# GT: Dallas Mavericks vs Chicago Bulls 1/25/07



## Ninjatune (May 1, 2006)

*vs








Dallas Mavericks [35-8] vs Chicago Bulls [24-19]
| *Thursday, Janurary 25th, 20007* | *Chicago, IL* | *United Center* | *7:00pm* |
| TV: *TNT *| Radio: *ESPN 103.3 FM *| 

Game Notes
*The Dallas Mavericks have dominated the NBA for the past six weeks. Their reign over the Chicago Bulls has lasted for almost nine years. The Mavericks seek their ninth straight win and 22nd in 23 games when they visit the Bulls on Thursday.Dallas (35-8), owner of the NBA's best record after losing in last season's finals, will attempt to set its longest road winning streak of the season at six games. Its only defeat in 22 games overall since Dec. 11 was a 101-98 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 7."We just feel all of the players that we have are hungry in general," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "Everybody early in the season likes to talk about other teams being hungry to win, but they failed to mention us. 

We are a hungry team, we are a focused team and we are just taking it one game at a time."The Mavericks have won 16 of 17 meetings with the Bulls since March 12, 1998 -- the last time they opposed Michael Jordan in a Chicago uniform. Dallas has since won all seven of its visits to the United Center.If the Mavericks can continue their dominance of Chicago (24-19) while completing this three-game road trip, they will improve to 13-2 against Eastern Conference teams."We're about as hungry as it gets," Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said. "We were so close last year. It was a very, very disappointing loss at the end. But more than anything, it's motivation for us to work even harder this year."Nowitzki has posted six straight double-doubles, averaging 32.2 points and 10.7 rebounds. He had 33 points, 10 boards and a season high-tying eight assists in the Mavericks' 111-95 win at Orlando on Tuesday. 

It was the seventh time in 12 games he's scored at least 30 points. Josh Howard added 25 points, and is averaging 26.8 over the last four games.Devin Harris, battling the flu recently, is likely to return to the starting lineup after scoring 13 points as a reserve on Tuesday. Johnson benched the 6-foot-3 Harris to avoid an unfavorable size matchup, but the third-year guard could return to the starting lineup to oppose the 6-foot-3 Ben Gordon. Gordon came off the bench for most of the season before starting the last six games, averaging 21.7 points in that stretch, while taking Chris Duhon's place in the lineup. Duhon, suspended for one game last week for missing practice, has not played in the Bulls' last two games on coach's decisions. Duhon, who has made two of his last 30 3-point attempts, had previously missed only one game because of a coach's decision in his three-season career.Despite Gordon being held to 12 points on Tuesday, Chicago avoided a third straight loss by defeating Atlanta 94-86.

Luol Deng led six Bulls in double figures with 18 points and Kirk Hinrich had a season-high 12 assists.Many of the Bulls were not very pleased with struggling at home to beat one of the league's worst teams, and know their play must improve with a tough schedule looming. After facing Dallas, Chicago concludes a three-game homestand on Saturday against Miami before undertaking a seven-game road trip against Western Conference foes."We're talking about it," Bulls forward P.J. Brown said. "We know that's not going to get it done. There is no way we're going to get away with playing that type of basketball on that trip, so we tried to tighten up and play consistent and get a lot better."The Bulls were 14-3 in December, but they are 5-7 in January and that mark includes a 4-4 home record. The team entered this month with a 14-2 mark at the United Center."Every game is important for us right now, especially in this building," Chicago's Ben Wallace said. "We have to force teams to come in here and work extremely hard to beat us." 
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** Who's hot:* The road warriors
 For the third time this season, the Mavericks have won five consecutive road games. A victory over the Bulls tonight would match the fourth-longest road winning streak in franchise history. ... Dirk Nowitzki missed the first triple-double of his career by two assists Tuesday and has been torrid of late, averaging 32.7 points and 10.7 rebounds over the last six games. ... Bulls point guard Kirk Hinrich is coming off a 12-point, 12-assist game in a ho-hum win over Atlanta. ... Ben Gordon had scored 20 or more in five consecutive games until the easy win over the Hawks didn't require him to over-extend.

* Who's not?* Chris Duhon
 He has fallen out of coach Scott Skiles' rotation and for good reason. He's shooting 38.9 percent from the field this season. Since late December, he's shooting 17 percent (9-for-53) and has hit two of 30 3-pointer tries in that stretch. ... Jason Terry's shooting remains a mystery for the Mavs. He's 17-for-50 in the last four games, although he did come around with four 3-pointers on nine attempts Tuesday at Orlando. He was 1-for-6 from inside the arc, suggesting he should stay outside of it. 

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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

I am hyped....

NT's mojo just keeps on getting better and better.

:clap2:


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## Dragnsmke1 (Jul 29, 2002)

is it me or is Sir Charles more palatable when hes rooting for your team?


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

This will be a lot tougher than it looks. :none:


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## Ninjatune (May 1, 2006)

Dragnsmke1 said:


> is it me or is Sir Charles more palatable when hes rooting for your team?


Not by much.....


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

croco said:


> This will be a lot tougher than it looks. :none:


Right...

See yesterday's [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] even NYK gave PHX a nice run for their money.


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

And you picked the Bulls to win the East before the season, right ?


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

croco said:


> And you picked the Bulls to win the East before the season, right ?


Good memory!

I have also been happily disappointed before. :biggrin:


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## The Future7 (Feb 24, 2005)

This should be a good game. I want a blowout but I dont see it happening. It can happen if the Mavs come out with great offense and defense from the start.


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## The Future7 (Feb 24, 2005)

There is no reason we should be down right now. The Bulls are a great defensive team but there is no reson for them to be up at all.


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## Husstla (Nov 5, 2006)

Dallas getting owned. I hope they come back, I don't want them to lose to Chicago


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## mavsmania41 (Mar 27, 2005)

The Mavs seem very flat right now. I think they will surely put up a fight before it's all over.

Todd


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## mavsmania41 (Mar 27, 2005)

This is really hard to watch right now. The Mavs could not shoot the ball any worse from the feild.


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

OMG.... shooting 27% from the field.

Still in the game though.


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## melo4life (Jun 5, 2006)

yeah tell me about it, 5-23 from the field isnt good at all, but we just had a shakey start, im sure we will fire up and overcome the bulls


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## lessthanjake (Jul 4, 2005)

Mavs have this game won, even behind by 6 at half. Theres no way they lose this.


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## Saint Baller (May 3, 2006)

I just got back from my first and only game of the season so I'm a little slow on the update.

We are losing, Dirk and J-Ho are shooting horribly even though Dirk has 17...

I still got my money on them Dallas Mavericks!


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## zackredsox (Jan 24, 2007)

good thing i only bet 1 piont on the mavs

mavs 85 
bulls 96

mavs 8 game winning streak over


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## Helvius (Jul 4, 2006)

It's too bad the Mavericks lost. The Bulls are usually good at choking away large leads.


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## melo4life (Jun 5, 2006)

lessthanjake said:


> Mavs have this game won, even behind by 6 at half. Theres no way they lose this.


Sorry to tell you buddy but there must've been a way seeing as they beat us in the second half by 5 points


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## lessthanjake (Jul 4, 2005)

melo4life said:


> Sorry to tell you buddy but there must've been a way seeing as they beat us in the second half by 5 points


Haha, well dont say sorry to me, im a Suns fan. The Mavs just got unlucky that Gordon stayed hot from the outside and Hinrich heated up. I kept waiting for the Bulls to go completely cold, which they normally do do at some point in a game, but it didnt happen. Tough break for you guys really. As bad as the Mavs played, they couldve wont this game.


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## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

lessthanjake said:


> Haha, well dont say sorry to me, im a Suns fan. The Mavs just got unlucky that Gordon stayed hot from the outside and Hinrich heated up. I kept waiting for the Bulls to go completely cold, which they normally do do at some point in a game, but it didnt happen. Tough break for you guys really. As bad as the Mavs played, they couldve wont this game.


Gordon never goes cold. Bad coaching by Avery Johnson here. He should have just used the same strategy every other coach uses. He decided to play single coverage on Gordon. Gordon is one of the best scorers in the league (efficient too), and he is going to abuse single coverage. Most other teams, when the game winds down, will double and triple team Gordon, because they know know one else will step up, Avery decided not to double Gordon, and he paid for it.


