Lillard, McCollum Too Much For Dallas Mavericks

Behind a big night from the star back court in Portland, the Dallas Mavericks lost their second straight game.

Sitting right above the Mavericks in the Western Conference standings, the Blazers came into Dallas looking to hold off a Mavericks team who is making their push for the playoffs.

Portland was coming off two consecutive losses to Dallas last week and Oklahoma City just a few nights ago before traveling to Dallas on Tuesday night. Having everyone but Festus Ezeli healthy, Portland had the full squad available on Tuesday.

For Dallas, they had been riding the Yogi Ferrell tidal wave up until last night in Denver. They had won four straight games until losing to Denver by 23 points on Monday night.

Dallas came into the matchup still missing Deron Williams, J.J. Barea and Andrew Bogut due to injury.

The Game

With Dirk continuing to play on the second night of a back-to-back with the Mavericks pushing for the playoffs, Dallas suited up their same starting lineup since Yogi Ferrell took over at point for Deron Williams. Damian Lillard put up 10 first quarter points as the Blazers shot 54% from the field and took a five point lead into the second quarter.

Dorian Finney-Smith came off the bench and gave the Mavericks a much-needed spark on both ends of the court. But that didn’t stop the Lillard show as the star point guard lit up the Mavs for 12 second quarter points to take his total to 22 points going into halftime.

In the third, Seth Curry went down holding his left shoulder where he would eventually head to the locker room. Curry checked back into the game later in the quarter, but continued his quiet night from the field. Even behind Nowitzki getting into double-figures, Dallas was unable to take the lead as the Blazers and Lillard continued to control the game.

Dallas made their run in the fourth quarter after taking a one point lead behind three free throws from Dirk Nowitzki. In what is becoming the norm for the Blazers/Mavericks matchups, the fourth quarter was a fun one for the fans. Behind two late-game plays from Yogi Ferrell, the Mavericks and Blazers were trading baskets until the very end.

Dirk Nowitzki nearly brought the place down with two late game threes, one that put the Mavericks up by one under a minute to play. But with three seconds to go, C.J. McCollum drained a floater in the lane to beat the Mavericks 114-113.

Deciding Statistic

As mentioned above, Yogi Ferrell and Seth Curry had big nights against the Blazers last week as they out shined the Blazers star back court. On Tuesday night in Dallas, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum took it upon themselves to make a statement.

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In the deciding statistic for the win, Lillard and McCollum combined for 61 points.

For Ferrell and Curry, they combined for 16 points.

Player of the Game

The player of the game goes to Lillard’s back court teammate, C.J. McCollum.

After being shown up by Yogi Ferrell last week, Lillard and McCollum looked like their normal selves on Tuesday night as they controlled the game the majority of the night. McCollum finished with 32 points on 13-21 shooting from the field, including the game winning shot with .3 tenths of a second remaining.

For Dallas, Harrison Barnes led the way with 26 points.

The Mavericks welcome the Utah Jazz to town once again as they look to avoid a three game losing streak.