Dallas Mavericks 102 - New Jersey Nets 89
The Dallas Mavericks matched a season high with 55 points in the first half, and extended their winning streak to 11 games, with a 102-89 win against the New Jersey Nets at the American Airlines Center.
High- Flying Players
Mavericks center Dirk Nowitzki had his seventh double-double this season, with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Shawn Marion added 18 points off the bench for Mavericks. Caron Butler and Jason Terry both contributed 15 apiece to keep Dallas unbeaten since
19 November.
Brook Lopez did all he could and led the Nets scoring with 24 points. Kris Humphries scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Anthony Morrow chipped in with 21 points. However his team fell to their sixth consecutive loss. Humphries also had his fifth
double-double of the season.
Jockey for Position
A strong defensive performance from the Mavericks was the key to victory.
Dallas forward Caron Butler said, "Well, give credit to the defence. That is something we have honed in on since the training camp. And we're doing a great job of capitalising on playing home games and winning them."
The Mavericks extended the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) longest current winning streak, and the ball movement was as good as the box score makes it look. Dallas shot 41-for-75 from the field, matching a season high of 54.7 percent.
The New Jersey Nets were left flat-footed at the beginning of the game. The Mavericks made intelligent runs and were all over the opposition, but their accuracy eluded them. The Nets did not look much better, and looked seemingly clueless against the Dallas
defence.
Nets coach Avery Johnson said, "I thought [Anthony] Morrow shot the ball really well, but for our team to win, we have to have everybody playing good. We can't shoot 41 percent as a team and expect to beat a championship caliber team like the Mavericks.”
Dallas hit 72 percent of their first-quarter field goals, led by nine points from Butler, and led the Nets 33-19.
Devin Harris of Nets sprained his left shoulder in the first, and missed the remainder of the game. Harris fell to the floor while trying to knock away an alley-oop pass.
Harris said, "It doesn't feel good," "It's the one part of the body I wish I didn't hit was the left shoulder. It was just a tough play. I kind of used him to brace myself up to get the ball, but he was not there to break my fall, fell kind of hard. I was
going to try and give it a go, but coach thought otherwise."
Beside the injury, Harris was quite hopeful to be available to play the Net’s upcoming match on Sunday, at home against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Mavericks were up by 18 in the second quarter, and carried a 55-40 advantage into the break.
Dallas opened the second half with a 7-1 run, extending a 15-point lead to 21. Butler capped the surge with a 20-foot jumper to make it 62-41, with under ten minutes to go. New Jersey got within five with two minutes to go, but a Dallas spurt at the end
of the quarter pushed the lead back to double digits.
Sweet Pass and Finish
Kris Humphries fought hard and brought New Jersey within eight points of Dallas with a dunk to open the final quarter, but the match finally culminated as Barea lobbed the ball to Marion who responded with a lay-up to seal the win for the Mavericks.
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