Mavs Lose Preseason Game To Pelicans
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The Dallas Mavericks, playing mostly backups, fell to the New Orleans Pelicans 88-85 Thursday night in Bossier City. The Mavericks’ only lead (2-0) came on the game’s first basket (an 18-foot jumper by Gal Mekel). New Orleans outscored Dallas 23-10 in the first quarter but the Mavericks outscored the Pelicans 23-15 in the second, only to trail by five (38-33) at the half. The Pelicans led by 10 (55-45) late in the third quarter, but the Mavericks outscored New Orleans 10-4 in the final 2:07 of the period to cut the deficit to four (59-55) going into the fourth. New Orleans again went up by 10 (71-61) less than 4 minutes into the start of the fourth quarter, but Dallas used a 14-6 spurt to get back to within two (77-75) with 4:56 remaining. Dallas had possession down three (88-85) with 2.6 seconds remaining, but Ricky Ledo missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer and New Orleans escaped with an 88-85 win.
The Pelicans outscored the Mavericks 20-11 in second-chance opportunities. Dallas went 15-of-19 (.789) from the line, while New Orleans went just 18-of-32 (.563) from the stripe. The Pelicans recorded only nine turnovers (for seven points), while the Mavericks committed 14 turnovers (for 14 points).
Gal Mekel started at the point for Dallas and recorded a game-high 17 points (7-13 FGs, 1-2 3FGs, 2-2 FTs), including nine in the fourth quarter, to go along with a game-high eight assists in a game-high 42 minutes. Jae Crowder tallied 14 points and seven boards in 27 minutes. Charlie Villanueva chipped in 13 points and four rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. Ivan Johnson logged all 10 of his minutes in the fourth quarter and recorded 11 points (4-6 FGs, 1-1 3FGs, 2-3 FTs) and four boards. Bernard James pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with six points in 26 minutes off the pine. Chandler Parsons, Dirk Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler, Monta Ellis, Jameer Nelson, Devin Harris and Brandan Wright all rested for Dallas. Pelicans starting forwards Tyreke Evans (14 points and seven rebounds) and Anthony Davis (13 points and six boards) combined for 27 points and 13 rebounds. Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson pitched in 12 points apiece for the Pelicans in the win.
The Mavs finish the preseason at Orlando tonight. Tip-off is at 6:00pm CT. If the Mavericks win at Orlando, they will finish exactly 4-4 in the preseason for the fifth time in the last seven years (and that includes the 2011 preseason in which they only played two games due to the work stoppage).
