Mavericks Control Second Half in 121-103 Victory over Rockets
The Dallas Mavericks started out this game by allowing the Houston Rockets to shoot 67 percent in the first quarter and score 37 points, their highest total allowed for a quarter all season. Even though they ended up getting some stops at the end of the first half, Dallas still allowed the most points in a half this season at 61.
"The first half, it was abysmal." Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said.
The Dallas Mavericks (5-2) then used an 82-47 run in the final 19:10 minutes of regulation against the Houston Rockets (4-3) to win the battle of 1st place Southwestern Division teams. After the Rockets went ahead 56-39 with 5:10 remaining in the second quarter, Dallas went on an 18-5 run to end the half and then went on to allow Houston to score merely 42 total points in the second half.
"There's no secret what's going to get us wins," said Dallas sixth man Jason Terry, who is 27 of 38 from the floor over the past three games. "When we didn't play defense, we got down by 15. We have to continue to lock in, get stops and run."
Terry had 24 points to lead Dallas in scoring on 7-8 shooting. Terry has averaged 26 points per game over his last three games after averaging only 13.5 over his first four of the season. Dirk Nowitzki was second on the team with 23 points while also contributing 6 rebounds, and four assists. Nowitzki drove to the basket all game long accounting for 10 of the Mavericks 23 free-throws while making all of them. Dallas shot 55.4 percent for the game as a team and has scored more than 120 points for the second time in a row.
After recording three double-doubles in the Mavericks’ first 32 games last season, Erick Dampier now has three is Dallas’ first seven games. Dampier was perfect from the floor (6-6) and scored 14 points to go along with 20 rebounds. Dampier also accounted for three blocks, punctuating each of them by saying “Give me that shit!”
"We didn't play the game we wanted to in the first quarter," said Dampier, who recorded the eighth 20-rebound game of his career. "But we picked it up in the second half. We've got to be a defensive-minded team, get stops and that will give us a chance to win every night."
The Dallas defense stepped up in a big way in the second half, as Houston finished the game at 42.7 percent shooting after their scorching hot start.
"We took quick shots," said Rockets’ point guard Aaron Brooks who led Houston with 22 points, 20 in the first half. "We got out of sync in our offense."
After a sluggish start, Dallas got it together and took complete control of this game with great shooting and suffocating defense. Over its last 3 games, Dallas has averaged 119 points a game. This compared to the 93.5 they averaged in their first 4 games. It is about time this offense started clicking, as they have the scorers to put up at least 100 points every night.
This was the first game of a back-to-back and Dallas will be in San Antonio to face the Spurs at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow night (Nov.11).
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
Great win last night. Not to focus on the negative, but I'm assuming Drew Gooden doesn't have the green light to start hoisting up jumpers like he's Kobe on a hot streak. That guy needs to become intimately acquainted with the pine for a while until he learns to pass the ball to a scorer, set a screen, then go get a rebound.
ReplyDeleteGood point on Gooden, but why does Josh Howard think he is MJ in his second game back? Lots of jump shots from a player who is supposed to be a slasher and who has said he doesn't need to take so many jumpers.
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