Warriors roll past Mavs for fifth straight win
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Oakland, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Jordan Crawford posted 19 points off the bench as the Golden State Warriors drubbed the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, 108-85.
"He was great," Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said of Crawford. "He has a gift to score the basketball. When called upon he's been ready and deserves a lot of credit."
Andrew Bogut had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Golden State, which led comfortably for most of the contest en route to its fifth straight triumph. Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes donated 14 and 13 points, apiece, with David Lee grabbing a game-high 11 boards.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Monta Ellis paced the Mavs with 15 points in the setback while Dirk Nowitzki notched 12, tying him with Celtics legend John Havlicek for 12th on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Dallas' brief two-game winning streak came to a halt.
"When we needed to make shots, we didn't," said Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle. "When we needed to get stops, we didn't. We got to get ready for tomorrow."
The Mavericks jumped out to a 16-8 lead midway through the first after Ellis' pull-up jumper capped a 7-0 surge. The rest of the game belonged to the host Warriors.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Barnes knotted the game at 20-all with his triple at 2:54, Bogut split a pair at the line less than a minute later to put Golden State in front and Crawford beat the buzzer with a jumper as the quarter came to a close with the Warriors holding a 29-22 edge.
Crawford caught fire early in the second, draining two straight difficult jumpers before a heat check 3-ball was pure at 10:20. Later in the frame, he scored five more points, boosting Golden State to a 45-27 edge.
The Warriors stumbled briefly at the end of the first half. After Bogut's alley-oop from Andre Iguodala had them up by 16, Nowitzki hit two from the stripe and Vince Carter, who netted 10 points for Dallas, intercepted an Iguodala pass and hit a trey at the buzzer to cut the margin to 55-44 at the break.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nowitzki scored to open the third, but Lee's driving layup at 5:58 highlighted an 11-2 Warriors run. The lead was 79-57 after three, and Golden State cruised the rest of the way.
Game Notes
Warriors All-Star Stephen Curry had just 10 points in 22 minutes ... Jose Calderon scored 13 for Dallas ... The Warriors outrebounded Dallas 46-40. They have won the rebounding margin four straight times in this series ... Mavericks guard Shane Larkin matched a career-high with three steals ... Dallas shot just 36.6 percent (30-for-82).