Recap: Mavericks 83 at Hornets 81

Earl K. Sneed reports from New Orleans and recaps the Dallas Mavericks' win over the Hornets Saturday night in the first of at least four games without leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki.

NEW ORLEANS, La. — With his team seemingly feeling good about itself after Thursday night’s 94-91 victory in Utah, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle made an unexpected announcement before taking the court in New Orleans to conclude a four-game road trip.

Already down swingman Vince Carter for an undetermined amount of time due to a sprained left foot, Carlisle announced Saturday night just before tipping off against the slumping Hornets that the Mavericks would also be without the services of NBA Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki for at least four games. With the 7-footer battling a sore right knee, Carlisle and the team’s training staff made an executive decision to give Nowitzki time to both rest and condition himself for the remainder of the shortened season.

“We talked about it in the meeting yesterday and just thought it was a good decision for everybody,” Nowitzki modestly said. “I’m not helping right now anyways. The guys are better without me out there, so it just gives me time to really do some of the stuff I need to. The knee was bothering me the last couple of weeks. I couldn’t lift or run and do the stuff I need to do. … This actually gives me time to really get back where I should be.”

“Look, we’re down a couple of key guys. We’re down Nowitzki, we’re down Vince Carter. Those are two guys that have been great players in this league,” Carlisle explained. “So, we’re gonna have to pick it up collectively, and it’s gonna come down to how we compete. … It doesn’t fall on just one guy. Everyone’s gonna have to do their job and do it well. We’re gonna have to get it from everywhere.”

Without both Nowitzki and Carter, who combined have made a total of 18 All-Star appearances, the Mavericks (10-7) would somehow find a way to end an 11-game road losing streak (including the playoffs) to the Hornets, jumping out to a big lead and then holding on for an 83-81 victory. The team also set a franchise record after holding a 14th straight opponent under 100 points.

Coming off a season-high 22 points against Utah, four-time All-Star forward Shawn Marion would get the Mavs going early with the team’s first five points. Meanwhile, newcomer Lamar Odom would fill Nowitzki’s void at the starting power forward spot, using his versatility to give the Mavericks an early advantage on the scoreboard.

“We’re a running team. So, with [Odom] starting and getting more minutes, this is an opportunity for him to get in the habit of running and raise his level of conditioning. … This week is a big week for him,” Carlisle explained.

The Mavs would then use a stable of big men at the four position — from Odom to Marion to reserves Ian Mahinmi and Yi Jianlian — before taking a 27-23 lead at the end of 12 minutes of play.

Also entering the game after a season-high scoring performance, third-year guard Rodrigue Beaubois would dazzle the New Orleans crowd with his end-to-end play, blocking Al-Farouq Aminu’s jumper and scoring in transition at the other side of the floor. But after finding themselves down by nine earlier in the game, the Hornets would charge back to take a 35-34 lead on Trevor Ariza’s 3-pointer, leading to a timeout by Carlisle with 5:40 left in the first half. The two teams would then end two quarters of action knotted at 41-all, with Marion matching the Hornets’ Emeka Okafor with 10 first-half points to lead all scorers.

Even with star reserve Jason Terry starting the game 1-of-9, the Mavericks would still outshoot the Hornets (3-13) through two periods, 40 percent to 37.2 percent. Meanwhile, the Mavs held a 24-23 rebounding edge and a 22-16 margin in points in the paint.

In Nowitzki’s stead, Odom would get the Mavs on the board first in the second half with a baseline drive around Jason Smith for a score. Delonte West’s interception and transition score would then highlight a 12-0 run out of the locker room as the Mavs opened up a double-digit lead. A highlight reel connection between West and backup big man Brandan Wright on an alley-oop lob pass followed by a thunderous finish from Mahinmi inside would further pad the Dallas lead to as much as 13, before the defending champs entered the fourth quarter with a 64-53 advantage.

