Mavericks 103 Warriors 99: Game 16 Review

Hoping to shake off back-to-back losses to the Nuggets and re-establish home dominance, the Mavs knew they would have to play near their best to beat a very dangerous Warriors squad. For 3 1/2 quarters they did exactly that by building a lead that reached 17 points at 99-82. A 13-0 Warriors run followed, but Dallas re-found its rhythm just in time to escape to a 103-99 victory.

The Mavericks were dialed in from the start taking advantage of a sloppy Warriors early effort to build a double-digit lead for a good portion of the second quarter. Dirk was dialed in early, hitting 6 of his first 7 shots and the team took excellent care of the ball, not turning the ball over until midway through the 2nd quarter.

The Mavs were able to maintain a healthy margin during the 3rd period, and still had an 11 point lead entering the 3rd thanks to a buzzer-beater by Shane Larkin. After building the lead up, the Warriors got back in it late thanks to maybe the best shooting backcourt of  all-time of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Thankfully a Sam Dalembert dunk off a nice find from Monta Ellis and a Dirk jumper helped ice the game and make sure the lead never got below 4.

Dirk led the way for the Mavs, scoring 22 points all on 2 point shots. Monta Ellis, had his first real rough shooting game as a Mav, scoring only 4 points on 2-16 shooting. Despite the fact that he was held below 18 points for the first time all year, he distributed the ball well, handing out 10 assists. The bench was excellent, outscoring the Warriors reserves 43-13. Jae Crowder played his best game in a while scoring 12 and hitting 3 threes. Dejuan Blair was his usual tenacious self with 11 points and 9 rebounds, 7 on the offensive end. After barely playing in the last matchup against Denver, Larkin responded with the best game of his young career with 7 points, 6 assists and 0 turnovers, and showed what a energetic force he can be on both ends of the court.

Curry led Golden St. with 29 on 6 3s while Klay Thompson (20 points, 10 rebounds) and David Lee (20 points, 12 rebounds) had 20 and 10 games. The big difference in the game was the turnover margin. The Warriors turned it over on 18 occasions to only 6 for the Mavs.

For the Mavs it was extremely productive night, beating one of the West's better teams by controlling the action on both ends of the floor most of the night. They showed needed improvement on defense by holding the Warriors under 100 points and kept amazing streak of now 28 games of scoring over 100 points against the Warriors in Dallas. A streak that dates back to Dirk's rookie season of 1999.

Mavs Leaders
Points: Nowitzki, 22
Rebounds: Blair, 9
Assists: Ellis, 10
+-: Crowder, +19

Mavs Player of the Game: Dirk

Play of the Game: Larkin running shot that beat the third quarter buzzer.

Stat of the Game: Turnovers: Mavs 6, Warriors, 18

Quote of Note: “Of all the games we’ve played this year, tonight was the night we really needed the bench to step up and be big – really at both ends of the court – and they were. “We’ve got some younger guys we’re developing and really, they all stepped up.” Rick Carlisle

Next Up: The Mavs make a quick one game road trip for the second and final matchup of the year with the Atlanta Hawks, Friday at 6:30.