<div align="center"><div align="center"> vs </div> <font color="blue">Dallas Mavericks (17-6) v</font><font color="purple">s Minnesota Timberwolves (12-9)</font> Date: Sunday December 18, 2005 Time: 8:30 (Local) Place: American Airlines Center <font size="5">Project Starting Lineups</font> <font size="1">J. Terry | M. Daniels | J. Howard | D. Nowitzki | E. Dampier</font> <font size="1">M. Jaric | T. Hassell | W. Szczerbiak | K. Garnett | M. Olowokandi</font> MAIN MATCHUP vs THE LOWDOWN: The main matchup is obviously the key matchup here, but Dallas needs to focus on not letting any of Minnesota's other players have big matches (such as Wally and Marko). Josh will be on Wally it seems, as he is their best "small" threat, he needs to deny Wally the open shots. Dirk needs to defend KG this game, we can't let him go for 30+ if we want to win. But unfortunately, Dallas seems due for a win so I wouldn't be surprised if Minnesota takes this one out. Note to Erick: At least out play Minnesota center Michael Olowokandi, the worlds biggest bust.. Statistics Minnesota - 92.9 PPG (opp 89.1), 39.3 RPG (opp 41.1), 21.2 APG (opp 18.5) Dallas - 98.8 PPG (opp 94), 43.4 RPG (opp 38.9), 17.3 APG (opp 17.1) Last Matchup Yet to play this season THEO"S PREDICTION Dallas 94 -- Minnesota 97 </div>
Depends if Daniels plays. I think this will be a tough game for Dallas but I think they can pull it off. Garnett is a tough guard for Dirk and for anyone. Predicition Mavs win 103-98.
<font size="+2">Timberwolves at Mavericks preview </font> <font size="+1">7:30 p.m. Sunday, American Airlines Center, Ch. 21; ESPN-FM (103.3), KFLC-AM (1270 in Spanish)</font> <font size="-1">10:27 PM CST on Saturday, December 17, 2005 </font> <font size="-1">By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News</font> Series: First meeting this season; Timberwolves lead all-time, 37-33. Key matchup Kevin Garnett vs. Dirk Nowitzki: It seems like Nowitzki looks across at a star every game these days. If Garnett has slipped a notch this season, San Antonio didn't see it on Wednesday ? when Garnett had 24 points, 21 rebounds and six assists. Aside from his rebounding, his numbers haven't dropped dramatically since last season. Nowitzki has been statistical giant of late, averaging 29.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists over the Mavericks' last six games. <a href="http://www.justbball.com/forums/" target="_blank"> </a> Inside the Timberwolves Tough times: They were off to a surprising 12-6 start before losing their last three by a combined five points. They have been poor in close games, falling to 3-7 when the outcome is decided by six points or fewer. And they are tough to score on, allowing only 89.2 points per game ? third-lowest in the league. Briefly: They have used the same starting five in all 21 games. ... They are 0-6 when getting outshot from the field. ...They are in the midst of a 26-game stretch with 21 of the games against playoff teams from last season. Inside the Mavericks A passing interest: They have recorded 20 or more assists only five times this season and are 5-0 in those games. They continue to rank in the bottom five of the league in assists per game. Last season, they had 20 or more assists 35 times, going 32-3 in those games. Briefly: Oddly, neither team won at home in their meetings last season ... Typically, these are low-scoring games. Neither team averaged more than 93 points in four meetings last season. ... This is the first of three meetings with the Wolves in the Mavericks' next 11 games. Link
Kevin Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves haven't been able to pull out the close ones lately. It will be tough to do it against the red-hot Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks. Minnesota has lost its last three games by a combined five points, including Thursday's 90-88 home defeat to the San Antonio Spurs. The Timberwolves came back from a 10-point halftime deficit and had a chance to win in the final seconds, but Troy Hudson's running 15-foot jumper in traffic at the buzzer fell short. The team fell to 3-7 when a game is decided by five points or less. "We're right there, we're right there," said Garnett, who had 24 points and a season-high 21 rebounds. "We're in all these games, we're playing hard, but we're not playing smart at times." This three-game skid, which comes after Minnesota had won five straight, also saw the team fall in overtime at Philadelphia on Monday and lose to Sacramento the following night on a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Timberwolves could be in for another close one. Each of the last eight games between these teams in Dallas has been decided by single digits. None of last season's four meetings were decided by more than 10 points. Garnett outplayed Tim Duncan on Thursday, helping hold him to 13 points