The Dallas Mavericks finally proved too much for the Golden State Warriors tonight as they battled back from an 18 point defecit in the first quarter to end up winning by a score of 112-106 at Oracle Arena.
Playing the second night of a back-to-back affected the Mavs in the first half, but they looked like a calm and collected veteran squad in the second, playing their game and keeping within themselves as they chipped away and eventually won.The Warriors played very tense in the fourth quarter and never got much going at all, with the key point in the game being when the Warriors went 4 minutes without a basket as the Mavs went on a 15-0 run, the proverbial nail in the coffin for the W’s tonight.
Monta Ellis had a double-double with 26 points and 11 assists on 10-20 shooting, while David Lee had 22 and 5 boards. Steph Curry struggled mightily as he had 10 points on 4-10 shooting while have the worst plus/minus on the team with a -10. Steph seemed to hurt his elbow in the third quarter, which may have played a role in his ineffective play. Acie Law was the only bright spot off the bench, playing an amazing 23 minutes with 15 points and 6 assists on 5-7 shooting. As a team the W’s shot 51% while committing 13 turnovers. They also had 12 steals.
As for the Mavericks it was the Dirk Nowitzki show, scoring a game high 34 points including a perfect 12-12 from the stripe, as well as 13 rebounds. Dallas got 48 points out of their bench, led by Jason Terry with 19 including 3-4 from downtown. Rodrique Beaubois added 18 and Tyson Chandler 13.
With the loss it moves the Warriors to 30-38 for the season, that much closer to being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs (although their chances of making it are slim to none). It was the 10th sellout of the season at Oracle, and I’m sure those free ‘Got Curry?’ T-shirts for Bollywood night won’t make up for this agonizing defeat. The W’s now set out for a 5 game road trip, starting with the Phoenix Suns on Friday Night.