Inside Report: Warriors-Mavericks preview — Mavs look for 3rd W over high-octane Warriors

Earl K. Sneed previews the Mavericks' Sunday evening matchup with the Warriors, as the Dallas team bids for its third victory over the Golden State squad.

DALLAS — The Mavericks learned plenty from their showdown with the Golden State Warriors this past Wednesday night. Most of all the Dallas team learned not to overlook the upstart Warriors crew, after the Mavs quickly found themselves in an 18-point hole in the first quarter.

While the Mavs would eventually storm back from the sluggish start, it would take an uphill climb to do so, scratching and clawing the disadvantage away before escaping ORACLE Arena with a 112-106 victory to rebound from back-to-back losses to the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers and the likely playoff-bound Portland Trail Blazers just the night before.

Again, the Mavericks (48-21) will look to respond with a win over the Warriors Sunday evening, after suffering a tough 97-91 defeat at the hands of the league-leading San Antonio Spurs on Friday night to drop the season series 3-1. The Mavs will also try to get back on track with a third win over the Golden State squad in the middle matchup of a three-game homestand, although this time they know they can’t afford to spot the Warriors (30-39) — losers of three straight — an 18-point advantage from the get-go.

“We were sluggish to start the game, maybe a hangover from (the Portland game),” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle explained after last Wednesday night’s win. “Whatever it may be, maybe it’s just a team that had us on our heels. Whatever the case, NBA games are long and you’ve got to keep playing. And we had to stay positive with our guys.”

“It was a slow start I’d say,” forward Dirk Nowitzki added, after finishing the night with a game-high 34 points and 13 rebounds. “They were all over us early. We obviously came off a tough game (the night before), a physical game, and that’s why we looked like we did early. We were just a step slow to everything, and you’ve got to give them credit. They came out blazing.”

But that would all change when the Mavericks turned to their bench, as sixth man Jason Terry was aided by Shawn Marion’s return to the second unit after starting four games. The game also took a turn for the positive for the Mavs when second-year guard Rodrigue Beaubois drew the defensive assignment on Warriors leading scorer Monta Ellis.

Although Ellis won the one-on-one scoring battle, 26-18, Beaubois’ defensive pressure on the NBA’s No. 8 scorer (24.5 points per game) would lead to four steals, allowing the Mavericks to effectively quiet the deadly scoring threat after a 15-point first half.

“Any time you can help your team everything helps, so I just tried to play defense on him,” Beaubois said of his matchup with Ellis. “For sure, he’s a great player, so it wasn’t easy. But I just tried to use my length and I think I did a decent job on him, for sure.”

“I actually give Roddy a lot of credit, he really took the challenge of Monta. He was phenomenal,” Nowitzki added.

The Mavericks are hoping that Beaubois’ defense on Ellis is once again the key to a win when the Warriors come into the American Airlines Center Sunday night looking for retribution and trying to avoid a 3-0 hole in the season series. But the Mavs will also have to have their eyes fixed on Golden State’s bevy of scorers around Ellis, especially Stephen Curry and David Lee, making for an even harder task of slowing the Warriors down should Marion not be in the lineup after he suffered an apparent right wrist injury late in the first half against the Spurs.

While X-rays were negative on the wrist, Marion did not return to the floor in the third quarter due to the injury, this after hitting 6-of-8 from the floor and scoring 13 points through two periods to keep the Mavericks within an arm’s reach at the break. Marion’s loss would be felt down the stretch, as the Dallas defense surrendered 80 combined points to San Antonio’s Big Three of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan.

“He’s one of our best players and he had a great game going,” Carlisle said of Marion’s untimely injury. “He was one of the main reasons we were able to get some momentum going into the halftime. It was a freak play, where his wrist got knocked into Roddy’s arm or something like that … It was bothering him too much to come back, so that was a big loss.”

“It was tremendous because he was 6-of-8 from the field, he was causing matchup problems and he was in the paint all night long laying the ball up. He’s our best defender, so it had an impact on the game,” Terry added.

The four-time All-Star is officially listed as day-to-day. And if Marion is unable to go against the Warriors, possibility joining sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic in street clothes after he missed his six straight game Friday night due to a stiff neck, then the Mavericks may have to call upon swingman DeShawn Stevenson, who slid into the starting lineup against the Spurs, as well as new addition Corey Brewer and forward Brian Cardinal even more so against the high-scoring Warriors.

Note: The Mavericks welcome the Warriors to Big D for a second time this season looking to move to 3-0 in the season series on Sunday. The matchup will tip off at 6:30 p.m. CT, airing locally on Fox Sports Southwest. Great seats are still available and tickets can be purchased by visiting the American Airlines Center box office, logging on to Mavs.com or by calling 214-747-MAVS (6287).

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