and nine rebounds, but could have a tough time doing the same against Nowitzki. Nowitzki has led Dallas to wins in seven of its last eight games, averaging 30.3 points. The Mavericks are 0-4 this season when Nowitzki is held below 20 points, 17-2 when he isn't. They've won all nine games when he's scored 30 or more. "I think when you're playing Dallas, everything starts with Dirk, slowing him down," Garnett said. "They have a lot of weapons in their arsenal as well. So we'll take some of the major components that make them successful, try to slow them down and make guys like (Erick) Dampier and some other guys beat us. But it's time to switch gears from the Spurs and not feel sorry for ourselves." Nowitzki averaged 25.3 points and 10.7 rebounds against Minnesota last season. Garnett had 25.5 points and 13.5 boards per game in the season series. Dallas is coming off a 109-103 overtime victory over the Orlando Magic on Friday. Nowitzki missed the possible game-winning jumper in regulation, but didn't miss a shot in overtime when he scored 10 of his 31 points. "That was Dirk being a superstar," teammate Josh Howard said. "He did what it took to win this game. When he does things like that, the sky's the limit for us." The Mavericks, who are closing a five-game homestand, have outrebounded their last nine opponents. <font size="2"> </font> <font size="2"> Dallas Notes</font> <font size="2">Dec 17 G Jason Terry scored 22 points, for 10th time this season he has scored over 20 after doing so just 10 times during the 2004-05 season. ... Dallas improves to 9-1 when shooting 40 percent or better from behind-the-arc, they shot 46.2 from long range tonight. ... Three Mavericks scored over 20 points for the second time this season and the second time in three games. ... Dallas are 2-0 in overtime this season. </font><font size="2">Minnesota Notes Dec 16 The Timberwolves have lost three in a row following a four-game winning streak. The losses have come by a combined five points, dropping them to 0-4 in games decided by three points or less. ... G Rashad McCants continues to struggle. The first-round pick began the season as the starter but has been benched in favor of veteran Trenton Hassell and has been held scoreless in the last two games, going 0-of-8 from the field. He has been held to single digits in 11 straight games, going scoreless four times. ... F Kevin Garnett collected his 13th double-double and his first 20-20 game of the season, going for 24 points and 21 rebounds.</font> That was the Yahoo Preview
Looks as if we may see a DJ MBenga sighting, both Dampier and Diop have 2 fouls. Dallas leading, Dirk with 11 points. Dampier with 5 rebounds already, another good game for him Seems like an ugly game, both teams shooter under 33%
He had 3 rebounds in the final 1.30 minutes of the half. Dallas is being outrebounded, let's try and get that deficit up
I don't think Dallas needs to go centerless anymore. They got 3 centers who can get it done. When Diop goes out than Mbenga should come in.
Well this game proves that you should stick with your guns. Terry looked terrible for 3 quarter but than hit 2 huge 3 pointers in the 4th quarter. Harris and Dirk also got it going in the 4th quarter. Great win.
Mavs 102 Wolves 95 Grades: Josh Comes Alive in the 4th Darrell Armstrong gave the pre-game speech to the crowd, but ended his talk with ?How ?bout them Redskins?. It was said in good humor as Armstrong has been a long time Washington fan, but he caught a $ 1,000 fine to a charity of the Cowboys choice. Both teams started off ice cold, going some 12 possessions before Jason finally scored from the charity stripe. That seemed to wake up both teams. The Mavs carry a 9 point lead into the half, but the Wolves come out hot in the third period, catching and going ahead of the Mavs. Keith Van Horn nails back to back treys that put the Mavs back ahead and the Mavs would never look back. Nice win as the Mavs head off to face the Lakers. UPN 21 : A+; The Mavs? Dancers were on fire tonight! +36 Johnson: A, Avery dug deep and got a quality win against a dangerous team. Howard: A : Josh got busy in the fourth period on his way to leading the Mavs with 23 points. Howard also pitched in 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Zero turnovers. +31 Nowitzki: A-, Dirk had a tough offensive game, but delivered one of his best defensive games of the year. Dirk went 6-16 from the floor on his way to 19 points, but kicked in 4 blocked shots and 2 steals. Dirk did finish second in the voting for German athlete of the year (Some skier won it). +22 Dampier: B-, Erick played a solid game tonight but was in foul trouble along with DeSagana. Erick led the Mavs with 8 rebounds. +8 Terry: B, Jason is definitely not 100%, in fact he was questionable for the second half, but the Mavs? trainers got him back on the floor. Jason delivered 14 points but it was off of 13 shots. Jason had missed eight times before nailing a key trey to open the fourth. +7 Griffin: B; Adrian had an average night with an uncharacteristic 2 turnovers, still Griffin put up 10 points on 4-6 shooting. +9 Van Horn: A, Keith led the charge against the Wolves in the third, grabbing the lead back with a trey. The Wolves never led again. +9 Harris: B+; Devin is making progress in his decision making as evidenced by his 6 assists tonight. Devin scored 14 points on 6-10 from the floor. +15 Diop: A, DeSagana bounced back from perhaps his worst game of the season with a solid effort with 6 points and 4 rebounds. Diop may be the sultan of swat for the Mavs, but he sure does have a sweet jump shot. Zero turnovers. +10 M?Benga: A, DJ only got 2 minutes tonight, but grabbed 3 rebounds in his limited time. +3 Armstrong : DNP-CD. After Darrell?s pregame comments, there was no way that Avery was going to stick him into this game. Marshall : DNP-CD. Powell: DNP-CD. Daniels: DNP-CD, Marquis was inactive with the neck sprain he suffered in the Suns game. Podkolzin: DNC-CD, Pavel had surgery to repair his right foot and ankle and is expected to miss three months. Stackhouse: DNP-CD, Jerry was inactive, out with a sore knee. Typical Chef Ed Type
Forwards formidable in Mavs' win 01:02 AM CST on Monday, December 19, 2005 By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News There might be better starting forward tandems than the Mavericks' pair right now. But if there are, it's a short list. Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard ran into a couple of formidable counterparts Sunday night and came out with a statistical push and a big win where it counts the most ? the scoreboard. The Mavericks polished off a 4-1 homestand with a 102-95 success against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Mavericks/NBA Kevin Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak fed off each other throughout. But the Mavericks' twosome led a spread-the-wealth attack that fended off a Timberwolves rally. Though the competition is tough, Nowitzki and Howard seem to hold their own against any starting pair of forwards in the league. "I think so," said Howard, who led the Mavericks with 23 points. "The ingredients are there. Dirk's an established star. I'm up and coming. And so is Marquis when he's in there. We just have to stick together and improve." The Mavericks broke away from a close game with an efficient fourth quarter, running up 102 points against the Wolves, who showed up at American Airlines Center as the NBA's third-best defensive team (89.1 per game). The Mavs also won what is commonly referred to as a getaway game as they head to the West Coast for three games, starting Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers. Devin Harris supported Nowitzki and Howard with 14 points and six assists, making several key plays down the stretch. "Defensively, we competed at a real high level," said Avery Johnson. "We gave up quite a few points in the last two or three minutes, but we thought we were physical. We had six guys in double figures, and that's what I'm looking for." After scoring just 34 points in the first half, the Wolves got 32 in the third quarter to chop the Mavericks' lead to 67-66. Jason Terry's shot was in jail for three quarters by a Minnesota defense that, like the Mavericks', is better than it's been in the past. But he finally got paroled in the fourth, opening the quarter with the first of two 3-pointers. Tied at 70, the Mavericks got a layup by Adrian Griffin and Terry's second 3-pointer. Nowitzki and Howard then combined for six points as the Mavericks went ahead 81-73 with six minutes left. [Click image for a larger version] DARON DEAN/DMN DARON DEAN/DMN Josh Howard scored 23 points against the Timberwolves as the Mavericks' forwards flourished again. 'Dirk's an established star. I'm up and coming. ... We just have to stick together and improve,' he said. The Wolves got no closer than four the rest of the way, in spite of turning the last two minutes of the game into a marathon with fouls and timeouts. "We're really executing in the fourth quarter when we need to," Harris said. "Plays are running smoothly, and Dirk is finding other guys for open shots." Nowitzki also had a season-best four blocked shots to go along with a couple of steals. Harris was joined off the bench by Keith Van Horn, who knocked in several key shots in the third quarter when the Mavericks needed them to stay afloat as the Wolves were putting on their rally caps. "As long as we've got the starters doing what they're doing and guys contributing off the bench like this, we're going to be very tough to beat," Harris said. E-mail esefko@dallasnews.com http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...e.22ce4b83.html
