Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Dallas Mavericks 94 at Houston Rockets 97
Bringing 2009 to a close, the Dallas Mavericks began a three-game road trip against a familiar foe.
In the finale of the season series with the Southwest Division rival Houston Rockets, the Mavs looked to bring the year to an end with their third straight win. Dallas also entered Houston hoping to take the season series 3-1, but the Rockets had something else in mind. Despite getting double-figure scoring from six players, the Mavericks could not overcome multiple double-digit deficits and early foul trouble to their superstar, coming up just short of a late comeback attempt to fall 97-94 at the Toyota Center.
"We just couldn't come up with enough plays down the stretch. We had a couple of good looks…We had our chances down the stretch, but just didn't have enough to get over the hump," forward Dirk Nowitzki said.
The Mavericks came into their fourth and final meeting with Houston well aware that they needed to improve on their play in the first quarter, after struggling early in the first three games against the Rockets this season. But in an eerie resemblance to the three previous matchups with Houston, the Mavericks found themselves down by double digits in the opening quarter before cutting the deficit to 24-17 at the end of one.
Dallas hit on just 8-of-23 shots in the first quarter, unable to capitalize on the five turnovers they forced Houston into at the defensive end. Meanwhile, Houston used fast-break offense to sprint out to the quick advantage.
"Our undoing as a team was a sluggish first quarter," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "We just got off to a sluggish start. They hit us with transition points and threes…With a team that's an energetic team like this, you can’t have any lolls, especially at the beginning."
(Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
But the Dallas offense began to catch up with the team's defensive intensity early in the second quarter, as Josh Howard and Jason Terry ignited the Mavericks' second unit. With Howard and forward Shawn Marion finding success both inside and outside the paint, the Mavericks made up for their early shooting deficiencies to tie the game at 40-all with 4:14 remaining in the period. But with their leading-scorer, Nowitzki, picking up his third foul with 2:03 left in the first half, the Mavericks didn't have enough firepower on the floor to contend with the Rockets' backcourt of Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry. Houston finished the half on a 14-5 run to take a 56-47 edge at the halftime break.
The Rockets shot lights-out in the first 24 minutes of play, out-shooting the Mavericks 55 percent to 44 percent in the half. Houston also held a 25-20 rebounding advantage, making up for their nine first half turnovers. Brooks led all scorers with 14 points at that point, while Marion paced Dallas with 12 points as Nowitzki was sidelined with the early fouls.
"Obviously with the foul trouble, I didn't have a good rhythm in the first half, but I still have to come through for the team," Nowitzki said. "In the second half, I thought we battled."
Things got worse before they got better for the Mavericks at the start of the third quarter. Falling behind by as much as 14, the Mavericks stayed in the game behind Jason Kidd's long range shooting and J.J. Barea's dribble penetration. Though the Dallas defense held Houston to just 36 percent shooting in the quarter, the Mavericks' offense could only cut the deficit to 78-70 headed into the fourth.
(Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
With Kidd and the Mavs making all of the hustle plays in the early minutes of the fourth, the tempo picked up and Dallas crept to within 80-77 after Terry nailed a 3-pointer at the 10:22-mark. The Mavs' veteran point guard continued to look for his own shot, as Kidd's scoring and play-making gave Dallas the momentum in the period. Terry then took over the scoring load, tying the game at 86-all with 5:39 remaining. But the Rockets continued to answer the Mavs' scoring burst with a heavy dose of Carl Landry in the low post.
Using a zone on the defensive end, the Mavericks grounded Brooks and the Rockets' scoring attack. But with the Dallas defense scrambling, Shane Battier put Houston up 92-89 with a corner three with just 2:11 on the game clock. The lead doubled after Brooks' three with 1:35 remaining. But the Mavs continued to hang tough with Howard's rim-attacking aggression. Arguing a call, Battier picked up his first career technical foul, allowing the Mavs to draw to with three on Nowitzki's free throw. After Nowitzki picked up his fourth blocked shot of the game on Brooks' driving layup attempt, Dallas called their last timeout down 97-94 with just 8.0 ticks left.
"The zone was actually really, really effective for us," Nowitzki said of the defensive strategy late.
After the Mavs drew up a play for a game-tying 3-pointer, the Rockets forced the ball out of both Terry's and Nowitzki's hands, as the ball was swung to Kidd. The lead guard's shot from behind the arch hit the back of the rim, as the ball landed in Trevor Ariza's hands as the game expired.
"I got a great look," Kidd said. "I might have rushed it a second. I would love to have that shot again...Give Houston credit, they won the game. The zone helped us in the second half to get back in the game. We had an opportunity."
"I was proud of the way we battled back in the second half. We gave ourselves a chance to win but the shots just wouldn't drop. The first eight minutes of the game put us behind the eight ball. We didn't do the things we needed to do consistently in the first quarter and that hurt us," Carlisle said.
Though Dallas shot just better than Houston, 45 to 44 percent, the Mavericks' 2-for-12 shooting from 3-point range was their downfall. Despite losing the rebounding battle 48-42, the Mavs outscored the Rockets 52-40 in the paint.
Brooks finished with a game-high 30 points, leading six Rockets in double figures.
Terry scored a team-best 20 points, while Howard (16), Marion (16), Kidd (14), Nowitzki (11) and Gooden (10) all reached the 10-point plateau.
The two teams split the season series knotted at 2-2.
"We're rivals and have been since I've been in Dallas," Terry said of the two squads. "It's been tough all season and it's an early end to our matchup during the regular season. Good luck to them and maybe we'll see them in the playoffs. They always play hard."
Dallas now tries to begin 2010 better than they ended 2009, playing a West Coast back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday night. The Mavericks open up the new year by traveling to Sacramento to battled the Kings on Saturday, with the game airing locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 9:00 p.m. CT. The Mavs lead the season series 1-0 after squeaking out a 104-102 home win on Nov. 20.
Sunday night the Mavericks head into Los Angeles to play the Lakers for the second time this season, as that matchup will air on KTXA and KTXA HD at 8:30 p.m. CT. Dallas defeated the defending champion Lakers 94-80 at the Staples Center on Oct. 30 in the only meeting between the two teams.
The Mavericks return 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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