The Mavs weren’t out of the woods just yet, however, forced to call timeout with 9:34 remaining after Okafor cut the Dallas lead to just 66-62 with a fadeaway in the line. The Hornets then inched even closer with Carl Landry making back-to-back trips to the foul line and splitting both pairs.

But while producing his best scoring night as a Maverick, Odom would settle his troops down, attacking the basket and getting to the foul line to keep the Hornets at bay. Marion then rejoined the act, getting the roll on a floater to up the lead to 73-66 with 6:29 left and forcing a New Orleans timeout.

“I thought [Odom] was great,” point guard Jason Kidd said. “Down the stretch, we went to him and ‘Trix [Marion] and they responded.”

New Orleans remained in the game, though, in the bonus at the foul line. Still, the Mavs remained in control after Mahinmi kept a possession alive following Kidd’s miss from the corner as Marion cashed in with a score before the Hornets called timeout down 77-73 with 3:00 remaining.

Again the Hornets would climb back to within two, before Landry hit 1-of-2 at the line again to keep the Mavs up 79-78 with 1:06 left. The Hornets’ attack would fizzle out down the stretch, however, with Ariza missing a crucial shot inside the last minute before West extended the lead to three with a pair at the charity stripe.

After West forced a jumpball between himself and Jarrett Jack, the Hornets would get another chance while inbounding the ball down three with 8.3 seconds remaining. The ball would work its way to Landry, who scored inside to cut the Hornets’ deficit to one with 6.7 seconds still on the game clock.

Carlisle would call timeout before Kidd inbounded the ball to Terry, who was quickly fouled and hit both free throws with 5.9 ticks left. Kidd then wisely fouled Jack with 1.8 seconds left, when the guard split a pair but grabbed the long rebound off his second miss, coming up short of the rim on a desperation attempt as time expired.

Odom and West shared team-high honors with 16 points apiece, while Marion finished with a double-double after registering 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting and a season-high 12 rebounds.

“Right now, Shawn’s our best player,” the coach said with high praise for the versatile forward. “He and JET [Terry] are gonna be our two main guys and then we’re gonna have to get even contributions from a lot of other guys. He’s been in this position before, he knows what it’s about, he likes the responsibility and he came up big for us in two big areas — scoring and rebounding.”

Off the Hornets’ bench, Landry led four players for New Orleans in double figures with a game-high 19 points while Okafor finished with 16 points and 17 rebounds. But in addition to a 48-41 rebounding advantage — led by Marion and center Brendan Haywood’s 10 boards — the Mavericks also outshot the Hornets, 40.5 percent to 37.2 percent. The Mavs finished the game with a 16-2 advantage in fast-break points as well.

“We’ve gone through this last year when we lost him [Nowitzki] for nine games,” Kidd explained. “We feel like we have a lot of talent here, and we feel like our depth is one of our keys. Everybody just has to step up.”

“Look, we had to get productivity from a lot of different guys. We had to get a level of competitiveness and hard play from top to bottom. And we played 11 guys, and all of them were a factor in the game. So, it’s a great win. This has been a very, very hard place for us to win. We haven’t won here since I’ve been here and I think it went back a ways before I got here. … This is a tough place for us to win and one of the reasons is these guys compete hard. I’m also very proud of the way after the first two losses on the trip we bounced back and gutted two games out. It’s just not easy to do,” Carlisle said.

After splitting the road trip, the Mavs return home for the start of a four-game homestand Monday night against the Phoenix Suns. Dallas leads the season series 1-0 after a 98-89 home win on Jan. 4. The game 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.

“It will be good to go home, because it’s been a long trip. But we know going home doesn’t guarantee anything. We’re gonna have to stay at a high level. We’ve got dangerous teams coming in all week and they’re games we’ve gotta win,” Carlisle said while looking ahead.

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).

Dr. Pepper Family Nights are here! Plans include four Mavs tickets and four McDonald’s extra value meals, starting at $49. Visit mavs.com or call 214-747-MAVS for a schedule of games and to purchase tickets.