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Seattle spoiler SuperSonics reign on Rodman's parade
Posted: Thursday February 10, 2000 07:34 PM
DALLAS (AP) -- The second-biggest crowd the Dallas Mavericks have ever drawn came mostly to see Dennis Rodman's return to the NBA. The few exceptions were rooting for Rashard Lewis. Lewis made his backers the happiest by setting career highs with 30 points and 12 rebounds, leading Seattle past Dallas 117-106 Wednesday night. When it ended, Rodman celebrated his 13 rebounds in 32 solid minutes by hurling his new No. 70 jersey into the stands while Lewis was at the other end of the court giving the game ball to his mother. "If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be playing this game," said Lewis, a second-year forward who went from Houston high school star to the SuperSonics. Lewis scored 16 points in the fourth quarter, including 11 of Seattle's next 14 after Dallas got within 96-92 with 6:24 to go. The spurt included five points in five seconds on a follow shot and a steal that turned into a lay-up and a free throw. "I felt I had to go to the offensive boards. I knew that would win the game," Lewis said. "I was just out there trying to be aggressive." Rodman also was aggressive, even though he was playing his first NBA game in 10 months and had only one practice to prepare. The loss left him in no mood to evaluate his own performance. "It's all about the team," Rodman said. "It's not about Dennis Rodman." But this night was. He was the main reason the game drew a boisterous audience of 18,203, the second sellout of the season and just 52 fewer than the team's home record that Michael Jordan drew for his last game in Dallas two years ago. "I was surprised," said Rodman, who also played in that game as a member of the Chicago Bulls. "I felt like Michael Jordan for a minute. This is how people live in Texas. They're very generous." The Worm gave fans plenty to scream about early as he caught the game-opening tipoff and drew the first foul. He also took a hard charge that left Ruben Patterson facedown for several minutes, and in one pique of anger he nearly hurled the ball into the stands, but thought better of it. His 13 boards were one shy of the team's season high by one player.
"He adjusted so well," said teammate Cedric Ceballos, who had 26 points. "The things you'd expect, aggressive defense and rebounding, he did very well. And he started doing it from the jump, and that was great." There also were signs of rust. Rodman was caught in two illegal defenses, dropped a loose ball out of bounds with no one around and was whistled for five fouls. He missed the only shot he took, which was actually a tip, and he was slow to react to a give-and-go feed from Michael Finley. "He was a little out of sync," Finley said. "He doesn't know our offense, and he doesn't know our defensive schemes. That kept him a step behind." The energy and enthusiasm Rodman brought to the start of the game fueled Seattle's Gary Payton the most. He had 16 points in the first quarter as the Sonics took an early 11-point lead. Payton finished with 25 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds. The Sonics, coming off a last-second loss in San Antonio, won for just the fourth time in 11 games. Seattle coach Paul Westphal said he wanted his team to push the tempo because he knew Rodman wasn't in shape to keep up with it and because he knew Dallas coach Don Nelson wouldn't do anything to slow it. "We tried to run them, they tried to run us," Westphal said. "It was a nice game to watch."' The Mavericks ended a three-game winning streak, but at 20-28 they still have their best record at the All-Star break since going 26-22 in 1989-90.
Notes: This was Rodman's 900th career game. ... The Mavs' only other home sellout this season was against Portland on a Saturday night in January. ... Emmitt Smith spent the first half sitting courtside a few seats from Deion Sanders and right next to Ross Perot Jr., whose sale of the Mavericks is almost complete. ... The game featured two of the NBA's three players averaging 20 points, five rebounds and five assists: Payton and Finley. Grant Hill is the other.
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