Houston distances itself from Mavericks early, holds on late
Mavericks’ head coach Rick Carlisle can preach defense all he wants.
But his team could do little to keep up with Houston as the Rockets nailed 10 of 14 3-point attempts in the first quarter of a 104-97 victory over Dallas on Wednesday at American Airlines Center.
It was Houston’s sixth consecutive victory over the Mavericks.
Houston (34-12) solidified its hold on second place in the Western Conference by doing what teams with a strong lineup of shooters do to inferior teams.
The Rockets got 25 points and 13 assists from James Harden, 23 points from Trevor Ariza and 17 from Eric Gordon, including 4-of-7 from distance, and never let up with the outside shooting.
Houston put up 51 three pointers for the game, which wasn’t even a season high, and connected on 21.
Meanwhile, whatever defense Dallas pushed out on the perimeter, didn’t translate on the offensive side.
The Mavs simply couldn’t keep up, getting 29 points from Wesley Matthews, which matched his season-high, and 19 from Yogi Ferrell.
But as Carlisle insisted recently, the NBA is a first-quarter league and his premise proved true.
The Rockets couldn’t miss from beyond the arc, hitting their first six 3-point tries and opening a 38-28 lead after one quarter.
As hot as they were in the first period, Houston was chilled in the second. The Rockets shot 20% (5 of 25) in a 13-point second quarter as the Mavericks pulled within 51-45 at intermission.
The Rockets got back to business in the third quarter, knocking down 12 of 21 shots with Gordon giving Houston its biggest lead, 76-58, on a three pointer at the 4:04 mark.
Gordon finished with 17 points and forward Clint Capela had 16 points and 13 rebounds.
The Rockets led 85-67 after three quarters, similar to when the two teams met in Houston and the score was 92-58 going into the fourth quarter.
Despite the one-sided affair, the Mavs made good use of the blowout minutes.
Dirk Nowitzki, who played only 15 minutes, made a cameo appearance in the third quarter, and ended the night with seven points.
Harrison Barnes scored 10 points and had four rebounds in 33 minutes.
Rookie Kyle Collinsworth, who signed his second 10-day contract of the season with the Mavs Wednesday, logged 14 minutes while Ferrell got a chance to get quality looks on 6-of-9 shooting and 32 minutes.
Former Baylor All-American Johnathan Motley suited up after a promotion from the G League Frisco Legends, but didn’t see action until the final two minutes of the game.
He backed in Houston’s Luc Mbah a Moute for one his two buckets in the closing minutes and finished with five points.
The Mavericks get Portland on Friday at the AAC before traveling to Denver for the second game of a back-to-back Saturday against the Nuggets.
Houston | 38 | 13 | 34 | 19 | — | 104 |
Dallas | 28 | 17 | 22 | 30 | — | 97 |
Houston | Min | FG-A | FT-A | R | F | Pt |
Anderson | 25:00 | 2-6 | 1-2 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
Ariza | 31:53 | 8-17 | 2-3 | 4 | 3 | 23 |
Capela | 32:33 | 7-8 | 2-4 | 13 | 2 | 16 |
Harden | 32:32 | 9-16 | 1-2 | 5 | 1 | 25 |
Paul | 30:19 | 3-12 | 3-4 | 7 | 3 | 12 |
Gordon | 30:16 | 6-11 | 1-2 | 3 | 1 | 17 |
Mbah a Moute | 21:36 | 1-7 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Tucker | 19:28 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
Black | 12:07 | 0-2 | 1-4 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
Green | 4:16 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 240:00 | 36-82 | 11-23 | 44 | 19 | 104 |
Percentages: FG .439, FT .478. 3-Point Goals: 21-51, .412 (Harden 6-10, Ariza 5-14, Gordon 4-7, Paul 3-8, Anderson 2-5, Mbah a Moute 1-6, Green 0-1). Team Rebounds: 10. Team Turnovers: 9 (15 PTS). Blocked Shots: 3 (Capela 2, Harden). Turnovers: 9 (Capela 2, Gordon 2, Paul 2, Anderson, Harden, Mbah a Moute). Steals: 8 (Capela 2, Paul 2, Anderson, Ariza, Harden, Mbah a Moute).
Dallas | Min | FG-A | FT-A | R | F | Pt |
Barnes | 33:22 | 5-12 | 0-0 | 5 | 2 | 10 |
Kleber | 8:43 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Nowitzki | 14:55 | 2-7 | 1-2 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
Matthews | 38:05 | 10-18 | 2-2 | 4 | 2 | 29 |
Smith Jr. | 30:15 | 3-11 | 4-5 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
Ferrell | 32:28 | 6-9 | 3-3 | 4 | 3 | 19 |
Barea | 26:48 | 1-9 | 0-0 | 7 | 2 | 3 |
Powell | 23:47 | 1-4 | 0-2 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
Collinsworth | 14:50 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 7 | 1 | 3 |
Mejri | 14:33 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 10 | 3 | 6 |
Motley | 2:14 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
Totals | 240:00 | 35-82 | 12-18 | 49 | 21 | 97 |
Percentages: FG .427, FT .667. 3-Point Goals: 15-35, .429 (Matthews 7-14, Ferrell 4-5, Nowitzki 2-3, Smith Jr. 1-3, Barea 1-5, Kleber 0-1, Barnes 0-2, Powell 0-2). Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 13 (16 PTS). Blocked Shots: 2 (Matthews, Mejri). Turnovers: 13 (Smith Jr. 4, Powell 3, Matthews 2, Barea, Barnes, Ferrell, Mejri). Steals: 5 (Matthews 2, Barnes, Mejri, Powell). Att.—19,378 (19,200). T—2:06. Officials—Bill Kennedy, Aaron Smith, Michael Smith
This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 10:39 PM with the headline "Houston distances itself from Mavericks early, holds on late."