Dallas Mavericks 107 at New Orleans Hornets 114
One night after Dirk Nowitzki put the Dallas Mavericks on his back with a historic fourth quarter, the team was unable to return the favor with the star fouling out and watching helplessly from the bench.
Winners of three straight, the Mavericks entered New Orleans riding high but knowing that a win against the Southwest Division rival Hornets would require a better shooting night than the one Dallas put out just a night before, when the Mavs overcame a 16-point deficit behind 40 points (franchise record 29 in the fourth) from Nowitzki to take home the win over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night, despite Dallas shooting under 40 percent.
(Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)
Chris Paul scored at will against the Mavs Wednesday night
By the end of the night, Nowitzki would be seating with six fouls and the Mavericks would be on the losing end of a 114-107 overtime loss after an inability to close the game at the foul line late in the fourth quarter.
"The opportunities were there," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "We didn’t play a particularly pretty game, but we really battled, and did what we had to do to put us in a position to win. But NBA basketball is 48 minutes -- on consecutive nights, strange things can happen if you don’t make plays. Dirk fouling out was a very difficult break for us."
With Quinton Ross out of the lineup with a bruised lower back, Carlisle inserted rookie Rodrigue Beaubois into the starting lineup at shooting guard, playing alongside Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Nowitzki and Erick Dampier.
The decision immediately proved to be a good one, as the rookie scored the Mavs' first nine points, taking Dallas to an early 9-7 lead.
After the Hornets used a 14-3 run to take a nine-point lead (23-14), Dallas found themselves down 25-17 at the end of one. The shooting slump continued for the Mavs, as Dallas hit just 7-of-18 in the opening quarter. Visa versa the Hornets hit 50 percent from the floor, shooting 11-for-22 from the field.
Early in the second quarter the Hornets' lead grew to 12, as the Dallas reserves went through a stretch of missing 9-of-10 shots. The Mavericks rallied when Kidd re-entered the game, as the point guard connected on a 3-pointer and then found Kris Humphries in the paint for a three-point play.
Kidd's corner 3-pointer cut the Hornets lead to 35-32 with 6:12 on the clock. The Mavs climbed within two (39-37) when Nowitzki drew a foul and scored (goal-tending). On the next possession, Nowitzki took an offensive foul from Emeka Okafor square in the chest, leading to J.J. Barea's 3-pointer to give Dallas a 40-39 lead with 4:32 remaining in the first half.
After Chris Paul brought the Hornets back ahead, Nowitzki's fadeaway jumper with 13.2 seconds left put Dallas up one. Paul answered right back with a 3-pointer over Kidd's out-stretched hand with 2.3 seconds left to take New Orleans into the locker room at halftime up 50-48.
The Hornets shot lights-out in the first half, hitting on 55 percent from the field, while the Mavs connected on 42 percent. Dallas stayed in the game from behind the 3-point arch, knocking down 5-of-12 from long range.
To start the third quarter, Carlisle continued to play Beaubois with the traditional starters. The rookie's job was to slow down and defend the perennial All-Star Paul.
While the former French League standout held his own, Paul and the Hornets sprinted out to a 62-54 lead midway through the period behind the low-post scoring of David West.
Dallas charged back to within one, when sixth man Jason Terry subbed in for Beaubois. The Mavs tied the game at 64-all on a Humphries score in the paint off the feed of Nowitzki, but it was immediately answered when the Hornets' Bobby Brown got into the lane and scored at the other end. Paul then began to try take the game over as the fourth quarter neared. Dallas countered with a three-guard lineup of Kidd, Terry and Barea.
"You just have to keep putting different guys on him (Paul) and keep changing schemes. It’s extremely difficult," Carlisle said of trying to slow down Paul.
After Paul turned up the tempo and pushed New Orleans out to an eight-point lead, James Singleton's 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds left in the third cut the Hornets' lead to 74-69 heading into the final period.
The fourth quarter started with Nowitzki on the bench with four fouls, so Terry stepped in and stepped up. Back-to-back Terry jumpers brought Dallas within one, before Humphries gave Dallas the lead at the free throw line (75-74). Terry gave the Mavs 12 unanswered points with a 3-pointer from the wing to give Dallas a four-point edge with 9:58 remaining.
