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 It was a good weekend for the Dallas Mavericks.
Behind 20 points and five assists from reserve guard Devin Harris,
the Mavericks topped the Indiana Pacers 105-94 Sunday night.
Dallas (38-26) beat Indiana by following a similar script to
Friday's win over the Portland Trail Blazers: get out to a big lead
early, fall behind in the second half and make enough big plays down
the stretch.
"We really responded after losing those three in a row," Harris
said. "We needed to get back on track starting with the last game.
Obviously, we started off well and ended well but had some trouble
in between, and we had to fight throughout the game."
The Pacers (46-17) dropped their fourth consecutive game, a
season-high skid that would have cost them the top spot in the
Eastern Conference if the Miami Heat weren't also slumping.
Indiana coach Frank Vogel isn't ready to panic.
"Stay the course. We've got a good basketball team," Vogel said.
"It's a tough stretch of the schedule. We knew it was going to be
tough. You're going to have to play at your best to win at Dallas,
at Houston, (and) to win on the fourth game of five nights. It's
going to be tough, but we're not playing at our best. So we'll work
through it. We'll be all right."
Dallas guard Monta Ellis scored 20 points and grabbed eight
rebounds. All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki struggled through a
3-for-14 shooting night, but he still scored 14 and added eight
boards.
Indiana forward Paul George had game highs in points (27) and
rebounds (11). Guard Lance Stephenson scored 21, but only three in
the second half. Pacers guard George Hill added 20 points.
Dallas' bench outscored Indiana's bench 41-4. Mavericks reserve
guard Vince Carter had 10 points and seven rebounds, but the
performance of Harris left an impression. Harris knocked down four
3-pointers and also had four steals.
"What was not to like?" Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "He was
active defensively, he was hitting shots and he was making plays. He
brings an extra dimension to our guard rotation.
"I thought all our guards played well, but he stood out because he
had the ball a lot and he made really good decisions."
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As in the Portland game, the Mavericks came out firing against the
Pacers. A 3-pointer from Nowitzki gave Dallas a 14-4 lead and coaxed
a timeout from Vogel.
The Pacers were taking poor shots late in the shot clock throughout
the first half, and they went scoreless for nearly five minutes from
late in the first quarter to early in the second.
The Mavericks were up 30-18 at the end of the first period, and they
took as much as a 35-18 lead in the second. And just as they did two
nights prior, the Mavs squandered that advantage.
The Pacers outscored Dallas 14-2 over the last four minutes of the
half to trail just 48-45 at the break. Stephenson had 18 points
going into the locker room.
George, in foul trouble in the first half, opened the third quarter
with a 3-pointer to tie the game. Indiana went up 55-50 before
Dallas charged back ahead with a 20-5 run.
The Mavericks led by 10 midway through the fourth quarter when
Indiana made another push. The Pacers had the ball looking for a tie
when Ellis forced a turnover and Harris converted a three-point
play.
Harris also knocked down a 3-pointer in the last minute that salted
the game away and completed Dallas' two-game season sweep of
Indiana.
"You've got to give the Mavs credit," Vogel said. "They played a
better basketball game. We turned the ball over a little too much
and didn't take care of the glass well enough."
NOTES: The Mavericks hold a one-game lead on the Memphis Grizzlies
for a playoff spot. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle isn't the only one
stressing the importance of every game down the stretch. "It's that
close," he said. "You're either feeling great about it or it's a
really tough, tough night." ... Indiana arrived in Dallas having
allowed an average of 110 points per game since the All-Star break.
... Carlisle coached the Pacers for three years, going 181-147 and
leading the team to the playoffs each season. His 61-21 record in
2002-03 remains the franchise record for wins. ... After Sunday's
game, Dallas F Dirk Nowitzki trails John Havlicek by 13 points for
12th on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
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