Battling respiratory problems for the second time in as many weeks, Nowitzki scored 33 points as the Mavericks extended their winning streak to four games with a 116-106 victory over the Golden State Warriors.
It seems as Nowitzki goes, so go the Mavericks. Last week, while the German power forward was nursing a cold and battling cold shooting, the Mavs lost three in a row by a combined 71 points.
 Michael Finley scored 24 of his career-high tying 39 points in the first half. Glenn James NBAE/Getty Images |
The Warriors, who entered as the NBA's best rebounding team, flexed their muscle down low to take a 44-23 lead with 11:12 left in the second quarter. The league's worst shooting team, Golden State made 13-of-20 shots in the first period.
But the Warriors cooled off thereafter, connecting at 38 percent over the final 36 minutes to finish at 44 percent (39-of-88).
"I thought we came out a little too passive at the beginning of the game," Mavericks coach Don Nelson said. "I thought it would be a tough game and made the mistake in saying (in warmups) that Golden State wasn't a great shooting team. That was a mistake on my part. We made our adjustments in the second half and we had to go to a full-court press. We had to be aggressive."
Nowitzki had just 14 points at halftime as Dallas went to the locker room, trailing 62-49.
But Golden State abandoned its inside game in the second half and the Mavs heated up, outscoring the Warriors in the third quarter, 33-17, while shooting 59 percent.
"We did a terrific job in the first half," Warriors forward Antawn Jamison said. "Guys were getting open shots. But in the second half, they picked it up and we got impatient. Instead of keeping the pressure on, we let up and you can't do that."
"They turned it around," Golden State coach Dave Cowens added. "They shot about 20 percent better in the second half and we shot about 12 percent worse, and that was a factor. We couldn't continue with our scoring over time. What we did to them in the first half is what they did to us in the second half."
Leading the charge were Nowitzki and Michael Finley, who combined for 72 points on 27-of-60 shooting. Finley matched a career high with 39 points.
"We started rebounding a lot better," Nowitzki said. "We came out stronger and played better defensively and started making our shots. We were able to run on them in the second half and we got some easy shots off the break."
Finley had eight points during an 11-2 burst over the final 3:45 of the third quarter that put the Mavericks on top for good.
Tim Hardaway's 3-pointer with 36.5 seconds left in the period gave Dallas its first lead since midway through the first quarter, 82-79.
Jamison led the Warriors with a season-high 32 points and Danny Fortson added 24 and 17 rebounds. Jamison was 10-for-12 from the field in the first quarter but just 4-of-11 thereafter.
The Mavericks have won 10 in a row over the Warriors, eclipsing the franchise record of nine consecutive victories from December 6, 1986 to March 14, 1988.