Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Dallas Mavericks 104 at Denver Nuggets 96
It must have felt like returning to a crime scene for the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night.
Playing against the team that ended Dallas' season a year ago after five games in the Western Conference Semifinals, the Mavericks returned to the Pepsi Center to tangle with the Denver Nuggets, who were without Chauncey Billups due to a strained left groin. With Billups in street clothes the Mavericks turned their full attention to the NBA's scoring leader, Carmelo Anthony, and it never left. Holding the Nuggets' star to 16 points on just 5-of-19 shooting, while seven Mavericks scored in double figures for the second straight night, Dallas erased their past memories with a 104-96 road win.
(Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
"In fairness to them, they don't have Billups, who’s a great player," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "And Anthony was in foul trouble but I like the way we played."
"I think it was bigger for coach then it was for us," sixth man Jason Terry said of the win after Carlisle targeted this game as a big matchup. "As players we wanted to come in here and get a win, but for him. We had four close games in here last year that easily could have went the other way. So (Carlisle) put a big emphasis on the game, it's been marked down on our calender but it's one game. They didn't have Billups, but we come out of here with a win. We had to win this game and we got it done."
In the building that haunted the Mavericks during last season's playoff run, the Mavericks proved early on that they entered Denver ready to deal with any adversity. Overcoming an early 10-point deficit with a 23-6 run to end the first quarter, Dallas utilized a balanced scoring attack to take a 30-23 lead at the end of one.
After what was once a nine-point Dallas advantage slimmed down to five early in the second quarter, Carlisle called for timeout to calm his squad down with 9:21 on the game clock. The Mavericks took heed to their coach's direction, pushing the margin back up to nine on consecutive baskets from Terry. Dallas answered every Denver charge in the period with Terry, Josh Howard and J.J. Barea aggressively getting to the rim while forward Drew Gooden, who returned after missing a game with back spasms, provided the dirty work in the paint. Learning a lot from their playoff series, the Mavs wanted to come into Denver with a more physical style of play.
"You know when you come into this building they're going to play a physical game," forward Dirk Nowitzki said. "If you want to have a chance, you have to adjust and play that type of style, rebound the ball and really go after the ball.
"It really happened to us in the playoffs last year. We were hanging around for three quarters and they'd pick their defensive pressure up, we'd turn the ball over a bunch and next thing you know we were down 20. So, you have to know coming in that you have to be physical here and I think we did a decent job."
But after leading by as much as 11, Denver used a 7-0 run in the last 1:17 of the half to cut the Dallas lead to 55-52 headed into the intermission. Just before the half closed the Mavericks received a scare when Nowitzki, who was already wearing a protective wrap around his deeply lacerated right elbow, left the court favoring his left shoulder after attempting a driving layup in the closing seconds.
"It was just a weird play. I tried to make a move and I felt a little pop there. But we got in at halftime and looked at it, and it felt alright," Nowitzki said of the play.
Gooden's 10 points paced the Mavs in the first half, while Barea and Howard added nine apiece to help Dallas shoot 46 percent through 24 minutes of play. Aaron Afflalo's 13 points and Kenyon Martin's 10 kept the Nuggets close, though the Dallas defense held Denver to just under 44 percent shooting after two quarters. The Mavericks appeared to be on the right track, holding Anthony to just 3-of-12 shooting for nine points while picking up three fouls in the half.
(Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
"We were doing different things (defensively on Anthony). At times we'd guard him straight up, at times we ran somebody at him. But what helped was he was in some foul trouble, so he was in and out of the game," Carlisle said.
Nowitzki shook off any signs of an injury in the locker room during the halftime break, as the All-Star forward began the second half on the court. After the Nuggets gained life after the run at the end of the first half, the Mavericks turned up their energy level a couple more notches early in the third quarter. As Shawn Marion ignited the Dallas offense by posting up smaller defenders, the Maverick lead climbed back up to double digits. Even after J.R. Smith brought a spark to the Nuggets' offense with Anthony in foul trouble, Terry came right back to beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer to put Dallas up 78-68.
