Mavs Lose To Blazers
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PORTLAND, Ore. — In their first two meetings with the Portland Trail Blazers this season, the Dallas Mavericks had a common denominator: poor shooting.
It happened again Thursday night at the Moda Center. Dallas shot 37.5 percent from the field on its way to a 94-75 loss.
“We just didn’t make shots,” said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle, whose Mavericks had fired at a collective 35.6 percent clip in splitting a pair of earlier games with Portland. “We had quite a few good looks in the first half and some in the second. We just had a bad shooting night.”
The Trail Blazers figured their defense had a good deal to do with it.
“It was a very good defensive game for us,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said. “Our defense was locked in throughout the game for what we wanted to accomplish, individually and collectively.”
The downside for Portland was that guard Wesley Matthews tore his left Achilles tendon in the third quarter. He will undergo season-ending surgery. Matthews averaged 15.9 points, 2.3 assists and 3.7 assists this season.
Forward LaMarcus Aldridge scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half as Portland (41-19) rolled to its fifth straight victory. Forward Nicolas Batum collected 15 points, a season-high 12 rebounds and six assists, while guard Damian Lillard had 14 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Blazers.
Forward Amar’e Stoudemire and guard Monta Ellis each scored 12 points for Dallas, which lost for
the third time in the last four outings.
Portland broke open a tight game with a 31-point third quarter for a 71-57 lead. The Mavericks (40-23) never cut the deficit to fewer than 10 points the rest of the way.
“We guarded well for most of the night,” said Aldridge, who grabbed 12 rebounds and picked up his 31st double-double of the season. “We got better defensively as the game went on. That’s why we pulled away late in the game.”
Aldridge had 15 points and eight rebounds to lead Portland to a 40-36 advantage at halftime. The Blazers shot only 40 percent from the field before the break, including 2-for-12 from 3-point range, but the Mavericks were worse at 37.2 percent from the field and 1-for-8 on 3-point attempts.
The Blazers heated up early in the third quarter, using a 10-2 run to take a 52-44 lead with 7:36 left. They built the margin to 71-55 late in the quarter. Portland wound up shooting 41.5 percent on field-goal attempts, 31.8 percent (7-for-22) on 3-point tries.
Portland got out into the open court to increase its lead to 80-63 early in the fourth quarter. Dallas closed to within 85-75 with 4:10 to play, but Batum’s 3-pointer pushed the Blazers back in front 88-75, and the Mavericks — who wound up shooting 2-for-16 from 3-point range — were done.
“We didn’t score much, and we didn’t shoot the ball well,” said Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki, who had 10 points on 5-for-13 shooting. “We really didn’t do much offensively. We were pretty solid defensively most of the night, but we couldn’t make enough plays offensively to make this an interesting game.”
Dallas ruled a slow-paced first quarter, taking a 23-17 lead into the second period despite 11 points from Aldridge. Portland’s star forward shot 5-for-7 in the quarter, while his teammates went a collective 3-for-15.
The Blazers scored the first six points of the second quarter to tie it at 23-23, and the teams battled from there until Dallas used an 8-1 run to go ahead 35-28. Portland answered with a 12-1 tear to go back in front by four points at the half.
