Mavericks 97, Grizzlies 88
DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki put his recent shooting slump behind him and scored a team-high 20 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 97-88 victory over the struggling Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night at American Airlines Center.
The Mavs (15-12) bounced back from their worst defeat of the season Wednesday at Indiana. Dallas seized the lead in an otherwise even first half with about two minutes to go in the second quarter.
Dallas scored on its final six possessions of the half, and caught a big break when Memphis forward Matt Barnes crashed into guard Deron Williams attempting a half-court heave to beat the buzzer. Williams made all three free throws for a 55-49 halftime lead.
From there it was all Dallas. Memphis' season-long cold-shooting continued with 29.4-percent shooting in a 17-point third quarter. The Mavs controlled the tempo and gradually increased the lead without much of a push from the Grizzlies, who fell to .500 at 14-14. With 5:23 to play in the game, Dallas took a 93-75 lead on backup center JaVale McGee's fifth dunk of the game and third alley-oop, giving him 10 points in his best outing since joining Dallas in the offseason.
Nowitzki was money from the outside, canning 7-of-13 shots, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, where he struggled to the tune of 3-for-19 in his previous four games. Dallas center ZaZa Pachulia grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass against Memphis' big boys, center Mark Gasol and forward Zach Randolph.
Mavs forward Chandler Parsons had one of his better efforts with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in a season-high 32 minutes as he continues to ramp up his minutes coming off knee surgery. Guard Deron Williams added 14 points and backup forward Charlie Villanueva contributed 10 points, including a couple of 3-pointers.
The Grizzlies continued to find scoring to be a difficult task. Guard Mike Conley had a team-high 20 points, but only two assists. Gasol had 16 points, but after that it was slim pickings with backup guard Mario Chalmers getting 12 points and Barnes adding 11. Forward Jeff Green was 0-for-7 from the floor for two points and Randolph, who again came off the bench, went 3-for-10 from the floor for seven points.
While Dallas didn't shoot the lights out at 43.6 percent, it was good enough against the grinding Grizzlies, who shot 37.5 percent overall, missing 50 of their 80 shot attempts.
NOTES: Mavericks G Devin Harris missed Friday's game with a strained right hamstring he sustained during Wednesday's loss at Indiana. On how long he could be out, Harris told the Dallas Morning News it could be two days or two weeks. ... Dallas G John Jenkins was cleared to play Friday after suffering a concussion earlier in the week during practice. ... Memphis F/C Brandan Wright underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Thursday and is expected to miss six to eight weeks. ... G Vince Carter, who enjoyed three successful seasons with Dallas before joining the Grizzlies last season, had appeared in just 11 of Memphis' 26 games entering Friday's game at Dallas. ... Grizzlies F Zach Randolph, who said all the right things regarding his demotion to the bench, passed Pete Maravich on Wednesday for 106th on the NBA's career scoring list.