Mavs 06-07, Live 05: 67-15: Nowitzki fuels G1 Win

[jonthefon]

------SOPHOMORES COMFORTABLE WINNERS OVER ROOKIES: BOGUT TAKES HOME MVP------

(full game, computer played)
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Andrew Bogut's got a new piece of silverware to show off when he heads back to Melbourne this off-season.

The Australian center, on a double-double average year took home this year's Rookie Challenge MVP with 24 points and 11 rebounds as the Sophomores eased past the Rookies 130-111.
"It was good fun. I didn't even know I was in contention to win it, it was all about just grabbing the ball, catching some tosses, pulling up a little."a pleased Bogut said afterwards.

Chris Paul scored 18 and handed out 13 assists for the Rookies, and was unlucky to be pipped by Bogut. Charlie Villaneuva, Deron Williams and Danny Granger all scored 14 for the Sophomores.

Leading the Rookies was Brandon Roy, averaging 18 points for Portland this year. He had 21 while Rudy Gay had 19 and a few spectacular dunks. Gerald Green for the Soph's matched Gay, including an especially nasty dunk on Shelden Williams.




------ALL-STAR SATURDAY NIGHT------

------TYRUS THOMAS TAKES HOME DUNK CROWN AFTER FLIGHT WHITE SITS OUT------

The fans in Las Vegas were disappointed greatly when James White went down with a knee injury days before the Dunk Contest in a game with the Spurs.

But Nate Robinson and Tyrus Thomas gave them a treat anyway.

The two players went head-to-head in the second round with a series of awe-inspiring dunks, before Tyrus Thomas pulled out the number 23 jersey and performed MJ's amazing free-throw line dunk, only it was a couple of feet back. He nailed it, icing the contest and getting the trophy and prize-money, which he honoured his word to, and donated to his high school.

In the dunk contest, there was some serious creativity and some serious hops shown by both Robinson, last year's champ and newcomer Thomas. Both started off slow, but scored high on their second attempts to advance. Robinson was especially amazing, with a behind-the-back lob off the jumbotron before finishing.




Nate Robinson 50, second attempt
Tyrus Thomas MJ tribute
Dwight Howard, 46, first round


------ANTHONY PARKER SNEAKS HOME ON COLD-SHOOTING THREE-POINT CONTEST------

Unlike last year, Dirk Nowitzki couldn't get going, and he surrendered his title to Anthony Parker this year.

Gilbert Arenas couldn't believe it either.

"I had the ball going, I was goin' to the second round." Gilbert said after, shaking his head in disbelief.

Parker was on 17 with the final rack coming up. He missed his first two, and it looked like Gilbert was home after being on 20.

But somehow, Parker drilled the next two, and then with time running out and the moneyball in his hand, he remained calm and hit the two-pointer to edge him over Arenas.

Charlotte rookie Matt Carroll made 22 in the first round, and looked like a good bet after Parker struggled to 14 in the second round. But whether he choked or simply didn't feel it, Carrol scored only 11, handing the second-year guard the three-point trophy.

"It's obviously disappointing, but I was happy just to be here. I'd like to come back and take a shot next year though."Carroll said.
Parker was all smiles as he took the trophy, but afterwards he admitted he did get rather lucky.

"My fingers were sweaty and the release wasn't good with that final shot, but I got lucky enough to win. I'm happy." he told TNT afterwards, holding up his trophy with a big thumbs-up.



Round 1
Round 2

[Clutch]

holycrap - anthony parker took the 3pt contest with that stiff competition? nice job! the other guys must've been partying too hard

always wondered what happens if a guy is invited to ASW but pulls up injured right before; was there a sub/replacement for 'Flight' White or did they just run a 3-man comp?

anyway, nice recaps man; keep it goin'

[jonthefon]

Nah, I saw that he had a pretty serious injury (one month out), so I thought it'd be shifty. So I went back and did it in the ASW mode, with only three guys.

[jonthefon]

------KOBE TAKES HOME ALL-STAR MVP: WEST WINS COMFORTABLY------

This year, the West wasn't letting the East mount a second-half comeback.

Coached by Mike Dunleavy Snr., the West won every quarter on their way to a comfortable 147-116 victory with Kobe Bryant exploding for 35 to win his second All-Star Game MVP.

