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 A 121-108 victory over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday at American
Airlines Center was Dallas' fourth win in five games, the third win
in which the Mavericks built a 20-point lead. They close out the
homestand Friday against the struggling Sacramento Kings, a team
they have beaten at home 22 consecutive times dating back to 2004.
"We are moving it (the ball) well, we are playing unselfishly and
our shot-making has been good," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "It's
not because of our rebounding, I can tell you that. That is an area
we just have to continue to harp on, for lack of term to sugarcoat
it. We just have to continue to work on it, and it's going to be an
even bigger challenge on Thursday with (Kings center DeMarcus)
Cousins coming in here."
Previously on this homestand, the Mavs buried the Philadelphia 76ers
by 26 points and trounced the Minnesota Timberwolves by 27. They
squeaked out an overtime win against the Denver Nuggets, while their
only loss came against the Oklahoma City Thunder, also the lone
visitor during the homestand that has a winning record.
The victories are crucial because Dallas is in a pitched battle with
the surging Portland Trail Blazers for the No. 6 seed in the Western
Conference playoff race while desperately trying to close the gap on
the Memphis Grizzlies, the team that currently holds the coveted No.
5 seed.
Against the defensively challenged Magic, Dallas used an 11-0 run in
the opening six minutes of the third quarter to blow open a game
they led by just eight points at halftime. The margin eventually
reached 21 before the Mavericks rode a 96-81 cushion into the fourth
quarter.
"It's been more than troubling for the last two months, and now
we're in the next month," Magic coach Scott Skiles said of his
team's defensive woes. "And we just had so many breakdowns all over
the place. Had a poor first half, and an even worse second half, so
that's a bad sign. We were able to stay within at least a decent
distance, and then we felt like they started the (second) half kind
of flat. Unfortunately, so did we, so we weren't able to take
advantage of it."
Orlando missed its first eight shots of the third quarter and made
just eight of 24 in the period, including going 2-for-14 from the
3-point range. But it was mostly the shortcomings at the other end
of the floor that the Magic were focused on after the game.
"We gave up a lot of easy layups," Magic forward Ersan Ilyasova
said. "When you play against a team like this, you have to be in the
paint and not give up easy layups. They're going to make tough
shots."
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The Mavs (33-28) shot 55.8 percent on the night. They got a
team-high 21 points from guard Wesley Matthews, who had been
struggling of late and was just 1-for-4 from 3-point range but
8-for-12 overall. Forward Dirk Nowitzki scored 19 points in 27
minutes, forward Chandler Parsons had 17, center Zaza Pachulia put
in 17 points and 10 rebounds, and guard J.J. Barea came off the
bench to score 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
"If I'm not shooting well, I am going to convince myself that I'm
going to make it and get out of the slump by making it," Matthews
said.
Dallas led 69-61 at halftime, although the Mavs probably felt as if
the cushion should have been larger considering they shot 64.9
percent from the floor in the first half, including knocking down
five of eight from 3-point range.
Orlando (26-33) bolted out to a 22-12 lead before getting outscored
23-5 to close the first quarter. The Magic fell behind by as many as
10 in the second quarter but stayed within striking range at
halftime by shooting 50 percent from the floor (24-for-48) in the
first half.
Ilyasova finished with a game-high 22 points off the bench and added
10 rebounds. Center Nikola Vucevic had 18 points, but all of those
came in the first half. Guard Elfrid Payton, guard Brandon Jennings
and center Dewayne Dedmon had 12 points apiece.
NOTES: The Orlando Magic are expected to aggressively pursue
Mavericks F Chandler Parsons, who grew up in Orlando, this summer if
Parsons opts out of his contract as expected, according to an ESPN
report. ... Since the All-Star break, the Mavericks lead the league
in 3-point attempts and 3-pointers made. ... F Dirk Nowitzki moved
into 33rd place on the NBA's all-time rebounding list during
Monday's game, passing Bill Laimbeer. ... Magic F Evan Fournier
missed his second consecutive game because of a sore right wrist
injury. The hope is he will be ready to play by Friday. Mario
Hezonja made the second start of his career in Fournier's place. ...
On Feb. 19 at Orlando, the Magic snapped a seven-game losing streak
to Dallas dating back to Jan. 8, 2011. ... The Magic return home for
the second game of a back-to-back Wednesday against the Chicago
Bulls.
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