Dallas Mavericks romp to 8th straight win, down Utah Jazz 93-81
After a lean game against Minnesota Timberwolves, Dirk Nowitzki returned to his scoring ways. The seven-foot tall German superstar scored 26 points, shooting 12 of 18 as Dallas Mavericks pulled off a second half surge, paving the way for a 93-81 victory
over the high flying Utah Jazz.
Caron Butler had 16 points while veteran Jason Kidd slipped in 15 points and 7 assists as the Mavericks ended a five game losing skid against Jazz.
Jazz, who came into the match riding high on seven match winning streak having outclassed some of the big boys of the league on the way, had an uncharacteristically off night as they couldn’t come to terms with the air tight defence of the Mavericks in the
second half.
The team that has been shooting at an average of 47 percent through the season and is currently standing at 8th in the league in terms of points scored could only manage a 39.2 percent on the night.
Deron Williams in particular had a big struggle. The power guard, who shot 62 percent the previous five games, made just 4 of 13 shots and had four turnovers on Friday - the same day he was picked as Western Conference Player of the Month for November.
Jazz started the match on a high and raced away to 13-7 lead inside the first seven minutes. Mavericks retaliated though and reeled off a seven point unanswered run late in the quarter to inch ahead at 23-20 going into the second quarter.
Trailing by three, the Jazz bench stepped up to the party in the second quarter. Kyrylo Fesenko had seven rebounds across the board in seven minutes and he scored twice spinning his way on the paint. Complementing him was Francisco Elson who had a pair of
dunk jams feeding off superb passes from Earl Watson and C.J. Miles – the latter an alley oop that brought a 19,623 home crowd to its feet and forced a nervy Dallas coach to call a time out.
The crowd were due for some disappointment though as Mavericks, after trailing 43-39 at half time, came out in the second with all guns blazing.
Dirk Nowitzki made a jumper to tie at 48 early in the third quarter and Tyson Chandler made his only shot of the match to give Dallas the lead, one they never relinquished.
With Dallas leading at 56-53, Jason Kidd stung the Jazz hard as he nailed back to back three pointers to set the tone for the Mavericks.
Mavericks opened the fourth with an eleven point spurt that put the match completely beyond Utah’s grasp as the fourth quarter was all Dallas.
Paul Millsap led Utah with 21 points and 7 boards while Al Jefferson had 18 points and eight rebounds.
Tags: