Dallas Mavericks win thriller against Utah Jazz 94 – 91 – NBA Recap(Part 1)
The Dallas Mavericks haven’t had the best start to this shortened NBA season. The reigning NBA World Champions made a number of changes to their roster in the offseason and the team has therefore struggled to gel in the early going.
It’s a predicament Dallas coach Rick Carlisle is well aware of but he believes the Mavs are going to find their feet sooner or later.
"We're making steady progress," he said. "But it is work. We got to continue with it. It doesn't happen overnight. It simply doesn't."
With time they are actually finding the sort of form that took them to the NBA Finals last year and tonight got another win under their belt in a hard fought encounter against the Utah Jazz. A topsy-turvy game at the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City
were very close at the end but the Mavs were able to edge out the Jazz for a 94 – 91 win.
Shawn Marion was the top scorer for Dallas as the forward turned back the years and put forward a 22 point, 7 rebound performance. Mavericks’ talisman and star Dirk Nowitzki didn’t really get going in the game and finished with 12 points. Rodrigue Beaubois
provided extra impetus from the bench with 17 points.
Although the Mavs were made to work for their win, Nowitzki was happy with the display and remarked that the Jazz are not an easy side to beat, especially at home.
"This is a big win. This is a tough place to play. They're a great home team ever since I got in the league with [John] Stockton and [Karl] Malone. The crowd gets into it like no other place. I'm happy with this team win."
Jazz centre Al Jefferson was pleased that his team was able to go toe to toe with the NBA World Champions on the night. Jefferson viewed the loss as a step in the right direction, saying that it was important to compete hard even if they lost and their effort
will send out the right message to the rest of the NBA.
"It's for sure we got fight," said Al Jefferson. "We got to get that reputation around the league that we're not going to be pushed around. We're going to fight to the end. Dallas may have won the game, but they know they were in a fight."
Mavericks had the advantage early in the game thanks to a good showing in the first quarter where they managed to get a 3 point lead. The visitors cemented their lead in the second period with a swashbuckling display of attacking basketball, netting 34 points
as Utah struggled to keep up.
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