The Southwest Division-leading Dallas Mavericks will hit
the road for three games starting with Monday's contest against the Golden
State Warriors at ORACLE Arena.
Dallas will also visit Denver and Oklahoma City on the road trip, and owns a
16-10 mark outside of Big D this season. It has lost four of its last five
games, including Friday's 117-108 setback versus the Minnesota Timberwolves at
American Airlines Center.
Dirk Nowitzki finished with 21 points and eight rebounds for the Mavericks,
who lost to the Timberwolves for the first time since January 4, 2006.
Nowitzki didn't get the start because he was late for shootaround. Jason Terry
tallied 20 points, while Rodrigue Beaubois added a season-high 17 points off
the bench in defeat.
"We're not going to be good until we play hard," Mavericks head coach Rick
Carlisle said. "But look, they shot 55 percent in the first quarter, the
second quarter was by far our best when they shot 43 and we did a much better
job, more proactive. They shot 60 in the third and 55 in the fourth. Those
numbers don't lie. We had another disappointing loss."
Terry has started the last nine games and has scored 20-plus points in six of
those for the Mavs, who are an NBA-best 14-4 in games after a loss.
Golden State will try to put the brakes on an eight-game losing streak tonight
and will resume a three-game homestand. In a 104-95 setback versus the
Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, Corey Maggette scored 24 points and rookie
Stephen Curry tallied 23 points for the Warriors, who got 11 points and a
career-high 11 boards from Anthony Tolliver.
"Not a good performance by us today, we just didn't look like a team tonight,"
Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "I had a lot of guys that didn't play well and
all at the same time. When you turn the ball over 23 times in this league it
makes it pretty hard to stay competitive. There will be nights like this, but
we will lick our wounds tomorrow and get ready to play."
Andris Biedrins had 18 rebounds in defeat and Monta Ellis scored 15 points.
Nelson is still 11 wins away from breaking Lenny Wilkens all-time record. He
is the second-winningest coach in NBA history (1,322), trailing only Wilkens
(1,332).
The Warriors, who haven't won since beating New Jersey on January 22, will
also host the Los Angeles Clippers and are 9-14 in Oakland this season.
The 2009-10 season series between Dallas and Golden State is tied at a game
apiece. These two teams have split the previous 18 encounters.
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