Mack Shoots Mavs Lights Out

February 14, 1999 / 6:06 PM EST / AP

The only way to cool down Sam Mack was to wrap him in ice afterward.

Mack hit eight 3-point shots, three shy of the NBA record, and scored 26 points Sunday as the Vancouver Grizzlies beat the Dallas Mavericks 96-92 Sunday.

"I'm a little bruised, but I'll be all right," said Mack, who had an ice bag perched on the back of his neck and one wrapped around his right knee.

Otherwise, Mack was red hot as he eclipsed his career high for 3-point shots in a game by three and also broke the team record of six.

Dennis Scott of Orlando set the NBA record of 11 3-pointers against Atlanta on April 18, 1996, when the line was only 22 feet. Brian Shaw of Miami holds the record of 10 3-pointers from the longer distance of 23 feet, 9 inches.

"Sometimes you get in a zone like that and think you can make everything that you throw up. It's just a question of following through and playing hard," said Mack, who finished 9-for-19. "The basket looked huge. It was one of those things where it looked like the ocean out there."

After draining five 3-point shots in the first half, Mack hit three more in the third quarter as the Grizzlies pulled away, mounting a 23-5 run.

The Mavericks, whose strategy was to give Mack some room in the early going, didn't shut him down until it was too late.

"Although we wanted to cover Mack better than we did, we left him open too much," coach Don Nelson said. "It was part of game plan, but not to leave him that open."

Steve Nash, a native of Victoria, British Columbia, led the Mavericks with 18 points and nine assists. Shawn Bradley had 10 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks coming off the bench.

The Grizzlies, taking advantage of six Dallas turnovers in the third quarter, took a 76-67 lead into the fourth. But the Mavericks got back into the game in the final minutes.

A.C. Green hit one of two foul shots, cutting Vancouver's lead to 92-87 with 1:22 left, and the Grizzlies failed to handle the rebound of Green's miss. On the ensuing inbounds play, Nash set up Michael Finley for a dunk that pulled the Mavericks within three.

After Grizzlies' point guard Mike Bibby missed a jumper, the Mavericks failed to tie the game when Nash missed a 3-point shot. Green got the rebound, but Dallas gave up the ball when a pass bounced off Hot Rod Williams' hands.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who scored 24 points, then made two free throws to put Vancouver up 94-89.

Nash made it a two-point game when he hit a blind 3-point shot from the corner with 26.7 seconds left, but the Grizzlies sealed the victory when Doug West hit two free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining to regain a four-point edge.

"We made the plays we had to make down the stretch to get a good win today," said Grizzlies coach Brian Hill, whose club wrapped up its four-game homestand with a 2-2 record and is 2-3 overall.

The Grizzlies fond themselves a little banged up after opening the season playing four games in five nights. Forward Cherokee Parks (flu) did not dress while Tony Massenburg, making his fifth straight start at center for Bryant Reeves, played despite a jammed thumb.

Michael Smith, who played in only one of the Grizzlies' previous three games, started in place of Parks and finished with five points and eight rebounds.

Samaki Walker, who had played only 67 minutes off the bench in the Mavs' first five games, got the surprise start at center and had a solid first half with 12 points to help Dallas to a 45-44 edge.

Notes: Mack's career-high is 38, set April 2, 1996 against Golden State when he played for the Houston Rockets. ... Greg Anthony held the old team record of six 3-pointers. ... West, who missed the last two games with a hamstring injury, scored two points coming off the bench. ... The Mavericks' bench has outscored opposing benches by a combined 271-161. ... Backup point guard DeJuan Wheat's seven points through the first 8@1/2 minutes of the second quarter accounted for the Grizzlies' only points over that span.