They played great first and second quarters, scoring 30+ points in each. They got great contributions from their bench guys like rookie Roddy Beaubois, but especially Drew Gooden and Josh Howard. It was Howard that was the difference in this one. He scored 19 points and when he pulls his own weight like that it really takes the load off of the other guys. Dirk only had to score 20 points...miracle! When J-Ho scores 15+ (and doesn't shoot 22% on 6 of 27 from the field) he gives the Mavs' an exponentially better chance at winning any given game! He was 9 of 15 Wednesday, he wasn't shot hunting, and he was semi active...(only 2 rebounds). All in all though, he responded well to the recent trade talks and rumors surrounding his bad play while coming off the bench.
Terry got going early as he continues to play well after being plugged into the starting lineup. He finished the game with 21 points and six assists. But it was Jason Kidd who is awarded my "shot of the game"...award. He hit the dagger 3 when the game got too close for comfort with a little under 3 minutes left, he pushed the lead back to 5. Kidd continues to impress, I honestly thought he would show signs of age about this time but he has stood strong, playing 35 minutes a game and playing well. He had 16 assists in this one and once again gave the Mavs' the boost they needed late in the game.
The match-ups really were what gave Dallas the edge here. Golden State has a lot of small, fast, and slippery guys...Monta Ellis to be exact. (he put up 46) But thats a totally unrelated stat. More importantly, he had 5 fouls! He was on the bench to start the fourth quarter and that really gave the Mavs' a boost. Eddie Najera started at center tonight, hmmm...but it worked, he drew two early offensive fouls on Ellis to get his foul trouble started! Then Drew Gooden came in and took over the job of center, where he guarded Turiaf. Gooden finished with 16 off the bench. Shawn Marion guarded Corey Maggette well, who is really playing well for the Warriors, and he was for the most part kept quiet until that third quarter breakdown in defense where the Warriors outscored the Mavs' 27-19.
But it was the fourth quarter that kept me from pushing that panic button too soon. The first thing I looked for was Dirk getting the ball...and he did! He scored 9 in the fourth on 3 for 3 from the floor and got the line as well. Its amazing, how timely his buckets are when they get him the ball in the crunch. On top of Dirks teeth-in-elbow problem, he injured his thumb on Monta Ellis' shoe...it was a weird play! But coach Rick Carlisle had this to say about Dirk's tough play: "His pain tolerance and will to finish and play through pain is really unusual." Interesting. What does "unusual" actually mean...like the UberMan is a freak of nature? We already knew that...anyway, Dirk played through the game and finished well.
Shawn Marion is my player of the game though. His defensive stopping power is something that is so foreign and new to me that seeing a Dallas player actually playing solid defense night in and night out is the coolest thing since Dirk and Nash taught the Mavs' to play offense. Ha! He forced Maggette and Ellis to take some bad shots and got them off their comfort zones. Marion also played a very good offensive game, he had 18 points on 9 of 11 shooting and 9 rebounds. Well done!
The Mavericks performance Wednesday night was sub-par and far from perfect. There is so much room for improvement but as Dirk put it: "It doesn't matter how you stop the bleeding, you just have to stop it somehow." And they accomplished that. But now they must do something that they have seldom done in recent memory...win more than 1 game at a time! Their record over their last 10 games is at 5-5. Thats not good. Denver is at 8-2 and Utah is at 9-1. These are the two teams that Dallas must be able to stave off to find a good playoff birth. What I mean by "good playoff birth" is this; the way the playoffs are set up gives the 1 seed the easiest road to the Finals (obviously) so ideally the Mavs' would like to be a 2 or 3 seed so that the Mavs' will only have to play the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. If the Mavs' are pushed down to a 4 seed they would be forced to play the Lakers in the second round...not conducive of playoff success.
The Mavs' will face the Minnesota T-Wolves tonight in the AAC. This is a MUST WIN game! If the Mavericks lose at home to the second worst team in the NBA at 11-38 then we may be revisiting that panic button. So we will see how they fare with 3 games remaining before the All-Star break! Tonight against the wolves, Monday and Tuesday the really tough back-to-back on the road against the Warriors, then at Denver. If they go into the break and win 2 of those 3...I think I'll be content. Not satisfied...but content, and I think the Mavs' will be too!
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