Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Cleveland Cavaliers 95 at Dallas Mavericks 102
The Dallas Mavericks entered their meeting with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night knowing that the entire team would need to come together with leading-scorer Dirk Nowitzki on the sidelines in street clothes.
Nowitzki, inactive after suffering a deep laceration to his right elbow in the second quarter of a 116-108 overtime loss at home to the Houston Rockets on Friday night, tested the injury before the game but realized that he couldn't give it a go due to soreness.
In Nowitzki's stead, six Mavericks scored in double figures, led by Nowitzki's replacement, and the Mavericks grounded the reigning league MVP in the fourth quarter to capture a 102-95 win on the American Airlines Center floor.
"Today, I was going to try to step up and actually try to go a little bit and get a couple of jumpers up before the game, but I just couldn't get my elbow up, couldn't extend my elbow out, couldn't really bend it," Nowitzki said. "Looking at the game now, it was a great decision. We got the win and I got a little rest today, so it was great."
"It is a huge win," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "Any time you can win without a guy like Dirk, it just says a lot about the group of guys and the team. We are obviously happy with it."
With Tim Thomas inserted into Nowitzki's power forward spot in the starting lineup next to Jason Kidd, J.J. Barea, Shawn Marion and Erick Dampier, the Mavericks' top priority was to stop the NBA's third-leading scorer, LeBron James. Both teams found themselves turning to backup centers midway through the opening quarter, as Dampier and Shaquille O'Neal both picked up two quick fouls. Meanwhile, James' nine first quarter points, coming from inside and out, lifted the Cavaliers to a 26-25 edge after one. Cleveland shot 9-of-15 in the period, while holding Dallas to 9-of-22 at the other end.
With Dampier in early foul trouble, the Mavericks turned to Drew Gooden in the second quarter and the big man did not disappoint. After O'Neal picked up his third personal foul at the 3:06-mark in the second, the Mavericks attacked the rim with the 7-footer not available to contest shots. Dallas jumped out to an eight-point advantage before James and the Cavaliers closed to within 52-50 headed into the halftime break.
The combination of Thomas and Gooden, Nowitzki's stand-ins, collectively posted 19 points in the half and grabbed 12 rebounds (eight by Gooden). Dallas overcame 41 percent shooting with a 23-18 rebounding edge. James' 18 first half points, on 6-of-12 from the floor, led all scorers at that point as Cleveland shot 53 percent through the first two quarters.
"We made some mistakes in the first half and we corrected them at halftime," Thomas said. "LeBron was doing most of the scoring in the first half, so we just wanted to make the other guys beat us. The main thing was our rotations on defense and we all did what we had to do to win."
As the second half opened up with Thomas catching fire from the outside, the Mavericks sped up the pace and pushed the tempo out to a double-digit lead as large as 12 early in the third quarter.
"(Thomas) has just given us positive production any time he has been on the floor and people have to guard him because he is a great shooter," Carlisle said.
"Of course with Dirk being out, coach gave me the nod as far as being in the starting lineup and I just wanted to be aggressive with the minutes I was given tonight," Thomas said.
Cleveland responded by grinding the game into a half-court affair, as James, O'Neal and Mo Williams cut the deficit to as little as two. But after Jason Terry's floater with 12.9 ticks left in the period, the Mavericks took a 73-67 edge into the fourth.
James' above-the-rim finish off of a Delonte West all-oop feed energized the Cavalier roster with 8:56 left in the fourth quarter, but the superstar never scored again on the night. Marion, Josh Howard and Kidd then put the clamps on James the remainder of the game, fighting through Cleveland's one-three, screen-and-roll offensive sets to keep No. 23 from getting in the lane.
"With the one-three, pick-and-roll, we were getting screwed up on it and we had smaller guys in the game. We were trying to show and get shaped back up. When we got (Kidd) back in along with Marion, we were able to switch it because of (Kidd's) size, and that helps," Carlisle said of the defensive strategy on James in the fourth.
"I was just trying to make it hard for (James), make him take contested jump shots and keep him from getting to the basket." Marion said of the defense on James in the fourth.
(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)
Offensively, the Mavericks countered with an assertive Terry and Howard. The Dallas defense then turned up the intensity in the final five minutes, while Kidd took over the game late with his play-making and timely scoring. The point guard's 3-pointer with 3:57 remaining gave the Mavericks a 93-85 lead. Just over a minute later, Kidd found Terry in the corner for a three to give Dallas a 96-87 advantage. Cleveland stuck around by getting to the charity stripe in the last two minutes, putting points on the board without time coming off the clock. But Terry's falling floater with 10.9 seconds left secured the Dallas win.
"I thought both teams played particularly well," James said after his team took the loss. "I think the one that got a good spurt, got a good comfort level, a good feel on the offensive end was going to win the game. They drove the ball, they kicked out for threes, they really hurt us with some tough long jumpers."
Stepping in for Nowitzki, Thomas led the Mavericks with a team-high 22 points, doing so on 7-of-13 from the field.
"In a situation like this, when you lose a guy like Dirk that is such a great shooter, it is a real blessing to have a guy like Tim ready to go. The way he stepped in and not only played, but played really well," Carlisle said of the veteran forward.
Off the bench, Terry added 19 points while playing just under 35 minutes. It was a welcomed sight for the reigning Sixth man of the Year who has struggled offensively of late.
"The thing that was important for me offensively was to be aggressive and getting to the free throw line helped me early," Terry said. "I just need to stay on the attack."
Kidd secured a double-double with 10 points and 11 assists, while Howard (14), Gooden (12) and Marion (12) all reached double digits in scoring. Falling just short of a double-double while battling through foul trouble was Dampier, who finished with eight points and 10 boards.
"That's why they're one of the best teams in the West -- one of the best teams in the league," James said of the Mavericks squad. "They've got guys even without Dirk that are All-Stars on their team. Josh Howard, J-Kidd and Jason Terry, and the rest of those guys, Tim Thomas played great tonight. Guys stepped up."
James finished with a game-high 25 points (two in the fourth) on 9-of-23 shooting, while West added 18 points off of the Cavs' bench.
After a slow start, Dallas out-shot Cleveland 48 percent to 46 percent, making up for the Cavaliers' 43-39 rebounding advantage and their 13-4 edge in second chance points.
"We were a little better in the second half than we were in the first half, defensively," Carlisle said. "They were shooting 53 percent in the first half and we took them down significantly, so that was big."
"We've got a tough, savvy group of veterans in this locker room and if anyone goes down, regardless of who it is, I know we're all going to step up. But since it was Dirk, you could see it on all of our faces that we needed to come out and make a statement tonight, but we do miss him and hope he'll be back soon."
Though he is still listed as questionable, the Mavericks could have Nowitzki back in action as soon as Tuesday night, when the Mavericks play host to the Portland Trailblazers at the American Airlines Center for the third match of a four-game home stand. That game will air locally on TXA 21, TXA HD and HD NET at 7:30 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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