|
|
 |
 |
|
| |
Tuesday, Mar. 14 8:30pm ET
Pacers suffer most lopsided loss all year | |||||
|
| ||||||
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
 GAME FLOW
DALLAS (AP) -- The Dallas Mavericks hired Del Harris as their defensive coordinator on Monday. It didn't take them long to put some of Harris' teachings into practice. Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points, 13 during a 15-0 run to open the second half, and the Mavericks limited Indiana to 33 percent shooting from the field in a 111-90 rout of the Pacers.
"Everybody who has the talent to play in the NBA can play defense," said Harris, the former head coach of the Lakers, Rockets and Bucks. "Hopefully this is something we can build on. Everybody took it upon themselves to improve on their defensive approach." Steve Nash added 21 points and Michael Finley had 16 points and 11 assists to help the Mavericks to their second-largest margin of victory this season. It also was the Pacers' most lopsided defeat of the season. Rookie Greg Buckner had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Mavericks, his first career double-double. Travis Best led Indiana with a season-high 26 points and Jalen Rose added 18 points and 13 rebounds. Austin Croshere had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Eastern Conference-leading Pacers. Reggie Miller had only seven points, 12 under his team-leading average and just one better than his lowest game this season. Miller has been bothered by a bruised right quad. "We played defense tonight and when you do that, that gives you a chance to win no matter how you shoot," said Nash, who drew the defensive assignment against Miller. "He (Harris) had us aware of what we needed to do defensively." The Pacers matched their worst shooting percentage of the season, but Rose said his team wasn't bothered by the Mavericks' defense, which had been allowing 103.1 points per game, third worst in the league. "We got a lot of open looks we weren't able to knock down," Rose said. "We weren't able to establish an inside presence. Their defense wasn't overwhelming. We just didn't hit our shots." Indiana fell to 14-17 on the road, which isn't bad. But the Pacers are an incredible 28-3 at home. "We're a team trying to win a championship," Rose said. "So we need to concentrate on correcting our flaws and we haven't been playing well on the road." Dallas took a 36-18 first-quarter lead and was in front by as many as 20 in the second quarter. Best scored 15 points in the second quarter to keep the Pacers within range, but Dallas held a 60-46 halftime lead. The Mavericks maintained first-half momentum by opening the third quarter with 15 straight points, including three 3-pointers by Nowitzki, for a 75-46 lead. "This is a good win against a great team," said Nowitzki, who hit 10 of 13 field goal attempts, 4-for-5 from 3-point range. "We played with great energy tonight. Our defense has been the worst in some of our (recent) games. Tonight it was good." Pacers coach Larry Bird was impressed by Nowitzki, who consistently burned Croshere. "Austin Croshere had no clue what he was doing out there tonight," Bird said. "Austin usually plays decent defense, but tonight Nowitzki was the better player by far." Indiana, which had won four of its previous five games, failed to score over the first four minutes of the third quarter until Croshere's follow. Dallas went on to lead by as many as 32 points in the third quarter and took an 86-61 advantage into the final quarter.
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Indiana Clubhouse Dallas Clubhouse RECAPS Toronto 85 Golden State 78
Dallas 111
  | |||||
