirk Nowitzki: "It was a bad defensive night for us. We couldn't stop anybody." Nowitzki: "We knew at halftime that it would be a hard game. We're frustrated, but in the NBA there is always another night." Vancouver Grizzlies 104, Dallas Mavericks 95 at Dallas (December 7) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Vancouver 23 28 24 29 - 104 .457 .333 .432 .815 Dallas 28 22 28 17 - 95 .472 .308 .447 .682 Halftime: Vancouver 51-50 3rd Q: Dallas 78-75 Dallas' largest lead: 13-4 8:29 1st Dallas' last lead: 82-81 8:45 4th Vancouver's largest lead: 104-95 final Lead changes: 18 Technicals: Dallas Illegal D 3:24 2nd, Vancouver Illegal D 9:55 4th, Dallas Illegal D 4:14 4th Refs: Jim Clark, Jim Kinsey, David Jones Attendance: 11,552 (cap 18,187) Did not play due to injury: Gary Trent (slightly torn left hamstring), Steve Nash (sprained right ankle) Vancouver Grizzlies REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shareef Abdur-Rahim 38 8-19 1-2 9-11 26 6-15 1 2 3 3 0 Othella Harrington 36 6-12 0-0 4-6 16 3-9 4 1 4 1 0 Cherokee Parks 21 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2-5 0 4 3 0 2 Michael Dickerson 38 8-18 2-4 3-3 21 2-3 2 1 0 0 0 Mike Bibby 30 5-10 0-2 3-4 13 1-5 7 1 0 1 0 Obinna Ekezie 11 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-6 0 2 2 0 0 Dennis Scott 28 4-11 1-4 2-2 11 1-6 1 2 3 0 0 Brent Price 18 3-7 2-4 1-1 9 0-0 3 0 2 2 0 Felipe Lopez 20 3-7 0-2 0-0 6 1-2 2 2 3 1 0 Totals 48 38-88 6-18 22-27 104 17-51 20 18 20 8 2 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Cedric Ceballos 42 10-19 1-2 2-4 23 4-12 1 1 4 3 1 Dirk Nowitzki 40 12-24 2-6 5-7 31 1-7 2 2 6 1 0 Shawn Bradley 29 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 0-4 0 1 6 0 6 Michael Finley 48 7-18 0-2 3-5 17 3-9 4 2 1 2 0 Robert Pack 29 2-7 0-0 3-4 7 0-2 12 4 4 0 0 Hubert Davis 27 3-4 1-1 0-0 7 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 Sean Rooks 9 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 2-3 2 0 2 0 2 Damon Jones 15 0-4 0-2 2-2 2 0-0 0 2 0 1 1 Rick Hughes 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-85 4-13 15-22 95 10-38 22 14 24 7 10 Dallas at Utah (Dec. 8) Dallas held small 1 to 4 point leads through out the 1st quarter and led 25-22 after 1. The 2nd quarter saw the Jazz take over the small leads as Utah held 1 to 5 point leads for most of the 2nd. Jeff Hornacek nailed a 3-pointer as the 24 second buzzer sounded with 5 seconds left in the half to give Utah a 46-40 lead at the half. Karl Malone had 15 points in the half. Then came the 3rd. Ugh. On both sides. Utah slowly built on their lead and led 60-49 with 7 minutes remaining. Dallas scored 2 points the rest of the quarter (at 4:20). Utah scored 2 points (at 2:39). Ugh! Utah led 62-51 after 3. But forget about the 3rd quarter, the Mavs weren't done. Dallas opened the 4th with a 17-7 run to take a 69-68 lead on a slam dunk by Cedric Ceballos with 7:30 left. Hubert Davis then pitched in a longer jumper, but Utah scored the next 7 points to go up 75-71 on a 3-pointer by John Stockton with 4:30 left. The Mavs pulled within 2 points on a layup by Dirk Nowitzki at 77-79 with 2 minutes left. Howard Eisley answered with a running floater over Shawn Bradley with 1:30 left. Nowitzki missed a 3-pointer and Stockton nailed a jumper with a minute left to give Utah a 83-77 lead. Michael Finley missed a short jumper and 2 free throws by Bryon Russell and a layup by Bradley with 4 seconds left capped the scoring. Utah won 85-79. Surprisingly, the Mavs were in this game. Cedric Ceballos had 13 of his 19 points in the 4th quarter. Michael Finley had his poorest game in a long time with only 11 points including 5-21 FG, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, and 5 turnovers. Dirk Nowitzki also shot poorly and had 15 points including 5-14 FG and 9 rebounds. As usual, Karl Malone led the way for Utah with 29 pints and 10 rebounds. But that stretch in the 2nd quarter was _ugly_! Quotes Jerry Sloan: "We won't even make the playoffs if we don't concentrate on what we're trying to do as a team. This is a tough business. You have to be ready to play every night, and I don't think we were quite there tonight." Sloan: "We went out there a little too casual and they started making their shots. We had to have a really good finish to win the ball game. I thought we executed down the stretch." Jeff Hornacek: "We'll take them any way we can get them. Obviously, we'd like to be playing better. But this one's over, we got a win and we go on to the next one." Hornacek: "It was kind of a slow, ugly game. You have shots open all over the place. You just have to try to figure