SAN FRANCISCO – After what transpired Friday night at the Chase Center, the Dallas Mavericks unfortunately
fined themselves in the same rabbit hole they were in during the previous series against Phoenix.
Behind 32 points from Stephen Curry and an injection of 23 points off the bench from Jordan Poole, the Golden State Warriors rallied from a 19-point deficit en route to defeating the Mavs, 126-117. The win gives the Warriors a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven Western Conference Finals series that came after the Mavs had a complete meltdown in the second half on both ends of the court.
Game 3 will be Sunday at 8 p.m. at American Airlines Center, and Game 4 will also be at AAC on Tuesday at 8 p.m. If necessary, Game 5 will be Thursday at 8 p.m. in San Francisco, Game 6 on May 28 at 8 p.m. at AAC, and Game 7 on May 30 at 7 p.m. in San Francisco.
The tide changed for the worst for the Mavs in this chippy game in the third quarter when they couldn’t buy a basket, and couldn’t prevent the Warriors from scoring. After leading, 72-58, at the half, the Mavs were outscored, 25-13, in the third quarter and took a narrow 85-83 lead into the fourth quarter.
The shot-making that was on-point in the first half for the Mavs was nowhere to be found in the second half. In the third quarter the Mavs were just 5-of-19 from the floor, including only 2-of-13 from downtown.
“That third quarter we talked about and understood that’s when they turn up the heat,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We got great looks, but we have to do better. We have to understand when we shoot three or four threes in a row and miss, you’ve got to get to the rim and got to get the ball into the paint (and) got to get to the free-throw line.
“That’s just understanding the situation, learning, and maybe it is experience. Again, the guys came out and executed from the start and put ourselves in a position to win on the road.”
Thanks to Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson and Reggie Bullock, the Mavs held the lead the entire game until a three-pointer by Otto Porter Jr. at the outset of the fourth quarter gave the Warriors their first lead of the night at 86-85. From there, things just kept snowballing for the Mavs as a three-pointer by Klay Thompson increased Golden State’s lead to 110-100 with 4:30 remaining in the game.
The Mavs got within six points – 116-110 when Doncic drained a jumper, two three-pointers and a pair of free throws sandwiched after a basket from Brunson with 2:25 to go. But Curry executed a three-point play to put the Warriors ahead, 119-110, with 2:07 left.
Besides the Mavs’ inability to make shots in the second half, the other reason the Warriors got back in the game was because they were rolling to the basket and negotiating dunks or layups. In all, Golden State outscored the Mavs in the paint by a wide 62-30 margin.
“They attacked the paint,” Kidd said. “We’ve got to protect the rim.
“When we go back to look at that, that’s one of the things that we have to do better.”
The loss overshadowed a marvelous game from Doncic, who overcame a sore shoulder and an illness to score 42 points, grab five rebounds, distribute eight assists and pick up three steals.
“I was a little bit sick, but nothing serious,” Doncic said. “The (sore) shoulder, I got treatment on it, so it’s fine.
“The pain for the shoulder is a little bit there, but after the first quarter I was really tired. But then after that I was good.”
The Mavs led, 10-2 early, and behind nine points from Doncic and eight from Brunson, they jumped out to a 23-8 lead with 5:55 remaining in the first quarter. Unlike in Game 1, the Mavs were drilling their wide-open shots.
One Mavs’ three-pointer after another kept raining until the game got chippy in the second quarter. Davis Bertans and Damion Lee were called for double technical fouls when Bertans scored a three-pointer, fell down, and as he was getting up, Lee tried to climb over him.
Taking matters into his own hands, Doncic fired in 18 points as the Mavs led, 32-25, after the first quarter. The 18 points were two shy of
Doncic’ entire Game 1 total of 20 points as he quickly served noticed that there’s not a defense that can contain him for two straight games.
With Doncic on the bench getting ample rest, the Mavs actually built their lead to as much as 53-34 with 7:08 left before halftime after Finney-Smith drained a three-pointer. But after pouring in 40 points during a red-hot scoring barrage in the second quarter, the Mavs only managed 45 points in the second half.
“I mean, we were getting great looks,” said Brunson, who was 11-of-19 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point land and tallied 31 points. “When we’re open, we’re going to shoot. We have a lot of guys capable of making shots, knocking shots down.
“So I think as long as we’re open and making the correct — shooting the correct shots, making extra pass, doing the things that we do — we have confidence in everybody. I have confidence in everybody to knock it down.”
The Mavs started the game converting 16 of their first 28 shots from behind the three-point stripe. But during the rest of the game they were only 5-of-17 from downtown, and many of those were ill-advised.
“Coming down in the third, we were taking some early looks from the three-point line when we could have drove the ball to get into the lane,” said Bullock, who was 6-of-10 from downtown and finished with 21 points. “It pretty much started with that, and they were just able to get 
out in transition and get the ball going.”
The Warriors shot 56.1 percent from the field, 50 percent from three-point range, outrebounded the Mavs, 43-30, and also got 21 points and 12 boards from Kevon Looney, 16 points from Andrew Wiggins and 15 points from Thompson.
“They got a lot of easy looks,” Brunson said. “They were playing Warrior basketball. They were making us move.
“They had a great run in the third quarter (and they’re a ) great third quarter team. They just made a run, and we just let the run go on for too long.”
Now, the Mavs have to regroup and try and hold serve at home starting with Sunday’s game. But they were down this same rabbit hole in the last series with the Suns, so it’s familiar territory.
“They held serve,” Kidd said, referring to the Warriors. “We’ve seen this in Phoenix. So now we have to go back and just focus on Game 3 and get ready for Game 3, understanding what’s at stake.
“We just have to protect home and focus on that first possession.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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