The Mavs grind out their biggest win of the season to significantly boost their playoff hopes.
Box Score
Leaders
Mavs
Points: Barea, 27
Rebounds: Lee, 8
Assists: Barea, 8
+-: Mejri, +8
Rockets
Points: Harden, 26
Rebounds: Howard, 16
Assists: Ariza, 5
+-: Brewer, Terry, +4
Game Ball
J.J. Barea
27 points, 8 assists, 10-16 FG, 4-7 3PT
X-Factor
Wesley Matthews
16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 4-12 3PT
Stat of the Game
The Mavs defense took over down the stretch as they held the Rockets without a field goal for the final 3:20 of the game.
Play of the Game
Of Note
- The win put the Mavs, who are currently 7th in the West, 2 games up on the 9th place Rockets with 4 games left in the season. Their magic number to make the playoffs is 3.
- Barea, the defending Western Conference Player of the week, is averaging 24.2 points and 7.0 assists during the Mavericks' 5 game win streak.
- The Mavs have held all 5 opponents under 90 points during their win streak. Prior to that they had allowed at least 100 points in 19 out of 21 games.
- Patrick Beverley was the only Rocket besides James Harden to score in the 4th quarter until Jason Terry made a free throw with 2.6 seconds left.
- The Mavs intentionally fouled JET with a 3 point lead. He missed the second on purpose and Matthews was able to dive to knock the loose ball away that let time expire.
- Dirk only had 7 points but made a crucial strip of Harden as the Mavs clung to a one point lead with 5.8 seconds left.
''I am proud of our guys for being willing to be team guys and play this way. We lived to fight another day.''
Rick Carlisle on the team slowing the pace to become more defensive-minded.
Tweet of the Night
Wes Matthews crashing into the front row to make sure that game was over sums up Wes Matthews.— Paul Flannery (@Pflanns) April 7, 2016
Next Up
The Mavericks (40-38) have another crucial showdown for playoff positioning Friday night against the Memphis Grizzlies (42-36), in the penultimate home game of the regular season.
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