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Dallas Mavericks fall to Spurs in back-and-forth duel
By Jeff Caplan
DALLAS — Tony Parker must have been seeing double, yet it was his brilliant double-double that prevailed against Jason Kidd’s near-triple-double and J.J. Barea’s fourth straight whirling, double-figure extravaganza.
It took double overtime for Parker, and — oh, yeah — Tim Duncan to push the San Antonio Spurs past the Dallas Mavericks 133-126 on Tuesday at American Airlines Center, adding a spectacularly wild chapter, although a highly atypical one, to this usually grind-it-out, in-state rivalry.
Duncan scored eight of his 32 points in the second overtime in a terrific offensive showcase with Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki, who had 35 points and 10 rebounds. Both stars were the only players to top 50 minutes.
However, it was Parker’s tenacity throughout that carried the Spurs to their third straight victory. The Mavs, who earlier in the day learned they’ll be without Josh Howard for some time, saw their winning streak stopped at four.
The Spurs (12-8) pushed one game ahead of Dallas (11-9) in the Southwest Division and evened the season series at one game apiece.
"The whole grind-away thing in a 250-point game, I don’t know if I can buy into that," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "These are all great games. We just weren’t good enough over however many minutes it was."
Parker finished with 29 points, 10 assists and three steals. Kidd posted a season-high 24 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds in what started out as a battle royale between the two All-Star point guards.
Come the fourth quarter of a game that included 22 lead changes and 13 ties, the newcomer Barea turned the game into a -for-tat with the speedy Parker, who at times looked lead-footed trying to keep up with Barea’s stop-and-go dribble drives.
Barea scored 17 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and the overtimes. In the fourth quarter, the Spurs went up 101-96 before Barea scored eight of the Mavs’ next 11 points and broke down the defense and dished to Kidd for one of his three 3-pointers for a 105-103 lead as the sellout crowd watched on in amazement.
The game went into the first overtime tied at 107-107. Parker looked to have sealed it when Jason Terry was called for a flagrant foul with 19.8 seconds left. But Parker missed the second free-throw attempt and the Spurs couldn’t convert on the extra possession and led 116-113.
Kidd then buried a straightaway 3-pointer to send the Mavs to their first double overtime since March 2007.
In the final 5 minutes, the Mavs, who played Nowitzki, Barea and Terry the entire fourth quarter and all of the overtimes, and Kidd for the majority of the span, wore down after Kidd’s steal and layup gave the Mavs a 125-124 lead with 2:05 to go.
On the next possession, Bruce Bowen, the defensive antagonist, buried a wide-open corner 3-pointer to make it 127-125. Terry (19 points) fumbled the ball out of bounds for his game-high sixth turnover, equaling the Spurs’ team total.
Turnovers were crucial. When the Mavs study the game film they’ll look at a statistically odd third quarter in which they shot 85.7 percent (12-of-14), made three more free throws than the Spurs and outrebounded them, yet gained no ground and trailed 81-79.
The difference? A 10-0 margin off turnovers favoring the Spurs. The Mavs had four of their 13 turnovers in the quarter. The Spurs had none.
The Spurs finished with a 22-8 lead in points off turnovers and the suddenly high-scoring Spurs, mustering more than 100 points for the third straight game, led the Mavs in fast-break points 24-13.
Am I assuming correctly you meant Mason with Tony and Manu?
