Atlanta Hawks 80 at Dallas Mavericks 75
Win or lose, you must have a short-term memory in the NBA.
With no time to mourn in defeat, the Dallas Mavericks caught a convenient case of amnesia a day after their 98-82 road loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Dallas would prefer to forget Saturday night as well, losing consecutive games for the first time this season, after falling 80-75 at home to the Atlanta Hawks due to sub-par shooting for a second straight night.
"Once again, we struggled to shoot the ball and some of that certainly was Atlanta," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "They have length and they are hard to score against."
"We might be in a little bit of a funk right now," forward Shawn Marion said. "The ball wasn't going in for us, like there was a little bit of a lid on there for us."
Back at home, with the Hawks in town, Carlisle wanted to make a splash to help put the Memphis loss out of Dallas' memory. The Head Coach inserted sixth man Jason Terry into the starting lineup next to Jason Kidd, Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Erick Dampier.
"He (Carlisle) told me right before the tip," Terry said. "It didn't change anything for me. I still have to be aggressive and find a way to score."
(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)
Terry's presence next to the starters was felt early, as the quick-triggered assassin brought the Mavs back after Atlanta began the game on a 10-2 run. But not Terry or Nowitzki's 12 first quarter points, could keep the the fast-breaking Hawks from sprinted out to a 27-19 advantage after one. Atlanta's countless finishes at the rim and 13 quick points from Joe Johnson powered the Hawks in the first.
"Joe's a talented guy. He just hit some tough shots all night," Marion said.
"I thought the start we got off to hurt us," Carlisle said. "We got down 9-2 in the first two or three minutes and it's a tough way to get going. We gained some energy after that, but you know, it is tough playing from behind the whole game and that is the position we were in."
The Mavs found themselves down 13 early in the second quarter, but Dallas continued to hang around behind Terry and Kidd's 3-point shooting. After Johnson shot over smaller defenders in the first quarter, Carlisle switched to a taller lineup with Marion seeing time on the All-Star shooting guard. The adjustment worked, as Marion matched Johnson with size and quickness to help the Dallas defense hold Atlanta to zero field goals the last 7:19 of game time in the first half, as the Mavericks crawled to within 41-40 at the halftime break.
Dallas made up for a 40 percent shooting half by knocking down 7-of-13 from behind the 3-point arch, while suffocating the Hawks into 36 percent shooting at the other end. The Mavericks' defensive intensity helped overcome 11 turnovers on offense in the half, but Dallas struggled defending Atlanta in the paint, as the Hawks outscored the Mavs 20-4 in the interior.
Things got chippy in the third quarter, after a hard foul by Dampier on Josh Smith garnered a flagrant foul call. Smith quickly returned the favor at the other end on Marion. Meanwhile, Nowitzki was more concerned about what was happening on the scoreboard, pouring in 11 more points in the period. Still, Dallas entered the fourth down 64-60.
"It was a grind," Marion said. "We were going back and forth there for a while."
After the Mavs knotted the game at 64-all early in the fourth, Atlanta surged back ahead with a 10-1 run. At the other end, the Mavs stayed in the game at the foul line despite a stretch of eight straight missed field goal attempts. Nowitzki's driving layup broke up that streak and cut the deficit to 76-73 with 3:23 left in the game. With Dallas down 78-75 and 17.1 seconds on the clock, a kick ball violation was called on Nowitzki with just 9.8 seconds on the clock. A near turnover and backcourt violation on the subsequent Hawks' inbound pass left the Maverick defense out of position, before eventually fouling Johnson with just 1.5 seconds remaining, as Atlanta capped the game off at the charity stripe.
"They got a little bit of a lead on us, but we got it down to a one possession game. We forced what we thought was a turnover at the end. I don't know what happened, if it was backcourt or not, but they won the game off of that," Marion said.
In a low-scoring affair, the Mavericks' 37 percent shooting was just better than Atlanta's 36 percent at the other end. But Dallas' demise lied in the paint, where the Mavs were outscored 34-10.
"When you hold a team to 36 percent shooting you are going to win, but that wasn't the case tonight. We didn't capitalize on anything," Marion said.
"We just couldn't find a way to break out of the funk," Terry said. "It's been a tough stretch for us."
In his first start of the season, Terry posted 17 points, coming on 5-of-16 shooting.
(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)
Nowitzki's game-high 32 points just bettered Johnson's 31-point night, but No. 41's big night came in a losing effort. Also in vain was Dallas' season-high 14 blocked shots, due to the abysmal shooting and 16 total turnovers on the night.
The Mavericks try to end their two-game skid when Dallas returns to the court, hosting the Phoenix Suns at the American Airlines Center on Tuesday night. The Mavericks-Suns matchup will air on KTXA 21, KTXA HD and HD NET at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.
"We are going to have to regroup," Marion said. "We are going to get back in here (for practice on Monday) and work on a couple of other things. We'll get there."
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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