This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavs had a 60-42 lead heading into halftime.
3rd Quarter – No Sparks, Klay Slumps
Draymond Green started the third quarter with a three, but Chandler Parsons lofted a desperation fall-away triple from the left wing at the shotclock buzzer, then J.J. Barea hit his fourth three-pointer of the game, and the Mavericks led by 23, 68-45, early on.
Green got an impressive “and-one” against Dirk Nowitzki, but the Warriors missed their next five shots.
The drought culminated with a Brandon Rush layup miss after a nice drive down the left side, Parson missing with a three from the left corner, but Klay Thompson off with a catch-and-shoot from the right wing, not shooting well with a 3-for-13 mark on the game.
In transition off Thompson’s miss, Nowitzki got a trail three delivered by Barea to drop, giving Dallas a 75-49 lead with Golden State interim head coach Luke Walton calling timeout with 6:48 to go.
Walton inserted Andre Iguodala after the timeout and he paid immediate dividends, assisting Andrew Bogut on a hook shot, cutting to the hole and getting a layup rewarded by Bogut, hitting a three-pointer assisted by Rush, and dropping in an “and-one” layup against Devin Harris.
However, Dwight Powell and Wesley Matthews hit triples before that and the Mavs still held an 83-59 lead after Iguodala converted the three-point-play with 4:18 to go. Matthews’ bucket had given Dallas a 30-point lead at 83-53.
After a timeout by Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle, Klay made a turnaround one-legged jumper from the left baseline mid-post, capping an 8-0 mini-run, but the Warriors couldn’t find momentum.
Ian Clark scored four points in a row, but by the time Green supplied a spark with a “bully” post play over Harris with an “and-one” (he missed the free throw, though), Golden State was out of time.
Nowitzki rimmed short at the next Dallas possession’s shot clock buzzer, Green came flying down the court, attacking Barea, but missing the layup, then missing the follow-up offensive rebound, and Harris got the rebound and threw up a desperation heave from halfcourt.
The shot went through cleanly, but Harris was clearly a half-second late on the release, per the replay:
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The Mavs took an 87-68 lead into the final frame.
4th Quarter – Nice Game For Clark
Marreese Speights started the fourth quarter with good hustle, getting a tip-in of a missed Iguodala drive and a putback of his own shot that was blocked by Nowitzki, but Walton opted for Jason Thompson (“JT”).
The Mavs hit three consecutive triples. Ray Felton got one to drop from a baseline inbound, Barea hit his fifth three, and Nowitzki was the recipient of two swing passes around the horn, and Dallas had a 98-73 lead with 9:08 to go at the next TV timeout.
Speights came back in, but turned the ball over as Clark made a three and a floater, but Dwight Powell slammed home an alley-oop assisted by Parsons, with 6:42 left and the Mavs up, 102-78.
Clark, Rush, James McAdoo, Speights, and JT finished out the game, with Livingston closing out the last 1:17 for Rush.
Clark added a floater, a jumper, a three, and a pull-up jumper to give him a team-high 21 points. Klay scored just 10 points and Green 11 points (also 9 rebounds, 4 assists). Both shot 5-for-14 from the field.
Six Mavs scored in double-figures, led by Barea with 23 points and Nowitzki 18 points, and Zaza Pachulia dominated the hustle inside with 15 rebounds, eight of them offensive.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @24sebas)
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