Mavs step up in Dirk's absense to halt Cavs' win streak 95 - 102

Dec 20, 2009

Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle has been talking about his team's depth since training camp. The power of that deep and versatile lineup came through Sunday night as a short-handed Dallas squad, playing without star forward Dirk Nowitzki, ended a five-game winning streak by the Cavaliers with an impressive 102-95 victory. Tim Thomas made his first start of the season in Nowitzki's place -- the eighth different lineup in 28 games for Dallas -- and contributed a team-high 22 points and seven rebounds. Six Mavericks scored in double figures, including all three bench players. Dallas shot 48 percent from the field, hit 19-of-20 free throws and committed just six turnovers en route to its 20th win of the season. "I just wanted to be aggressive with the minutes I was given tonight," said Thomas, a 12-year veteran regarded mostly as a 3-point specialist the past few seasons. "I told coach I wanted to get back to playing an all-around game, which is my strength. Backing guys down, going to the post and driving and pulling up for jumpers, so he's allowed me to do that." Playing in his 500th career contest, LeBron James scored a game-high 25 points, but it took him 23 shots to get there and he came in averaging 31.9 points per game on the road. Shawn Marion and Josh Howard took turns harassing James, who was 3-for-11 in the second half.

"Part of it is you have to be fortunate and have him miss some shots he normally makes, but I thought we did a good job of keeping a body in front of him and not letting him get those wild runs to the basket where he is dunking the ball and getting to the free-throw line," Carlisle said. "The team effort was good on him." Shaquille O'Neal actually had a better night at the charity stripe (3-for-4) than in the paint (1-for-7) and finished with five points, with Erick Dampier and Drew Gooden applying strong defensive pressure. The Mavs also held Mo Williams to eight points, half his season average. Williams, who was 7-for-7 from 3-point range in a 111-95 win against Dallas in Cleveland on Nov. 28, was 0-for-3 from behind the arc. Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown said his offense couldn't get into a flow and that James and O'Neal weren't getting any help from the officials.

"For me, those two guys are the hardest to figure out when they'll get a call and when they won't get a call," Brown said. "I've got to go back and watch the tape, but it definitely affected the rhythm that we had offensively. Having said that, that had nothing to do with our pick-and-roll defense." There were 11 ties and nine lead changes during the first half. The Mavericks led 52-50 at the break and never trailed in the second half. They took their largest lead at 63-51 on a 19-footer by Thomas with 6:42 left in the third quarter, but the Cavs fought back with a 12-1 run and trailed 73-67 entering the fourth. Dallas shot a sizzling 58 percent (11-for-19) in the final quarter, with sixth man Jason Terry scoring seven of his 19 points in the period. Terry, Jason Kidd and Howard each knocked down 3-pointers in the fourth to keep Cleveland at bay. It was a rare scoring outburst by the Mavericks, who had been held under 100 points in each of their last 10 meetings with the Cavaliers. Howard (14) and Gooden (12) joined Terry in double figures off the bench. Kidd had a double-double with 10 points and 11 assists. Marion added 12 points and eight rebounds and Dampier corralled a game-high 10 boards.

Nowitzki did not play because of a deep laceration on his right elbow suffered in Friday's overtime loss to the Rockets. Nowitzki was injured in a collision that broke five of Carl Landry's teeth and is questionable for Tuesday's game with Portland. He has not missed more than six games in any season since his rookie year in 1998-99. The 2006-07 NBA MVP is averaging 26.1 points and 8.1 rebounds. Thomas started six games last season, one with the Knicks and five with the Clippers. He has also played with the Bulls, Suns, Bucks and 76ers since being picked in the first round by Philadelphia (No. 7 overall) out of Villanova in the 1997 NBA Draft. "The best compliment I can give a guy like that is to say he's a pro," Carlisle said. "He has just given us positive production any time he has been on the floor and people have to guard him because he's a great shooter. ... In a situation like this when you lose a guy like Dirk, it is a real blessing to have a guy like Tim ready to go."

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