Steve Nash handed out a quite possible All-Star record of 16 assists, and there were numerous other contributors. These included Carmelo Anthony who scored 25, and Amare Stoudemire in his second All-Star Game, scoring 23.

For the East, the contributions came from LeBron James and Dwyane Wade who added 22 each, but they simply lacked the firepower to compete with the depth-laden West.

The West were away very quickly, scoring the first eight points as Luke Ridnour scored his first All-Star points with a drive to the basket before Kobe and Dirk Nowitzki hit threes. By the end of the first, the score was 41-25, and the rest wasn't much worth viewing.

Outside of the Shaq show, of course. The Diesel had previously announced his intentions to complete six specific tasks, but he only successfully completed four of them, after his alley-oop lay-up from behind the backboard was swatted away by Kevin Garnett. His attempt at an Allen Iverson crossover showoff also failed, but his three rolled in, he threw an alley-oop and caught one, and Dirk Nowitzki moved away to let Shaq get his off-the-backboard alley-oop.





Arenas lobs it to LeBron for the spectacular oop
Gilbert shows to Kobe his own version of the fadeaway

Shaq 1
Shaq 2
Shaq 3
Shaq 4
Shaq 5
Shaq 6

[TheMC5]

Anthony Parker winning the 3PT contest! Word!

And ridiculous/awesome dunk by Thomas from beyond the FT line. MJ would indeed be proud.

[jonthefon]

------DALLAS FLATTEN HEAT IN FINALS REMATCH------

(fourth-quarter sim)

For the marauding Dallas Mavericks, they showed up ready to play.

After comments had been exchanged between Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade, and then later Mark Cuban who promised to give Miami a pounding in their meeting after the All-Star break, Nowitzki and the Mavs did did all the talking out on court as Dirk scored 33 points with 14 rebounds in a 97-70 drubbing at American Airlines Center.

Wade, last year's Finals MVP, was jeered by a hostile Dallas crowd who alternated between "OVERRATED!" and catcalls of "D-Fake" and "Flop Artist". Dallas followed it up with a 36-13 first quarter which settled the game, and the rest was a cruise.

The Heat was held to a 31.7% shooting percentage with Wade shooting 4-for-16, and going to the line only once. At one point in the fourth quarter, after Wade failed to draw a foul after driving in against DeSagana Diop, there was a standing ovation, most likely held for the referees. Jason Williams went 3-from-19 including just one made from nine attempts from three-point range, and there were horrible shooting performances elsewhere too.

For the Mavs, they didn't get too much from anybody other than Nowitzki, but it didn't really matter as in the end, the result was easy street.



-----DALLAS SURVIVES ORLANDO FIGHTBACK------

(fourth-quarter sim)

Dirk Nowitzki's clutch reputation still isn't set in concrete. Tonight didn't help too much, but the Dallas Mavericks still got home.

Nowitzki made a few key baskets early in the fourth to help Dallas maintain a slender three-point lead after Orlando had charged back into the game by making up thirteen points in the third, but he went missing in the final minutes and needed support from the rest of his starters to keep the Magic away.

Hedo Turkoglu hits five threes on his way to 33 points as the Magic reeled dangerously against the Mavericks, but Dallas suitably behind their back three.

Josh Howard drove in hard and drew key fouls, including one on Dwight Howard which fouled him out. DeSagana Diop grabbed a miss by Nowitzki and kicked it back out to Devin Harris for a big three. Not too long afterwards, Harris drove in and kicked out to Ben Gordon who hit the game-sealing three, before stealing an inbounds pass just in case.

In the end, Harris had 26 points with 9-of-10 free throws and 5 assists, while Gordon added 23 with 9 assists. Josh Howard topped the whole team with 28 and a series of free throws of his own.
"When Devin and Ben get going, they're a great back-court: they combine well and both are good passers. If we can get them consistent all the way through the rest of the season, we'll be good." Avery Johnson was quoted to say afterwards.

For the Magic, Jameer Nelson was also impressive along with Turkoglu, as he scored 25 points and gave out 9 assists. Howard typically beasted his way to 14 rebounds and a couple of big swats in the final quarter.
"We played pretty good tonight, but we couldn't finish it off. We gave them a couple of looks, and they killed us from it." a disappointed Brian Hill said.



