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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The Dallas Mavericks are suddenly too hot to handle.
Erick Strickland scored 26 points and hit five of his team's 12
3-pointers as the Mavericks scorched the San Antonio Spurs 110-88
for their first win in the Alamodome since 1996.
|  | | Dallas' Shawn Bradley dunks over the Spurs' Tim Duncan. |
The Mavericks, only 27-37 and not close to postseason
contention, have beaten playoff-bound Phoenix, Indiana and San
Antonio in the last six days after losing six in a row. Those three
teams are a combined 125-67.
"Dallas was active in every way, shape and form," Spurs coach
Gregg Popovich said. "Their aggression made a lot of things
happen. We, on the other hand, were pitiful."
"Our ball movement was quick and clean," Dallas coach Don
Nelson said. "When you move the ball like that, all you have to do
is make the shots, and we did."
The Mavs shot 51.9 percent, but were even better from beyond the
3-point arc, where they were 12-of-23 (52.2 percent).
While Dallas sizzled offensively, San Antonio was lethargic in
its first game since Tuesday night's emotional return of Sean
Elliott from a kidney transplant.
"We got embarrassed," Spurs guard Antonio Daniels said. "The
only good thing is that this is the NBA and we have another game
around the corner."
Elliott started and played the first eight minutes, but he did
not see action in the second half after his right groin tightened
up. He had two points, hitting base-line jumper, and four rebounds.
"We didn't bring a lot of emotion defensively, didn't help when
we needed to," Elliott said. "We just weren't focused on defense.
That's the way I saw it."
Elliott said he felt fine, but it was a precautionary coaching
decision not to play him in the second half.
"I felt better tonight," he said. "That's disappointing,
because I really felt pretty good. The way it turned out, I just
missed an opportunity to get a lot of minutes in the second half."
Michael Finley added 22 points for the Mavs, who had six players
in double figures.
"I guess this is supposed to be surprising, as good as they are
and us not being that good yet," Dallas center Shawn Bradley said.
"We played with a lot of emotion and intensity, like we know we
can."
David Robinson led San Antonio with 20 points, although neither
he nor Tim Duncan played in the fourth quarter with the game out of
hand. Duncan had just 10 points and did not return after drawing
back-to-back offensive fouls in the third quarter.
San Antonio last led at 9-8 and never got closer than eight
points in the last three quarters. Dallas built as much as a
30-point lead as a smattering of boos filtered through the
cavernous arena.
The loss dropped San Antonio (41-24) three games behind
Midwest-Division-leading Utah (43-20) going into the final month of
the season. The Spurs have 17 games remaining and the Jazz have 19.
Game notes
The 110 points was the second most against the Spurs
this season. San Antonio ranked first in scoring defense in the
league, allowing just 90.0 points a game . . . With the return of
Elliott and Malik Rose, the Spurs are getting healthier. But they
have missed 203 games to injury compared to 99 last season. The
only Spurs still on the injured list are guards Terry Porter and
Steve Kerr. Porter has a left knee ligament strain and Kerr a
swollen right knee. Neither is expected back in the neer future.
Rose's return after missing six games with a sprained ankle against Atlanta went virtually unnoticed . . . Dallas has logged a
league-high 281 games missed to injury, but forward Cedric
Ceballos, the team's second-leading scorer, played despite having the flu.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Dallas Clubhouse
San Antonio Clubhouse
RECAPS
Washington 109
LA Lakers 102
Utah 107
Cleveland 86
Miami 92
Philadelphia 77
Milwaukee 106
Houston 96
Dallas 110
San Antonio 88
Minnesota 96
Portland 92
Seattle 117
Vancouver 103
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