SLOPPY MAVS CONSIGN PHILLY TO SIXTH STRAIGHT LOSS
It wasn't pretty, but it was still a victory.
The Mavericks overcame a late charge by the 76ers on the back of Josh Howard, who delivered a clutch three late in the game, before Jason Terry hit a game winner with six seconds left. Andre Iguodala's attempt clanked off the rim with Austin Croshere on him.
However, Avery Johnson will not be pleased with the way Dallas is playing to start the season.
"We've had these early-season games mostly against teams who didn't do much last season. Yet we're only sneaking through these games, which won't help when we play Steve Nash's Suns, Tim Duncan's Spurs, even Chauncey Billups' Pistons. We need to be more convincing." Johnson said afterwards.
And the 76ers were left once again, to rue over another loss to continue their winless start to 06-07.
"We just couldn't finish it off. We did all the hard work coming back and having that six-point lead late in the game, but we couldn't finish. And against finalists like Dallas, they will hurt us." Maurice Cheeks said afterwards, clearly disappointed.
Dirk Nowitzki continues to be phenomenal, making key baskets and ending with 30 points, 9 rebounds, 4 offensive. Josh Howard was important down the stretch and ended up with 19 points, while Erick Dampier continues to show that his new contract is almost worth it for the Mavs, grabbing a stunning nine offensive rebounds and scoring 10 points mostly off putbacks.
"Right now, he's just unstoppable. He's finding ways to pick the ball from people's fingers. Without him, we wouldn't have won a few of our games." Johnson said.
Philadelphia were led by Kyle Korver who had 22 points on 9-12 shooting, and Andre Iguodala with 20. Samuel Dalembert was beastin' on the defensive end, with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 8 blocks. Flip Murray was decent coming off the bench in his first outing as a Sixer, but was underused with nine points in eight minutes. Andre Miller had a harsh night, shooting 7-30.
The Mavericks for once, found their step early and shot out to a four-point lead by the end of the first, with Devin Harris passing well. Korver and Iguodala made their shots early on and the bench also frustrated the Mavericks as the lead was cut to two.
Dallas steadied and played solid defense in the third, but shot atrociously in the quarter at only 25%, and failed to take advantage of their great defensive effort, leading only by four at the last break.
The 76ers immediately started their comeback, as Iguodala found some good looks and converted them, and Dalembert and Steven Hunter hustled on both ends with boards. Korver made a three-pointer to tie the scores, and Iguodala dunked on Jerry Stackhouse to give Philly the lead. Another couple of baskets increased it to six, and Dallas looked wrecked and out of it.
However, Johnson's substitutions came at just the right time. Josh Howard came back on to make a three, as did Dirk Nowitzki. Harris made a steal and dunk for his only points of the night, and these baskets were made with only the cost of four free throws, of which only two were made, a big factor in the result. Andre Miller was intentionally fouled with the scores tied at 86, with Johnson confident Dallas could pull off a winning three. Miller missed the first and made the second, leaving the Mavs one down. Johnson called a play, and instead of setting one for Dirk Nowitzki, gave the shot to Jason Terry. Jet repaid the trust by hitting a three-point shot coming off a screen, over Andre Iguodala, and Iguodala's subsequent shot missed.
Dallas boxscore
Philly boxscore
