The AP reports: Dirk Nowitzki scored seven of his season-high 39 points in overtime and grabbed 15 rebounds, and the Mavericks snapped a five-game skid with a 124-114 victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday. Josh Howard added season highs of 31 points and 14 rebounds… They were down 15 in the first half and trailed for almost all the first 48 minutes, then tied it with a furious rally and didn’t allow a field goal in overtime… Jason Terry scored 16 of his 20 points after halftime for the Mavs, who avoided their first six-game skid since Feb. 29-March 9, 2000. Reserves James Singleton and Brandon Bass each added 12… Zach Randolph had 27 points and 18 rebounds in his eighth straight double-double for the Knicks, who were 0-for-9 in overtime and lost for the first time this season when scoring 100 points… Quentin Richardson had 17 points and Chris Duhon added 16 points and 12 assists. Jamal Crawford also had 16 points.
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Mavs at Knicks game notes
Sunday evening in Madison Square Garden the New York Knicks hosted the Dallas Mavericks. NY enters the game with 6 wins and 3 losses while struggling Dallas is 2-7. InsideHoops.com presents raw, uneditede game notes taken live in MSG as the game happened.
Gerald Green started at shooting guard for Dallas. And their first sub off the bench was Clippers cast-off James Singleton.
New music clip in the live-game MSG music rotation: Beastie Boys singing “What’s the time… It’s time to get ill!”
The Knicks are hot early, leading 16-9 with seven quick Zach Randolph points plus five from Jamal Crawford. Dirk Nowitzki has six for the Mavs.
The Knicks like to shoot open shots quickly, even if they just came up the floor. Quentin Richardson does this and nails a three putting NY up 10.
Knicks fans don’t get particularly excited when David Lee enters the game anymore. They are just as happy to see Nate Robinson.
Dirk is burning everyone who guards him with outside stand-still jumpers.
Randolph can make open threes. As he just reminded Dallas. And a minute later he pops a deep two.
Mavs players seem to not create for each other. Almost all of Dirk’s shots are from him standing still, facing the defender and simply shooting over him.
End of first quarter: Knicks 35, Mavs 26. The Knicks shot 60%, the Mavs 41.4%. For NY Randolph had 16 points and six rebounds. Jamal Crawford scored seven. Chris Duhon had four assists. For Dallas, Dirk scored 11 with five rebounds. J-Ho had nine with four rebounds.
The Mavs offense looks random. It has sped up now, with guys driving in circles and passing to guys who aren’t really in position to do anything.
The Knicks have 50 and the second quarter is almost half over.
With Kidd back in the faster Mavs movement appears to make more sense but they still trail by eight with a few minutes left in the half. They have energy now, though.
Dirk finally drove. And drew a hack.
The Mavs looked like a real basketball team in the second quarter. They were aggressive and got to the loine more. They need to make a habit of this.
End of first half: Knicks 64, Mavs 57. For NY Randolph has 20 points and 11 rebounds. Crawford has 11. David Lee has 10 with six rebounds. For Dallas Dirk has 26 on 14 shots with nine rebounds. Josh Howard has 13. Jason Kidd has four assists and little else.
Dallas starts the third quarter strong and looks like they should. This with their four usual starters plus Jason Terry.
Q-Rich drives right baseline past a caught-off-guard J-Ho and crams a surprising reverse dunk. However, in general Q does not look as quick as he needs to be.
Standing ovation for Plaxico Buress and Brandon Jacobs of the New York Giants. Earlier in the game Magic Johnson also got love.
Nice left baseline jumper from Brandon Bass. Knicks lead by seven.
Jason Terry hits a three over a slow-moving Q-Rich.
Wilson Chandler has a beautiful, high-arc jumper. He can hit it with a defender on him.
A double on Dirk leaves JJ Barea open and he swishes a deep jumper which ties the game at 86.
Surrounded by defenders down low, Randolph saw Lee start to cut down the middle of the paint and hit him with a perfect pass for a dunk. See folks, Zach can pass, sometimes.
End of third quarter: Knicks 91 Mavs 89. Randolph now has 25 and 17. Crawford has 16. Chandler 14. Chris Duhon has nine assists. For Dallas Dirk has 28 and 11. Jason Terry was hot in the third and now has 18.
