Game Recap: Mavs Lose Power During Thunder Storm, 99-86

Recap courtesy of LJRotter.  Missed the whole game due to work:(  

In the trade of the season (so far), the Dallas Mavericks acquired former All-Star Caron Butler, along with his Wizard teammates Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson. The Wizards, in return, got Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross. Mavericks fans have been itching for some sort of action from the Dallas front office, and in their first game back from the All-Star Break, the "New Guys" will see some action, despite not having a had chance to practice. Will they provide an instant spark, or will some more work be needed to send the Mavericks back to their winning ways? 

Game as a Whole:

The Mavericks had an auspicious start, with the first quarter going quite well for players new and old. But somewhere along the line at the end of the second quarter, things started to unravel. Terry never really got going, and his few points in the fourth quarter were too little, too late. With all his new toys on the bench, it’s strange that Carlisle brought Barea in during key minutes. He didn’t seem to utilize Haywood as much as I would have liked, though Dampier didn’t have too bad of a game. 

It’s hard to watch the team collapse the same way, game after game. The Thunder are a young, talented team. Some might say they’re up and coming, with their 7-game winning streak, second only to that of the Cavaliers, who have 13 straight wins. This is no excuse for Dallas, who let their defense go soft as the game went on. The teams below them in the West are sneaking up, especially Oklahoma City, who is now just a half game back. The Mavericks, who have dropped 6 of their last 10, need to figure out how to best utilize their three new teammates, and fast. 

Lets look at the quarters...

1st Quarter:

• Caron Butler will start the game without having had a full practice with his new team.
• Marion, Nowitzki, Dampier & Kidd join him. 
• Mavericks win the tip.
• 11:14, Dirk puts up a nice shot fake, then makes his actual shot to put the Mavs on the board. He gets the ensuing defensive rebound on the other end.
• 10:48, Kidd throws down a three. Looks like he’s energized with this new team.
• Caron Butler’s first shot is forced, and he misses badly. Get those jitters out now.
• 8:55, Marion tries to run a fast break that is broken up by Kevin Durrant, who fouls. Marion makes both free throws.
• 8:32, Marion makes the short jumper with the assist from Dirk.
• Caron’s pass to Dirk is stolen, and Dirk fouls Sefolosha on the break. Dirk already has 2 fouls.
• 6:59, Caron Butler makes his first 20-footer as a Maverick.
• 5:56, Matrix makes his weird little shot. It’s ugly, but it’s two points.
• 5:22, Kidd steps into his second three-point basket of the quarter to put the Mavericks back up by 6.
• 4:29, Butler with some nasty head fakes, followed by a nice two.
• 4:00, Haywood with a big layup for his Mavericks debut.
• 2:24, Haywood powers under the basket but gets fouled by Ibaka. He makes one of two. Are these boys going to bring down our free throw percentage?
• :32.6, Haywood with a slam dunk. Welcome to Big D, sir. 

2nd Quarter:

• 11:18, Butler tries to make a power move under the basket, misses and gets his own rebound, but gets called for a travel.
• 10:50, Haywood with the layup, assisted by his teammate Butler.
• 9:48, Barea seeing some playing time, but blowing it with missed shots.
• 9:20, Dirk with his trademark jumpshot.
• 8:58, Dirk drives through the lane and manages to put his wild shot in for the and-1. Harden sits on the ground, incredulous.
• 7:50, Dirk gets a kind roll for the short jumper.
• 6:25, Harden is unable to guard the much taller Dirk, who puts it in for two.
• Stevenson enters the game for the Mavericks. All the ‘New Guys’ are seeing some game time.
• 4:38, Dirk able to score over Green. They can’t find a good match-up to stop him.
• 3:20, Dirk is 7-9 from the floor, this one comes off the assist from Dampier.
• 2:06, Terry gets his first basket of the night: a three from Dirk.
• :28.9, Caron Butler gets his 10^th point as a Maverick with an authoritative dunk. 

3rd Quarter:

• 10:10, Kidd gets the Mavericks their first points of the quarter with an open three.
• The Thunder’s defense is clamping down on Dirk. They’ll need to find an alternative.
• Not a lot of action so far in the quarter. A shot clock violation.
• 8:21, Dirk with a fadeaway jumper from the foul line. He has 17. The OKC announcers are just in awe of him.
• Neither team is scoring very well this quarter.
• 5:54, Green blocks Butler as he goes up for a basket. I prefer the aggressiveness over settling for jump shots.
• 5:04, Kidd prevents an OKC fast break with a great hustle. Initially called out on the Thunder, the refs overturn it and it stays on their end.
• 4:06, Terry dishes it to Haywood underneath, but he’s fouled on the way up. He misses them both.
• Thunder go on a 10-0 run in the third. Dallas has only scored 5 points, on 13% shooting.
• 1:20, Dirk tries to put in a Terry miss, but gets fouled. He puts in both free throws, and gives the Mavericks some sorely needed points.
• :31.0, Butler puts in a three. The Mavericks are still down 11.
• Ibaka has a technical foul called on him, and Dirk makes the extra point.
• Not the best quarter I’ve seen the Mavericks play…  

4th Quarter:

• Terry turns the ball over by dribbling the ball off his own foot. Not a good start.
• Again, not much to speak of. Just some missed shots.
• 9:54, Terry attacking the rim for his second basket of the game.
• 9:22, Dirk gets a basket off of a set play for the inbound.
• 7:43, Dampier with 13 rebounds, and now 4 points with the second chance basket.
• 7:07, Dirk is sent to the line for two. He is 105 of 110 in the 4^th quarter for the season.
• 6:27, Marion with the excellent hustle to give the Mavericks another chance at the basket, and then ends up scoring himself.
• 5:49, Terry with a much-needed three-point basket. The Mavericks pull to within 9, but Harden responds with a Thunder three.
• Mavericks miss a chance to cut the lead to 8 when Dirk misses a tough shot.
• 4:04, Terry gets a shooter’s roll on the three point basket.
• Marion’s shot is blocked by Collison, who then saves it inbounds to OKC.
• Westbrook misses two huge free throws, leaving the door open for the Mavericks. However, Dirk is unable to take advantage.
• Mavericks fall apart in the second half for yet another game.
• There’s nothing to record. Just poorly executed basketball. 

Some Choice Statistics:

(Thanks mavstats)

• The Mavericks are the oldest team in the NBA. The average age? 30 years, 282 days.
• The 11 points scored in the 3^rd Quarter were a season-low for the Mavericks.
• Dallas is 1-4 in games after big (5+ players) trades since 1997. 

Closing Thoughts:

Last game, zdgman finished with this: "Mark Cuban has to be itching for a trade of some sort." Well, we got our trade. In all fairness, the 'New Guys', as Dirk affectionately called them, didn’t get a chance to practice with the team before tonight’s game. Let’s hope a practice or two will help them gel, and give them some sort of strategy to climb out of this slump.