Recap: Warriors 105 at Mavericks 101 F/OT; Warriors outlast Mavs in OT
Earl K. Sneed recaps the Dallas Mavericks' Monday night overtime home loss to the Golden State Warriors, as the Mavs began a three-game homestand with a defeat despite the best efforts of O.J. Mayo.
Preview: Warriors (5-5) at Mavericks (6-5)
Balanced Mavs try to continue dominance over Warriors to begin homestand
DALLAS — Entering the start of a three-game homestand, the Dallas Mavericks went in search for a cure to their up-and-down play to start the 2012-13 season.
Off to a 4-1 start at the American Airlines Center and averaging 107.6 points this season at home, second only to Miami’s 116.5 points in its home gym, the Mavericks recognized the remedy could come during the next three games. But, before welcoming in the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers later in the week, the Mavs first had to handle a 5-5 Golden State squad playing on the second night of a back-to-back after a 119-109 loss Sunday night in Oklahoma City.
And on Monday night, the Mavericks (6-6) may have gotten caught looking ahead after getting pushed into overtime before eventually falling on their home floor to a 105-101 defeat.
“We don’t look ahead. We take it a game at a time, and tonight was a game we felt we should have had with them coming off a back-to-back and the third game in four nights. And they had more energy and outplayed us,” shooting guard O.J. Mayo said of the loss.
“They had us on our heels all night,” forward Shawn Marion added. “We were able to get back into the game and push it to overtime, but I’ve got to give them credit, they got this win.”
With the Mavs starting the game 3-of-12 from the field in the early stage of the opening quarter, it wouldn’t take long for the home team to find itself down by as much as eight. Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle would then quickly turn the game over to his reserves, with sharpshooter Troy Murphy and eight-time All-Star Vince Carter bringing the Mavericks within one before ending the period in a 23-20 hole.
With the starters back on the floor to start the second period, the Warriors (6-5) again began to separate themselves on the scoreboard as big man David Lee took charge of Golden State offense. However, the Mavs refused to go away, as Mayo started an 8-0 run and awakened from a 0-for-4 start to the night with a floater to beat the shot clock.
Still, with Warriors point guard Stephen Curry and rookie Harrison Barnes catching fire from long range, the Mavs found themselves heading into the locker room looking up to a 43-38 halftime deficit.
Despite 10 quick points from center Chris Kaman through the first two quarters on 3-of-6 shooting, the Mavericks couldn’t make up the difference for 31 combined points from Curry, Lee and Barnes. Meanwhile, the Warriors outshot the Mavs up to the midway mark, 37.5 percent to 32.5 percent, in a low-scoring affair.
With big man Elton Brand taking charge as the Mavericks came out of the locker room, the Dallas offense would pick things up to start the third quarter. A thunderous throwdown by Mayo in transition then tied the game at 52-all, before Carter’s 3 gave the Mavs their first lead of the night at 58-56 a short while later.
But after back-to-back 3s by Klay Thompson and Draymond Green put the Warriors back in front, the Mavs trailed by a score of 67-65 entering the final period after Dahntay Jones’ runner to beat the buzzer was waived off for an offensive foul call.
A third 3-pointer of the night for the second straight game by Murphy would get the Mavs off to a quick start to the final 12 minutes of regulation, before the long-range assassin drained a fourth triple to put the Dallas team ahead 73-69 with 9:39 remaining.
With Carter forced to head to the locker room after suffering an apparent right hamstring injury, the ball swung Marion’s way and the defensive specialist showed his versatility by draining his 700th career 3-pointer.
But, with Curry leading the way, the Warriors briefly regained the lead before Mayo took control of the Mavs’ offense by scoring seven straight points to help his team cling to an 87-86 edge with 3:16 left on the clock.
Still, the Mavs weren’t home safely down the stretch as Curry’s score made it 90-88 in Golden State’s favor with just 1:57 left to play. Then it was the Mavs’ turn for theatrics, as Carlisle drew up a play to go inside to Kaman out of a timeout. But, with the big man heavily defended, the shot went to point guard Darren Collison, who calmly drained the jumper to tie the game at 90-all with 36.1 ticks remaining.
The Warriors would then have two shots at the lead, but after misses by Barnes and Thompson, the ball would belong to the Mavs with just 15.8 seconds left to win the game.
