Dallas – The Dallas Mavericks finally discovered that beating the Golden State Warriors isn’t as hard as they had made it look.
And it’s even easier when Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson lose their cool.
Jason Terry scored 28 points, Dirk Nowitzki had 23 and Josh Howard led a 15-2 run in the third quarter that sent the Mavericks to a 112-99 victory over the Warriors in Game 2 on Wednesday night, evening their first-round series.
Dallas had lost six straight to Golden State dating to last season. The Mavericks even tried a new starting lineup in Game 1, but that only led to a 12-point loss.
They went back to the formula that won 67 games in the regular season and were in sync from the start. The Warriors hung tough, though, until everything changed midway through the third quarter.
Dallas was leading when Terry dribbled into Jackson, drawing a foul, then kept going into Davis. All three were given a technical foul. Davis got another technical, and was automatically ejected, for arguing about a foul with 0.2 seconds left in the quarter.
The Mavs were well ahead when Jackson got his second technical with 4:34 to play. Whatever he said to get tossed wasn’t nearly as bad as his reaction afterward. Teammate Matt Barnes tried covering Jackson’s mouth, first with his arm then with a towel as he escorted him to the locker room.
CAVALIERS 109, WIZARDS 102 at Cleveland: Usually a member of Cleveland’s supporting cast, Drew Gooden co-starred with LeBron James by scoring 19 of his 24 points in the first half.
James, playing on a tender left ankle, scored 27 points with eight rebounds and seven assists. He also helped the Cavaliers hold off a rally by the Wizards, who clawed within three points in the final minute, by scoring 13 points in the fourth quarter, including nine in the final 5:14.
But it was Gooden’s first-half flurry – he scored 15 points in just over five minutes – that energized the Cavaliers and led them to a 2-0 series lead.
“He held down the fort for them in the first half,” Wizards forward Jarvis Hayes said. “And at the end, LeBron did.”
