After Cuban writes David Stern the $750,000 check, presumably with the pen rested between the giant brass balls it takes to pull off a stunt like he did, the game gets underway.
Q1-The Mavericks, apparently a little weary from the got off to a pretty cold start in the early part of the first quarter, missing their first five shots from the field and turning the ball over four times in the first four minutes, falling behind the Bulls 8-0. Things quickly get tightened up, but the offense still looks sloppy and stagnant, with the majority of our shots being either contested deep two's, or last second, shot-clock-beating 3's. The Bulls, fortunately, don't have a great shooting quarter either, as the Maverick zone forces them out of the paint after giving up a few penetrations early in the quarter when they were in a man defense. After one quarter, the Mavs are trailing though, 24-17.
Team FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO SCORE
DAL.......6-17......1-7.......4-4......6........17
CHI.......8-20......2-5.......6-7......3........24
Q2-The second quarter is much cleaner, on both sides, with only three total turnovers between the teams. It ends up being a very low scoring quarter, with the Bulls outscoring the Mavs by 2, 20-18, to stretch their lead out to 44-35 at intermission. The defenses for both teams really bothered the opposition, leading to a high number of contested jumpers and little room for driving the ball and getting to the line.
Team FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO SCORE
DAL......13-33......3-13......6-7.......8.......35
CHI......16-37......4-11......8-10......4.......44
Leaders - - - - DAL - - - - - - - CHI
Points D. Nowitzki- 14 L. Deng- 12
Rebounds T. Chandler- 8 T. Gibson- 6
Assists J. Kidd- 4 D. Rose- 5
Q3- The Mavericks came out of the locker room with a ton of energy, winning most of the hustle plays, grabbing seven offensive rebounds in the quarter and forcing four Bull turnovers. Unfortunately, they still couldn't hit a shot for much of the quarter, hitting only 35.7% of their shots in the quarter (10-28). Their defense stays strong though and holds the Bulls to only 40.0% (8-20) shooting, with a surprisingly active effort from Brendan Haywood, who grabbed six boards (three off.) and blocking two shots in the quarter, after being invisible (shocking) for most of the first half. The Mavs won the quarter 26-22, but still trailed by five going into the final quarter.
Team FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO SCORE
DAL......23-61......5-17.....10-13.....12......61
CHI......24-57......6-17.....12-14......8.......66
Q4- After struggling to put the ball in the basket for much of the first three quarters, the Mavericks finally find a couple cracks in the Bulls defense and are able to convert around the rim for the first time all night. Chicago center Joakim Noah was forced to leave the game with ten minutes to go after landing awkwardly on his left wrist while trying to grab a loose ball, so missing that inside presence might have contributed to the Mavs ability to finish inside, which is fine with me. The Mavs played like a team desperately trying to defend their title in the fourth quarter, scoring 37 points on 11-20 shooting (5-7 from three, 10-11 from the line) while holding the Bulls to 9-26 shooting. Jason Terry lived up to his reputation as a closer, scoring 17 of his game-high-tying 27 points in the fourth, as the Mavericks pulled out a victory on their home floor, 98-93.
Team FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO SCORE
DAL......34-81.....10-24.....20-24.....13......98
CHI......33-83.....8-23......19-22.....14......93
Stats
DAL
Player PTS RBD AST BLK STL FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO PF MIN
Chandler....8....12...0....1....0.....3-5....0-0....2-4...1....3...29
Nowitzki....27....6...5....0....0.....8-21...1-2..10-10...3....1...39
Marion......8.....7...1....1....1.....4-7....0-0....0-0...0....2...28
Butler......9.....3...1....0....1.....3-11...1-5....2-3...2....3...25
Kidd........6.....7...9....0....3.....3-6....2-5....0-0...3....2...33
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Terry.......27....1...2....0....1.....9-17...5-7....4-4...1....0...34
Barea.......9.....2...3....0....0.....4-9....0-2....1-1...2....1...22
Haywood.....1.....7...0....2....0.....0-1....0-0....1-2...1....3...16
Fernandez...3.....1...0....0....1.....1-3....1-2....0-0...0....1....9
Cardinal....0.....0...0....0....0.....0-1....0-1....0-0...0....1....3
Brewer......0.....0...1....1....0.....0-0....0-0....0-0...0....0....2
TOT.........98....46..22...5....7.....34-81..10-24..20-24.13...17...240
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CHI
Player PTS RBD AST BLK STL FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO PF MIN
Noah.......10....13...4....2....2.....4-7....0-0....2-4...0....3...32
Boozer......7.....4...0....0....0.....2-8....0-0....3-3...3....5...25
Deng........18....7...2....0....2.....6-15...3-6....3-3...2....2...39
Brewer......2.....4...0....1....1.....1-4....0-2....0-0...1....2...17
Rose........21....3...8....0....0.....7-24...1-7....6-7...6....1...42
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Gibson......14....10..1....3....1.....6-9....0-0....2-2...0....2...28
Asik........4.....5...0....1....0.....2-3....0-0....0-0...0....0...18
Watson......9.....2...2....0....2.....3-8....2-4....1-1...2....2...16
Bogans......2.....3...0....0....0.....0-1....0-0....2-2...0....2...13
Korver......6.....0...0....0....0.....2-4....2-4....0-0...0....0...10
PLAYER OF THE GAME- Jason Terry (27-1-2) with 17 4th quarter points, helping lead the Mavs to a victory.
GOAT OF THE GAME- Carlos Boozer (7-4-0) looked mentally defeated all night after a full summer of hearing about what a waste of a contract he's been.
ESPN DECIDES TO COVER ____ INSTEAD OF THE DEFENDING CHAMPS: A preview of the upcoming Knicks/Heat game, covering it from every conceivable angle until we want to murder everyone that works there.
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