After a tight contest for the majority of the first half, Caron Butler (4) spurred a huge Mavs run in the third quarter for the second straight game. (AP Photo/LM Otero)Another game, another huge run in the second half for the Dallas Mavericks (13-4), this time against the Houston Rockets (5-12).
After 16 lead changes through the 3:00 mark of the second quarter, the Mavericks went on an 11-1 run to end the half - changing the lead for the final time of the game in the process. Dallas proceeded to jump out to a 57-47 lead to start the third quarter thanks to five points from DeShawn Stevenson.
"We started kind of flat tonight," said Mavericks' reserve guard J.J. Barea, who scored all of his 11 points in the first half and dished out six assists for the game, "but the bench came out and really gave us energy in the second quarter and then in the third quarter the starters really took over and it was done from there."
The lead grew to 66-53 before Caron Butler went on a run of his own, scoring 11 straight Mavericks' points to put Dallas up 77-59 with a little over three minutes left in the quarter.
"When a guy gets going, our guys do a good job of finding him," Mavericks' head coach Rick Carlisle said. "We aren't doing a lot of play-calling right now."
Jason Kidd racked up 11 assists for the game, three to Butler during his third quarter rampage alone.
"You know, Jason Kidd had a lot to do with the way [Butler] got going out there," Carlisle said. "They had some stuff going among themselves that was really effective and when [Butler] gets a hot hand, he really is tough to get under control."
The Mavericks scored the first six points of the fourth quarter and the lead got to as high as 95-73 with 7:10 left in the fourth before starters began heading for the bench. No Mav played for more than 29 minutes on the night (Dirk Nowitzki) as Dallas won it's sixth straight game, but also were able to rest their key guys down the stretch for the first time all season.
"There's a reason they're one of the top teams in the NBA," Houston's Shane Battier said. "To beat them here would have taken a heck of an effort. We tried to match them jump shot for jump shot and that's really not our strength."
What's Next:
The Minnesota Timberwolves visit the American Airlines Center Wednesday night for the first meeting between the two teams this season. The T-Wolves are 4-13 this season, second-worst in the Western Conference, but are led by a couple of promising front court players in Kevin Love (19 points, NBA-best 14.9 rebounds per game) and Michael Beasley (21.6 points per game).
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. central time.
News and Notes:
- Key to the victory: Dallas held Houston to 35 percent shooting on the night, while shooting 49.4 percent themselves.
- Dirk Nowitzki, named Western Conference Player of the Week for the 12th time in his career last week, led Dallas with 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks for the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment