Mavs Defeat Memphis
DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki put his recent shooting slump behind him and scored a team-high 20 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 97-88 victory over the struggling Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night at American Airlines Center.
The Mavs (15-12) bounced back from their worst defeat of the season on Wednesday at Indiana. Dallas seized the lead in an otherwise even first half with about two minutes to go in the second quarter.
Dallas scored on its final six possessions of the half and caught a big break when Memphis forward Matt Barnes crashed into guard Deron Williams attempting a half-court heave to beat the buzzer. Williams made all three free throws for a 55-49 halftime lead.
From there, it was all Dallas. Memphis’ season-long cold-shooting continued with 29.4 percent shooting in a 17-point third quarter. The Mavs controlled the tempo and gradually increased the lead to double digits without much of a push from the Grizzlies, who fell to .500 at 14-14.
Frustration is certainly starting to settle in for the Grizzlies, who have lacked continuity all season as coach Dave Joerger mixes up the lineup. Asked how they can correct things and get the season turned around, center Marc Gasol said, “If I knew what it was, we would do it.”
With 5:23 left in the game, Dallas took a 93-75 lead on backup
center JaVale McGee’s fifth dunk of the game and third alley-oop, giving him 10 points, plus five rebounds and three blocks in his best outing since joining Dallas in the offseason.
“He was a big difference-maker in this game,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. “The thing we’ve got to watch with him, there are situations that are going to be ones where he fits. Tonight with Randolph, he’s got a lot of experience guarding (Memphis forward Zach) Randolph.
“We looked at (Dwight) Powell first, and he’s getting in foul trouble right away. We gave him a look. JaVale has such great length, he’s a smart guy. He was able to play without fouling and he made a huge impact on the game, really at both ends of the court.”
And then there was always steady Nowitzki, who was money from the outside, canning 7 of 13 shots from the field, including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc, where he struggled to the tune of 3 of 19 in his previous four games. He is now 30 points shy of overtaking Shaquille O’Neal for sixth place on the NBA’s career scoring list.
Dallas center ZaZa Pachulia grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass to go with 10 points against Memphis’ big front line of Gasol and Randolph.
Mavs forward Chandler Parsons had one of his better efforts with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in a season-high 32 minutes as he continues to ramp up his playing time coming off knee surgery. Guard Deron Williams added 14 points and backup forward Charlie Villanueva contributed 10 points, including a couple of 3-pointers.
“First of all, that’s a scrappy, tough team that’s always given us problems,” Parsons said. “They got us at their place earlier in the year, so we owed them one. I just competed, man. I played hard and coach has been on me to focus on defense and exhausting myself to make sure I get back into game shape until I feel 100 percent. Nights like this are a step in the right direction and it feels good.”
The Grizzlies continued to find scoring to be a difficult task.
Guard Mike Conley had a team-high 20 points but only two assists. Gasol had 16 points, but after that it was slim pickings. with backup guard Mario Chalmers getting 12 points and Barnes adding 11.
Forward Jeff Green was 0 of 7 from the floor for two points and Randolph, who again came off the bench, went 3 of 10 from the floor for seven points.
“We just shot ourselves in the foot coming out of the last minute-and-a-half (of the second quarter),” Joerger said. “We turned the ball over on a timeout play, then we took a 25-footer after fouling, and then we fouled again at the end of the quarter, and then we came out and turned the ball over on the first play of the third quarter.
“You can’t win on the road against a good offensive team spotting them 10 points. That’s tough for us to score and to come back after the deficit is very difficult.”
While Dallas didn’t shoot the lights out at 43.6 percent from the floor, it was good enough against the grinding Grizzlies, who shot 37.5 percent, missing 50 of 80 attempts.
