Recap: Hornets 81 at Mavericks 96

Earl K. Sneed recaps the Mavericks' home win over the New Orleans Hornets, after the defending champions had six players score in double figures to make up for the loss of injured point guard Jason Kidd.

DALLAS — Injuries are a harsh reality of the grueling NBA season.

Thursday night, the Mavericks were bitten by the injury bug for the first time when starting point guard Jason Kidd exited a 93-71 loss in San Antonio during the first quarter with a lower back injury. Two nights later reality began to set in that the Mavericks would be without the future Hall of Fame lead guard longer than they had originally hoped.

Coming off a lopsided loss, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle announced that Kidd would miss at least three games, including Saturday night’s home matchup against the New Orleans Hornets, due to the injury.

“We’re gonna be without Jason here for at least three games,” Carlisle told reporters before Saturday night’s matchup. “You know, he’s gonna be out for three games and then we’ll evaluate where things are. We don’t believe it’s a real serious thing, but we’re gonna err on the side of caution with it and go from there.”

Without their floor general on the court, the defending champs welcomed in a lowly Hornets team — which is playing for at least two weeks without emerging star Eric Gordon due to swelling in his knee — trying to rebuild after trading perennial All-Star Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers during training camp. And looking to get back in the win column following a disappointing showing in San Antonio, the Mavs hoped to brew up some home cooking in front of the American Airlines Center crowd.

Getting a total team effort with 11 of the 12 players that saw action scoring, the Mavs rebounded from their poor outcome two nights prior, sending the Southwest Division foe packing after a 96-81 win.

“I think the starters got us off to a solid beginning and that was important, but finishing the game is key. You’ve got to get the win. We were able to do that. It is not always pretty, but there’s gradual, mild progress and we’ve just got to keep working,” Carlisle said when summing up the night.

“When you’re struggling like we are to win games, that’s the only thing you can take out of this is a win and just kind of move forward,” leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki added. “But it obviously wasn’t pretty at both ends of the floor.”

Minus Kidd, Carlisle slid Delonte West down from the starting two-guard spot to the point, inserting eight-time All-Star Vince Carter into the first unit next to Shawn Marion, Nowitzki and Brendan Haywood. Meanwhile, the Mavericks (4-5) got a quick flashback to their loss to the Spurs out of the opening tipoff, giving up a 3-pointer to Al-Farouq Aminu on the first possession after allowing 16 threes Thursday night.

Things quickly got worse for the home team, however, when Nowitzki was forced to sit with two early fouls in the opening quarter. Without the 7-footer, the Mavs turned to their bench early and big man Ian Mahinmi put his mark on a 10-2 run to go in front with a highlight reel two-handed slam. Dallas then escaped the first period with a 26-20 advantage after 12 minutes of play.

After shooting a season-low 35.1 percent against the Spurs, the Mavs grabbed the upper hand early against the Hornets with 61.1 percent shooting — compared to New Orleans’ 47.4 percent — in the first quarter.

Carlisle asked more of his bench early in the second period with Rodrigue Beaubois’ perimeter shooting lifting the Mavs to a double-digit lead. Reserve guard Jason Terry then got in on the act with newcomer Brandan Wright also providing a spark with his above-the-rim finishes on the offensive end. A fellow North Carolina product, Carter, soon followed suite with an empathic driving dunk over Emeka Okafor to give the Mavs a 14-point advantage.

“Just playing within the flow of the offense, being aggressive and making a couple shots and trying to get to the basket,” Carter said of his activity offensively. “Just being aggressive and making plays.”

And after two quarters, the reigning titleholders utilized 31 bench points to open up a 52-41 lead at the break after all 11 players that saw action scored. Shooting 52.6 percent compared to the Hornets’ 44.1 percent at the other end by the midway point, the Mavericks bounced back from their poorest-shooting night of the season.

The Hornets (2-6) would collectively begin to lose their cool when the third period commenced with Chris Kaman and Jarrett Jack earning back-to-back technical foul calls. Jack would later be called for a flagrant-1 foul on Marion’s driving attack, allowing the Mavs to protect their lead at the charity stripe despite a span of 10 straight misses.

With his team struggling offensively, Beaubois once again found the stroke from the outside. But after upping the lead to as large as 17, the Mavs headed into the fourth with simply a 75-65 advantage.

The Hornets continued to hang around in the game’s final period, but Carter and fellow newcomer Lamar Odom did their best to keep the visitors at bay. But it was Terry who essentially put the Hornets away with two 3-pointers from the wing with both the shot clock and game clock running down to put the Mavs up 94-78 inside of the game’s final three minutes.

The two teams soon played out the clock in the final minutes with the Hornets never able to climb any closer than within 10 down the stretch.

Leading the way for the Mavericks was Carter, who made his second start of the season and produced 13 points to match Mahinmi’s 13 points off the bench. Meanwhile, Terry and West each went for 12 points while Beaubois pitched in a season-high 11 points.

Coming off a 3-for-11 showing for six points versus San Antonio, Nowitzki continued to struggle offensively with 10 points on 2-for-11 shooting.

“Just gotta keep on working,” Nowitzki said. “My legs are not quite there yet, but just gotta keep on working and it will be alright. … I had some good looks tonight. Maybe forced one or two, but other than that I had some great shots that I’ve just gotta make.”

But with the 10-time All-Star struggling, the Mavs relied on their 51-31 advantage in bench scoring.

“The defining characteristic of the season is that depth is huge, depth is king. Energy trumps everything. We have to find it, we have to keep it on the floor and when it is not there we have to shuffle the deck. That is the way that it has to be,” Carlisle explained.

Aminu led three Hornets in double figures with a career-high 15 points and 12 rebounds. Despite being outrebounded, 39-35, the Mavs finished the night outshooting the Hornets, 43.2 percent to 40.6 percent. And even without the pass-first Kidd, the Mavs’ 22 assists bettered New Orleans’ 17 dimes.

“Everybody’s unselfish. It’s not about how many points you score, it’s about execution. I think for this team that’s the most important thing,” Carter explained. “It’s about execution. We have to outsmart some teams. There’s going to be some younger teams that are maybe more athletic, faster than us, but we have to pride ourselves on execution and being smarter than everybody. And I think us moving the ball and finally getting stops makes us a successful team.”

Note: The Mavs will now head to the White House on Monday to be honored by President Barack Obama for last season’s championship. The team returns to action for the first game of a road-road back-to-back on Tuesday night in Detroit in a game that will air on Fox Sports Southwest 6:30 p.m. CT.

After battling the Boston Celtics a night later, the Mavs return home to face off with the Milwaukee Bucks next Friday night in a game that will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-6287.

Single-game tickets are on sale and available at the American Airlines Center North Box Office, online at mavs.com, via phone by calling 214-747-MAVS or 1-800-4NBA-TIX and all Ticketmaster outlets (Fiesta Grocery Stores, Wal-Mart, Simon Mall in Garland and the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano).

Rivalry Pack: Aside from being a season ticket holder, the only way for Mavs fans to attend either of the two Los Angeles Lakers games is through the Rivalry Pack. Tickets to the Feb.22 and March 21 games vs. the Los Angeles Lakers can be purchased as part of a three-game package that includes one (1) of the three premium games and two (2) additional regular season games.

RPL Nights: RPL Nights return for the sixth season and will feature special discounted tickets for 10 pre-selected games. Tickets normally priced $9 will be $2, $15 will be $10, $31 will be $20 and $42 will be $32.