Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
San Antonio Spurs 94 at Dallas Mavericks 99 F/OTWhile there are no more superlatives left to describe what Dirk Nowitzki has meant to the Dallas Mavericks organization, the legend of No. 41 grew even more Wednesday night.
Facing the Mavs' biggest foe, the San Antonio Spurs, Nowitzki saved his best for the end of the game, like Houdini's' finale, as the Mavs' magician pulled a rabbit out of his hat and willed Dallas to a 99-94 overtime win with a season-high 41 points. The heroics came just just two nights after Nowitzki downed Milwaukee on the road by hitting a game-winning buzzer-beater at the conclusion of overtime. With a playoff-like feel in the arena, Nowitzki proved to the home crowd of 20,110 that there's still a few more tricks up his sleeve.
(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)
"I thought the key to the game tonight was poise, composure and just determination," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "It doesn't matter who San Antonio has out there, with their style of play, they have a way to control the game. We just were struggling to make shots but our guys stayed patient. Even more than just the plays that Dirk made, he just was able to keep his composure in tough spots."
"I felt like I missed a couple of face-up jump shots that I usually have to make," Nowitzki said. "I got angry at halftime over shots that I missed, but for our team right now, especially with Josh (Howard) and (Shawn) Marion out, I have to keep coming offensively and keep making stuff happen."
The Mavericks entered their second of four meetings against the Spurs winners of three straight. Dallas was without center Erick Dampier (illness), Josh Howard (surgically-repaired left ankle) and forward Shawn Marion (sprained left ankle), but Wednesday night marked the debut of forward Tim Thomas. Meanwhile, the Spurs were once again without point guard Tony Parker (left ankle) but not Tim Duncan, who missed the first matchup between the two teams.
With Marion out, Quinton Ross was inserted into the starting lineup at the small forward position next to Jason Kidd, rookie Rodrigue Beaubois, Nowitzki and Drew Gooden. As they have the last two games, the Mavericks came out the gates firing on all cylinders led by Beaubois and Gooden as Dallas scored the game's first eight points.
While Beaubois dazzled the home crowd early, the Spurs took advantage of their ability to knock down the 3-point shot much like the first meeting between the two teams, as Matt Bonner and former Mav Michael Finley's long range assault powered San Antonio to a 21-19 lead after the first quarter. Dallas hit on 9-of-22 shots in the period, while San Antonio responded with 8-of-19 shooting (3-of-4 from 3-point range). Already without one star, the Spurs took a major blow in the quarter when they lost guard Manu Ginobili for the game with a strained left groin.
"It hurt not having him (Ginobili) in there but I thought we did a good job of not worrying about it, getting back together," Duncan said. "We had guys step up and make
plays."
The second quarter began with Dallas' second unit running and pushing the tempo to create easy offense. In the process, the Mavs regained the lead behind the combination of J.J. Barea and Jason Terry. Using a 12-1 run, Dallas opened up a seven-point lead (33-26) midway through the second quarter. With Ginobili's rim-attacking offense on the sideline for the night, the Spurs once again answered with the long-range attack, as Bonner's third 3-pointer in the half (3-for-3) paced San Antonio's comeback to close the gap to 37-35 in Dallas' favor at the end of the first half in a low-scoring affair.
"We did a great job of battling, I think," Nowitzki said. "It wasn't pretty again, they kept it a low-scoring game, and we didn't get anything going offensively. But I thought we just kept coming."
Dallas' 37 percent shooting half was still better than San Antonio's abysmal 34 percent. The Spurs made up for their shooting deficiency by knocking down 4-of-7 from 3-point range, but Dallas was not as fortunate as the Mavs hit just 1-of-7 from behind the arch in the half. Nowitzki matched Bonner and Duncan with nine first half points to lead all scorers. Beaubois' above-the-rim finishes and smooth, silky scoring added eight points in the half.
The two stars left on the court, Nowitzki and Duncan, began to assert themselves to start the third quarter. But it was the role players for the Spurs that led San Antonio to an 11-2 run after George Hill's crossover and jumper in the lane pushed the team from the south ahead 48-45, leading to a Dallas timeout with 7:02 left in the third. The Mavs found life in Gooden's inside play, as the forward's rebounding and timely scoring in the paint brought Dallas to within one, before Nowitzki's jumper put Dallas back ahead 55-54 with 3:22 left in the quarter. Nowitzki and Gooden scored the first 18 Dallas points (20 total) in the period, before Thomas finished off the scoring to give Dallas a 63-59 advantage heading into the fourth.
