Even without Nowitzki, Mavs too much for Cavs

By BRIAN WINDHORST

DALLAS — This current Cavaliers’ road trip isn’t a gauntlet as much as a stress test.

They have been getting by recently without playing at the top of their game, peeling off slim victories with marginal execution. That’s probably not going to work during this journey through the Western Conference.

Sunday night was the first confirmation.

The Mavericks didn’t have their superstar but they are still a strong and deep club that was playing on their own floor — which is the sort of thing the Cavs are going to see most of this week. When the Cavs weren’t able to summon better play, they weren’t able to continue their winning streak.

Getting a strong team-wide effort and some big baskets in the fourth quarter, the Mavericks ended the Cavs’ five-game run with a 102-95 victory at American Airlines Center.

It wasn’t that the Cavs (20-8) played poorly, it was just that they weren’t able to get away with the mistakes that haven’t been costing them much lately. This trip, which continues with another huge challenge tonight in Phoenix, will certainly help define that margin of error.

The difference was evident on the offensive end, where the Cavs have been lacking in execution for the last handful of games. Those 30-assist evenings with seven players in double figures are a memory for the moment. It was true during the winning streak and it’s just as true now.

That alone gave Dallas (20-7) all the opening it needed, despite having Dirk Nowitzki on the bench in a suit nursing a laceration on his right arm. Tim Thomas stepped into a starting role and was fantastic with 22 points and seven rebounds. The Mavericks’ bench gave strong support with three players scoring in double figures.

“They have guys on that team that are All-Stars even without Dirk,” LeBron James said. “Those guys stepped up.”

Exactly what the Cavs didn’t do.

They shot just 39 percent in the second half and went through a dry spell early in the third quarter that put them behind for good. James went just 3-of-11 in the second half and, in a sign of just how much the team was stretching, didn’t leave the floor after halftime.

It was the first time this season coach Mike Brown has had to do that and the results were predictable. James faded down the stretch and scored just two of his 25 points in the fourth quarter.

That wasn’t completely the way the Cavs saw it. They were openly flustered by the officiating, complaining that neither James or Shaquille O’Neal were getting to the line when drawing contact near the rim. Particularly, Brown was upset both were called for offensive fouls when other contact was being allowed.

“There were a couple of times when ’Bron got hit when he drove the ball and got no call,” Brown said.

“You get told different things at different times and I’ve got to figure that out. ... We as a team have to figure that out because it is disrupting the flow of how we’re trying to play.”