Dallas Mavericks defeat the Portland Trailblazers 105-99

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Portland Trailblazers, 105-99 to get Rick Carlisle his 500th win as a head coach. The super forward of the Blazers, LaMarcus Aldridge, gave his all but his 27 points weren’t enough to stave off the Mavericks. For the Blazers, Aldridge shot 11 of 22 for his 27 points and had 10 rebounds. He had ample support as three other Blazers finished in double figures. Wes Matthews had 21 points on 7 for 16 shooting, with 4 assists. The potential rookie of the year, Damien Lillard, had 19 points but he only shot 6 for 17 while adding 6 assists. J.J. Hickson added 14 points on 5 for 9 shooting, with his 10 rebounds.

The Blazers, as a team, shot almost 5% poorer from the field than the Mavericks. Blazers shot 42.9% to the 47.7% of the Mavericks. It was their poor three point shooting which did them in. They went 10 for 30 from downtown. The Mavericks also made 10 threes, but they attempted 20. Nicholas Batum was bothered with an ailing wrist and wasn’t himself today. He finished with 9 points on 3 for 8 shooting, in 40 minutes of action.

”I think we definitely had a chance to win tonight,” Aldridge said. ”I thought we had a tough stretch tonight when they had us down by one and then we had turnover after turnover. We still have to do better.”

Dallas Mavericks also had four players in double figures. Led by O.J. Mayo, who gave them 28 points on an excellent 11 for 14 shooting, with 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Vince Carter contributed 17 points off the bench on 7 for 15 shooting. ”There’s a reason he’s such an important guy to us,” Carlisle said of Vince. ”All year long, he’s been one of our facilitators. He came up with a couple of big ones for us when the shot clock was down.” Both Carter and Mayo made three 3 pointers. Dirk Nowitzki had 16 points on 7 for 19 shooting with his 8 rebounds. Uncharacteristic shooting percentage for the big man.

“Both teams made [second half] adjustments. I thought they were more aggressive picking up our point guards and trying to disrupt the backcourt.”- Blazers’ coach Terry Stotts. The Mavericks started off loose, and tightened their defense as the game went on. Here’s how the Blazers’ scoring column reads per quarter.

1st-33, 2nd- 28, 3rd- 21, 4th-17

As the game went on, they tightened the pressure and forced the Blazers into turnovers. Although they only finished with six, those six were crucial down the stretch. While this win helped the Mavericks to chip away at the Blazers in the playoff race, the story in this one was about coach Rick Carlisle getting his 500th career win.

“It means I’ve been around a long time. I’m getting old. But it means I’ve had a lot of good players. It’s meaningful, but I’m not into those kinds of things. I’m into the day-to-day stuff. One relief I have is I think after tomorrow I won’t have to hear about it again for a while, so that’s good.”- said Rick Carlisle on the meaning of getting 500 wins.

Think of the pressure Sachin felt when he was chasing his 100th century. That’s in some way akin to what the Mavericks coach must have felt. He is now the 28th coach who has won 500 games or more in the NBA. Among the coaches who are currently active in the league, there are only five in total who have achieved that milestone. Denver’s George Karl, Minnesota’s Rick Adelman, San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich and Boston’s Doc Rivers are the other four. Carlisle has lost 353 games as a coach for a percentage of 58.6%. Prior to this game, Carlisle had said, “It’s day to day and I don’t keep track of any of that stuff. If you do, you’re getting distracted from your job. And this year is no time to get distracted.” added Carlisle. So he was thinking about it but he wasn’t keeping track of it. When pressed he said ”It’s meaningful, but I’m not into that kind of stuff. I’m into the day-to-day stuff.”

Looking at the day to day stuff, the Dallas Mavericks improved to 21-28 and dropped the Blazers to 25-24. The Mavericks are 11th in the West and seem to be out of the playoffs already, while the Blazers are holding on to the 9th spot. Here are the highlights from the first half of this game-