By Kyle Soppe
They say everything is bigger in Texas. so it only makes sense that four quarters wasn’t enough for these two top teams. The Mavericks defended home court, beating the aging Spurs 101-100 in overtime on Sunday night.
The Spurs that were beaten weren’t your every day Spurs. Ten players saw at least 20 minutes of action, while no one logged 30 minutes. On the other hand, the Mavs saw four players total at least 30 minutes. The top three Spurs in terms of minutes played (Garry Neal, Matt Bonner, and Danny Green) all came off of the bench. But who could blame Greg Popovich, his Spurs were outscored by 10 points when Tony Parker was on the court while they were +17 when second year man James Anderson was in the game.
Building on the bench production theme, Neal and Jason Terry led their respective teams in shot attempts and points, despite watching the opening tip from a comfortable courtside seat. Dallas’ best player (Dirk Nowitski) and San Antonio’s consensus top two (Parker and Tim Duncan) combined to score 31 points, while Terry poured in 34 by himself.
The Spurs made more three pointers (12) than field goals attempted by Parker (11) or Duncan (10).
San Antonio struggled from the line in this contest, as their best free throw shooter on the day was only 66%.
Turning things over to the victorious Mavs. They shot 20% from deep, the lowest percentage by a winning team in last nights eight games.
For the sixth straight game, Dirk recorded more rebounds (13) than free throw attempts (0). It was the first time in 26 games in which Nowitski had attempted 0 free throws.
Statistically speaking, Vince Carter played his best game of 2012, yet the Mavs were outscored when he was on the court. In fact, in terms of team production, he wasn’t even the best ex Tar Heel in this game. The Spurs were eight points better than Dallas when Danny Green was on the floor.
Lesser known Rodrigue Beaubois of Dallas, who averages a shade over two assists per game, was the teams top playmaker on Sunday. His seven dimes accounted for 47% of the teams total assists. Those seven helpers also gave him 64% of the starters assists.
The Mavs once led this game by 18 points, and were fortunate not to lose it on a Danny Green buzzer beater that was overturned in regulation. Since half time, the Mavs were outscored by 10 points, yet managed to win the battle of Texas
Leave a Reply