<div align="center"> vs </div> <div align="center"> <font color="blue">Dallas Mavericks (7-2) v</font><font color="red">s Houston Rockets (3-6)*</font> Date: Tuesday November 22, 2005 Time: 7:30 (Local) Place: American Airlines Center <font size="5">Project Starting Lineups</font> THE LOWDOWN: The Rockets are 3-6, but they have a game at Indiana tomorrow then a one day break until they face the Mavs. The Mavs will be coming off a 3 day break in which their last game was a 37 point whooping of EC Champs, the Pistons. This is the first rematch of last season's first round between Dallas vs Houston, and both teams will be looking for a win to boost morale. Dampier and Diop will need to stay out of foul trouble and hope that Yao doesn't have a big game, while Dirk needs to play defense (remember last year, when Juwan Howard got 28 points on basically jumpers?) MAIN MATCHUP vs VARIABLES - Jerry Stackhouse has missed the entire season - Doug Christie and Keith Van Horn both missed the game against Detroit - Rafer Alston has missed some games for Houston Unfortunately, I see Houston snatching this one.</div>
Hopefully Josh Howard is playing for both teams. I'm looking for Dirk to have an absolute Bananas night. Considering the fact that T-mac has been able to keep him in check. Dirk with 40 plus in a tight one.
DMN Preview <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Series: Teams split four meetings; Rockets lead all-time, 72-52. Key Matchup Yao Ming vs. Erick Dampier: Dampier had a monster game against Detroit on Saturday. Now comes the hard part: doing it again. Consistency has been elusive for the 6-11 center. The good news is that the Mavericks are undefeated the last two seasons when Dampier scores 15 or more points. The bad news is he's only done it nine times. "We can't have one good day and four that aren't," coach Avery Johnson said of Dampier. Yao Ming has played solid, but not exceptional, so far. Inside the Mavericks No encore: Last Dec. 2, Dirk Nowitzki and Tracy McGrady had one of the most memorable games of last season, with Nowitzki scoring 53 points and McGrady 48 in the Mavericks' overtime win. McGrady is expected to miss his fifth game with a bad back. Briefly: Devin Harris has scored in double figures three times this season, in which the Mavericks are 3-0. They were 9-1 last season when he scored 10 or more off the bench. ... They continue to be gold when shooting 50 percent or better, having won 59 in a row. Inside the Rockets Delayed results: Stromile Swift was the Rockets' marquee free-agent signee in the summer and he seemed to be a perfect fit with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. So far, Swift not only hasn't been in the starting lineup, he's barely playing enough to be considered a heavy lifter. Briefly: Yao Ming has played in 250 consecutive games and has scored in double figures in 53 straight. ... Besides McGrady, Rafer Alston (leg), their starter at point guard, is expected to sit out tonight. ... The Rockets are 1-6 when making more free throws than their opponent. </div>
So, it looks as if the starting lineup will be different. Let me just edit it Mavericks cant get too cocky, and we will need to capitalise on Houstons terrible guard situation Dallas - 108 Houston - 93
Dallas 48 Houston 53 Dallas Terry - 15 points, 2 steals, 4 assists Dirk Nowitzki - 13 points, 1 reb, 1 assist DJ Mbenga - 3 Minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 0 blocks, 0 fouls! Diop - 3 fouls in the 4 minutes Come back from 50-38 and finished with a Jason Terry 3 with 3 seconds left
Nowitzki just hit a 3 Howard touch pass to Daniels who misses Derek Anderson rebounds ands Luther Head scores Timeout Dallas 3:47 left Dallas 92 Rockets 89
Woohoo! Dallas are the first team to score 100 against Houston and the first time that Housotn has scored above 90 and we've won Dirk - 31 Terry - 29 102-93 with 10 seconds left Anyone else realize that Diop was on, not Dampier in the final minutes
Nice job by Jason Terry tonight. I'm sure Mav fans must love it when he makes a good play and shows him emotions on the court, but I swear he's the most annoying player for me to watch when the Rockets play against the Mavs. Not only does he torch us every game, but he's constantly celebrating out on the court when he does it. Makes me want to throw something at the TV.
Game Houston I had mixed emotions watching this game. Again Dampier stays inconcistant having a pretty bad game except for a nice block on Stromile Swift. Jason Terry has a great night scoring 29 and acting like a team leader and coming up big in the 2nd half. Dirk was great in this game scoring more than 30 and getting some clutch shots. Diop has a pretty good game hitting 4 clutch free throws towards the end on the game and extending the Mavs lead. The Mavs had trouble covering Luther Head who finished with career high 29 points. Josh Howard had a rough game getting hit 2 times. Surprisinly DJ came in early in the game and made a few great palys setting up Jason terry scoring. Even though Houston did not have T Mac this was a great comeback game playing better in the second half. Jason Terry is the player of the game having his best game of the year stepping up in this one. On Friday the Mavs have a tough opponent in Miami and need to be ready for that.
Good post miles, I can't wait for the Miami game. That will be the first Dallas game I will be able to watch, this season.
Here we go, first post... I managed to watch the second half, I was really impressed with Diops defensive efforts, he seemed to pick up a few picky fouls, but other than that he did a good job bodying up yao and forcing him to shoot tough shots. I think he's a real contributor and helped secure 2 offensive rebounds late in the game, he could be starting next season if he continues to develop. Other than him I was impressed with Terry as a scorer, he was able to penetrate and make good cuts to get open for easy layups and floaters. Unfortunately Devin didn't seem to play well, I know his stats look decent but from the second half he seemed almost lost, a little hesitent to take over. Dirk was nice as always, just a shame he couldn't grab more rebounds... The bottom line was that we were lucky to win, we came out uninterested and they came out damn hot. A game like that should have been an easy win, I'm just glad we pulled it out.
I was very glad we pulled this win out, I was watching the game when we were down and was thinking uh-oh we are playing down to the level of the Rockets and w/o Mcgrady thats even WORSE. I think Diop played a big role in the win with his good free-throw shooting and all around hustle.
Just saying hello <div class="quote_poster">Quoting miles:</div><div class="quote_post">I had mixed emotions watching this game. Again Dampier stays inconcistant having a pretty bad game except for a nice block on Stromile Swift. Jason Terry has a great night scoring 29 and acting like a team leader and coming up big in the 2nd half. Dirk was great in this game scoring more than 30 and getting some clutch shots. Diop has a pretty good game hitting 4 clutch free throws towards the end on the game and extending the Mavs lead. The Mavs had trouble covering Luther Head who finished with career high 29 points. Josh Howard had a rough game getting hit 2 times. Surprisinly DJ came in early in the game and made a few great palys setting up Jason terry scoring. Even though Houston did not have T Mac this was a great comeback game playing better in the second half. Jason Terry is the player of the game having his best game of the year stepping up in this one. On Friday the Mavs have a tough opponent in Miami and need to be ready for that.</div> Luther Head wasn't the most hyped kid out of the rookies, but I was very impressed with his play. Had it not been for him Houston would have been woefully short last night in the shooting department with TMac out. Coach J said some interesting things in the post game interview. The one thing that really impressed me and it's not exact: I want them to listen to their coach not anyone else no matter what they say about this team. Sounded like the Mavs are tired of all the chatter that never gives them credit. Could be getting to them listening to that statement. Much like most of their fans. Tough schedule coming up for the Mavs 4 games in 5 nights.
