Dec

21

No Dirk? No Problem As Dallas Defeats Cavaliers 102-95!

Posted by Jeff Sack under NBA Game Recap 

They say that a wounded animal is at its most dangerous; and that certainly proved to be the case  for a herd of Mavericks on Sunday night. The team from Dallas were hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday night without their star player forward Dirk Nowitzki who was out with lacerations to his elbow he sustained in a collision against the Houston Rockets Friday night. However even without Nowitzki the Mavericks proved to be far too wild a ride for the Cavaliers and Dallas won 102-95.

Tim Thomas who started in place of the injured All-Star had a big game leading the team with 22 points one of five Mavericks players in double figures. Cleveland forward LeBron James scored a game high 25 points but did not have a whole lot of support  from the rest of the Cavaliers starters. The loss started out a four game road trip for Cleveland while the victory helped the Mavericks bounce back from the overtime loss to the Rockets Friday.

The Cavaliers had poor performances from three of their four big men as starters Shaquille O’Neal and J.J. Hickson were ineffective as was backup center Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The only one of the four who really made any impact on the game was Anderson Varejao who came off the bench and put up 13 points.

Now if the Mavericks were at full strength with Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, Erick Dampier, Drew Gooden and Thomas those numbers would  be understandable. But not when Dallas is missing their key guy; there have been reports that Cleveland is looking to upgrade at the power forward position. Games like this make one realize that their present cast in their front court may not be able to get the job done when needed.

The first half was extremely tight with Cleveland holding a razor thin lead of 26-25 at the end of the first quarter. Dallas would take the lead as the game reached the half but it was not much larger than the one that the Cavaliers had at the end of the first as they walked into the locker room on top 52-50.

Neither team was extremely prolific at the offensive end in the third however the Mavericks would end up being a tad better and at the end of the period they would have a 73-67 advantage. The Cavaliers were able to get within one point at 84-83 with 7:07 left to play as Daniel Gibson drove the lane putting the ball up and in. But the Cleveland rally was temporary and Dallas would hold on for the victory.

Tim Thomas was the star of the night for the Mavericks as he had 22 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists in the victory. Jason Terry came off the bench and had a strong night scoring 19 points while Josh Howard added 14 points coming off the pine. Shawn Marion and Drew Gooden would each score 12 points in the Mavericks victory while Jason Kidd would record a double-double with 10 points, 11 assists, 4 rebounds  and 1 steal.

LeBron James led all players with 25 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals while Delonte West came up huge off the bench as he scored 18 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Anderson Varejao came off the bench and had 13 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block while Anthony Parker added 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Dallas now has a record of 20-8 and will host Portland on Tuesday while Cleveland also sporting a 20-8 mark will play Monday night in Phoenix.

© Copyright 2009 thesackattack


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