Caron Butler went down, along with the franchise record eight-game road winning streak as Earl Boykins (above) and the Bucks handled Dallas in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)For the second time this season, the Milwaukee Bucks (13-18) have delivered a potentially serious blow to this Dallas Mavericks (24-8) team.
First it was the premature end to the Mavs' 12-game winning streak in Dallas just a few weeks ago. This time it's a lopsided victory with potentially far-reaching implications, not just because it handed the Mavs' their third straight loss, but more so because of the first quarter exit from Caron Butler due to an apparent right knee injury.
Butler joins Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion as important Mavericks to have missed time in an injury-riddled past week.
"We're short on bodies now, having some injury problems," Dirk Nowitzki said.
"But we've got to fight through it. Hopefully I can get back soon and Marion can get back soon, and we'll see how bad Caron is and we'll just go from there."
Earl Boykins, filling in for an injured Brendon Jennings, gave the Mavericks no quarter -- scoring a season-high 26 points and dishing out six assists to snap the Bucks two game skid.
"Look, with Dirk out and Shawn [Marion] out, it's a game we had to win and we won," Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles said. "That's great."
With another key cog for Dallas going down early, it came down to a battle of the pint-sized point guards as the Mavs' J.J. Barea (5-10) put on a show at the offensive end to try to counter the outstanding play of the aforementioned Boykins -- the second-shortest player in NBA history (5-5).
While Boykins' team got the better of Barea and the Mavericks, little JJB did all he could to resuscitate a floundering Dallas offense.
The Mavericks shot only 37.4 percent for the contest, thanks largely to another horrendous performance by Jason Terry (is it already playoff time?), who made only 3 of 15 attempts from the floor. Dallas also jacked up 31 treys on the night, making nine (yeah, that's 28 percent), led by Terry (1-6), DeShawn Stevenson (2-8) and Brian Cardinal (1-5).
Barea did all he could to mask these shortcomings, scoring a career-high 29 points on 11 of 21 shooting. He seemed to be the only Mavericks' player interested in driving the lane, and it showed as only he and Tyson Chander (4-5, four dunks) shot better than 42 percent from the field individually.
Offense wasn't the only problem for Dallas, as mental lapses on the defensive end allowed Milwaukee to shoot nearly 50 percent from the field (49.4). Keyon Dooling's 3-pointer with 1:32 remaining in the contest iced the game and was indicative of the Mavericks' sloppy play on that end of the floor all night. The rotation on the 3-point shot was painfully late, which had Dallas players arguing with one another about their assignments on the play going back to the bench.
Dallas was so sloppy in it's defensive staple, the 2-3 zone, Boykins thought the Mavericks were a team just tinkering with idea of the zone defense.
"A lot of teams play the zone, but you know sometime they get overextended just because guys aren't used to playing the zone," Boykins said. "Their guards were a little too wide. Once we were able to get their guys wide we passed to the middle and that was huge. ...
"There's not too many teams in this league that can play a very good zone."
Ouch!
Butler's "Potentially Serious" Injury
Another game, another key component for the Mavericks has fallen. This time, unfortunately for the Mavs, it's being termed as a "potentially serious" injury that may keep Caron Butler out for a substantial amount of time.
"We're afraid that it's potentially serious," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "We'll find out [Sunday] where things are at, probably later in the day."
Butler scored five of the first seven Mavs' points to start the contest, but landed awkwardly on his right leg after a jump stop in the lane. The Mavericks' swingman jumped high into the air before writhing around in the floor in pain. The good news is Butler was able to leave the court under his own power with 2:47 left in the first quarter.
Kidd Nearly F'D Around and Got Quadruple Double
After achieving his 106th triple double against the Spurs last Thursday, Jason Kidd nearly did one better in a fantastic all-around game Saturday night. Kidd scored 14 points, dished out nine assists, grabbed seven rebounds, snatched six steals and provided another earth-shaking rejection at the rim as the Mavericks' point guard threatened to overload the stat sheet.
The small-ball lineup of Kidd, Terry, Barea, Stevenson and Chandler worked in spurts against the Bucks, but the defense suffered as Andrew Bogut (7-0) and Ersan Ilysava (6-10) had their way down low.
What's Next:
No rest for the weary, Dallas travels to Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers for the first time this season. The Cavs are dead last in the Eastern Conference at 8-25 for the year (5-10 at home), and have lost 15 of 16 overall.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. central time.
News and Notes:
- The JET needs maintenance: Terry has made only 6 of 31 shots from the field over the last two games (19 percent), and scored a total of only 15 points -- equaling his normal scoring average per game this season.
- Another key to a loss: Dallas was dominated on the boards for the second straight game as the Bucks grabbed 51 rebounds compared to just 31 for the Mavs, with Kidd leading the Mavs with seven. Maybe Nowitzki's impact on the rebounding game is just another thing Mavericks' fans take for granted.
- Speaking of Nowitzki: The Mavericks are now 0-3 this season without the big man in the lineup.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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