In the fourth a Berea three makes it a one point game. His outside shot is legit.
Richardson is doing it from outside. He can launch quickly and drain it. Knicks up 101-96.
Kidd backs Robinson way down near the basket and dishes out for a wide open Howard jumper. And Howard scores again. The Mavs need him to help lead, not follow.
Dirk is trying to do it alone, creating jumpers for himself and missing them.
Richardson keeps swishing threes. His latest gives NY a seven point lead.
Dirk heats up in the final few minutes though. And a Jason Terry slash ties it at 112.
As fans rise to their feet NY is unable to get a good shot. Richardson forces it and misses, Knicks keep it alive but can’t score, and the Mave have it with 9.5 seconds. Timeout.
Jason Terry tries to do it alone and misses a contested jumper. We have overtime.
The Mavs go nuts in overtime and run away with it. Dallas was on something like a 19 to 2 run towards the end of the fourth and in OT. The Knicks missed their final 13 shots. An exciting game in NY despite the loss.
Final score: Mavs 124, Knicks 114 OT.
Nov 14: Magic 102, Mavs 100
The AP reports: “Once you’re in a funk, everything seems to go against you,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 17 of his 24 points in the first half, but hit a tying jumper and a tough go-ahead basket in the final minutes… Dwight Howard, coming off his first career triple-double, had 18 points and 13 rebounds but only two blocks. Two more swats were whistled as goaltending. Jameer Nelson scored 21 points and Mickael Pietrus had 20, including two huge 3-pointers down the stretch. Hedo Turkoglu had 12 before fouling out… Josh Howard scored 25 points and Kidd had 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Kidd also had six turnovers and fouled out on the play that sent Lewis to the line for the winning points… Jason Terry scored 20 points off the bench, having been dropped to a reserve while Gerald Green moved into the starting lineup as part of Carlisle’s latest attempt to get this team going.
Examining the lousy Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are 2-6 to start the new season. It’s too early to write what should be a quality team off, but so far they’re a mess.
Dirk Nowitzki is scoring 22.1 points per game but not shooting well, and not doing much else aside from scoring. Josh Howard is playing decently but also not shooting particularly well. Jason Terry, at 16.6 ppg, is tossing up bricks. The only Maverick playing well and actually making shots is Jason Kidd (11.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 8.4 apg, 47.9% shooting). Gerald Green has also been a nice surprise, scoring 9.4 ppg on good shooting. Erick Dampier is rebounding. Jerry Stackhouse is old and washed up. And Antoine Wright hasn’t impressed. Here’s the Dallas Morning News (Eddie Sefko):
The Mavericks are disjointed. It seems they haven’t figured out anything about coach Rick Carlisle’s system. But the rest of the NBA has certainly figured them out. Put your best defender, whether he’s big or small, on Dirk Nowitzki. Hound him as much as you can. And sooner or later, the Mavericks wilt. It happened for the second consecutive game as the Chicago Bulls hassled Nowitzki into a 5-for-17 shooting night.
Remember, they’re under a new coach, Rick Carlisle. And he deserves the benefit of the doubt. Give the team another two weeks before making a definitive statement about how good they really currently are.
–Jeff
Nov 13: Bulls 98, Mavs 91
The AP reports: They barely had time to work up a sweat before the Chicago Bulls found themselves trailing by 19 points Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks. And less than six minutes into the game, the boos started rolling across the United Center… And that’s what the Bulls did. They turned up the defense, started running the floor, then caught up and passed the Mavericks for a 98-91 victory, sending Dallas to its fourth straight loss… “They were attacking us with transition and they put us on our heels early,” said Ben Gordon, who led the Bulls with 35 points… Derrick Rose, who shot 1-for-8 in the first half, was 6-for-7 in the third quarter, when he scored 14 of his 16 points. Luol Deng added 20 points… Josh Howard, returning after missing two games with sore wrist, led Dallas with 21 points and added 11 rebounds. Erick Dampier scored 16 and pulled down 18 boards… Dirk Nowitzki scored only 12 for the Mavs, shooting 5-for-17.
Bulls sign Lindsey Hunter
The Chicago Bulls today signed Lindsey Hunter. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed. Hunter, a 6-2, 195-pound guard, will be with the Bulls tonight when they host the Dallas Mavericks at the United Center at 7:30 p.m.
