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Dirk played his best game of the season, scoring 30 points on 12-17 shooting, but it wasn't enough to overcome a balanced Pacers attack highlighted by second-year guard Paul George's 7 three-pointers.
Dirk Nowitzki is doing his best to keep his Dallas Mavericks ahead of the Indianapolis Pacers with 20 points on nine of 11 shooting in the first half, and the Mavericks have a 53-52 lead at the break. Outside of Nowitzki no other Maverick is in double figures with Vince Carter being next in line with nine points.
The Pacers are in this game due to Paul George who has 12 points on four of six from three-point range and as a team they made 7 of 14 from behind the arc, and then David West has scored 14 points and is shooting a perfect six for six from the field and two for two from the line. The difference in this game is three-point shooting as the Mavericks have made three from three-point range, but they have made up the difference by shooting 50 percent from the field.
The Mavericks did struggle early as the Pacers had a seven-point lead right of the gate, but they have crawled back into this game and now have a 53-52 lead at the half.
In a recent interview with ESPN Dallas on 103.3 FM, NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said that Dirk Nowitzki's struggles are due to the fact that he's getting older. Barkley, recently famous for his terrible golf swing and the impressions of him on Saturday Night Live, also said "bro" more than anybody should be legally allowed to in a short period of time.
Dirk's getting old bro. Father Time is undefeated. You know, Dirk's been a great great player for a long time and he's been in the playoffs pretty much every year. Father Time is catching up with him.
That's the way it happens, you drop off the face of the earth. His days of being the man are over. I hate to break it to you. I lived it. When you're a great player it hits you quicker, too, more than anybody because you have further to fall. You can be a guy like who's a good solid player and you can hide it for a couple years, but when you're a great player you have further to fall.
Nowitzki is in his 14th season with the Mavericks. Since the 2000 season, he had averaged at least 20 points per game, but this season he has only averaged 16.2.
Barkley also said that the Mavericks don't have a chance at winning the NBA Championship this season because they can't get past the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Mavericks aren't going to win the championship bro, it's over. They can't beat Oklahoma City, I don't think they can beat Denver or Portland, cause those are the three best teams I've seen in the West all year. They are too old and too slow. Losing Tyson Chandler and DeShawn Stevenson really killed them.
The Mavericks are 1-3 against the Thunder and Nuggets, having beating Oklahoma City once and lost to them twice and Denver once. They have not yet played the Trail Blazers, but they're scheduled to on Saturday, Feb. 11.
While Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks have slipped under the NBA's discipline radar for the last few years, you had to figure the league wouldn't ignore the actions of either Cuban or Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle in the aftermath of Dallas 95-86 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday.
Cuban was fined $75,000 for the comments he made about the officiating to reporters afterwards:
"Look, I haven't said a whole lot about the officiating in a long, long time, but I haven't seen it this bad in a long, long time," Cuban said. "Guys miss calls; that's part of the game. You're not always going to have a great crew. Officials have got to learn that's part of the game.
"But these were officials that have been part of the league for years, and it was just off-the-charts bad. And if no one ever says anything, nothing ever happens."
Carlisle, meanwhile, was fined $35,000 for his decision to turn a loose ball that bounced towards the Mavericks bench into an opportunity to practice his kick-ball form:
After dropping a closely fought 95-86 home game to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, the Dallas Mavericks will try to defend their home court when the Indiana Pacers, who have moved to the top of the Eastern Conference this season, come into town on Friday.
Indiana, after adding George Hill and David West in the off-season, has taken a dramatic step forward from last year's squad, who made the playoffs as the No. 8 seed before battling Chicago in a 4-1 first-round series that was closer than the final results might seem.
The Pacers are a balanced team offensively, with all five of their starters -- Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, Paul George, Darren Collison and West -- averaging in double figures.
Granger, a 6'8 230 small forward, is the team's leading scorer. Dallas figures to use Shawn Marion heavily on the Pacers All-Star, who prefers to use his 6'8 release point to loft shots from the perimeter.
Their other main weapon is Hibbert, a massive 7'2 260 center from Georgetown, who plays with a skill level that belies his size. Hibbert is the type of player that Brendan Haywood, who is expected to play after missing the Thunder game with tightness in his lower back, needs to be able to shut down in the low post to justify the more than $7 million he receives annually.
Neither of the Pacers top scorers are a traditional first-option, which is why Indiana's 8th rated defense is the key for them to advance past the first round of the playoffs.
With Dirk Nowitzki still struggling with knee issues, the Mavericks will need a balanced scoring effort from Rodrigue Beaubois, Delonte West, Vince Carter, Lamar Odom and Marion to keep pace with the Pacers.
The 7:30 PM game will be televised regionally on Fox Sports Southwest.
For the latest news and notes on the Mavericks, head over to Mavs Moneyball, while Indy Cornrows has all the pre-game angles from Indiana covered.
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Mavericks Vs. Pacers Final Score: Dallas Has Poor Second Half In Loss To Indiana
Dirk Nowitzki's season-high 30 points were not enough as the Dallas Mavericks fell to the Indianapolis Pacers 98-87. The loss to the Pacers was the second in a row for the Mavericks which followed a hot streak where they won six of their last seven games. The Pacers Paul George had the hot hand tonight as he scored a career-high 30 points and went 7-of-11 from three-point range which was one more three-pointer than the entire Mavericks teams.
The difference in three-point shooting was the reason why the Pacers were able to get past the Mavericks Friday night as they made 12 compared to only six for the Mavericks. The two teams did shot identical from the field at 42 percent with the free throw difference being only one in favor of the Pacers.
The second half is when things fell apart for the Mavericks as the Pacers scored the first seven points in the first two minutes of the third quarter and never trailed the rest of the way. Nowitzki was non-existent in the second half as he did not score his first basket until 5:28 left in the game and by then the Mavericks were already down 15 points.
The Mavericks are 0-8 when trailing after three quarters this season.
Feb 03 10:43p by Jeremy Mauss