Mavericks continue to roll, defeat Cavaliers
DALLAS -- Maybe LeBron James and Kyrie Irving should have just stayed in Cleveland after all. Wanting to build on the momentum of Sunday's win, the Cleveland Cavaliers stars decided they wanted to make the trip to Dallas and play on the second night of a back-to-back.
But the Cavs were by far the more listless team Monday night and were ultimately blown out by the hustling Dallas Mavericks, 104-97. For Dallas, the win completed a surprising two-night sweep of the San Antonio Spurs on the road and then the reigning NBA champions in front of a sellout crowd at the American Airlines Arena.
Cleveland, which played without forward Kevin Love, dropped to 2-6 on the road against teams from the Western Conference.
James led the Cavs (32-15) with 23 points on 9-of-19 shooting, and Irving had 18 points and five assists, but six turnovers -- just one fewer than the entire Dallas team. Overall, Cleveland was no match for a Mavs (18-30) team that is suddenly finding a spark from a pair of young guards -- Seth Curry, and the newly signed Yogi Ferrell. They led an up-tempo attack that made the Cavs look a step slow all night.
Ferrell, who signed a 10-day contract on Saturday, finished with 19 points, including a big 3-pointer with 4:18 to go that gave the Mavs an insurmountable 100-85 lead. He also had three assists and five rebounds. Curry, coming off a career-high 24 points in the win at San Antonio the night before, had 16 points, four assists and five rebounds.
Forward Harrison Barnes continued his monster season with a game-high 24 point and 11 rebounds. Guard Wesley Matthews had 21 points even though he was just 2-of-9 from beyond the arc. Dirk Nowitzki only got four shots in this game and hit three of them, finishing with eight points and six rebounds.
The Mavs continued the momentum they gained in the second half of Sunday's surprising win at San Antonio with an up-tempo first half that included runs of 9-0 and 22-7, plus a 29-point second-quarter for a 55-51 lead at halftime.
They overcame horrendous 3-point shooting (9 of 32) with tenacity on defense and aggressive offense.
Dallas stretched the lead to 81-70 after three. Cleveland's offense got stagnant and little movement to the basket. Relying on jumpers, the Cavs couldn't muster the offense needed to keep up with Dallas. Channing Frye had 13 points and Jordan McRae and Richard Jefferson were the only other Cavs players to score in double figures with 11 points each.
The Mavs got a strong contribution off the bench from forward Dwight Powell, who had 14 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes.
NOTES: Cavaliers F Kevin Love (lower back spasms) remained in Cleveland to undergo further testing Monday. No structural damage was found. Love was ruled out for the Cavaliers' Wednesday home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the timetable for his return is uncertain. Richard Jefferson started in Love's place. ... Mavericks C Andrew Bogut (strained right hamstring) sat out the game, as did G J.J. Barea (left calf) and G Deron Williams (left great toe). ... Dallas F Dirk Nowitzki entered Monday's game needing nine made field goals to pass Kevin Garnett (10,505) for 11th place on the NBA's all-time list. He hit just three. ... G Yogi Ferrell made his second consecutive start after signing a 10-day contract with Dallas on Saturday. On Sunday, he had nine points and seven assists as the Mavericks won at San Antonio. ... The Cavaliers won the first meeting against Dallas going away, 128-90 on Nov. 25 in Cleveland.