Marc Gasol at the double as Memphis Grizzlies defeat Dallas Mavericks 96 – 85 – NBA Recap
The Memphis Grizzlies have looked dangerous throughout this shortened NBA season and on Wednesday they added another feather in their cap, in the shape of a 96 – 85 win over the NBA World Champions the Dallas Mavericks.
Memphis put in a terrific display in the second half to wow the FedExForum crowd and trounce the NBA Champions, who lost talismanic forward Dirk Nowitzki to injury.
Nowitzki, who was clearly not fit at the start of the game, played under ten minutes and was only able to score a solitary point. The Mavs suffered to get points on the board in his absence, with Jason Terry carrying much of the load, 18 points, along with
Rodrigue Beaubois, 16.
"He had a back issue. He felt something in warm-ups and tried to play. He clearly wasn't moving the way he needed to be moving, so we pulled the plug. So he'll get treatment and we'll see where we are Friday." Rick Carlisle, Mavs head coach, remarked about
Nowitzki.
For the Grizzlies, up and coming Spanish centre Marc Gasol was on song again, scoring game high 22 points and grabbing game high 11 rebounds in a splendid double-double display. Gasol got a major helping hand from Mike Conley, who had a double-double of
his own with 20 points and 10 assists.
Star forward Rudy g*y scored 18 and had 7 rebounds.
Memphis got off to a quick start, going 8 – 3 in the opening exchanges. They remained in the ascendency for most of the first quarter and at the end were leading at 25 – 17.
The Mavs however came back strong in the second period. An early 9 – 2 spurt got them to within 31 – 28. After the half way mark they used an 8 – 1 burst to go ahead, 43 – 41, and maintained the slight advantage going into half time at 49 – 47.
It was however one way traffic after the interval as the Grizzlies shifted gears and capitalized on Dallas’ inability to get any offensive rhythm. Memphis piled on 27 points in the 3rd segment against just 17 by the Mavericks to take control of
the game.
In the final 12 minutes, the Grizzlies continued to play strong, never allowing the Mavericks to gather momentum. With 22 points in the frame, they were able to see out the game at 96 – 85.
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