# Mavs 106 Rockets 102 Grades : 20-0 Run Keeps the Mavs Alive



## viggenja37 (Feb 15, 2005)

Mavs 106 Rockets 102 Grades : 20-0 Run Keeps the Mavs Alive

Mavs open up scoring on their first five possessions but the Rockets answer with a 5-0 run courtesy of a Sura trey and a Ming dunk to force a Mavs timeout up 11-9. Finley answers with a trey out of the timeout but Tracy and Sura answer with treys to tie the game at 14-all. Dirk pops a jumper to give the Mavs the lead again. The game stays tight, but the Rockets finally take their first lead as David Wesley pops a trey over Marquis to go up 27-24. Devin puts the Mavericks back up again at 28-27 in the last minute of the period, then Devin strips Deke to set up Finley for a jumper. The Rockets go to TMac to end the quarter, he misses, but Mutombo setting up for a two handed slam takes too long and the shot clock expires with the Mavs ahead, 32-27. The Mavs end the frame scoring on their finally four possessions. Michael Finley is perfect from the field and leads the Mavs with 8 points with Dirk and Jerry backing up with 6 points apiece. The Mavs shoot 61.1% to the Rockets 52.6% from the field and the Mavs make all 8 of their free throw shots. The Mavs do get out rebounded 10-5, but what’s excellent to see is the Mavs have 9 assists on 11 shots.

The Mavs come out with the first bucket in the second period but Keith Van Horn is fouled hard by Mutombo and crumples to the floor holding his ankle with 11:18 left in the half. The Mavs take a full timeout as Keith is carried to the locker room (x-rays are negative). Dirk replaces Keith. Josh goes to the bench quickly again though as he picks up his third foul with 9:54 left in the half. The Mavs decide to go with two point guards, Devin and Jason along with Jerry, Marquis and Dirk. Devin puts a third foul on Yao Ming with 6:35 left in the half but only gets 1-2 from the line as the Mavs lead 44-35. The Mavs and Rockets trade hoops and end the second period tied 22 all as the Mavs maintain their 5 point lead from the first period. Foul wise, both Josh and Marquis are carrying three apiece while the Rockets Ming, Mutombo, and Bowen all have three apiece. Dirk leads the Mavs with 14 points (5-9 FG, 4-4 FT) backed up by Michael’s 11 points (4-6 FG, 3-4 treys). Tracy leads the Rockets with 15 points (5-12 FG, 1-1 trey, 4-4 FT) backed up by Sura with 14 points (5-10 FG, 1-1 trey, 3-4 FT). The Mavs field goal percentage has dropped to 48.6% as has the Rockets to 44.7%. The rebounding gap closes slightly, but the Rockets are still up 22-18. The interesting stat for the Mavs is in assists : 14 assists for 18 made field goals. The Mavs bench shows up in the first half as well to outscore the Rockets bench 17-6, led by Jerry Stackhouse with 8 points (2-6 FG, 4-4 FT).

The Rockets open up the second half scoring the first 4 points to close within one at 54-53. Finley draws Bowen’s fifth foul to extend the lead from the free throw line back up to 56-53. The Rockets stay after it though as David Wesley’s trey over Josh gives the Rockets the lead again at 60-58 with 8:03 left in the third. The Rockets are 0-4 to start the half while the Rockets are 5-7 from the field. Padgett comes out of the Mavs timeout and drains a trey before Dirk finally knocks down a tough jumper over Tracy for the Mavs first field goal of the half. Wesley’s trey over Marquis forces another Mavs timeout as the Rockets are on a 15-2 run and have out rebounded the Mavs 7 to 3 as the score is Rockets 70, Mavs 60 with 5:38 left in the third. The Mavs get outscored in the third 34-24 and now trail the Rockets 83-78. Dirk leads the Mavs in scoring with 22 points (6-11 FG, 10-10 FT) backed up by Jerry with 15 (4-9 FG, 1-2 trey, 6-6 FT) and Michael with 13 points (4-8 FG, 3-5 treys, 2-2 FT). The Mavs only have 4 fast break points through 3 quarters. Tracy leads the Rockets with 23 points (9-18 FG, 1-3 treys, 4-4 FT).

