Dallas Mavericks 93 at Los Angeles Clippers 84
After getting perhaps the most impressive win of any team in the young season on Friday night, it would have been easy for the Dallas Mavericks to take the Los Angeles Clippers lightly just one night later.
Instead the Mavericks looked to make themselves right at home at the Staples Center for the second straight night, after a 14-point defeat of the Lakers one night earlier on the same floor. Though it wasn't easy, Dallas escaped L.A. with another notch in the win column after squeaking out a 93-84 victory against the Clippers on Saturday night.
(Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
Jason Terry, bench scoring pushed Dallas to the 93-84 win
"Our concentration and attitude was great coming into this game," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "We knew this was going to be a tough game. The Clippers are a much better team than their record reflects."
"Everybody knew that last night was last night, today was a big game," point guard Jason Kidd said. "We found out that we could play great defense, we were able to carry that over tonight and with that we were able to win."
For the third straight game, Carlisle went with a starting lineup of Kidd, Quinton Ross, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Erick Dampier. The Mavericks' bench would be just as important as the starters by night's end.
The Mavs were without big man Drew Gooden after the forward suffered a muscle strain to his right rib cage in the win over the Lakers. Gooden will have an MRI done when the team returns to Dallas on Sunday.
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, Dallas came out with tired legs and the Clippers capitalized behind the play of Chris Kaman and Eric Gordon. Midway through the opening quarter the Clippers owned a 16-10 lead with 14 combined points coming from Kaman and Gordon. The Mavericks found their "second legs," tallying eight unanswered points to take the lead.
L.A. surged back on top when backup point guard Sebastian Telfair entered the game and ignited the Clippers' bench, as the quarter ended with L.A. up 27-23. The Mavs' fatigue was evident, as Dallas hit on just 7-of-22 shots in the period.
The two teams exchanged blow for blow to start the second quarter, but Dallas' depth began to show its strength when J.J. Barea and Kris Humphries' two-man game started to take effect. The back and forth continued until the final minutes of the first half.
Dallas closed the half in horrible fashion, with consecutive turnovers. The first turned into an easy transition score for Baron Davis. The next time down, Kidd's Hail Mary pass was stolen and taken in for a three-point play by Kaman after Kidd committed a blocking foul.
The Mavs were then bailed out by the Clippers when Telfair fouled Jason Terry on a 3-point attempt. Telfair then earned a technical foul for arguing the call. Down four, Dallas connected on all four free throws to tie the game at 55-all heading into the halftime break.
Although L.A. out-shot Dallas 49 to 42 percent, and won the rebounding edge 25-19, the Mavs stayed in the game by forcing 11 turnovers while only having four giveaways of their own.
Kaman led all scorers with 19 points in the half, while Nowitzki and Marion led the way for Dallas with 12 points apiece.
Looking for more offense, Carlisle went with Terry instead of Ross at the shooting guard spot to start the second half. The threat of another scorer on the court seemed to be enough, as Dallas' high-tempo offense from Friday night returned to push the Mavs to a 66-62 lead midway through the third after a Kidd-to-Dampier alley-oop connection. That was followed by a Terry steal and breakaway dunk at the other end on the next possession.
All told, Dallas outscored L.A. 25-16 in the third, holding a lead as large as 12 in the period before taking an 80-71 advantage into the fourth quarter.
The Clippers started the final period on a 7-2 run (10-2 from the end of the third) , prompting a timeout from Carlisle after Telfair found Gordon on the wing for a 3-pointer with 9:38 left and the Mavs' lead dwindled to four. The Clippers run continued, as L.A. knotted the game at 82-all, but Terry's 3-pointer with 5:06 remaining quieted the hometown crowd.
The Mavericks' defense then came to life, as Kidd took an offensive foul from Gordon square in the chest, leading to a Terry score to put Dallas up three (87-84) with 2:56 left.
Kidd connected on another highlight reel play with Dampier above the rim, putting Dallas up by five and the Mavs never looked back. Back-to-back offensive rebounds from Kidd allowed Dallas to run valuable time off the clock, while L.A. committed consecutive costly turnovers in the final minute. The Mavs then turned to their former league MVP to ice the game, and Nowitzki came through, sinking a fadeaway jumper with 29.5 seconds left. Despite only scoring 13 points in the fourth, the Mavericks held on for the 93-84 win.
"The home team is always going to make runs, but its important to keep your composure. The game came down to the fourth quarter and we got 11 stops of the last 12 possessions. That shows us that we have what it takes to win games," Carlisle said of the team's ability to close out the win.
All three starting frontline players for Dallas scored in double figures, as Nowitzki scored a team-high 24 points, Marion added 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Dampier came up big in Gooden's absence with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Dampier also defended the paint with three blocks. Kidd's 10 assists benefited Dampier the most.
"If he sees an opening he throws it there," Dampier said of Kidd. "He keeps our team going, if a player is open he will find them."
The reigning Sixth Man of the Year was also the beneficiary of Kidd's vision. Picking up where he left off last year, Terry finished with 16 points off the Dallas bench. The Maverick reserves outscored their Clipper counterparts 34-18.
Kaman led the Clippers with a game-high 27 points and 11 rebounds.
Dallas finished the game shooting 42 percent to offset L.A.'s 43 percent. The Mavs hit just 3-of-14 from 3-point range, but Dallas won the battle on the glass by out-rebounding L.A. 44-42. The Mavs also forced the Clippers into 18 turnovers off 11 steals, while only committing 11 turnovers of their own.
"Our defense was the key tonight. It wasn’t as good as last night’s game, we will be working on that for the next couple of games," Dampier said.
After going a perfect 2-for-2 on their Southern California road trip, the Mavs improved to 2-1 on the season. Dallas returns to the American Airlines Center and face the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets remain available. For ticket information call (214) 747-MAVS. The game will air on FSN Southwest.
The Mavs have 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.
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