Mavericks whip Grizzlies behind Noel’s first double-double with Dallas

Nerlens Noel may have been late for the team plane three days ago, but he was right on time Friday night at American Airlines Center.

Noel scored 15 points, collected a career-high-tying 17 rebounds and blocked two shots as the Mavs won a physical contest against the Memphis Grizzlies 104-100. The victory was the fifth against two losses for the Mavs (25-36) against the top eight teams — four in each conference — since the start of this year.

The final outcome also showed what type of player Noel can become once he’s dialed in. It was just the second double-double of the season for Noel, who picked up 16 points and 13 rebounds during a Jan. 25 game against the Milwaukee Bucks while he was still playing for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Going against the Grizzlies’ brutal front wall of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, Noel more than held his own. Gasol finished with just nine points and six rebounds, while Randolph had 20 points and nine boards.

Nerlens, in fact, almost had a double-double in the first half, finishing the opening two quarters with 13 points and nine boards as the Mavs led 51-50.

“These past three games the coaches have definitely encouraged me and I’m just learning the system,” Noel said. “This is the most comfortable I’ve felt since I’ve been here, so I really wanted to give a strong outing in my first start.”

Noel was slated to start Wednesday’s game at Atlanta. But he was 10 minutes late for the team’s charter flight to Atlanta, so coach Rick Carlisle decided to bring him off the bench again.

In making his first start with the Mavs on Friday, however, Noel didn’t disappoint.

“Defensively, he was active,” Carlisle said. “We had a good session yesterday and this morning before shootaround, and he’s getting there.”

Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 points, leaving him 38 points shy of 30,000 for his career.

Friday’s game showed how far the Mavs have come since losing at home to Memphis 80-64 back on Nov. 18. The Mavs went ahead of the Grizzlies 65-58 with 6:46 remaining in the third quarter after a driving basket by Yogi Ferrell.

But the score stood still for about four minutes after a bucket by Ferrell (17 points, five assists) put the Mavs ahead 94-85 with 6:25 left in the game.

No one scored again until Vince Carter nailed a free throw for the Grizzlies with 2:13 left.

The Mavs missed their final nine shots of the game, but also converted 10 of 11 free throws down the stretch.

Memphis sliced a 12-point deficit to 94-90 with 1:16 left. But Grizzlies coach David Fizdale was tagged for a technical foul, and Nowitzki hit a free throw.

Ferrell added two more from the charity line as the Mavs increased their lead to 97-90 with 46.6 seconds remaining.

The Mavs won the fierce rebounding battle 45-39 and also committed just nine turnovers after turning the ball over 22 times during Wednesday’s loss to Atlanta.

“We had to play with energy, with force,” Carlisle said. “And we had to keep attacking, and we did those things.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 11:02 PM with the headline "Mavericks whip Grizzlies behind Noel’s first double-double with Dallas."