at When: Saturday, January 3, 2004 Venu: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX Time: 7:30 ET TV: FSSW(Dallas) UPN29(Minnesota) Records: Timverwolves 21-10 2nd Midwest Dallas 18-13 4th Midwest Probable Starters <u>Back Court</u> Steve Nash vs Sam Cassell Michael Finley vs Trenton Hassell <u>Front Court</u> Josh Howard vs Kevin Garnett Antoine Walker vs Latrell Sprewell Dirk Nowitzki vs Ervin Johnson Injury List <u>Dallas</u> Jon Stefansson IL OUT Tariq Abdul-Wahad IL OUT Shawn Bradley - Back <u>Minnesota</u> Wally Szerberiak IL OUT Michael Olowokandi IL OUT Key Matchup <u>Battle of the Stars</u> Kevin Garnett/Dirk Nowitzki Key Bench Players Antawn Jamsion <ul>15.7ppg 6.80rpg 1.0apg[/list] Fred Hoiberg <ul>8.6ppg 3.20rpg 1.9apg[/list] X-Factor He seems to play excellent when the Wolves arent at home. How will the Mavericks respond? We will se. Keys to the Game Dallas by deestillballin <ul>Containt Kevin Garnett[/list] <ul>Play the run and gun game.[/list] <ul>Get key offensive rebounds[/list] <ul>Get to the freethrow line. [/list] Minnesota by twolvefan11 <ul>Do not let anyone get hot from outside[/list] <ul>Limit fast break points[/list] <ul>Get everyone involved and let the Big Three loose[/list] <ul>Play solid D, don't let anyone by you[/list] deestillballin's Predection: Dallas takes too much pride at home, they give the fans what they came for, but I think KG will be too much for them. Wolves by 4 twolvefan11's Prediction: This one is going to be very close the whole game, but I see the Wolves squeaking out of it by the end. Timberwolves by 3
Good preview. I like how you showed both a Maverick fan and a Timberwolves fan's point of view. Nice work. I think KG is just too dominate. It's going to be close the whole way and a high scoring game. Wolves by 4
Great preview, I agree on that it's great due to it being unbias as it was written by the two opposing forces. I'm for the Wolves of course and think they'll take this one, unless of course Dallas begins stealing like it use to and tries to contain KG, however I don't think they have anyone with enough tenacity, stamina, endurance or strength to either take him out or keep him out. Wolves by 4.
Probably won't see too much of Earv, not without Fortson in there. I think GT will have a big game, there really isn't any matchup for him. 15 and 11 with 2 blocks. Wolves win by a couple.
It really doesn't matter to me. The Wolves are hot, but the Mavs are playing at home in this one. It should be a great game. It will be very close.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TimFlem:</div><div class="quote_post">Nice preview twolvefan11. I say the wolves take this one by a hair. Wolves by 7.</div> Thanks, but most of this was done by deestillballin.
Ionno bout this one... I hope the Wolves dont stumble on this game against a struggling Mavs team. It scares me because as bad (for Dallas) as the Mavs are playing.. they are a win away against a good team from going on their own streak.
Mavericks 119, Timberwolves 112 Shoot, we fell behind in the fourth and never caught up. Garnett had a gem, scoring 27 points, and grabbing 22 rebounds. He also had 7 assists to go along with that. Cassell had 34 points and Sprewell had 21 points. Gary Trent started at center today scoring a season high 22 points. The thing that killed us was our turnovers late in the game. That, and Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki scored 31 points, shooting 10-15 from the field. He was also 3-3 from 3 point land. Steve Nash had 20 points and 13 assists and Michael Finley had 24 points. Maybe next time... Box Score
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting purehoops:</div><div class="quote_post">Ionno bout this one... I hope the Wolves dont stumble on this game against a struggling Mavs team. It scares me because as bad (for Dallas) as the Mavs are playing.. they are a win away against a good team from going on their own streak.</div> Guess I was a lil late on my response considering I thought the game was a lil later. High scoring game, glad to see their are some teams that can still score. The Wolves didnt hold the top spot (tied) in the Midwest for long did they. What I really hope is this doesnt start a losing trend of the tough schedule the Wolves have coming up.
KG had a horrible game from the field. But the thing that really cost you guys was when Coach Flip sat all the members of the big 3 in the second quarter. You guys were up by 11 but & you guys let that lead competely vanish with your 3 best players on the bench. Coach Flip got to know that your team isnt deep enuff with all the injuries the t-wolves have, to sit the Big 3 at the all at the same time. You got to keep 1 or 2 of them oncourt at all-times. Another thing he made a mistake with was sprewell in the 4th. I know he made a few threes down the stretch, when the game was to far out of hand. but I think Flip should have played him a little less. Flip should have used Trenton Hassell D. If sprewell is chucking up a bunch of shots & missing, you have to sit him to get him back under control. Flip just let him keep shooting until he started making them. But while he was missing them thats when Dallas went on their run in the 4th. Oh well next up LA Lakers, It only gets harder from here.
Sad loss. I don't understand Flips decission to take out Hassel in the 4th...after that, the Mavs made their run (with Walker's 8 points, who was out the rest of the game). And as Henacy said, bench the 3 in the second wasn't a good decision either. Flip does not have a good feel when to rest the guys, they always end up tired in the last minutes. I'm sure with this bench, there are ways to rest the 3 more. Come on, KG had 46 mins again, spree and sam over 40 too....I cannot understand this. Spree had a terrible night offensivly and scored only, when it didn't matter anymore, but trailing for it on the defensive end. I'm sure, with a more fresh starting 5 in the 4th, they would have won, they can dominate _any_ mavs lineup on both ends of the court...but not when they're tired. Next game is crucial. They have 3 days rest, which is acutally bad, because sam is mostly sloppy after too many days off. Go for the W on Tuesday.