Dallas boxscore
Miami boxscore

Dallas boxscore
Orlando boxscore

Harris picks off a pass to dunk at the other end
Ben Gordon with a clutch three
Diop grabs the offensive board and kicks back out for a Harris three
Luol Deng with the hustle block
Devin Harris steals the ball to seal the game

[Clutch]

man Dirk's back in MVP form; i like Wade a lot but nice work to neutralize him and the Heat backcourt

[jonthefon]

------FIRST QUARTER RUSH PULLS MAVS PAST CLIPPERS------

(fourth-quarter sim)

Dirk Nowitzki continues to play like an MVP, and the Dallas Mavericks continue to look like championship contenders, if they weren't already.

Nowitzki produced another stunning line of 42 points with four threes, nine rebounds, five assists and two blocks as Dallas blew away the Clippers with a 28-point lead by the end of the third.

The Clippers came to the American Airlines Center second in the West, and looking to make a statement, but were quickly pushed away in the first quarter. Dallas held steady before killing the game off in the third, and the final quarter was once again, rubbish time.

Josh Howard has 22 points and 10 rebounds to continue his consistent performances behind Nowitzki while Cuttino Mobley had 22 and Corey Maggette 20 in an otherwise languid Clippers side.



------WARRIORS FLATTEN MAVERICKS------

(fourth-quarter sim)

Don Nelson and the Golden State Warriors slammed the Dallas Mavericks' momentum with a 114-86 blowout at Oracle Arena in Oakland.

Golden State's defence flustered Dirk Nowitzki all game, causing him to take just nine shots, making five of them to end with 13 points. Golden State had a 27 point lead by halftime and 33 at one point in the third, before a 9-0 run ended the quarter. The rest once again, was rubbish minutes.

Dallas shot an erroneous 38% from the field with Ben Gordon top-scoring with 22, but needing 5-from-19 shooting and 10 free throws to get there. He and Josh Howard both provided good fodder for the other stats, but they were overmatched by Baron Davis, Jason Richardson and Al Harrington, who combined for 75 points.

"It was a nasty, nasty loss today. We still got a game in Arizona tomorrow against the Suns though, so we have to get this out of our minds." Avery Johnson said in a rather solemn post-match press conference.

Dallas boxscore
LA Clippers boxscore

Dallas boxscore
Golden State boxscore

[Clutch]

hahah i like how GState still owns Dallas just like in real life nice win vs Clips, tough loss to GSW but i'm sure they bounce back next game

[jonthefon]

------NASH STUNS MAVERICKS------

(fourth-quarter sim)

Steve Nash came back to haunt Dallas again.

In an epic overtime clash at the US Airways Center, Raja Bell hit a rainbow three-pointer from forty feet over DeSagana Diop and Ben Gordon with 0.2 seconds left to snatch a win for the Suns, 123-122 in the widely-vaunted "game of the season".

Nash led the fourth-quarter fightback, ending up with 43 points, 6 rebounds and 11 assists as the Suns pulled past an eight-point deficit in the fourth.

The biggest focus came to Dirk Nowitzki, who couldn't get it done in the clutch-again.

Despite a superb outing of 35 points on 13-of-22 shooting, 14 rebounds and a season-high 8 assists, Nowitzki missed two critical free throws with eight seconds left in overtime and Dallas holding a narrow lead. Previously, he had made a go-ahead basket with 23 seconds left, a tying basket in regulation and had picked off the following inbounds pass with six seconds left to force overtime. Ben Gordon could've had the game winner just like his sealing three-pointer in the previous Phoenix-Dallas matchup, but his floater in the lane clanged off the rim after Nowitzki had dished the ball over a double-team.

"We couldn't get it done today. We didn't finish them off in the fourth and then we got unlucky in overtime. It'll be a tough, tough loss to swallow on the flight to Los Angeles." Avery Johnson told reporters in a tone barely above a whisper.

