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Saturday, Nov. 6 10:30pm ET
Mavericks ruin Warriors' home opener | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- It was a recipe for success in the Dallas Mavericks' season-opening victory over Golden State and five days later they were at it again. Michael Finley scored 23 points and Cedric Ceballos had 22, renewing Dallas' fastbreak offense and leading the Mavericks past cold-shooting Golden State 120-97 Saturday night to ruin the Warriors' home opener. Dallas also defeated Golden State 108-96 in Tuesday's season opener at Reunion Arena. "We knew it was their home opener and they were going to come in with a lot of energy," said Robert Pack, who with 12 points was among six Mavericks scoring in double figures. "We wanted to match that. Fortunately, we were able to get out in the first half, get some easy baskets and we were able to get a lead that we were able to hold on to." Dirk Nowitzki added 20 points for the Mavericks, while Erick Strickland had 19 and Shawn Bradley had 10 to go with 10 rebounds and seven blocked shots as the Mavericks sent Golden State to its fourth straight loss in a home opener. The Warriors remained winless in three games this season. "Everybody was aggressive," Strickland said. "Everybody passed the ball well. I think we got a lot of good open looks. We have to continue to play that way. That is the way we will be successful." Antawn Jamison and Chris Mills had 21 points apiece to lead the Warriors, who had trouble matching Dallas' speed on the floor and struggled to maintain the frenetic offensive pace set by the Mavericks, especially in the first half. "We are out of sync. We don't have the energy that we normally have," Jamison said. "The last few games, guys have beaten us to loose balls, up and down the court." Added Mavericks coach Don Nelson: "We were really clicking in the open-court offensively and did a lot of things in finishing the shot at the basket tonight." Golden State also hurt itself with poor shooting. John Starks, who is grousing about coming off the bench rather than starting, was 2-of-11, while the starting backcourt of Mookie Blaylock and Mills finished a combined 11-of-31 from the field. The Mavericks opened a 34-18 lead in the first quarter and led 64-43 at halftime, using a relentless transition game that produced one layup after another. Thirty-eight of the Mavericks' first-half points came inside and they outshot the Warriors 51 percent to 36 percent in the game. Golden State put together a mild run early in the third quarter but then unraveled. Mills drained a 3-pointer to pull the Warriors to 68-51 but Blaylock missed a chance to cut the deficit to 15 points, blowing a layup. The miss led to a fastbreak that turned into a three-point play by Strickland and started a 15-4 run ballooning Dallas' lead to 83-55. The flurry included Pack stealing the ball from an unsuspecting Starks and going in for an uncontested layup, and Nowitzki hitting a rainbow from 3-point range. Golden State coach P.J. Carlesimo said the Warriors are still trying to recover from a rash of injuries in the preseason that at one time affected seven of their players. "We are up against guys now that have been practicing and are ready to go," he said. "We played poorly and Dallas played well. You can't have a four-week preseason and have critical guys miss as many practices and games and try to come out and play." Game notesAdonal Foyle had a career-high seven blocked shots for the Warriors. ... Golden State hasn't won a home opener since a 98-93 victory over Denver on Nov. 7, 1995. ... The Mavericks' Randell Jackson missed the game with a bruised right thigh. ... Finley has played 299 straight games, the fourth-longest active consecutive game streak. He was among three Dallas players last year (A.C. Green and Hubert Davis) to play in all 50 games last year. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Dallas Clubhouse Golden State Clubhouse RECAPS Indiana 115 Boston 108
Dallas 120
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