Preseason recap: New Orleans Hornets 74 at Dallas Mavericks 87 -- Shorthanded Mavs slug out W
Preseason recap: New Orleans Hornets 74 at Dallas Mavericks 87 -- Shorthanded Mavs slug out W
DALLAS — Injury-riddled and shorthanded, the Dallas Mavericks returned to their home floor in need of a lift from their fans Monday night.
Playing without 11-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, who is expected to miss approximately six weeks following arthroscopic knee surgery, and center Chris Kaman due to a strained right calf, the Mavericks lacked two of their key contributors while falling to 2-3 this preseason after a 110-94 defeat in Atlanta Saturday night.
Monday night, with No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Hornets in town, the Mavs were once again without the two 7-footers but looked for a different result, itching to get back on the court after their disappointing showing two nights prior.
“We show signs,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said of his team as he tries to jell eight new faces without Nowitzki in the lineup. “We haven’t put together a great game yet by any stretch. I don’t think that’s a secret.”
The Mavericks (3-3) then unlocked the secret to success at the American Airlines Center, dominating the young Hornets en route to an 87-74 victory.
For the second straight game, rookie Jae Crowder joined the starting lineup at power forward in Nowitzki’s stead fresh off his third straight double-figure scoring night. The first-year forward joined the usual suspects — Darren Collison, O.J. Mayo, Shawn Marion and Elton Brand — in the first unit, helping the Mavs get off to a 13-2 start to the game.
“We moved the ball pretty well and it created a lot more open shots. We just had to knock them down,” Crowder said of the quick start.
And after using a balanced offensive attack and holding New Orleans to just 4-for-22 shooting to jump out to a quick double-digit advantage, the Mavs escaped into the second quarter with a 25-10 edge.
Handing the responsibilities over to the reserves as the second stanza started, the Mavericks continued to remain comfortably in front on the scoreboard. But after the Mavs surged ahead by as much as 17, the Hornets (3-3) clawed their way back after forward Ryan Anderson caught fire from the outside.
The Mavs countered with reserve guard Rodrigue Beaubois’ perimeter assault to protect the lead, draining shots from being the 3-point arc to keep the Hornets at bay in just his second game back since spraining his left ankle in the preseason opener on Oct. 6.
“I was out for a little bit, so it was good to get back out on the floor. I just need to get my conditioning back and just keep working,” Beaubois confessed.
The Hornets would then take a serious blow when 10th overall pick Austin Rivers suffered a sprained right ankle with 3:22 remaining in the first half, landing awkwardly from a layup attempt before being carried off the court and into the locker room by teammates.
Back on the floor, Collison took over the scoring duties, aggressively getting to the rim to lift the Mavericks to a 45-29 halftime advantage.
Outshooting the Hornets through two quarters, 35.7 percent to 24.4 percent, the Mavs overcame a 30-23 rebounding deficit. The Dallas team also converted 11 New Orleans giveaways into 13 points at the other end. More importantly, the Mavs committed just four turnovers after 12 giveaways that led to 20 Atlanta points in the first half on Saturday.
Not looking to have a letdown as the second half began, Carlisle again went to the same starting five that began the game as the Mavs came out for the third quarter. An aggressive Mayo also came back onto the hardwood, looking for his own shot in the quarter and quickly becoming the first Mav in double figures in scoring.
The new addition at shooting guard then found eight-time All-Star Vince Carter in the corner after the Mavs' offense grew stagnant. That was followed by Carter's feed to a cutting Marion for a one-handed slam, as the Mavs continued to share the wealth. And with Beaubois putting the finishing touches on a 10-0 run, the Mavs entered the final quarter up 66-50.
But the Mavs weren't out of the woods just yet, after as much as a 20-point lead was cut in half by a long-range bomb by Roger Mason Jr. New Orleans continued to charge back, cutting the Dallas lead to single digits with Anderson's layup and forcing Carlisle to call timeout with the Mavs up just 74-66 with 5:42 left.
Out of the timeout, the ball swung to Crowder, who very calmly cashed in from the top of the arc for 3 to extend the lead back to 11 before adding another score to move into double figures for a fourth straight outing. Carter followed suit, cashing in on a 3 to extend the lead.
And with the final outcome no longer in doubt, Carlisle soon pulled his veterans to allow rookies Jared Cunningham, Bernard James and Crowder to finish the game with Beaubois and third-year guard Dominique Jones.
Despite hitting just 4-for-16 from the field and 1-of-5 from deep, Mayo led four Mavericks in double figures with 13 points. Crowder and Beaubois both went for 12 points, while Carter added 11 points off the bench.
The Mavs finished the night outshooting the Hornets, 36 percent to 33.3 percent, but did lose the rebounding battle, 62-40. Without Nowitzki and Kaman to provide size down low, New Orleans was free to dominate the glass, led by Davis' 17 rebounds and a 20-4 margin in offensive boards.
"It ain't a lot of nights you can win games when a team gets 20 offensive rebounds, but we've gotta find a way to help each other and get it done. We've gotta make it happen," Marion said of the rebounding separation despite his team-high 12 boards. "It's always been like that. Rebounding has always been a big Achilles' heel for us I think since I have been here. When we rebound well, we play unbelievable and it helps fuel the defense and ignites everything else. But I think we've gotta collectively go in there and get it together as a team. We're undersized and undermanned a little bit right now, but that's gonna be for the most part all year. ... We've still gotta get in there and battle."
The Dallas team did, however, turn 21 New Orleans giveaways into 24 points, committing just 10 turnovers of their own.
“Without looking at the whole film, I would say it was more positive than negative,” Carlisle said of the wire-to-wire victory. “The rebounding was an issue tonight; a lot of it had to do with their length and some of it had to do with our positioning. So, we just have to continue to study that and it’s going to be a continuing area of focus.
“Well, we had a great first half,” he added. “You know, you hold somebody to 29 points, you’re working. And they’re a young team, there’s a lot of new guys and all that, so I’m not making it out like we shut down a championship-caliber team or anything like that, but I liked where we were at mentally and in terms of our reactions. Second half, we weren’t as good, but we were able to get the job done. So, I’ll take it as a positive, we’ll study the film and get ready for Wednesday.”
Note: The Mavericks return to action Wednesday night in Wichita, KS against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The game will air on Fox Sports Southwest at 7 p.m. CT.
