Connect with us

Mavs’ rally falls short against Warriors, 125-122

No. 30 delivered a dagger for win No. 30 for Golden State on Friday night as he’s done so many times before.

With the Mavericks scoring 12 points in the last two minutes to force a 122-122 tie off Harrison Barnes’ finger-roll, Steph Curry swished in a three from the top of the key with three seconds left as the Golden State Warriors escaped a frenzied American Airlines Center with win.

Curry finished with a game-high 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting including 6-of-13 from deep.

Dallas, which entered the game riding a four-game winning streak due in large part to its newfound ability to close out games in “clutch time”, the last five minutes of a game within five points, kept the contest close despite trailing 35-26 after the first.

Dennis Smith Jr.’s play had been a catalyst for the Mavericks’ resurgence and he finished with 14 points on 6-of-18 shooting. He had several thunderous dunks and key assists that helped spark the Mavs’ final rally.

“I’m pleased with how he’s progressing,” Rick Carlisle said. “He’s not one to cower from the limelight. If you ask him, he’ll probably just say he needed to play a little bit better. He’s built for this.”

Dallas cut the deficit to six at halftime, 67-61 and trailed by just two entering the final frame. Golden State went on an an 11-3 run to start the fourth before Dallas began chipping away.

Barnes finished with 18 points. Wesley Matthews was the Mavericks’ high scoring man with 22. In total, seven Dallas players reached double figures in scoring.

Yogi Ferrell finished with 11 points including some big three-pointers down the stretch after a slow shot and even had a chance to put Dallas ahead late after an inbounds steal lead to a Matthews three that tied the game.

Dallas takes on Chicago at 7:30 p.m. Friday at home in their second contest of this four-game homestand.

I'm Zack Cunningham, a broadcast journalism major from Abilene Christian University's class of 2008. I've lived in Texas for 28 of my 31 years on this Earth and I've followed the Mavericks since 1998. My first memory of them was the 2001 playoffs and being extremely happy when they beat the Jazz, but sad when they lost to the Spurs in five games in the conference semifinals. However, seeing Dirk drop 42 stands out to me, punctuated by his dunk in garbage time. I covered high school sports for the Cleburne Times-Review from 2008-12 before moving into the tech industry. Most recently, in 2015 covered the Mavericks for the Fanatic briefly before moving to work with Mike Fisher at DallasBasketball.com. I am married to my beautiful wife, Jessica, and have been for just over five years now. We live in Carrollton with our dog, Zara, and cat, Drake. I'm looking forward to covering them again this season with the Fanatic!

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Recent Posts