Recap: Trail Blazers 91 at Mavericks 114; Mayo explodes again, sparks Mavs' runaway W over Blazers
Earl K. Sneed recaps the Dallas Mavericks' Monday night victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, as new addition O.J. Mayo exploded for his second straight 30-plus point game to celebrate his 25th birthday.
Recap: Trail Blazers 91 at Mavericks 114; Mayo explodes again, sparks Mavs' runaway W over Blazers
DALLAS — Entering the American Airlines Center as a visitor after taking over the head coaching duties this offseason for the Portland Trail Blazers following three seasons in Dallas, former assistant coach and offensive coordinator Terry Stotts took a moment to offer his take on the 2012-13 Dallas Mavericks.
Before facing off against a Dirk Nowitzki-less team, Stotts showed respect to the Dallas organization and Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle as the two men were set to square off. And with both teams off to 2-1 starts to the season, Stotts offered his support to the job that he expects Carlisle to do with a team that features nine new faces.
“It is a challenge,” Stotts said as Carlisle coaches a team without the services of the 11-time All-Star power forward. “Actually, with Dirk being out, I wish him well and it’s tough, but it really gives the new guys a chance to play together and get to know each other and establish a rhythm. And then, when Dirk comes back, they’ll be even better. But it is a challenge to develop a style with Dirk being out, not only looking at how you want to play now but looking at how you want to play when he comes back. But Rick’s a great coach, he’ll figure it out. He already has.”
The two coaches then step onto the court on opposing sidelines, looking to seize a win in front of the Dallas crowd. And on his home hardwood, Carlisle would get the upper hand, getting a second straight masterful performance from shooting guard O.J. Mayo on his 25th birthday to power a 114-91 runaway win.
“I mean, I just wanted to win,” Mayo said. “I mean, it was my birthday and everyone was like, ‘Play well,’ but I was just like, ‘You can’t get a loss on your birthday. It kind of messes up the night.’ So, we got the win and two straight home winning games is good for our fans, because it’s a lot of new faces out there and they don’t kinda know our identity and where it’s gonna come from, but we’re gonna be scrappy and play hard every night, win or loss. And that’s our identity. So, make sure they keep coming out and giving us that energy. Man, it was great tonight.”
Looking to get off to a quick start after posting 30 points in Saturday night’s 126-99 victory over Charlotte, Mayo stayed on the attack while celebrating his birthday in style. And after Mayo’s second 3-pointer in the opening quarter, just two days after connecting on a career-high seven 3s, the Mavericks (3-1) jumped out to an 11-point lead while the Blazers’ counter attack suffered a setback as rookie Damian Lillard was forced to sit with two quick fouls.
Without their rookie standout, however, the Blazers (2-2) got back into the game behind Seagoville native and All-Star big man LaMarcus Aldridge inside. And despite Mayo’s 12 points in the quarter, the Mavs led just 31-27 after the first 12 minutes of play.
Countering big man Chris Kaman’s inside scoring for the Mavs, the Blazers continued to get a lift from their interior combination of Aldridge and rookie Meyers Leonard to start the second stanza, surging ahead on the scoreboard in the process. But back-to-back jumpers by Mayo would right the ship for the Mavericks, before the home team headed into the halftime intermission with a 57-55 edge.
Led by Mayo’s 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting and Kaman’s 5-for-5 from the field for 10 points, the Mavericks outshot the Blazers at the midway mark, 63.4 percent to 50 percent. The two teams also both only committed two turnovers through the first two quarters, with a 20-16 rebounding advantage and an 11-3 margin in second-chance points keeping Portland in the game.
“There were so many times in the first half where we kind of got halfway through a possession defensively and couldn’t finish,” Carlisle explained. “Somebody would make a cut, there was a ball we couldn’t get or they’d pick it up and throw it to someone for a 3. Fifty-five points is too much to give up in one half in basketball, if your goal is to be a good defensive team. I felt that if we really put our minds to it and played with attitude, as good of an offensive team as they are, we could hold them in the 40s for a half. Second half was much better. We’ve got to put 48 minutes together.”
