Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Dallas Mavericks 125 at Minnesota Timberwolves 112
The last 12 games for the Dallas Mavericks have been an epic journey. The expedition continued on Monday night as the Mavericks traveling to Minnesota to tangle with the Timberwolves for a fourth and final time.
Riding an 11-game winning streak, the Mavs entered the Target Center having won their last seven games in Minnesota. But the Mavs were forced to face a little adversity early. Dallas dressed just nine players for the second straight game due to the absences of Jason Terry (facial surgery), Brendan Haywood (lower back) and Erick Dampier (dislocated right middle finger).
(Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)
The short-handed Mavericks also had to battle through leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki's early foul trouble. But as has been the case during the NBA's second-longest winning streak of the season, another Mav picked up the slack. Shawn Marion's season-high 29-point, 14-rebound night led the way as the Mavs extended their dominant stretch with a 125-112 win.
"Everybody's been contributing. That's the sign of a great team...That's what we're doing, we're helping each other out on the floor," Marion said.
"It's been a true team. Somebody's down a little, somebody picks them up. Guys have stuck together," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "When you get on a roll like this those kinds of things have to happen."
Not at full strength, the Mavs knew that they would be in for a 48-minute war. Things got even harder when the Mavericks lost Nowitzki with two quick fouls at the 10:21-mark in the opening quarter. With the nine-time All-Star sidelined, the Mavericks found themselves down double digits as Wolves big man Al Jefferson returned from a two-game suspension and went to work. But the Mavericks responded with a 25-8 run to end the quarter, taking the lead off zone defense, points off turnovers, Marion's at-the-rim finishes and the play-making of point guard Jason Kidd. Dallas escaped the first quarter with a 34-27 lead.
Nowitzki quickly made up for lost time early in the second stanza, with patented one-leg jumpers. Still, it didn't take long for No. 41 to pick up his third foul. Things got testy when newcomer Stevenson and former Mav Ryan Hollins go into a scrum, earning Stevenson a technical foul with 9:11 left in the half. But the Mavericks got their revenge on the scoreboard, eventually leading by as much as 18. A late charge by Jefferson and the Wolves cut the Mavs' halftime advantage 71-61."The big thing was 71 points at halftime," Kidd said. "That was a big thing, especially being short-handed."
Jefferson's 17 first half points led all scorers through the first 24 minutes of play, while Marion's 16 paced the Mavericks. Dallas capitalized off of the Wolves' 15 turnovers, connecting on 56 percent from the field. Minnesota shot 51 percent in the half.
"(Turnovers) helped a lot. I mean, we weren't necessarily doing a great job of stopping them. Their field goal percentage was up over fifty for a lot of the night," Carlisle said.
The third quarter was all about Nowitzki, Marion and Caron Butler besting Jefferson's one-man effort. After Minnesota cut its deficit to single digits, the Mavericks' trio used inside-outside play to take a 97-84 edge into the final quarter.
As they had seemingly done all game long, Jefferson and Marion exchanged bucket for bucket early in the fourth. Yet it was Butler's back-to-back threes that put the Mavs ahead 106-90 with 8:26 left. After the Wolves responded to climb within 10, Hollins defused his team's momentum with a flagrant foul on Nowitzki with 3:48 remaining. While the Mavericks never looked back, they did receive a scare when J.J. Barea rolled his ankle in the final minutes. The reserve guard and fan favorite went to the locker room with 2:29 left, and never returned to the floor.
"We're not sure how bad it is yet. (Barea) is getting X-rays so hopefully he's not too bad," Carlisle said. "It was kind of a freak play. We'll get him to our doctors and try to get him back on the court."
Back on the court, Marion's rim-rocking transition dunk in the final minutes put a lid on the win.
With the victory, the Mavericks win the season series with the Wolves 3-1. The Mavericks claimed the victory despite the Wolves' 60 points in the paint and a 54-39 rebounding advantage on the boards. That's because Dallas forced 26 Minnesota turnovers, leading to 31 fast break points.
"When they're not getting shots, they're turning the ball over. That gives us opportunities at the other end to capitalize on it," Kidd said.
Behind Marion's best night as a Maverick, the streaking Dallas squad out-shot Minnesota 50 percent to 48 percent. Marion hit on 14-of-25 shots.
"I'm really glad (Marion) had a big game. He's sacrificed so much of his game this year -- to be one of the best defenders, to get rebounds, to be a screener and a movement-maker. Tonight he was a featured scorer, which he has been really the majority of his career. It's good for him, and every week I tell him how important he is to us, and how much as a coach I appreciate what he's done this year. He is the guy who's made the biggest adjustment of any of the new guys we got. It's showing up in wins and losses," the coach said praising Marion's adjustments to the Mavs.
"Obviously, we all have to make sacrifices on a good team," Nowitzki said. "We all know (Marion) can get a lot bigger numbers than what he's scoring. Ultimately, if you want to win the championship, the whole team has to make sacrifices."
Marion doesn't mind making the sacrifice, with the team making a title run.
"I want to win, man. At the end of the day, you've got to make sacrifices to win...Whatever it takes for me to do to help this team win, that's what I'm going to do. I want to win a championship. That's what it's about," Marion said.
Nowitzki added 24 points in just under 30 minutes, while Butler poured in 23 points on 9-of-19 from the floor and 3-of-6 from behind the arch. Rookie Rodrigue Beaubois followed up his career-high 24 points against Chicago Saturday night with 11 points.
"Everybody came here contributing, whether it was guarding somebody, hitting a couple of shots, making the extra pass or whatever," Marion added.
Meanwhile, Kidd was once again the engineer, scoring 12 while shelling out 10 assists for his 23rd double-double of the season.
Jefferson led six Wolves in double figures with a game-high 36 points.
Now the Mavericks return to Dallas for the start of a four-game home stand, hosting the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday night at the American Airlines Center. That game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT. The home stretch continues with games against New York, Chicago and Boston. Tickets for all four games are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.
"You've got to stay hungry. We've won 12, now we're home for 13 days. We have a four-game stand in 13 days, so we just have to stay hungry...We can't just be satisfied with what we did in the past," Kidd concluded.
For up to the minute news on the Dallas Mavericks, visit Mavs.com. Follow Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.
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