out which ones to take. You miss a couple and guys start thinking about it. Then you start missing more." John Stockton: "They made a game out of it. Everybody was kind of going through the motions for most of the game. But Ceballos really got going for them and woke everybody up on both sides. And it was a much better game in the 4th quarter." " Olden Polynice: "This will help us in the long run. When they took the lead, we came back aggressive. We found a fire that has been missing in the last few weeks." Karl Malone: "They're calling more plays for me early. You always want to stay within the system. I'm glad to play 40 minutes a night or more. I just want to win." Malone: "I don't think I want to look at it like I'm carrying the team. I'm playing more minutes and they are calling more plays for me here early and stuff like that. I just want to win and it don't really matter who we play. I just want to win 'cause losing is no fun." Don Nelson: "It was a hard game to coach, yet we were in there at the end. It was like watching paint dry for a long time." Nelson: "One of the craziest games I've ever coached. To be completely unable to make baskets in the 3rd quarter and still be in the game, it was a really wacky game." Michael Finley: "I just couldn't get anything going, and I think it affected the team. If I would have done half of what I know I can do, I think we would have won." Finley: "It's easy to say we could have a better record. It's not [time] to panic, but at the end of the season, you always look back on games you should have won. We've had a few of those already." Shawn Bradley on Howard Eisley's flooter with 1:28 to give Utah a 81-77 lead: "It was very, very high. He saw me coming and he threw a floater well before I had a chance to get there, because he knew I was coming. He threw it up there, and I was like, 'Dang, that's up there way high.' He gave it a chance to go in, and it did." Bradley: "I don't think it's anything more than the Jazz being a good team that knows how to protect its homecourt." Bradley: "A lot of teams look up to them in this league. We haven't figured it out. If we knew [how to win here], I think we would have done it by now." Bradley: "It's nice to come back, and it's fun to play in front of a lot of people I grew up with. But it'll be a lot more fun if we could figure out how to get a win in this building." Sean Rooks: "Not too many people come to Salt Lake and get a win. It's tough to win in Salt Lake." Robert Pack on only playing in the 1st quarter: "It's just precautionary. I sat too long. I sat out the whole second and halftime, and it [his strained right groin] tightened up." Utah Jazz 85, Dallas Mavericks 79 at Utah (December 8) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Utah 22 24 16 23 - 85 .453 .400 .450 .733 Dallas 25 15 11 28 - 79 .366 .313 .356 .800 Halftime: Utah 46-40 3rd Q: Utah 62-51 Dallas' largest lead: 10-6 7:50 1st Dallas' last lead: 71-70 6:03 4th Utah's largest lead: 56-44 7:56 3rd Lead changes: 5 Technicals: None Refs: Danny Crawford, Matt Boland, Scott Foster Attendance: 18,090 (cap 19,911) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (sprained right ankle), Gary Trent (slightly torn left hamstring) Utah Jazz REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bryon Russell 40 5-15 0-1 3-4 13 0-8 1 1 2 2 0 Karl Malone 39 13-24 0-0 3-3 29 4-10 1 6 2 2 2 Olden Polynice 20 1-3 0-0 0-2 2 5-7 0 0 4 0 1 John Stockton 23 4-5 1-1 2-2 11 0-2 7 3 4 1 0 Jeff Hornacek 25 4-10 1-2 2-2 11 0-1 4 3 1 1 0 Howard Eisley 33 3-9 0-0 1-2 7 0-5 7 5 2 0 1 Greg Ostertag 20 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 2-6 1 0 2 0 4 Scott Padgett 8 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1-2 1 0 0 0 0 Jacque Vaughn 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 1 0 0 Adam Keefe 17 4-7 0-0 0-0 8 2-5 1 0 1 1 1 Quincy Lewis 7 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 36-80 2-5 11-15 85 16-49 23 18 19 8 9 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Dirk Nowitzki 41 5-14 3-8 2-2 15 3-9 3 3 4 4 2 Sean Rooks 32 3-6 0-0 1-2 7 0-2 0 0 3 0 1 Shawn Bradley 24 5-9 0-0 2-2 12 3-7 1 0 3 1 1 Robert Pack 12 1-4 0-1 3-3 5 0-0 3 0 1 1 0 Michael Finley 45 5-21 0-1 1-2 11 0-10 8 5 1 1 0 Rick Hughes 14 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 3-3 0 0 0 0 1 Cedric Ceballos 30 8-19 1-2 2-2 19 3-4 1 1 1 0 0 Damon Jones 16 1-4 1-3 1-2 4 0-0 2 3 2 0 0 Hubert Davis 26 2-6 0-1 0-0 4 1-1 1 0 3 1 0 Totals 48 31-87 5-16 12-15 79 13-36 19 14 18 8 5 Phoenix at Dallas (Dec. 11) The Mavs started this game ready to play and a 13-2 run gave Dallas a 23-10 lead with 4:30 left in