Dallas Mavericks 95 at Detroit Pistons 90
Since making a Draft Day trade to bring in rookie Rodrigue Beaubois, the Dallas Mavericks and Mavs coach Rick Carlisle have seen something special in the Guadeloupe native.
Getting his second straight start, the first-year pro stepped in once again for Josh Howard (out indefinitely as he rehabs his surgically-repaired left ankle) at the starting shooting guard spot. If Carlisle was impressed with Beaubois before, the coach was wowed by his rookie's performance Sunday evening against the Detroit Pistons. Behind a career-high scoring night from Beaubois, a double-double from a surprise starter at center and a big fourth quarter from Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas exited the Palace of Auburn Hills with a 95-90 victory.
(Photo by Allen Einstein/Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
Beaubois' career night powers Mavs to 95-90 win
"Detroit is a persistent team and extremely well-coached," Carlisle said. "We knew that they were going to battle hard and so did we. Both teams had struggles at times and we were just fortunate to get a spurt and enough of a cushion in the fourth quarter to get out of here alive. We will take it."
Sunday night the rookie got the start next to Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Nowitzki and Drew Gooden, as center Erick Dampier stayed in the locker room due to illness. The center later left the arena and checked in at a local hospital for precautionary reasons, accompanied by Head Athletic Trainer Casey Smith. Dampier will not travel with the team to Milwaukee, staying in Detroit for further testing though his symptoms have subsided.
"I didn’t know I was in the starting lineup until they went through the starters," Gooden said. "Coach said 'Drew you are starting,' and then I heard ‘Drew Gooden’ and I was like, ‘Oh...’ and I ran out there. I thought Dampier was still out there."
As he has in all three of his career starts, Beaubois got the Mavericks on the scoreboard, this time with a floater in the lane. The rookie's defense on sharpshooter Ben Gordon, his quick-trigger offense and his ability to finish above the rim was instrumental for Dallas in the opening quarter, as Beaubois poured in eight points (4-of-4 from the field) in the period to lift the Mavs to a 22-18 advantage after one.
After the first quarter, the objective was clear for Dallas: Push the tempo on offense and wear down Detroit's tired legs as the Pistons were playing on the second night of a back-to-back.
With Beaubois on the bench most of the second quarter the tempo slowed, as Detroit took control of the game in the halfcourt. Struggling to defense point guard Rodney Stuckey and unable to score with the game at a slower pace, Dallas found themselves outscored 28-18 in the second period, as Detroit took a 46-40 advantage into halftime.
Stuckey scored 17 first half points to lead all scorers, while Beaubois led Dallas with eight. The Mavs hit on just 15-of-41 shots (37 percent), while Detroit shot 48 percent through the first 24 minutes of play. The Pistons out-rebounded Dallas 24-18 in the half.
"The first half we played hard, but we just had some tough luck," Carlisle said. "We just needed to stay with our game plan and pick it up a little bit defensively, so that we could get our offense going a little bit and fortunately that is what happened."
The rookie got the start again in the second half and he quickly resuscitated the Maverick lineup. After falling behind by seven early in the third quarter, Beaubois moved into double figures for the first time in his young career and back-to-back scores from Marion brought Dallas back to tie the game at 49-all at the 8:26-mark. Marion then found Kidd in transition to give Dallas a brief lead.
Beaubois' offensive game began to develop before the Mavericks' very eyes, after his stop-and-pop 3-pointer late in the shot clock gave Dallas a 54-53 lead before running the two-man game with Nowitzki. After Beaubois exited the game, Nowitzki took over the scoring load until back-to-back dunks from Marion and Kris Humphries powered Dallas to a 71-66 lead after three. The Mavs outscored the Pistons 31-20 in the quarter.
The fourth quarter began with Marion, Humphries and J.J. Barea quickly lifting Dallas to a 78-70 advantage. Detroit came charging back behind an 8-0 run off the dribble-penetration from their three-guard lineup of Stuckey, Gordon and Will Bynum. The Mavs then turned to Nowitzki, whose timely three-point play with 5:45 on the game clock put Dallas back ahead.
(Photo by Allen Einstein/Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
Nowitzki's second half finished off the Pistons
"Sometimes it isn't going to be how it was drawn up," Marion said. "Sometimes it is going to be a grind and this was one of those games that was a grind and it was a battle in there. Everyone was battling inside and we were going back and forth."
Then, with Stuckey limping in the backcourt, Dallas took advantage of a 5-on-4 situation by finding the open man, Jason Terry, in the corner for a 3-pointer to put the Mavs up 86-79 with 4:21 left. With Stuckey shaken up and on the sideline, Bynum became Detroit's central figure on offense, bringing the Pistons to within three before Nowitzki's fadeaway jumper over Ben Wallace with 35.3 seconds remaining found the bottom of the net to keep Detroit at a safe distance.
After Bynum once again cut the lead to three, Dallas ran the shot clock all the way down before Terry's 3-point attempt hit the front of the rim and Detroit grabbed the rebound and called a timeout with 5.7 seconds still on the clock. The Pistons went to Gordon out of the timeout, whose three bounced off the iron bringing his shooting night to 1-of-16. Terry secured the rebound and iced the game at the foul line.
"We got some big shots tonight when we needed them. We got some big stops on the defensive end and then made the shots on the offensive end to get a little of a cushion. The Pistons hit some good shots in the fourth quarter, but we were able to walk it on in at the end," Marion said.
Shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, Beaubois' career-high 14 points and four assists in 19 minutes paced Dallas in the first and third quarter, while Nowitzki finished the win off with his team-high 25 points (19 in the second half).
"He came in and played well for us, and we did what we needed to do to get a win tonight," Marion said of Beaubois' play.
Meanwhile Gooden, who stepped in right before tip-off, collected a double-double in his first start of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
"It was about opportunity and I had to use it with all the talent on this team and I was just happy that it was my night tonight," Gooden said.
Marion (11) and Kidd (10) were also in double figures.
Stuckey finished with a game-high 28 points and Bynum added 27 to led Detroit.
"Those guys (Stuckey and Bynum) had huge nights last night as well and you aren’t going to shoot that well every night, so we were paying a lot of attention to them, but they also missed shots that they usually make. We were fortunate tonight, but our effort was definitely worthy of a win tonight," Carlisle said.
Though the Pistons out-shot the Mavs 46 percent to 44 percent and won the rebounding edge 44-38, Dallas made Detroit pay from long range by hitting 7-of-16 from behind the 3-point arch. The Dallas defense also forced Detroit into 13 turnovers, while the Mavs committed just seven giveaways themselves.
Dallas completes its four-game road trip on the second night of a back-to-back in Milwaukee, taking on rookie standout Brandon Jennings and the Bucks with the game airing on FSN Southwest at 7:00 p.m. CT. Jennings scored 55 points in Milwaukee's 129-125 win over Golden State on Saturday night, which is the fifth best scoring output by a rookie in NBA history.
Dallas returns to the American Airlines Center on Oct. 18, when the Mavs host the San Antonio Spurs, after the Spurs handed Dallas a 92-83 road loss on Wednesday night. The game will air locally on KTXA 21 and KTXA 21 HD and nationally on ESPN at 8:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.
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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