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## melo4life (Jun 5, 2006)

But the only problem I think with Ben Gordon is his consistency, I dont think that he is that consistent, I have seen a few of his games, and one game he will put up 30+ points but then the next he would have a shocking game. I WON 80 MILLION ON NCAA GAMES TODAY !!!


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

Bad loss, but not unexpected.


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

Horrible shooting and rebounding night....

It wasn't a lock down defensive effort by the Bulls either. LOL... Dallas had the open looks but simply couldn't put the ball through. It happens, and, if it happens once every 20 games or so, I'll take it.

It was just an all around ugly game... Sluggish from the start and never really looked good.


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

Mebarak said:


> Gordon never goes cold. Bad coaching by Avery Johnson here. He should have just used the same strategy every other coach uses. He decided to play single coverage on Gordon. Gordon is one of the best scorers in the league (efficient too), and he is going to abuse single coverage. Most other teams, when the game winds down, will double and triple team Gordon, because they know know one else will step up, Avery decided not to double Gordon, and he paid for it.


You'd be the first to call out Avery Johnson in a long long time.

If Dallas doubled Gordon, Deng would have had a HUGE day dunking left and right. Dallas went small majority of the game trying to get offense started. Offense never started, but it's better to let ONE MAN try to beat you than being demoralized by vicious dunks.

If Dallas can survive close to 30 points by TMac in a half, Dallas can handle a Gordon putting in 30 points in a game....


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## SMDre (Jan 28, 2005)

croco said:


> Bad loss, but not unexpected.


I wouldn't say that the loss is all bad. Of course you never like losing, but Dallas showed that they can hang around on nights that neither Dirk or Josh is shooting the ball well. I really like our defense for most of the game.


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

SMDre said:


> I wouldn't say that the loss is all bad. Of course you never like losing, but Dallas showed that they can hang around on nights that neither Dirk or Josh is shooting the ball well. I really like our defense for most of the game.


I thought the defense was good as well.

It was the offense that looked lackluster. I absolutely hate it when Dallas start settling for outside shots.


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## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

edwardcyh said:


> You'd be the first to call out Avery Johnson in a long long time.
> 
> If Dallas doubled Gordon, Deng would have had a HUGE day dunking left and right. Dallas went small majority of the game trying to get offense started. Offense never started, but it's better to let ONE MAN try to beat you than being demoralized by vicious dunks.
> 
> If Dallas can survive close to 30 points by TMac in a half, Dallas can handle a Gordon putting in 30 points in a game....


Deng gets like nervous, and uptight at the end of the games, and becomes largely ineffective. He hasn't made other teams hurt while they doubled Gordon (and triple).


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## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

melo4life said:


> But the only problem I think with Ben Gordon is his consistency, I dont think that he is that consistent, I have seen a few of his games, and one game he will put up 30+ points but then the next he would have a shocking game. I WON 80 MILLION ON NCAA GAMES TODAY !!!


He is pretty consistent.

Just look at his gamelog.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3820/gamelog;_ylt=AhDrHHP6E7WE7dq5sBz3moCkvLYF

Just breaking it down by the numbers.

Games with

0-9: 6 (hasn't had one of these since the first month, when Skiles toyed with his minutes)
10-19: 8
20-29: 23
30-39: 5
40+: 2

Or by the percentages.

0-9: 13.6%
10-19: 18.1%
20-29: 52.3%
30-39: 11.3%
40+: 4.7%

The guy is very consistent, and those single digit (and Skiles' mind games) seem to be a thing of the past.


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## knicksfan89 (Jan 6, 2005)

why wasn't there a game thread for the kings game anyway we won by 2 after rallying in the 4th period


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## VeN (May 10, 2005)

i guess everyone thought that was a gimme game, or someone was lazy =x


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

I wouldn't call it lazy....

Recovering is more like it. :biggrin:


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

Just a thought and a little bump....

What if Avery Johnson had inserted Austin Croshere that night?

The primary scorers were all off, and Cro had NO playing time. Now Avery probably has a little more confidence in the guy to give him some PT to possibly jump start the offense.


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