The Mavs start the final quarters with Devin, Jerry, Marquis, Josh and Dirk. Barry opens the scoring in the period off a wide open trey as the Mavs can’t buy a bucket until Dirk connects with 9:42 left in the game. The Mavs battle back and close within one point on a Finley trey to close to 88-87. The Mavs force an over-and-back violation with 6:16 left as the Mavs go for the lead. Jason Terry is put on the line by Sura and goes 2-2 from the line to put the Mavs up 89-88. The Mavs run extends to 12-0 as Dampier slams a missed Dirk layup home and Jerry goes 1-2 from the line. Michael pulls the rebound on a long Wesley shot and Jason nails a trey to force a Rockets timeout with 3:55 left and the score Mavs 95, Rockets 88. Tracy misses and Josh drives on Yao and gets the and-one as Ming picks up his 5th foul. Josh gets the chalupa basket at 2:51 to out the Mavs up 100-88 but Sura answers with a quick trey. Dirk gets his 5th foul and sends Tracy to the line for 2-2 with 2:28 left in the game, the Mavs up 100-93. The Mavs come out of the timeout with six on the floor, but Josh runs off the floor in time. The Mavs go with Jason, Michael, Dirk, Jerry, and Erick. Jerry misses at the end of the shot clock and Dampier blocks Sura’s left hand runner. Dirk isolates against Tracy and nails the turn around jumper with 1:20 left. James misses a trey, but gets his own board as Erick puts James (2-2) on the line with 1:07 left in the game, Mavs 102-95. The Rockets force a shot clock violation and take the ball with 43.0 seconds left. Mike James attacks the basket as Josh puts him on the line with 32 seconds left. James drops both free throws as the Mavs call time out with a 102-97 lead. Michael sinks his free throws and Tracy quickly sinks a trey. The Rockets send Jerry to the line with 14.8 seconds left as Jerry keeps the Rockets at bay by going 2-2. Josh gets called for a moving pick against Sura (questionable) and fouls out. Sura misses the first free throw, then misses the second intentionally. The Rockets don’t score but they get the ball under their basket. Tracy misses a trey over Dirk, but Yao puts it in. Time runs out though and the Mavs pull the 106-102 victory. 

The Mavs won this on a 20-0 run in the fourth quarter. Excellent defense and offensive execution. Time to take this fourth period effort and duplicate it for four more quarters Saturday afternoon.




UPN Camera Crew: A+; Great job as always! +36

Avery: B; Still not comfortable with Avery playing Dirk at center so much, but given the win, I guess Avery chose correctly. Avery got good bench production, even with Keith going down to the ankle injury. Avery had everyone on the floor except for Alan Henderson. DJ Benga was even on the floor…..to help carry Keith off.

Howard: B-; Josh celebrated his 25th birthday by getting into foul trouble early and eventually fouling out of the game. Got to 7 points (3-8 FG, 0-1 trey, 1-1 FT) and 3 rebounds in 17 minutes. +4

Nowitzki: A; Dirk hit his opening shot then went ice cold. Some bench time seemed to make the difference as he came back in storming. Tied Tracy for game high honors with 28 points (9-16 FG, 10-10 FT). Dirk’s attitude was all the difference in this game as he was decidedly the aggressor on isolations. The ‘Germanator’, Bowen, was basically a non-factor, ending up fouling out in 19 minutes. +30

Dampier: B; Erick wasn’t really in foul trouble, but Avery sat him anyway. Ended up with 4 points and 6 rebounds. One of the key plays to the game was grabbing a missed Dirk layup and flushing it with both hands. +8

Finley: A; Michael had his shot going tonight, especially early on to finish with 20 points (6-10 FG, 4-6 treys, 4-4 FT) to go with 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Michael again played good defense against Tracy, hounding and bodying up Tracy to keep the ball out of his hands. Zero turnovers. +22

Terry: A; Jason again struggled defensively, but tonight he got his turnovers under control. Jason had his shot going and finished with 13 points (4-5 FG, 3-4 treys, 2-2 FT) to go with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Zero turnovers. +25

Stackhouse: A-; The Mavs sixth man showed up tonight. Jerry hit the floor early with Josh in foul trouble. Didn’t shoot the ball well from the field (4-12 FG, 1-3 treys) but went to the line 5 times (9-10 FT) to get to 18 points. +17

Harris: B+; Devin again was a difference maker tonight with his hustle. Didn’t really play under control with a team high 4 turnovers, but his aggressiveness seemed to be catching. +6

Van Horn: B; Keith was playing with intensity, but rolled his ankle catching a hard foul from Mutombo. The good news is that x-rays were negative for a broken ankle, all that remains is to see how bad the swelling is. +3

Daniels: B+; Marquis benefited the most with Keith hurt and tied Jason for game high honors in assists with four. Big step up from where Marquis has been. Hopefully the 18 minutes will return his confidence. +7

Bradley: C; Essentially a DNP, Shawn only got a token minute on the floor. Zero turnovers. +0

Armstrong: B, Got in the game in the last minute and did not box. The best part was watching him jaw at Tracy though. Zero turnovers. +0

Henderson: DNP-CD

Typical Chef Ed Type


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## Drewbs (Feb 16, 2004)

Dirk the Germanator! LOL I love that.


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