Mayo’s long-range assault continued early in the third period as the two teams picked back up play. The sharpshooter would then cash in after forward Shawn Marion’s big block on Lillard on the defensive end of the floor, hitting his fourth 3 to put the Mavericks in front 65-57 with 8:51 left in the quarter.
But Aldridge wouldn’t go away quietly, bringing his team back to tie the game before another timely 3 by Mayo. Point guard Darren Collison would do the rest, engineering the offense before Mayo’s sixth 3 lifted the Mavs to an 83-79 lead entering the final quarter.
“We knew they’ve been playing well. I think it was three games in four nights. So, our fans were terrific and we gave them something to cheer about. It just helped us possess a little energy and helped us finish off the game strong,” Mayo said of the game’s final stages.
With big man Brandan Wright stepping up to score his 1,000th career point to keep the Blazers at bay to start the fourth, the stage was set for the Mavs to pull away as he and Kaman used their size to their advantage inside. Meanwhile, as Marion was forced to sit with a left knee strain, third-year guard Dominique Jones’ defensive pressure on Lillard would help the Mavs turn stops into instant offense at the other end of the floor as the young guard struggled against the Dallas defense.
“Mayo’s going to get all the headlines, because he scored 30 again, but I thought the key guy in the game was Dominique Jones, especially in the second half,” Carlisle later said. “He gave us a real spark defensively, he got the team going in transition, he made a couple of nice plays and got other guys shots. It’s so important to have a guy in that slot ready to step up when you’ve got a guy like [Rodrigue] Beaubois out (with a sprained left ankle). It gives Collison a chance to play relatively short minutes and it was huge for us.”
And after the Dallas lead again reached double figures midway through the final quarter, Mayo, Kaman and rookie Jae Crowder shared the honors of putting the game away down the stretch.
Reaching the 30-point plateau for the second straight game, Mayo finished the game with 32 points on 12-for-18 and 6-of-8 from 3.
“It’s just being prepared to shoot,” Mayo modestly said of his back-to-back scoring outbursts. “We’re getting better with finding one another, so obviously with Darren getting in the paint or B-Wright, Chris and Vince [Carter], I’m just trying to be locked and loaded. … The good thing is that we won both games. That’s the most important thing.”
After scoring 18 points and dishing out 10 assists in Saturday’s win, Collison came back to produce 14 points and 13 assists. Meanwhile, Kaman equaled his 16-point season debut, finishing 8-for-10 while Wright added 10 points to give the Mavs four players in double figures.
Aldridge and Wesley Matthews led the Blazers with 20 points each, while Lillard scored 13 points but finished just 2-of-13 from the field. Dishing out 29 assists as a team and committing just nine turnovers, the Mavs also outshot the Blazers on the night, 61.5 percent to 38.7 percent, despite losing the rebounding battle, 48-37.
It was the second straight game the Mavs have shot over 61 percent as a team, hitting 61.3 percent against Charlotte. It’s the first time in franchise history the Mavs have shot 60 percent or better in back-to-back games.
“It’s like organized street ball,” Mayo said of the Mavs’ freelance offense. “We have spots we need to fill and just continue moving, and when you’ve got a guy like Darren Collison, a post presence like Chris, B-Wright, Elton [Brand], Vince, and today DoJo getting in the lane, it just opens it up for shooters. So, it’s been good. It’s kind of unguardable, because we don’t do anything constant or something you can scout. It’s pretty much read the defense and work off that.”
“Teams can’t really scout that. We don’t really know what we’re doing ourselves half the time,” Kaman jokingly added. “I mean, we know what we’re doing, but we don’t have kind of a set thing, so we’re just playing off of each other. And if guys keep shooting the ball the way they’ve been shooting, we’ll be alright.”
Dallas overcame Portland’s 21-3 margin in second-chance points as well, powering to the victory thanks to a 54-40 advantage in points in the paint.
Note: The Mavs will now conclude their three-game homestand Wednesday night against the Toronto Raptors. The game will air locally at 7:30 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Southwest. Tickets for the game remain available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS or by visiting Mavs.com.
