Opening Night in the NBA
V.S.
Hello everybody, tonight's match-up will be between the Sacramento Kings, and the Dallas Mavericks. Lets take it over to Donatello who was not able to join us tonight here in Dallas. Instead he is over in Sacramento delivering his annual Pre-game speech. Take it away Donatello.
Hello all of you Kings fans out there, my name is Donatello and I will be your host for the Pre-game Commentary. The Kings have had an exciting off-season and have finished up training camp, the preseason games are over, and now despite their 5-2 record in the Pre-season they will have to prove to the rest of the NBA that they will own the throne this year and fight for that Championship ring. The first week of games is a toughy: Dallas, Spurs, Rockets so this is a major test for the Kings. Hopefully they can start the season out on the right foot. They are returning 4 out of 5 starters last year, would have been 5 out of 5 but Divac ended up with the Lakers after last season. Lets take a look at the key-matchups for tonights game.
Key Matchups
V.S.
1st Quarter
Kings - 29
Mavs - 18
The 1st quarter of action was played like it was the 4th, the scoring started off early on both sides of the court as Stackhouse hit two shots in a row on consecutive trips down the court, he had 11 pts. in the first quarter. The Mavs took an early lead by 2 but the kings were able to keep with them the whole quarter, and ended up taking it by 11. Peja hit a 3 with 13 seconds left and on the next trip down, Bibby hit the 3 at the buzzer. Webber had 9 pts. and Bibby 7 in the 1st.
2nd Quarter
Kings - 46
Mavs - 49
The 2nd quarter was much different than the 1st in many ways. You could say the the Mavericks completely owned the Kings from beginning to end. At one point the Mavs went on a 12-0 run, 8 of those points being Michael Finley's. Just like Stackhouse in the 1st, Finley was the man in the 2nd. He had 11 points and went 5/6 in the 2nd quarter. Jason Terry also stepped up and had 11 big ones in the 2nd. The Kings could not get anything done right, they were turning the ball over, and not putting the rubber through the rim. Webber got in foul trouble early with 3, so Ostertag got some quality minutes in his place, the bad thing is he did not make a very big impression.
Key players of the half include Webber with 16 points, Stackhouse with 19 points, Finley with 14, and Terry with 13
3rd Quarter
Kings - 69
Mavs - 69
The 3rd Quarter was very similar to the 1st in which both teams were battling for everything, when there was a loose ball, there was someone diving for the ball. The Kings finally stepped it up and took charged again, and made sure that this quarter would be nothing like that last. Peja had 9 big points and shot 100% in the 3rd. Bobby Jackson came off of the bench for Christie to give him a break, he also dropped 9. Adleman said later, "I knew putting Jackson in was a good idea, I could just sense it, Christie was not at the top of his game, so I tried Bobby out, he had never let us down before." Stackhouse, Finley, and Terry once again took charge for their team and combined for 20 points in the 3rd (Stackhouse, Finley - 7 a piece Terry - 6) and none of the players gave up. It was gonna be total war in the 4th, only time could tell who would pull out on top.
4th Quarter
Kings - 84
Mavs - 84
What a 4th quarter it was. There was not one or two player that stepped up in the period, everyone from both teams was contributing to get that first win of the season. The result of the 4th would not be the end, there was Over-Time to be played in Dallas!
Over-Time
Kings - 106
Mavs - 101
OT was nothing different than the rest of the game, both teams were goin back and forth making basket after basket. Fortunantly the Kings were able to pull out on top in the closing seconds of the Overtime period. With some stiff shooting from Jackson and Bibby. Webber also contributed to the win of course. Although Stackhouse, Finley, & Terry were a Powerhouse and seemed unstoppable tonight, they were proved wrong as the Kings won the Opening game of the NBA Season.
Player of the Game
Chris Webber
PTS - 26
REB - 8
AST - 4
BLK - 3
FG - 8/11
FT - 10/10
- Code: Select all
Kings PTS FG REB AST STL BLK
Brad Miller 10 5-7 7 2 1 5
Chris Webber 26 8-11 8 4 1 3
Peja Stojakovic 20 7-14 3 1 1 4
Doug Christie 4 2-2 1 2 3 0
Mike Bibby 29 11-20 3 3 3 0
Bobby Jackson 15 6-11 0 2 1 0
Mavericks
E. Dampier 2 1-2 7 1 2 5
D. Nowitzki 11 3-3 6 0 3 3
J. Stackhouse 31 13-20 5 5 1 0
Michael Finley 27 12-20 1 2 1 1
Jason Terry 28 10-22 1 2 3 0