the 1st. A layup by Rodney Rogers with 9 seconds left and a 3-pointer by Todd Day at the buzzer cut Dallas' lead down to 27-20 after 1. Dallas led 38-31 with 6:30 left and the Mavs scored the next 10 points to go up 48-31 with 5 minutes left on a 3-pointer by Michael Finley. Dallas led 57-44 at the half. Finley had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the half. Phoenix cut Dallas' lead down to 9 points early in the 3rd, but Dallas scored the next 7 points to go up 66-40 with 9:30 remaining. Dallas led 78-67 with 3:30 left and went on an 11-2 run to take their first 20 point lead at 89-69 with 1:15 to go. The Mavs led 93-73 after 3. Dirk Nowitzki hit a jumper 15 seconds into the 4th to give Dallas' their largest lead and the Mavs held a lead of at least 14 points for the next 7 minutes. A 3-pointer by Nowitzki gave Dallas a 115-100 lead with 2 minutes remaining. Game over, right? Not with this team. Dallas' slow down offense to run time off the clock went stagnant as Phoenix started clicking and the Suns scored 8 straight points in a minute and Dallas only led 115-108 with 51 seconds left. Robert Pack hit 2 free throws and Jason Kidd hit a long jumper with 43 seconds left. Pack missed 2 free throws and Kidd hit a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left. But it was too little, too late as Pack hit 2 free throws with 12 seconds left and the Suns were out of time. Dallas won 120-115. This team has trouble doing things the easy way. Dallas had a strong performance for the first 46 minutes, but nearly gave the game away in the last 2 minutes. The Mavs basically played a 6 man line-up (Rooks only played 8 minutes and Damon Jones was only in for 30 seconds) and got extremely strong performances from 5 of those 6. Michael Finley was awesome and had his 3rd career triple-double with 33 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists and played all 48 minutes. Cedric Ceballos also played all 48 and had 22 points and 9 rebounds. Robert Pack ran the team [it's _soooo_ nice having a point guard on the floor] and had 24 points and 11 assists, but did commit 7 turnovers - he slashed to the basket a lot and nailed a number of outside jumpers. Dirk Nowitzki had a quiet 19 points including 8-11 FG and 5 rebounds. And Hubert Davis was the man off the bench with 17 points including 5-7 3-pointers. For Phoenix, Clifford Robinson had a great game with 28 points on 9-15 FG and 10-11 FT and 8 rebounds. Jason Kidd's numbers looked good, but he seemed to force too much. He had 19 points including 7-20 FG, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists. Quotes Don Nelson: "You get to a point where every win is a big win. But I'm happy. The guys played a lot of minutes, and they played very well." Nelson: "Everybody played extremely well. I decided not to sub very much tonight. The guys that were out there played a lot of minutes and played very well for a long period of time." Nelson on the Mavs nearly blowing the lead: "We had a good enough lead to sustain it, and we ran the clock enough to hold on, and that's all I was concerned about. It doesn't really matter how we won." Michael Finley: "Fortunately for me, my shots were falling down. I had good opportunities to rebound and when I got the guys the ball, they were knocking down shots. It was whatever it took for my team to win. The coaching staff expects all 3 of those categories to be high on the stat sheet each and every night for me. And I like that responsibility." Finley: "Right now we just need the win, no matter if it's Phoenix, Chicago, Portland, whoever. We need the win. It just so happened tonight the opponent was Phoenix." Finley on playing against Phoenix: "When I was first traded, it was more of a big deal then. Now it's just about winning ballgames. If it's against Phoenix, the whole team should get hyped, not just myself. Just like if it's against any other team." Finley: "When the trade went down, it was a big deal. Well, it's not about Jason Kidd or the trade anymore. It's about winning games, and that's what we did tonight." Hubert Davis: "We're really confident at home, and I think that's giving us an edge from the outset in these games. The next 4 games in this homestand are very big for us, so it was important to get off on the right foot." Davis: "Cedric and Pack and Finley, everybody really opened it up for everyone else. Everybody was really unselfish, they gave us some great passes and we were able to knock them down." Dirk Nowitzki: "It's one of our goals to protect our homecourt, and we've shown the past 2 years that we're capable of beating anyone here." Robert