After a defensive stop, Terry took the run up to 15-0 with a three-point play on a driving finger-roll lay-in plus the foul, as Dallas held an 81-74 lead. New Orleans battled back to tie the game with seven unanswered points, but once again Terry rose to the occasion with a corner 3-pointer off the feed from Nowitzki.
"(Terry) shot the ball beautifully. He played a really good all-around game. We needed somebody to have a hot hand. Dirk got some looks, but he didn’t have it going like he did last night. Jet was great," Carlisle said.
The shootout then ensued, as Terry and Paul exchanged blow for blow.
"Chris is always a tough cover," Terry said. "They have been having a rough go so far and you could tell he wanted to get it. He is a great player."
The Mavericks then got much-needed post scoring from Dampier, first on an offensive rebound putback and then on an alley-oop dunk off a Kidd lob to put Dallas up 92-88 with 2:54 left. Just 16 seconds later Dallas lost Nowitzki for the remainder of the night, when the star picked up his sixth personal foul.
Afer West's three-point play cut the Dallas lead to one, Okafor tied the game at 92-all at the free throw line with 1:06 remaining.
As the two had with their play all night, Terry and Paul went one-on-one at the top of the key, with Terry drawing a foul on his counterpart, reaching the foul line where he calmly knocked down 2-of-2 to put Dallas up 94-92.
With Nowitzki watching from the sideline, the Mavericks forced Paul into a miss and went ahead by four after a Dampier tip-in of a Marion miss with 16.5 seconds left. West then cut the deficit in half with a score over Humphries with 14.0 seconds on the clock.
The Mavs then played the free throw game, as Paul fouled Terry, sending the reigning Sixth Man of the Year to the line. Terry went 1-of-2 at the charity strip, giving the Mavs a three-point edge with 13.1 remaining.
As the Hornets inbounded the ball to their star, Barea defended Paul tightly, sliding under the Hornets' point guard to draw an offensive foul.
But the Mavs missed three straight at the foul line with an opportunity to ice the game, leaving the door open for Peja Stojakovic. As he has so often in his career, Stojakovic nailed a clutch 3-pointer, this time over the defense of Kidd with 6.7 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 97-all. Stojakovic was 0-for-7 shooting before the game-tying three.
After a Mavs' timeout, Kidd looked for Terry in the corner for an opportunity to win the game, but the New Orleans defense forced a steal, leading to Paul's desperation attempt at the buzzer that came up short and sent the game into overtime.
In the extra period, New Orleans got out to a quick four-point lead, as Dallas struggled to score with Nowitzki on the bench. With Kidd nearly forcing a steal from Paul, the New Orleans point guard found Brown on the wing for a 3-pointer with the Mavs defense over-rotated and 2:20 remaining on the game clock.
"Everything went wrong that could have gone wrong (in overtime) to lose the game," Kidd said. "It’s a lesson learned. 24 hours ago we get one that goes exactly right for us. That’s just the way the game of basketball can be sometimes. It can be nice. It can be cruel."
After the Dallas defense stiffened, Terry's 3-pointer cut the New Orleans lead to 106-102 with 1:22 remaining.
Once Paul and the Hornets pushed the lead back up to eight, Terry continued to fight, knocking down another three with 11.3 seconds left and the Mavs down 112-107.
The Hornets then turned to Paul, who unlike the Mavericks before, iced the game at the foul line, as New Orleans secured the seven-point victory and handed the Mavs their second loss of the season.
"It's a lost opportunity," Terry said. "It's a game that we wanted coming off of a tough victory last night. I thought we showed a lot of heart and a lot of determination. The key things that we talk about all of the time and the little things --free throws, getting out on the shooters and fouling when we are up three (are important). Those things are what championship teams do. Obviously, we’re not there yet. We’ll learn from this loss.”
While Dallas' field goal percentage was higher than their three previous wins, shooting just under 46 percent, it wasn't enough to combat New Orleans' 50 percent shooting from the field. The Hornets also out-rebounded the Mavericks 44-40.
Doing his best to lead Dallas to the victory, Terry scored 35 points off the bench. The sharpshooter connected on 7-of-10 from 3-point range. In an all-around game, Dampier poured in 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the paint.
Paul finished with a game-high 39 points.
Dallas returns home to host the Toronto Rapters at the American Airlines Center on Saturday night, with tickets still available. For ticket information call (214) 747-MAVS. The game will air on KTXA 21, KTXA 21 HD and HD NET at 7:30 p.m. CT.
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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