The Nuggets small and pesky lineup gave Dallas trouble all-game long, culminating in a dominant fourth quarter. Carmelo Anthony (above) led Denver with 27 points. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)What used to be the Dallas Mavericks (3-2) greatest strength under head coach Don Nelson was used against them with great success Saturday night. The Denver Nuggets (4-2) pint-sized lineup (tallest on the floor at any time was Melvin Ely at 6'10) took advantage of it's speed and quickness by forcing 21 turnovers and decimating the Dallas zone defense from behind the arc.
"The other day [Wednesday night in Denver], we were caught by surprise by their zone," Carmelo Anthony said. "We wanted to be active in the paint and get open shots."
Dallas has now lost two of it's first three home games to start the season and this one was lost due to a pitiful final quarter of play by the Mavs.
The Mavericks kept it close through three, thanks to Jason Terry's huge first half and Dirk Nowitzki's big third quarter. Terry scored 14 of the Mavs first 19 points of the game (the other five were Dirk), and finished the first half with 23 on 9 of 10 shooting. His electric first half culminated with a three-pointer at the end of the half that brought Dallas to within one point at 53-52.
On the other side, the Nuggets shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half and made 6 of 9 from behind the arc, demolishing the Dallas zone to go into the locker room on top.
"They're a unique team with their shot-making ability," Mavs' coach Rick Carlisle said. "They can rise up on their 3-point shooting. It was a big turnaround from the other game."
Nowitzki put up nine of his 23 in the third, and Dallas found themselves in a tie ballgame going into the fourth quarter at 79-79.
Then things turned ugly real fast for the Mavs.
Dallas committed eight turnovers in the fourth quarter alone (five by Nowitzki) and scored only 13 points. Denver's aggressiveness on their double-teams of Nowitzki changed the game in the quarter, as the Mavs' star was unable to hold onto the basketball.
"The first game, we let Dirk do too much one-on-one," Anthony said.
"It was careless," Terry said. "It's got to stop. You have that many in the fourth quarter, we're taking opportunities away from ourselves. It's not one guy, it's everybody. We gave [a game] back after winning up there."
After coming up huge through the first three quarters, Nowitzki and Terry combined to score one point in the final frame. Denver finished with a season-high 16 steals.
If Dallas loses at home (and with the Nuggets on the second night of a back-to-back) like this to a Denver team missing two starters, what's going to happen when that team if fully healthy?
Mavs' Zone Fails Miserably
Denver proved Saturday night why you can't run the zone as a base defense in the NBA. The more a team plays against it, the more likely they are to rip it apart and that's exactly what the Nuggets did. Denver bombarded the zone from behind the arc, finishing the game 13 of 21 from deep.
"The other day, we were caught by surprise by their zone," Anthony said. "We wanted to be active in the paint and get open shots."
When Dallas finally decided to go man-to-man late in the game, Mavs' guards were getting beaten off the dribble at the three-point line and it was like a lay-up drill at the basket for the Nuggets. The zone may work in spurts during the regular season, but in a seven game series a solid team is going decimate it, and Dallas will be sent home packing early yet again.
Dallas Tries To Fight Fire With Fire, Fails
The Mavs made a futile attempt to go small late in the fourth, taking out Tyson Chandler and pairing Caron Butler along with Shawn Marion at the forward spots, and even held the Nuggets scoreless from when he came in (5:00) to the 2:00 mark of the quarter. Unfortunately for the Mavs, they scored only five points themselves during the same time period, and Denver pulled away to get the W.
What's Next:
Dallas has an even tougher test Monday night, as the Boston Celtics visit the American Airlines Center for the only time this season. The reigning Eastern Conference Champs are 5-1 this season and 1-1 on the road.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and can be seen locally on Fox Sports Southwest.
I'll be at the AAC, taking notes so that I can give you an in depth report on this big match up.
News and Notes:
- Seven turnovers is the most in a game for Nowitzki since March 12, 2007, and one off of his turnover total in the first four games of this season.
- Denver is the only Mavs' opponent this season to top the 100-point mark and they've done it in back-to-back games.
- After scoring 23 points on 9 of 10 shooting in the first half, Terry made only 1 of 7 attempts in the second half for three points.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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