Dallas Mavericks 95 at Cleveland Cavaliers 111
The Dallas Mavericks entered the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singing a high note, riding a five-game road winning streak including the first two legs of a three-game road trip.
They left singing the blues, as the Mavs fell 111-95 to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the fourth straight time. The Mavs struggled to rekindle the success from the past two games, finishing up a brutal stretch of four games in five nights including playing on the second night of a back-to-back.
"We're not going to make that excuse," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said about not using the tough schedule as reasoning to explain the play on Saturday night. "Nobody played more than 30 minutes last night (at Indiana), so I don't buy that."
"It was frustrating," big man Drew Gooden said after the loss. "We didn't play our game tonight and they did a great job of getting out on us early. They shot over 50 percent, I believe, for the whole game, and it's tough to win basketball games when you let a team get it going like that."
(Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
LeBron James got to the basket easily early
Once again starting a lineup of Jason Kidd, Rodrigue Beaubois, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Gooden, Dallas hoped to complete a sweep of their three-game road trip with a victory over the Cavaliers. The starting unit's top priority was to keep James out of the lane. As it often can be, keeping James away from the rim was a tough task for the Dallas defense, as No. 23 and the Cavs used a 10-0 run midway through the first quarter to take a seven-point lead (19-12).
Dallas answered with sixth man Jason Terry, who came off the bench to provide much needed scoring from the perimeter with three 3-point bombs. But the Cavs showed the Mavericks just why they rank tops in the league in first quarter scoring, taking a 35-26 lead after one behind James' 11 points.
The Mavericks quickly found themselves down 14 in the second quarter, causing Dallas to switch to a zone defense in an attempt to stop the penetration in the lane. Meanwhile, the Mavs got a spark from J.J. Barea, as the smallest man on the court got into the lane at will in the period. With the lane closed down by Dallas' defense, the Cavs began to swing the ball and stroke it from long range.
"(The Mavs' defense) came with double teams, and at times they didn't so we still made the extra pass and that's why our guys were able to get some really good looks," James said after he systematically bisected the Dallas defense. "We are a really, really good team when we do that."
"It (ball movement) was huge for them in knocking down the shots," Gooden said. "It made it even harder to guard. It's tough to beat any team with that."
After Cleveland sprinted out to an 18-point lead, Dallas closed the first half with five unanswered on a Terry jumper and Barea's buzzer-beating 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 68-55 at the break.
"In the first half, we got caught ball-watching too many times," Carlisle said. "Cuts for layups, cuts for catches that led to another pass and a three, it got us behind the eight ball. It was probably as poor a defensive half as we've played all year. And you can't do that against a team that's this good on their home court. It makes it very difficult."
Despite shooting just under 53 percent in the half, Dallas couldn't overcome Cleveland's red-hot shooting, as the Cavs hit on 68 percent from the floor and 7-of-8 from behind the three-point arch. Cleveland also held a decisive rebounding edge with a 23-11 advantage on the glass.
"We needed to be better defensively. Simple as that. You give up 68 percent field goal shooting in the first half, you're going to be behind. We were fortunate to be 13 down at that point," Carlisle said.
Terry led all scorers at the half with 18 points, including 4-of-6 from three. Mo Williams' 17 points paced the Cavaliers, while James seemed on pace for a triple-double with 13 points, 11 assists and five rebounds in the first 24 minutes of play.
Carlisle needed scoring right away as the second half began, so the head man inserted Terry in the lineup for Beaubois at the beginning of the third. The decision quickly paid off as Dallas trimmed the deficit under double-digits, but the Mavs never got closer than seven in the period. Outscoring Cleveland 24-19 in the third, Dallas went into the final period down 87-79.
The Mavericks never got into a good rhythm offensively in the fourth, due in large part to a suffocating Cavalier defense that showcased why it is one of the best in the league. Dallas' inability to protect the ball, while not scoring at a high volume, sealed the Mavs' fate for the night. Cleveland's 24-16 scoring edge in the final period put to bed any chance of a Dallas comeback.
"They were a step quicker," Terry said. "You take your hat off to them. They moved the ball well and found their shooters in rhythm, ready to shoot the ball."
(Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
Doing much of their damage at the rim in the first half, the Cavaliers out-shot the Mavs 58 to 47 percent. When the shots weren't falling for Cleveland, the Cavs still managed to grab the rebound, winning the battle of the boards 39-24.
"We were better in the second half, but when we got some stops, we weren't able to convert on offense. So our undoing was the first half when we just didn't do the job we needed to do defensively," Carlisle said.
Nowitzki finished with a game-high 27 points in his 42 minutes of game time, while Terry provided 25 of his own. Marion (12) and Barea (10) were the only other Mavs in double-figures.
James and Williams tied for team-high scoring honors with 25 points apiece, while James dished out 12 assists and grabbed five rebounds.
Cleveland found a way to neutralize what is so often a strength for Dallas, as the Maverick bench was basically played to a draw with the Dallas reserves merely outscoring the Cavs' bench 41-40.
Dallas returns to the American Airlines Center on Monday, when they play host to the Philadelphia 76ers. That game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.
"You can't get your head down, you stay confident," Terry said. "We're at home and we have a big game against Philly and our whole focus should be on that game. This one is over with."
The Mavericks and the NBA have introduced the official NBA All-Star game ballot, featuring Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, Shawn Marion and Jason Terry. For more on how to vote for your favorite Mavs for the All-Star game, to be held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, visit Mavs.com.
Follow Mavs.com’s Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.
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