Mavericks 66 Cavaliers 96
With the regular season just a week away, if the Dallas Mavericks were going to run their preseason winning streak to five it would be without their probable starters come the season opener.
The Mavs' traditional starters and marquee names were not in the rotation, as Dallas fell 96-66 to the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night. With Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and sixth man Jason Terry sitting out to rest, and with Shawn Marion and Josh Howard rehabbing before the season opener, to say that Dallas was shorthanded would be an understatement.
"It’s tough to play, especially when you’re short-staffed," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "We didn’t have a lot to work with. Cleveland had a couple of good runs and that made it tough.”
(Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)
Kris Humphries posted 20 points and grabbed nine points in the loss
Starting a lineup of J.J. Barea, Matt Carroll, Quinton Ross, Drew Gooden and Erick Dampier, the Mavericks got off to a slow start at the Petersen Events Center on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Cleveland, playing their full compliment of players including reigning MVP LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal, jumped out to an early 8-2 lead in the opening quarter.
Midway through the quarter the Mavs climbed back to within one, down 11-10, but the Cavs finished the first up 25-18 after Dallas connected on just 5-of-19 shots from the floor in the period.
The Cavs' lead grew to 13 in the second quarter on a Daniel Gibson 3-pointer with 8:46 left in the game, but the Mavs stuck around behind the play of Carroll, Gooden and Kris Humphries.
Gooden's reverse layup with 5:13 remaining in the half trimmed the deficit to 38-31. Still the strength of the Cavs' starters was too much, as James' fadeaway jumper with 29.5 seconds left, followed by a Mo Williams jumper with 2.1 seconds left in the half gave Cleveland its largest lead at 51-34 headed into the break.
Dallas shot just 32 percent in the first half, while Cleveland connected on 45 percent. Carroll led all scorers with 12 points in the first 24 minutes of play, while James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas paced the Cavs with 10 points, respectively.
The Cavs started the second half much like the start of the game, on a 20-2 run (18 unanswered) to take a 71-36 lead. All told, Cleveland led by as much as 39 in the third and outscored Dallas 32-16 in period to take an 83-50 advantage into the final period.
Despite outscoring Cleveland 16-13 in the fourth, the Mavs were unable to avoid the 30-point loss.
“We dropped our heads when our shots weren’t going down. But when we look at it, on a positive, we won the fourth quarter," Carlisle said.
The Mavericks shot just 34 percent in the loss, while the Cavaliers knocked down 46 percent at the other end. Dallas also lost the rebounding edge 50-41, while struggling from behind the three-point arch by shooting 4-of-18 from long range.
“We didn’t play all that well tonight, but these games are good for the regular season and we know that," Ross said. "We didn’t make a lot of shots tonight, but we’ll be good to go for the season.”
Humphries finished with a game-high 20 points and nine rebounds, while Carroll added 17 points. Gooden was the third Mav in double-figures scoring, with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Ilgauskas and Williams led the Cavaliers with 16 points apiece.
Dallas finishes the preseason Friday night on the road against the Southwest Division rival Houston Rockets, with the game airing on KTXA 21 and KTXA 21 HD at 7:30 p.m.
The regular season tips for the Mavs at home against the Washington Wizards on Oct. 27, and tickets remain available. For ticket information call (214) 747-MAVS.
Dallas has also introduced the “MavsU” program, designed to offer college and university students an opportunity to attend Mavs games at a discounted rate. The Mavericks and Genghis Grill have teamed to offer discounted tickets to students for many upcoming games.
To purchase any MavsU ticket and receive a coupon for a free bowl at Genghis simply call 214-747-MAVS or visit Mavs.com.
Follow Mavs.com’s Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment