Taj Gibson (above) reacts after nailing the first three-pointer of his career with 2:48 left in the fourth quarter to put the Bulls up 79-77. Dallas would not regain the lead. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)"You can't control what the ball do, it's crazy man, y'all hilarious," - Josh Howard.
Truer words were never spoken, especially in the context of Friday's game between the Dallas Mavericks (7-4) and Chicago Bulls (7-4). There's no doubt about it, Howard was a prophet.
With 2:53 left in regulation, Mavs center Tyson Chandler rose up and blocked Bulls' point guard C.J. Watson's lay-in attempt with both hands, sending the ball crashing to the ground. Somehow, the ball ricocheted and found it's way to Bulls' forward Taj Gibson beyond the three-point line - a place where Gibson had never attempted an NBA shot.
Gibson's 25-footer splashed home to put the Bulls ahead 79-77 for the first three-pointer of his career, and the Bulls would not trail for the rest of the game. Gibson finished with 17 points and a career-high 18 rebounds (eight on the offensive boards) before fouling out with 52 seconds left in the game.
"Coach knows I've been working on my jumper, but he said don't rely on jump shots," Gibson said. "Attack the glass and hit the boards. I've struggled the last two games so he challenged me."
In a game where points were difficult to come by, it all came down to rebounding and the Mavericks simply couldn't cut it against the Bulls. Chicago killed the Mavs on the boards, outrebounding Dallas by a whopping 59-34, including 20 on the offensive glass. The Bulls offensive rebounds created chance after chance under the basket and led to Dallas outscoring Dallas 42-26 in the paint. One of those aforementioned rebounds on the offensive glass led to Gibson's back-breaking three late in the contest.
It didn't look good for Dallas right off the bat as the Mavs missed 15 of their first 20 shots and the Bulls took their largest lead of the game at 28-17 early in the second quarter.
After struggling mightily to get anything going in the first half, Dallas went from down double-digits in the second, to up double digits in the third quarter. The Mavericks used a 24-4 run from the 1:45 mark of the second quarter to lead 55-43 with 5:07 left in the third. Chicago scored only four points through the 4:27 seconds of the quarter.
The Bulls charged back, however, scoring 11 points in the final three minutes of the third and 32 in the fourth to get the victory. Derrick Rose led Chicago with 20 points and six assists, and I counted at least half a dozen drives to the basket during the course that showcased his explosiveness and athletic ability. The guy is a highlight machine.
"The thing about Derrick is he drives the ball extra hard," Bulls' coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Nowitzki or Nothing
Offensively for Dallas, it was the Dirk Nowitzki show but, unlike normally, he actually seemed to be the only Maverick to even show on that end of the floor.
Nowitzki scored 30 of the Mavericks' 59 points through three quarters, finishing the game with a season-high 36 points on 15 of 26 shooting. The rest of the Mavericks combined to go 15 of 49 (30.6 percent) on an ugly night offensively for any Mav not named Dirk.
""There are going to be nights when Dirk has a huge game," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "He's that great a player. But 20 offensive rebounds and 25 second-chance points is just tempting fate too much, simple as that."
The only other Mavs' player to score in double-digits was Caron Butler, who had 12 points on 3 of 10 shooting. Butler and Jason Terry, two guys who are supposed to be able to pick up some slack on the offensive end, combined to make only 6 of 25 shots (24 percent) from the field.
What's Next:
Dallas is in the midst of a stretch where the next six games will all be back-to-backs. Saturday night, the Mavs head to Atlanta to take on the 8-4 Hawks. Atlanta is only 3-3 at home this season, but it should be difficult game against a good team on the second night of a b2b.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. central time.
News and Notes:
- Dallas scored a season-low 35 points in the first half, but also held an opponent to their lowest scoring half of the season (39).
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
No comments:
Post a Comment