Every game between the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs this season has been decided by single digits. In Sunday’s 100-94 Mavericks win, a lead of three points or less seemed to be mentioned every couple of minutes.
With 36 points, Dirk Nowitzki secured those leads time and time again. Nowitzki sits in select company, having scored 30 or more points in 35 separate playoff games throughout his career. Nowitzki was an amazing 12 of 14 shooting and 12 for 12 at the line for his three dozen points. Not to be overly dramatic, but you really can’t get much better than that.
So although the Mavs only shot in the 30 percent range for most of the game, Nowitki remained the go-to guy with 19 points in the first half and 17 points in the second. Playing 39:52 minutes, Caron Butler found the basket for 22 points and six defensive rebounds. Brendan Haywood helped in the first half too, scoring 10 points off the bench.
Tim Duncan and M. Ginobili were the Spurs’ offensive duo, scoring 27 and 26 points, respectively.
Defensively, the Mavs had 45 rebounds to the Spurs’ 37 boards. Erick Dampier contributed 12 rebounds to the Mavs’ total. Veteran Jason Kidd put up 13 points and 11 assists for a double-double.
Game 2, also at American Airlines Center, is schedule for 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Hopefully, the Mavs won’t come out sluggish after the long layoff.
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Game one was a good one. Dirk was making shots from all over the court. It was good for the Mavs to get game one. I think the Spurs will be able to hang with them for the first three games, then the Mavs will probably pull away.
ReplyDeleteNot to be cliche, but the Spurs definitely came to play in Game 2.
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