Mavericks 123 Rockets 120: Game 12 Review

Although the Mavericks had gotten off to a promising 7-4 start entering Wednesday night's tilt with the Rockets, they still had yet to get what would be called a signature win over one of the league's elite teams. Through 3 quarters it looked like that signature win would have to wait for another night as they faced a 14 point deficit. But thanks to a fourth quarter that saw the Mavs finally able to get stops on the defensive end as well as make just about every shot from the field, the Mavs got that big win by 123-120 margin, in a most entertaining way.

The game started with both teams doing whatever they wanted on offense, but it was the Rockets who could just not be stopped scoring 40 points in the first period. The Mavericks were able to hang in the game thanks to brilliant work from Monta Ellis and Dirk Nowitzki. The pair who finished with 37 and 35 respectively shooting a combined 26-42 from the field, became the first Mavericks teammates to finish with 35 or more in the same game since Jason Kidd and Jamal Mashburn did it in 1995 also against Houston. On top of that Dirk passed Reggie Miller for 15th on the NBA's all-time scoring list with a 2nd quarter free throw. He  now has a career total of 25, 298 points.

Despite the strong offensive showing the Mavs seemed powerless to stop the Rockets trio of James Harden, Dwight Howard and Chandler Parsons. Howard was especially locked in making his first 11 shots from the field and even making a decent amount of his free throws.

The Mavs began to fight back in the fourth spurred on by a zone defense that seemed to fluster the Rockets. A Maverick run cut the lead to 3 midway through the fourth only to see back-to-back threes from Patrick Beverley and Harden push the lead back up to 9. The Mavs kept at it however and were finally able to take the lead when Ellis was able to find Shawn Marion for a corner three that put Dallas up 2 with 47 seconds to go. Harden had a chance to tie the game at the line with 9 seconds to go but missed the second of two free throws. After two Jose Calderon foul shots, Harden's tying three attempt was offline the Mavs got a thrilling victory.

While Dirk and Monta carried the scoring load for the Mavs, Calderon and Marion scored 13 apiece both making huge shots down the strech to contribute to the win. In only his second NBA game Shane Larkin was able to provide a spark off the bench contributing 8 big points and a lot of hustle.  For Houston Howard scored a season high 33 while Harden added 23 and Parsons played a great all-around game with 21 points and 11 assists.

Both teams shot outstanding from the field with the Mavs at 58% and Houston at 55%. However in the fourth it was the Mavs going 14-19 from the field while the Rockets were only 5-19.

For the Mavericks this was a win they can definitely build upon. By fighting back from a large deficit against what is supposed to be one of the West's elite teams they showed a fight and determination along with clutch crunch time play that wasn't there for last year's team. What a difference a having a healthy Dirk to go along with a backcourt of Ellis and Calderon can make.

Team Leaders
Points: Ellis, 37
Rebounds: Dalembert, 10
Assists: Ellis, 8

Players of the Game: Dirk and Monta

Play of the Game: Marion go ahead 3 off Ellis dish

Stat of the Game: Mavericks (58%) and Rockets (55%) combine for best shooting game of the NBA season

Quote of Note: “If me and Dirk are going like that, you know, the other teams have a problem. And not just because we’re going like that, but because that means they’re going to pay so much attention to us that it opens it up for Vince [Carter], Jose, Shawn and guys like that. It was good that we had the game that we had tonight, but it was a team effort. We had to grind, grind, grind and keep grinding to the last buzzer, and we came out with the win.” Monta Ellis

Next Up: The 8-4 Mavericks finish up their three game homestand Friday, when they host the Utah Jazz, owners of the NBA's worst record at 1-12,  at 7:30