Hunter, a 15-year NBA veteran, most recently played with the Detroit Pistons during the 2007-08 campaign. Last year, he appeared in 24 games and averaged 2.4 ppg and 1.4 apg in 9.0 mpg.
The Utica, Miss native has enjoyed two stints with the Pistons (1993-2000, 2003-08). He has also played for the Milwaukee Bucks (2000-01), the L.A. Lakers (2001-02) and the Toronto Raptors (2002-03). For his career, he has posted averages of 8.8 ppg, 2.7 apg, 2.2 rpg and 1.23 spg in 25.5 mpg. He owns career shooting averages of .389 from the field, .362 from downtown and .746 from the line.
Originally selected by the Pistons in the first round (10th overall) of the 1993 NBA Draft, the 37-year old Hunter has been a member of 11 playoff teams, including the 2002 NBA Champion L.A. Lakers and the 2004 NBA Champion Detroit Pistons.
Chicago’s roster now stands at 15.
Nov 11: Lakers 106, Mavs 99
The AP reports: Trevor Ariza turned an offensive rebound into an emphatic, go-ahead dunk early in the fourth quarter and added an equally emphatic block in the final minute to help the Lakers pull out a 106-99 victory over the Mavericks on Tuesday night… “Nobody panicked,” said Bryant, who scored nine of his 27 points in the fourth quarter. “We just kept at it.” … Ariza scored a season-high 13 points and Lamar Odom added 12. That was a nice supplement to the 27 points from Bryant and 22 from Gasol. Gasol also had 11 rebounds. Andrew Bynum had 11 points and 10 rebounds… Jason Terry scored 21 points and Kidd got the 101st triple-double of his career with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Jerry Stackhouse scored a season-high 17 points and played some tough defense on Bryant, while Dampier had 11 points and 16 rebounds, including a franchise record-tying 12 on the offensive end. Ironically, it was Nowitzki who let Dallas down, scoring 14 points on 5-of-17 shooting.
Nov 9: Clippers 103, Mavs 92
The AP reports: For the second straight season, Baron Davis’ team lost its first six games before getting that elusive first victory. Last season, Davis was with the Golden State Warriors. Now he’s with the Los Angeles Clippers, whom the Warriors beat a year ago to end their drought. “It’s pretty much the same feeling—a feeling of frustration,” Davis said Sunday, after getting 22 points and 10 assists in the Clippers’ 103-92 victory over the Dallas Mavericks… Foul-plagued Al Thornton got eight of his 17 points in the final 6 minutes for the Clippers, who had lost six straight against Dallas. Marcus Camby had 14 rebounds and 10 points. Tim Thomas sat out because of a sprained left ankle. Dirk Nowitzki, who missed the final two meetings with the Clippers last season because of ankle and knee injuries, led the Mavericks with 33 points and seven rebounds while Jason Kidd added nine assists and seven points. Gerald Green started at small forward and had 13 points and 12 rebounds in place of Josh Howard, who was sidelined because of a sore left wrist.
Nov 7: Nuggets 108, Mavs 105
The AP reports: The hometown kid had quite the homecoming—with a little help from Carmelo Anthony. Chauncey Billups made a triumphant return to the Nuggets with 15 points, Anthony scored 28 and Denver beat the Dallas Mavericks 108-105 on Friday night… Jason Kidd finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Mavericks… Gerald Green scored all of his 13 points in the final period, Dirk Nowitzki finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Brandon Bass had 12 points and 10 boards.
Report: MLB will not let Mark Cuban buy Cubs
The Chicago Sun-Times (Chris De Luca) reports: Sources close to commissioner Bud Selig sounded an alarm this week during the annual general managers meetings: Forget about Mark Cuban buying the Cubs. Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks’ owner, was the fan favorite, the guy who liked to drink beer, watch the game from the bleachers and spend money. He was the most appealing bidder to Zell’s group, who knew Cuban could swing the quickest transaction for a team and ballpark that at one time figured to fetch $1 billion. Global financial crisis or not, baseball’s old guard plans to stand firm against letting Cuban into the club. ”There’s no way Bud and the owners are going to let that happen,” a Major League Baseball source said this week. ”Zero chance.”