The Golden State Warriors (29-1) were at American Airlines Center to face the Dallas Mavericks (18-13).
The Warriors were without Stephen Curry, who was listed as questionable that morning with a calf strain, which an MRI later in the day revealed as a bruised lower left leg. Harrison Barnes was still out with a sprained left ankle, Festus Ezeli had a sore toe injured in the last game against the Sacramento Kings two nights ago, Leandro Barbosa still had a sore shoulder, and Kevon Looney was still rehabbing his surgically repaired hip. Golden State only dressed nine players.
1st Quarter – Klay Off To A Rocky Start
In the absence of Curry, Klay Thompson got off to a slow start, missing his first three shots, while J.J. Barea started off hot, getting a driving layup, a banker in the lane, and a three-pointer.
But after Dirk Nowitzki got past Brandon Rush with a signature post spin move, only to miss the shot in-and-out, Thompson finally got a shot to drop as he drove into the lane from the left corner for a finger roll.
The Mavericks looked to make a push as Nowitzki got a finger roll off a spin in the post and Wesley Matthews drained a triple.
After the first timeout, Dallas held a 14-10 lead with 5:44 to play as Andrew Bogut collected four points and four rebounds.
Klay got on the board finally with a triple from the left wing, assisted, by Draymond Green, then Marreese Speights, who subbed in for Bogut, swished a jumper with 17.9 seconds remaining.
Chandler Parsons missed a three at the buzzer and the Mavs took a 27-21 lead after one period.
Barea led all scorers with nine points and Livingston had six, two of them from the free throw line.
2nd Quarter – Bad Start By Bench Unit
The bench unit struggled to hold the fort out of the gate in the second frame, as Ian Clark drove hard but missed a contested layup, then exacerbated the situation in transition as he faked a lunge for a steal on Devin Harris dribbling up, and the veteran Harris got by Clark easily to convert a reverse layup.
Clark then dribbled off his foot at the left sideline, Dwight Powell took advantage with a cutting layup, Speights made a bad pass, and Ray Felton got a layup out of that.
Clark finally made a three to break a 10-0 run by the Mavs after Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton took a timeout and brought back Thompson.
But by then, the damage had been done and Dallas still had a double-digit lead, 37-24, with 9:05 to go before halftime.
James McAdoo made a nice block of a Nowitzki drive, but the Mavericks went on another run, with Zaza Pachulia supplying hustle on the boards with a putback, then an unfortunate sequence for Golden State.
Klay couldn’t hit anything and was 2-for-10, then Green missed a jumper, then missed an iso in the right block against Charlie Villaneuva, that was capped by Barea hitting another triple as he got free from Klay on a pick-and-roll.
Later, Thompson drove into the lane, but left a pass to Bogut too far behind. Villaneuva missed a three in transition, and Green’s coast-to-coast layup attempt drew contact, no foul, and Livingston ended up with a clear path foul against Harris.
Barea hit his third three, then Pachulia and Bogut both hit the deck on the rebound, with Bogut pulling Pachulia. They both subbed out with what appeared to be minor injuries and were charged with a double-foul.
Speights and Thompson got back-to-back buckets, with Rush getting a gift of a steal as Barea went with an ill-advised behind-the-back pass, Klay ending the sequence with a run-out two-handed dunk/lay-in.
Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle took no chances and called timeout, up 55-40 with 1:27 to play in the half.
Out of the timeout, Nowitzki got free from Rush on a spin in the post and dunked the ball home…
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…and, near the end of the half, Thompson got stuck on the dribble on the right baseline, doubled, found Speights, who missed a jumper, his first miss on four tries.
Speights stole the outlet, got the ball to Rush at the top of the key as time was expiring, but Rush’s three was off as Klay asked for the ball wide open on the right wing.
The Mavericks took a commanding 60-42 lead at halftime.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @mbish86)
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