What a comeback win for the Dallas Mavericks and a colossal slump for the Golden State Warriors at the same time. Despite being superior for a long time, the home side still gave the game away in the decisive minutes, also because Luka Doncic turned up the heat late.
Golden State Warriors (43-18) – Dallas Mavericks (36-25) 101:107 (BOXSCORE)
The Warriors have won their last 62 games by leading by 20 points or more – the Mavericks ended that streak. In the final section, Golden State collapsed completely after a long period of dominance. The Mavs, led by Doncic (34, 11 rebounds, 2 assists), ran 23-1 in the crucial quarter and took the lead for the first time of the game at 2:33 minutes on the clock.
“This win shows the character and the will of this team,” praised Mavs coach Jason Kidd after the game. “Nobody gives up here.” After a good start to the game, it looked like the dubs had everything under control in front of their home crowd. In the first quarter, the Californians scored almost at will and played well even without Klay Thompson, who according to Warriors coach Steve Kerr has been feeling ill for a few days. Rookie Mooses Moody was allowed to play from the start, but was pale in 25 minutes (5 points, 5 rebounds).
Stephen Curry was the home side’s best player (27, 10 assists, 2 steals), but in the final section he lost his touch and was only able to score 5 points in 2/8 attempts from the field. The Warriors went without a point for more than 8 minutes in the fourth quarter as Dallas fought back.
Spencer Dinwiddie (24, 10/14 FG) was instrumental in his side’s comeback with 10 points in the last 12 minutes and made his best-ever game for the Mavs in 31 minutes off the bench. Reggie Bullock (12, 2 blocks) and Dorian Finney-Smith (14, 9 rebounds) also scored in double digits, Maxi Kleber was pale off the bench in 18 minutes and only had 2 points and 6 rebounds.
Andrew Wiggins (18, 2 steals) played a decent game in the dubs, but was only able to score 3 points in the fourth quarter and was unable to avert the late defeat. Gary Payton II scored the third most points for the Warriors (13, 7/11), otherwise only Jonathan Kuminga could show a reasonably good performance with 9 points and 4 rebounds.
Warriors dominate first half and collapse late
In front of their home crowd, the Warriors started the first quarter furiously and literally played the Mavs on the wall. At the end of the first period, the Dubs were already leading 37:24, Wiggins got off to a fantastic start and sank 4/5 attempts from the field. Doncic, on the other hand, hardly took place and already had 4 turnovers in the first quarter of the game, but scored at least 10 points.
When the bench units came onto the field, the Warriors cooled down a bit and the guests came back to 6 points in the meantime. But Golden State responded with two quick threes from Wiggins and Gary Payton II to restore the old 12-point lead.
Doncic was also not able to shine in the second half and scored only two points, but his backup Spencer Dinwiddie was able to hit 4/5 shots and keep Dallas halfway within striking distance. In the end, the Dubs went into the dressing room with a lead of 60:48 and presented themselves as a clearly better team up to that point, even without Thompson.
After halftime the picture was the same: the Mavs and Doncic couldn’t find their feet while the Warriors played nice team basketball. In the middle of the third section, Curry put the lead to over 20 points for the first time with a deep three. The guests did not defend badly at times, but lacked consistency. After a few good stops we slept or not defended consistently enough and Golden State was able to score easy points that often.
With a lead of 88:74 we went into the final section and suddenly the two teams were exchanged. The Warriors didn’t want to throw any more shots, while the Mavs, led by Dinwiddie and Doncic, turned a deficit of 21 points in the meantime and were able to secure victory in the end.
The Dubs West’s lead over the Memphis Grizzlies has dwindled to 1.5 games and the Mavs are fifth. The win in Portland has Denver tied (36-25).