Pack: "We were on top of our game. Games like this show what we're capable of." Pack: "It was good to get the homestand started with a win. I think we stayed committed to pushing the ball and taking easy shots and knocking them down. [Finley] played well. He had some big rebounds." Pack: "I don't want to hear about the trade. The incentive for me was showing what I could do against one of the best point guards in the league. I feel happy about my game." Cedric Ceballos: "When you know you're playing against players that play that well, you can put yourself into a position to dig in a little tougher. We were home, we wanted to get a good feeling in our hearts about winning basketball games." Ceballos: "You've got to start winning basketball games, and this is a good start against a great team. I have a lot more fun playing against Phoenix, but it's all about winning basketball games." Danny Ainge: "We were trying, but we were a step slow for whatever reason. They looked fresh, they looked like a team that had a few days off. They were ready to fly up and down the court and we were a step late getting back." Ainge: "Michael hurt us bad. I think his eyes light up when he plays against Phoenix sometimes. I think we gave him too many baskets in transition. The basket got big and he was knocking down things from everywhere." Jason Kidd on his former team: "I don't watch to see if they've won or lost. I probably did when I first got to Phoenix. I probably wanted them to lose every game back then. Right now, we've run into our own obstacles with injuries. I think we all feel like our record should be better, and we've lost some nail-biters to Western Conference opponents. But I guess it's better to have the learning process now. We have to fix some things, but you don't win the championship in December. We just have to position ourselves, and then make our run after the All-Star break." Kidd: "I don't pay much attention to what they're doing. We're trying to get our own stuff going in the right direction. I don't watch what they're doing. I probably did when I first got traded. I wanted them to lose every game." Clifford Robinson: "We dug too deep a hole." Robinson: "When they get their game going here, pushing it up and down the court the way they like to do, they're a tough team to beat. They're a young team that's getting better." Robinson: "They are definitely capable of winning basketball games with the way they pushed the ball up the floor tonight. I think we had a better 2nd half, but each time we got close, we took a bad shot or threw the ball away. Finley played a tremendous game for them." Robinson on Finley: "It seems like he has a lot of confidence in his shot, and he's not afraid to take it to the basket. He's such a great athlete. When you're playing Michael Finley now, you just try to take what you can away from him and hope he doesn't go off." Dallas Mavericks 120, Phoenix Suns 115 at Dallas (December 11) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 27 30 36 27 - 120 .522 .556 .529 .692 Phoenix 20 24 29 42 - 115 .500 .211 .441 .763 Halftime: Dallas 57-44 3rd Q: Dallas 93-73 Technicals: Phoenix Illegal D 6:00 3rd Refs: Joe DeRosa, Tommie Wood, Hank Armstrong Attendance: 14,444 (cap 18,042) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (sprained right ankle), Gary Trent (slightly torn left hamstring), Anfernee Hardaway (plantar fasciatis) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Cedric Ceballos 48 10-20 1-4 1-2 22 3-9 4 2 5 2 1 Dirk Nowitzki 39 8-11 1-1 2-3 19 1-5 4 3 5 0 2 Shawn Bradley 19 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 2-6 0 0 3 2 4 Michael Finley 48 12-26 3-6 6-7 33 2-14 10 2 1 2 0 Robert Pack 45 8-17 0-0 8-12 24 2-4 11 7 5 1 0 Hubert Davis 32 6-8 5-7 0-0 17 0-3 2 2 5 0 0 Sean Rooks 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 1 0 1 0 1 Damon Jones 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 46-87 10-18 18-26 120 11-45 32 17 25 7 8 Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Tom Gugliotta 23 6-11 0-0 0-0 12 3-5 1 1 4 0 0 Clifford Robinson 40 9-15 0-1 10-11 28 5-8 3 2 4 2 2 Mark West 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Rex Chapman 26 2-9 0-3 6-7 10 0-3 1 2 0 0 0 Jason Kidd 42 7-20 1-5 4-5 19 2-13 9 4 4 2 1 Oliver Miller 20 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-3 1 0 2 0 2 Rodney Rogers 32 5-12 0-3 5-7 15 2-6 1 2 4 1 1 Todd Day 32 6-17 3-7 1-4 16 1-3 0 2 4 0 0 Randy Livingston 6 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 1-2 3 0 1 0 0 Toby Bailey 14 3-4 0-0 2-2 8 1-4 1 0 3 0 0 Totals 48 41-93 4-19 29-38 115 16-48 20 15 26 5 6 patricia