Mavs pocket 22 points off of 14 Golden State turnovers
DALLAS
After a couple of awful defensive performances last week, the Dallas Mavericks slowed down one of the highest-scoring teams in the league.
Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard keyed a game-changing run during the second quarter, and Jason Terry scored 22 points to lead the Mavericks past the Golden State Warriors 117-93 Wednesday night.
Milwaukee torched the Mavericks for 133 points last Wednesday, and Dallas allowed Boston to score 74 points in the first half on the way to a 124-point outburst Sunday.
It was a far different story against the Warriors, who had scored at least 100 in 14 straight games.
Golden State came into the game averaging more than 107 points, second highest in the NBA. Dallas held the Warriors to 39 percent shooting from the field and scored 22 points off 14 turnovers.
“When we do that on defense, our offense is always good,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “Stops are always going to lead to good things for us.”
The Mavericks outscored the Warriors 32-11 over the final 7:45 of the second quarter. Howard and Nowitzki each scored eight points during the push and Dallas led 69-47 at halftime.
Golden State missed 12 of its last 15 shots in the first half.
“Anytime you can hold a great offensive team with a lot of shooters like they have, your defense is doing a good job,” Nowitzki said. “We rotated, we had quick hands and we were rebounding. Defense won the game.”
Nowitzki scored 20 points, Howard added 19, Brandon Bass had 16 and James Singleton chipped in with a season-high 14 for Dallas, which rebounded after losing by 24 to the Celtics.
Golden State’s Stephen Jackson had 25 points and Corey Maggette came off the bench to score 21. The Warriors, the NBA’s worst defensive team yielding nearly 112 points per game, have lost their last three games at Dallas by a combined 71 points.
“I was disappointed with our play, but so be it,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said. “They had their way with us and they deserved to win.”
Dallas was up 37-36 when it opened its big run by hitting eight straight from the field.
Howard started the surge with a 3-pointer and Terry connected on a 3-pointer with 29 seconds left to close the first half.
“We’ve got to be consistent and we’re fighting to do that,” Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd said. “We’ve had some no-shows. If we want to make the playoffs, we have to play every night.”
The Mavericks, who outscored the Warriors 38-22 in the second quarter, set a season high for points in a half behind Nowitzki’s 18 points. Dallas led by as much as 30 and the Warriors got no closer than 18 points in the second half.
Golden State dropped to 4-21 on the road and 0-7 against teams from the Southwest Division.
“I wish we would have gone down fighting,” Jackson said. “We didn’t match their intensity and gave them every shot.”
Jackson scored 12 straight Golden State points, including consecutive 3-pointers, during a 15-6 first-quarter run. But Dallas closed out the quarter with a 19-6 run for a 31-25 advantage.
The Warriors got within 37-36 on Ronny Turiaf’s jumper with 7:45 left in the first half before the Mavericks broke the game open.
Notes:
Warriors G Jamal Crawford was in the starting lineup after missing two games due to a bruised right knee. F Brandan Wright (dislocated left shoulder) and G Marco Belinelli (sprained right ankle) remain sidelined for Golden State. …Attendance was announced as a sellout of 19,864, but there were pockets of empty seats as fans stayed home due to freezing rain that hit the area on Tuesday night. …Dallas’ previous high for any half was 67 points. … Mavericks C Erick Dampier had 10 points and 11 rebounds, the first time he scored double figures in 13 games.
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Story by David Jimenez, Associated Press Writer