"He's (Gooden) brought a real presence to our game. He made some really important offensive plays down the stretch and battled Duncan all night," Carlisle said.
As they have throughout the early stage of the season, the Mavs found themselves in a tightly contested game in the fourth period. Playing a three-guard lineup of Barea, Terry and Kidd, next to Nowitzki and Gooden, the Mavericks' offense played at a faster pace and took a 74-68 lead on a Terry three off Kidd's feed with 7:00 on the clock. Just before that play, a scrum between Nowitzki and Bonner illustrated the hatred between the two clubs, but more importantly it got No. 41's attention, awaking a somewhat sleeping giant.
But while the Dallas star was getting little help in the period, the Spurs were slowly climbing back before eventually tying the game at 78-all on an Antonio McDyess jumper with 3:15 on the game clock. As he had the entire night, Gooden rose to the occasion with a spinning post move and score (goal-tending) to put Dallas ahead 82-80 with 1:58 left. Gooden's block on Hill's jumper on the other end maintained the two-point advantage inside of the last minute, but matched up one-on-one with Duncan, the Mavs forward committed his sixth foul, ending his night with 30.1 seconds left in regulation. Duncan calmly nailed both free throws to tie the game (82-82).
"When we lost him (Gooden), it was a tough break because he played so solid," Carlisle said.
Gooden exited the game with his third straight double-double, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in his 36 minutes.
Out of a timeout, the Mavs played pick-and-roll basketball with Terry and Nowitzki. After Terry's jumper met the front end of the rim, Nowitzki slashed down the middle of the lane for the tip-in to put Dallas ahead by two with 14.6 seconds on the clock. Duncan came right back with a bank-in off the glass over Kris Humphries to knot the game with 2.3 seconds remaining. With a chance to win it, Carlisle drew up a play for Terry to come off a screen, but the sharpshooter's shot attempt was blocked by Duncan as time expired, sending the game into an extra period even at 84-all.
The game was then decide when one team's star showed up big in the overtime, while the other fizzled.
(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)
With Dallas down three early in the overtime, Nowitzki drove and scored, plus the foul, to tie the game once again. The team once again needed Nowitzki's heroics, as the 7-footer's three-point play with 2:28 left in overtime put Dallas ahead 92-91, earning a "M-V-P" chant from the hometown crowd. On the other end, the two stars for each team matched up, with Nowitzki stifling Duncan with his defense in the overtime period.
"The overtime period was the difference, and I played very badly in the
overtime period and Dirk really showed up and took his team over the top," Duncan said.
"The key was we put Dirk on Duncan the last couple of times he had it, and Dirk's length may have bothered Tim a little bit more," Carlisle said. "He's a lot taller and longer arms (then Gooden), so I thought those plays were just as important as the buckets that he made."
"Defensively, we kept battling. Offensively, we made some big shots when we needed them," Nowitzki said of the execution late.
Nowitzki's 3-pointer with 1:15 left put the proverbial nail in the Spurs' coffin for the night, with the Mavs up 97-91, and gave Dallas an 11-2 run. After Hill's three, Nowitzki iced the game at the free throw line, putting the finishing touches on his 41-point night.
Scoring 23 of his 41 in the fourth quarter and overtime, Nowitzki put the team on his back once again.
"The ball kept coming to me, so I was able to knock some shots down in the second half, and we definitely needed it to get the win," Nowitzki said.
And get the win the Mavs did, despite shooting just 40 percent compared to the Spurs' 44 percent. Despite the cold shooting, the Mavericks won with defensive intensity, forcing San Antonio into 19 total turnovers while only committing five unforced errors themselves. Dallas also destroyed San Antonio in the paint, outscoring the Spurs 46-22 in the interior.
Duncan led the Spurs with 22 points and 14 rebounds.
Dallas was motivated by the 92-83 loss the Mavs suffered just a week earlier in San Antonio.
"We were playing in Minnesota thinking about that game. We were playing in Detroit thinking about that game. We played against Milwaukee and were still thinking about that game, so we're just glad we came in and protected our home court and redeemed ourselves from that loss in San Antonio," Gooden said.
The Mavs try to once again protect their home court and run their winning streak to five when they host the Sacramento Kings on Friday night, with the game airing locally on FSN 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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