Mavericks 112, Warriors 99

That sound you don't quite hear is a collective sigh of relief coming up from within the bowels of Dallas, Texas. Where the Mavericks could not afford to go down 2 games to n0ne. And thankfully they didn't. Hard to say how much they actually earned it when Golden State's best player, Baron Davis, was ejected at the end of the third quarter and their second-best player, Stephen Jackson, was thrown out with 4 minutes left in the game. Not sure how much they earned it, but what I do know is that they got it. They got the win. I wish they would have gotten it without any question marks, but that's just now how it went. I'll take the win for now.

The Mavs got off to another slow start, though it wasn't nearly as disastrous as Game 1's sluggish beginning. But it wasn't much to get excited about either. I was fairly concerned, the Warriors looked good again and had early sizeable leads while the Mavs looked like they weren't in it a whole lot. That changed over time, thankfully and believeably so. The Mavs eventually took control of the game bit by bit and were helped out enormously by the ejections, though that's no consolation to the Warriors at this point.

Baron Davis, even before he got thrown out the game, was not the same Mavs Killer as he was in Game 1. He left with 13 points on 5-12 shooting, a good testament for the Mavs playing a much better defensive game, even though both teams scored far more than they did in Game 1. Stephen Jackson was the best threat Golden State put on the floor, and he got kicked out. He left with 30 points, but had 8 turnovers. Jason Richardson had 14 and 10 and Monta Ellis threw in 20 points.

Jason Terry was the man in this contest, playing all but 7 minutes of the game. He ended up with 28 points on 23 attempts, shooting barely over 50%, but it was enough. He was ice cold from 3-point land, going 1/7 but was strong when it counted. Nowitzki was next with 23, even though everyone was predicting a 40-point, or even 50-point explosion from him due to his lack of anything in Game 1. I wasn't expecting that and he delivered a solid, unspectacular game. He also chipped in 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. Josh Howard had 22 points and 11 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse made a complete turnaround from his 0/7 Game 1, with 17 points in this one. He went to the free throw line often, which was great to see. He also ended up with 8 rebounds.

Shooting was fairly even, Mavs had the edge 49%-47%. Nobody could hit a 3, as the Warriors were 4/20 and the Mavs were 1/16. Free throws were 86%-85% in favor of Dallas, and that figure could stand to improve. The Mavs outrebounded 41-34. Assists were very low for both teams, the Mavs with 15, but the Warriors with only 9. That's pretty sickening right there. Especially when you consider the Warriors had 24 turnovers. Turnover-to-assist ratio was 24/9, one of the worst figures of the entire season I would imagine. Dallas had twice as many steals, 14-7, and the Mavs blocked 9 shots. Stats clearly in favor of Dallas, if not even, so it's somewhat a concern that they didn't win by a wider margin, especially considering the Warriors' two hot shots were holed up in the locker room unable to play the late stages of the game. Hopefully the win will be enough to give the Mavs some confidence heading into Oakland.