Nash led the Suns comeback on a series of amazing shots. He drove into the lane and shredded the D with a series of signature fadeaways, he hit pull-up threes in transition despite solid D by Devin Harris and his alley-oop to Amare Stoudemire who had 25 points and 12 rebounds cut the Dallas lead to 2. DeSagana Diop made an open baseline jumper as Nowitzki was double-teamed and Ben Gordon was marked hard by Raja Bell, but Nash followed it immediately with another feed to Stoudemire for a nasty slam.

The Mavericks fought back, matching many of Nash's scores with buckets of their own. But Shawn Marion's offensive rebound and putback tied the score, and then Boris Diaw's open baseline jumper brought the crowd to their feet. Nowitzki provided heroics for Dallas, but in the end, it wasn't enough.

[Chaser7]

Wow those screens are super nice, especially with the crowd, unbelievable 3-pointer too!!

I'd check this out more, but I don't have a widescreen, and you put more than 2 pics in a row causing me to scroll sideways

[Lamrock]

Oh man, I remember that game. I was watching it with my family, and was the only person rooting for Dallas. Sucks that your Mavs lost too, but I bet is was fun to play.

This dynasty still looks great, though I have to deal with the same thing as Chaser ,so I don't always follow religiously.

[Chaser7]

Yea I'd recommend putting 2 pictures per row, and then especially with the all-star game you put like 6 or 7 in a row. Thats not good .

Anyways do what you please, this is just my 2 cents, but good luck.

[Lamrock]

I would compare this dynasty to anubisak's. It is a very good dynasty, but its a bit much, pic-wise. I concur with Chaser.

[Chaser7]

Wow I'm on my home comp now (20 inch imac) and I still have to scroll across, definitely change the pics!

[jonthefon]

All right, guys, I've uploaded a pic here on how it looks on my computer on Firefox. I'd appreciate suggestions on editing: what dimensions would you like? How many pictures per "row"? I might be able to incorporate this into the last stages of this thing (I've got about 16 games left plus playoffs, and then it's a new dynasty.)

I went overboard on pics earlier on, and I kinda took a page out of Shannon's dynasty by keeping to three smaller pics per page.

[Chaser7]

Well shannon also had the sideways scrolling thing too

I'd suggest 320 by 240, 2 per row.... and I'd suggest at least editing your allstar game post, if not all of them to make it not sideways scrolling-ish thing. yea..

[Clutch]

i've found that any image pixel count greater than 640 width is going to cause 'sidescrolling' but any combo within that is okay ie., one image 640 width, two 320's, three 200's etc; also like Chaser mentioned, you will need to make changes in previous posts that don't fit the parameters for it to take effect (EDIT: i'd only bother with fixing the images on this page and not worry about previous pages)


and damn! normally i would ride Nowitzki pretty hard for being a choke artist but 35, 14 and 8!? that's a serious line! with an 8-pt lead going into the 4th, someone else on the team has to step up and pull some weight so Dirk's not in the position to have to shoot clutch FTs in the first place

last thing... BEAT LA!!!

[jonthefon]

Well shannon also had the sideways scrolling thing too

I'd suggest 320 by 240, 2 per row.... and I'd suggest at least editing your allstar game post, if not all of them to make it not sideways scrolling-ish thing. yea..

I don't read you. Can you post a screen capture of how your All-Star thing looks? It's working fine for me.

[Chaser7]

Uh.. basically however many pictures you posted, (lets say 10, I don't know), they're all in one row... you need to put a whole new line between them as opposed to a space...

[jonthefon]

Strange, my browser is lining them three per row.

EDIT: How 'bout now?

[Chaser7]

Much Better cept, 2 per row would be still be ideal....

[TheMC5]

jonthefon: How the heck did you get Live 2005 to look so sweet? I just started playing 2005 on a whim, and I'm really liking certain aspects of it. However, I'm having supreme difficulty finding the right patches and such. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

No boxscore for the Suns game?

[jonthefon]

I totally forgot, I was so pissed about the loss that I saved and then afterwards totally forgot to capture.

I suggest you download my two sgsm folders, RyanP's converted roster and all three parts of ElBarto's logo updates, one of which includes the TNT 06 mod. That should get you to about where I am.

[Martti.]

Nice pictures.

Wohoo.. 35-14-8 from Dirk.

Awesome record.. Love the Gordon addition.