Behind 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists from Dirk Nowitzki and a boisterous crowd, the Mavericks won the much-anticipated, much-talked- about showdown with the Denver Nuggets in convincing 109-93 fashion at American Airlines Center on Monday night.
The victory puts the now 49-25 Mavs in a solid second place in the Western Conference, five games behind the first-place Los Angeles Lakers. The Utah Jazz sit in third at six games out, while the Nuggets fall to 6.5 games out. If the Mavs tie for second with Denver, they would take the tiebreaker because they won the season series 2-1. If the Mavs end up knotted with Utah, the Jazz win the tiebreaker with a 2-1 season record against the Mavs.
Nowitzki’s strong numbers in points, rebounds and assists mark just the second triple-double in his 11-year, 912-game career. He notched the last piece of the triple-double, his 10th assist, on a 3-pointer by Jason Terry with 2:15 to go in the contest. It was the 17th time this season he has surpassed the 30-point plateau. Despite his heavy offensive production, Nowitzki shot just 7 for 17 from the floor. Most of his points game at the line, where he made 16 of 17 attempts or from beyond the arc, where he saw 4 of 5 shots go in for the first time this season. 3-point shooting is not Nowitzki’s forte as he has only attempted around 40 3’s for the season.
Shawn Marion netted 21 points on 9 for 13 shooting for the night. In a televised postgame interview, Nowitzki called Marion’s performance “fantastic.”All his points came in the first, second and third quarters.
With good defense, the Mavs successfully lessened the offensive impact of Carmelo Anthony. Anthony, who is third in the NBA in scoring with an average of 28.9 points per game finished with a pedestrian 10 on 3 of 16 shooting. A second offensive threat for the Nuggets, Chauncey Billups, totaled just 11 points, going 3 of 14 from the floor. J.R. Smith found the basket for 27 points off the bench.
Back in a starting role, Brendan Haywood tallied four blocks, and Nowitzki added one. Haywood also scored 10 points on a 27 assist night for the Mavs.
What a golden night.
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