This time Carlisle went to Carter, who returned to the floor in the final minutes of the fourth. But the veteran would fail in his attempt to win the game over his fellow North Carolina Tar Heel, Barnes, after a miss as the clock ran down. And after an out-of-bounds sequence was determined to be the Mavs’ ball with just .1 left in regulation, the game headed to an extra period.
Beginning the overtime with a score and then a dish to Green to put the visiting team up four, Curry continued his assault as the Warriors began the extra five minutes with a 7-0 run.
“It seemed like we couldn’t guard him,” Marion admitted after Curry sliced through the Dallas defense and dished out a game-high nine assists. “He was splitting everything. We were supposed to be trapping him and it was nonexistent. He was able to do anything he wanted on the floor. And then we were able to get him under control, that’s when we were able to make our run and comeback, but a few mishaps and he got it going again.”
Mayo then took matters into his own hands, scoring seven straight points to tie the game.
“I just had the opportunity to play with the ball in my hands. Didn’t have to depend on someone creating a shot for me, just got an opportunity to get the ball in my hands and try to make something happen positive for the team. Just came up short tonight,” Mayo said of his scoring flurry.
After two free throws by Curry to go back in front with 51.1 seconds left in overtime, Mayo answered yet again, hitting a spinning floater over Thompson to knot the game with 41.2 left. But that was proceeded by Lee’s lay-in off Curry’s feed with 32.1 still on the clock.
This time the Mavs couldn’t answer, as Marion misfired on a jumper that would eventually find the hands of Curry, who connected on two free throws to extend the Golden State lead to four with 13.9 left. Green then added the final padding at the line after a late miss by Mayo sealed the Mavs’ fate.
Scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter and overtime combined (including all 11 of Dallas’ points in the extra period), Mayo finished with a team-high 27 points on 11-of-21 from the field and 3-of-6 from 3.
Meanwhile, Kaman tallied 18 points and 17 rebounds, while Murphy was the only other Mav in double figures with 12 points off the bench on 4-of-6 shooting from behind the 3-point arc.
At the other end of the floor, Curry registered 31 points on 9-of-21 shooting and 3-for-7 from long range, while Barnes — 20 points and 12 rebounds — and Lee — 17 points and 19 boards — both collected double-doubles.
“We scored 100-plus points, so I think we’re scoring the ball well. It’s just that defensively we have to be tied in together, five guys on a string. Stephen Curry just didn’t outplay one player, he outplayed the Dallas Mavericks and it’s our job to cut him off someway, somehow. It’s five other guys out there, so we’ve just gotta get better,” Mayo admitted.
And with Lee leading the way, the Warriors outrebounded the Mavericks on the night, 62-43, including Golden State’s 19 offensive rebounds.
“That’s the whole game,” Carlisle said of the rebounding disadvantage. “We’re minus every period except one, when we were plus three in the fourth. That’s the root of a lot of our problems. You could focus on plays at the end of the game — who shot it, whether the ball went in — but it’s possession of the ball that’s hurting us.”
He added: “We’ve got to keep studying, got to keep working (on the glass). We’ve got to get five guys in there every single time. … Sometimes guys are bigger, stronger, quicker, faster — whatever the case — it’s got to be part of who we are that we scramble and stay in there and battle. That’s what we’ve got to do.”
The Mavs also fell to defeat despite outshooting the Warriors, 43 percent to 40.7 percent. The Warriors did, however, score 21 points off Dallas’ 17 turnovers, overcoming their own 21 giveaways with a 36-26 advantage in points in the paint and 19-7 margin in second-chance points.
“Totally disappointed,” Mayo said after the defeat. “It’s a game we should have, but hats off to them. They played well tonight. They outhustled us in almost every aspect of the game, then made plays down at the end.”
The Mavs will now continue their three-game homestand Wednesday night, welcoming in the New York Knicks. The Knicks handed the Mavericks a 104-94 loss in New York on Nov. 9. The game will air locally at 7:30 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Southwest. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS (6287) or by visiting Mavs.com.
“Now we’ve got New York coming in. We’ll probably watch a little bit of film on some of our mistakes that we made tonight and we’ve gotta prepare for New New York,” Mayo said while quickly putting the disappointing loss out of his mind.
