Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Dallas Mavericks 99 at Boston Celtics 90
A case of short-term memory loss is exactly what the Dallas Mavericks needed after the disappointment of Sunday's 110-88 loss in Toronto to begin a five-game road trip.
Monday night made Dallas' misfortunes the day before a distant memory.
(Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
Needing to put Sunday to back of their minds, the Mavericks traveled to Boston on the second night of a back-to-back to meet up with the Celtics for the first time this season. The two division leaders also came in with the second-best records in their respective conferences. With a flawless second half engineered by point guard Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki's 37-point night, the Mavericks made a statement to the rest of the league and erased any recollection of Sunday with a 99-90 win, running their Western Conference-best record away from home to 14-7.
"Well, I don't know if we even know what happened (Sunday)," Kidd said. "Some say we were in Toronto, some say we just came straight to Boston, so you know, that's the league. We had a horrible showing and we were very fortunate to have a back-to-back situation where we could get that taste out of our mouth."
"It was a great win for us and it was much needed," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said.
The Mavericks seemed to still have the previous game on their brains to start Monday night's MLK holiday affair, quickly falling behind 9-2 out of the gates. With his team struggling, Kidd picked up the slack with an assault from behind the 3-point arch. Soon the future Hall-of-Famer's teammates followed suit, as the Mavericks briefly went ahead before an 8-0 Celtics' run closed the quarter with Boston up 25-20.
Dallas' five first quarter turnovers greatly contributed to their early deficit.
Playing without Kevin Garnett (knee), Boston needed someone to step up and provide timely scoring. Eddie House did just that early in the second quarter. With Dallas' frustration building and the Celtics' advantage growing, Carlisle was assessed a technical foul at the 5:49-mark of the period. Despite Nowitzki's best efforts, the Mavericks trailed by as much as 11 before entering halftime down 50-41.
Nowitzki led all scorers at the half with 15 points, while Ray Allen's 13 pushed Boston out in front. The Celtics out-shot the Mavericks 55 percent to 47 percent after the first 24 minutes of play, capitalizing off of eight Dallas giveaways with a 12-3 edge in fast break points.
"We just wanted to hang in there and we had a couple of plays at the end of the first half that deflated us a little bit -- a turnover, they scored and a missed shot," Carlisle said. "At halftime, we just said, 'Hey, let's hang around and fight, and lets give ourselves a chance.' We probably played the best we have played during the second half, defensively and offensively."
The third quarter was much more kind to Dallas, beginning the period with a 9-2 run. Led by Nowitzki and center Erick Dampier, who came alive in the painted area, the Mavericks surged ahead on the scoreboard. The two 7-footers combined to score 24 points in the quarter, as Dallas finished the third with 10 unanswered to outscore Boston 34-18 in period. The dominate play gave the Mavericks a 75-68 advantage headed into the fourth.
With Dampier on the bench to begin the final period, Nowitzki was completely fine handling the scoring load. Meanwhile, Kidd's play-making controlled the tempo and got forward Shawn Marion involved around the bucket. The veteran point guard and sixth man Jason Terry then opened up an 89-75 lead after back-to-back 3-pointers with 8:02 remaining. Even when the offense slipped, the Dallas defense took away any Celtic hopes of a comeback, though Allen and Rasheed Wallace did their best with shots from the perimeter.
"The thing that we just have to keep talking about and preaching is the shots are going to come. Shots come and go, but strong defense is something that travels and is something that is a winning formula. We just have to stay with it," Carlisle said.
Nowitzki's jumper at the 3:27-mark ended a stretch of six straight missed shots for the Mavs and gave Dallas a 95-82 lead. With his team nursing a 10-point advantage inside of the final minute, Nowitzki put Boston to bed for the night with a 1-for-2 trip at the foul line with 41.8 ticks left. The two teams then emptied their benches as Dallas closed out its 27th win of the season.
The Mavericks outscored the Celtics 58-40 in the second half.
"We did a great job in the second half," Nowitzki said. "You know, we just gave up 40 points, forced some shots, stuck with their shooters and our offense finally came to us. But it always starts on the defensive end for us, and that's what won us the game.
"We don't want to grind it out all the time...For us to play a free-flowing offense, we need some stops and we finally got some stops in the second half. We were running, we were moving the ball and it was fun to watch."
(Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
Nowitzki's 37 points (22 in the second half) was a game-high, leading five Mavs in double figures. Meanwhile, Kidd filled up the stat sheet with 13 points, a season-high tying 17 assists and four rebounds.
"Dirk putting the ball in the basket helps," Kidd said of the 17 assists. "Just running the pick-and-roll, running the offense, knowing who is going to be there and guys putting the ball in the basket...I had the ball a lot today and I felt comfortable in making the right decision."
Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 24 points while Allen added 21.
Both teams finished the night shooting pretty efficiently, as the Mavericks' 57 percent from the field bettered the Celtics' 51 percent. Attempting eight more free throw attempts (24 total), the Mavericks used the charity stripe to overcome 15 turnovers. Dallas also won the battle on the glass, out-rebounding Boston 35-32, while matching the Celtics in points in the paint, 46-all.
"The defense really keyed everything. We had good transitions and good looks. Dirk got loose, Marion got to the rim and Kidd was spectacular...I just thought that the balance that we were able to keep was key."
The Mavericks hope that balance continues as their journey keeps running through the East Coast, meeting the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night. Dallas will try to avenge a 102-91 home loss in the Season Opener. The Mavericks-Wizards matchup will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 6 p.m. CT.
Dallas returns home to host the Milwaukee Bucks on Jan. 26. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.
For up to the minute news on the Dallas Mavericks, visit Mavs.com. Follow Mavs.com’s Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.
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