"That was a Hail Mary -- prayer answered," Terry said of the shot.
Everything seemed to be going Dallas' way in the period, as even Gooden's circus layup found its way to the bottom of the net to put the Mavericks up 13 in the final minute of the quarter. Outscoring the Nuggets 28-20 in the third, Dallas took an 83-72 advantage into the final period.
"The 7-0 run at the end of the first half was very disappointing for us. But we regrouped, guys came out and really fought in the third quarter and got the lead up," Carlisle said.
When Anthony picked up his fifth foul at the 10:02-mark of the fourth with the Nuggets down eight, Denver lost their go-to scorer during their comeback attempt. With Anthony watching from the sidelines, the Dallas defensive intensity picked up and it translated to gritty play on the offensive end. When Anthony returned with his team down 12 and 7:22 on the game clock, the Mavs prepared themselves for the stretch run. But with the Nuggets' defense playing with active hands and forcing Maverick turnovers, Denver got back into the game. The Nuggets hacked away at the Mavs' lead at the foul line, scoring points while stopping the game clock with Dallas in the penalty.
With Dallas hanging on tightly to a 97-92 advantage, Anthony fouled out after pushing Howard to the floor away from the ball with 2:47 left.
"(Anthony) never got into one of those rythems where he can go out there and get 20 in a quarter. That was fortunate, but we had something to do with him picking up the fouls, too," Calisle said.
With their star out, the Nuggets' aggression was on high alert but their offensive production was sorely lacking. Meanwhile the Mavericks secured every needed rebound, including Gooden's tip-in with 1:19 remaining to put Dallas up 101-94. Struggling by his standards offensively all night, Nowitzki put the seal on the win with a 3-pointer with 50.5 ticks on the clock to put his team up 104-96. The two teams then played out the clock as the Mavs moved to 11-4 on the road.
Gooden finished with a game-high 19 points, on 8-for-8 shooting, while grabbing 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double this season.
"Drew Gooden was phenomenal for us in the paint -- keeping balls alive, getting tip-ins and being a beast in the paint. He was great," Nowitzki said.
"It was big, especially since not playing yesterday and coming in here playing with an injury," Gooden said of his night. "I didn't know what to expect, but I feel kind of good...Anytime you can make a contribution to this team, especially while we are winning, is big for us right now."
Howard added 17 points and nine rebounds, while Nowitzki also posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Barea (13), Terry (13), Marion (12) and Erick Dampier (10) all scored in double figures to help the Mavs shoot 50 percent from the field.
"For us, it was being aggressive, attacking the basket and playing good, solid defense," Terry said. "That's the key to success -- balanced scoring, ball movement and getting stops defensively."
Martin led the Nuggets with 18 points while grabbing 11 rebounds, though the Dallas defense held Denver to just 38 percent shooting.
"We haven't won here in a long time…So it's definitely a good win," Nowitzki said. "Defensively we were solid, to hold a great offensive team to 38 percent shooting, that's pretty solid."
Dallas also won the battle on the glass, out-rebounding Denver 51-45. The Mavericks overcame their 16 total turnovers and a 32-8 deficit in second chance points to claim their 22nd victory of the young season.
Now the Mavericks will put a cap on 2009 when they head into Houston to battle the division rival Rockets with three days to prepare. Dallas leads the season series 2-1, but the Mavs suffered a 116-108 overtime defeat to the Rockets at home on Dec. 18. The Mavericks-Rockets matchup will air locally on KTXA and KTXA HD at 6:00 p.m. CT. It is the second game of four straight on the road for the Mavericks.
"We have another tough one coming up in Houston," Terry said. "Three days to prepare but they beat us at home, so we have work ahead of us."
The team returns to the American Airlines Center on Jan. 5 to host the Detroit Pistons. 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.
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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