Mavs show little fight in second loss to Blazers in a week
The bad blood brewing from last Saturday’s game between the Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trail Blazers didn’t spill over into an episode of WWE Raw, as many anticipated Friday at American Airlines Center.
Mavs backup center Salah Mejri and Portland big man Jusuf Nurkic, who shared a hard foul and hard feelings last week, played nice this time. But the result wasn’t much different than the last meeting, with the Mavericks losing 107-93 to the Blazers.
Damian Lillard scored 28 points and C.J. McCollum tossed in 20 for Portland, which has won four of five, including two against Dallas.
The Mavericks get no rest as they head to Denver for Saturday night’s matchup with the Nuggets.
Dallas (16-33) struggled again to produce a consistent offensive presence in the first half.
The Mavs shot 49 percent in the first quarter against Portland but went totally flat in the second quarter as head coach Rick Carlisle used his reserves deeper into the game.
With guard Devin Harris out with concussion symptoms and a personal matter, Dallas suited up just 11 players.
Starters Harrison Barnes, Dirk Nowitzki, Wes Matthews and Dennis Smith, Jr. were a combined 10-of-34 in the first half and finished 20-54.
As a team the Mavericks shot 40 percent – 33.3 percent from beyond the 3-point line – but those numbers were helped by a late shooting rally with the game out of reach.
Three times Dallas climbed within two points in the third quarter, the last at 65-63 at the 4:41 mark. But Portland (27-22)sprinted to a 20-4 burst in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
In addition to Lillard and McCollum, Portland got 15 points and 13 rebounds from Ed Davis, who hit 6 of 7 shots.
Portland shot 49.4% as a team.
The Blazers 9-0 run in the second quarter started a rally that put some cushion between the teams.
Portland ultimately made it a 21-4 streak.
As for the anticipated physicality between the teams, things didn’t approach rowdy until midway through the third quarter with Dallas closing to within 61-57.
Matthews got loose on a break-away and was fouled hard by McCollum, crashing his left shoulder and head into the padded support arch under the basket.
McCollum immediately tried to help Matthews up and the play was ruled a common foul.
That sparked the Mavs in some capacity, but to no avail.
Portland | 17 | 35 | 23 | 32 | — | 107 |
Dallas | 25 | 19 | 24 | 25 | — | 93 |
Portland | Min | FG-A | FT-A | R | F | Pt |
Aminu | 27:16 | 2-5 | 1-2 | 12 | 2 | 7 |
Harkless | 17:58 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
Nurkic | 17:25 | 6-10 | 0-0 | 8 | 0 | 12 |
Lillard | 35:47 | 9-18 | 8-11 | 3 | 2 | 29 |
McCollum | 33:29 | 9-14 | 1-1 | 4 | 2 | 20 |
Connaughton | 29:32 | 2-8 | 0-0 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
Davis | 27:39 | 6-7 | 3-3 | 13 | 2 | 15 |
Napier | 26:45 | 0-6 | 5-5 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Collins | 15:21 | 3-5 | 1-1 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
Leonard | 2:56 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Layman | 2:56 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Vonleh | 2:56 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 240 | 39-79 | 19-23 | 54 | 17 | 107 |
Percentages: FG .494, FT .826. 3-Point Goals: 10-30, .333 (Lillard 3-8, Collins 2-2, Aminu 2-4, Connaughton 1-4, Harkless 1-4, McCollum 1-4, Napier 0-4). Team Rebounds: 5. Team Turnovers: 14 (14 PTS). Blocked Shots: 6 (Davis 3, Collins, Harkless, Nurkic). Turnovers: 14 (Lillard 4, Collins 2, Davis 2, Nurkic 2, Aminu, Harkless, Layman, McCollum). Steals: 4 (Aminu 2, Collins, Nurkic). Technical Fouls: coach Trail Blazers (Defensive three second), 6:25 third.
Dallas | Min | FG-A | FT-A | R | F | Pt |
Barnes | 34:29 | 6-15 | 7-7 | 7 | 1 | 21 |
Kleber | 25:57 | 2-6 | 2-2 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
Nowitzki | 21:04 | 2-11 | 2-2 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
Matthews | 32:09 | 5-14 | 2-4 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
Smith Jr. | 32:39 | 7-14 | 0-0 | 4 | 0 | 18 |
Ferrell | 27:49 | 2-9 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Barea | 17:28 | 3-7 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
Powell | 16:55 | 4-7 | 0-0 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
Mejri | 16:50 | 3-3 | 0-0 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
Collinsworth | 14:40 | 1-3 | 0-2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
Totals | 240 | 35-89 | 13-17 | 37 | 19 | 93 |
Percentages: FG .393, FT .765. 3-Point Goals: 10-30, .333 (Smith Jr. 4-7, Barnes 2-4, Kleber 1-2, Nowitzki 1-2, Barea 1-5, Ferrell 1-6, Powell 0-1, Matthews 0-3). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 5 (5 PTS). Blocked Shots: 3 (Barnes, Kleber, Powell). Turnovers: 5 (Barea, Barnes, Mejri, Nowitzki, Smith Jr.). Steals: 9 (Kleber 2, Smith Jr. 2, Barnes, Collinsworth, Matthews, Nowitzki, Powell).
Att.—19,876 (19,200). T—2:02.
Officials—Rodney Mott, J.T. Orr, Bennie Adams
This story was originally published January 26, 2018 at 10:48 PM with the headline "Mavs show little fight in second loss to Blazers in a week."