The Houston Rockets played right into the Mavs' hands...and it didn't matter a lick. Rockets center Dwight Howard was dominant early, but he had to leave the game with foul trouble.
And MVP candidate James Harden was relatively quiet much of the night (24 points on 4-of-11). Unfortunately for the Mavs, old (championship) friends Jason Terry and Corey Brewer scorched them for a combined 31 points. They accounted for 7 of Houston's 10 3-pointers.
Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs with 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting, but he had an unsightly six turnovers. It didn't help that his team had to chip away at large deficits twice during the game. The Mavs used a 23-4 run to take the lead in the second quarter, but the Rockets answered with a 5-point flurry just before the half.
Howard spent much of his night on the bench due to foul trouble. And when he departed after picking up his third foul in the second quarter, the Mavs feasted at the rim. Chandler Parsons threw down a thunderous dunk during the run, but he soon left the game with soreness in his balky right knee. He returned in the first half, but he'd lost his explosion. It's hard to envision a scenario where the Mavs win this series if Parsons is limited by the injury.
"I just landed and felt some pain," Parsons told reporters. "That leg just kind of gave out on me a little bit and I really couldn't shake it. It didn't feel great.
"I felt fine the first six to eight minutes. I think part of it was the adrenaline. But that wore off and something happened where I landed and it was pretty painful. I got a lot of work to do if it doesn't swell up overnight."
Carlisle tried to keep Parsons on the floor to keep the knee from stiffening once he returned to the court. But Parsons had trouble finishing at the rim the rest of the game.
Rajon Rondo sat out much of the first and second quarters because JJ Barea was playing better than him. But when Rondo finally returned, he scored 11 points. He resembled the guy who used to play for the Celtics during that stretch, but he cooled off in the third quarter.
Rondo is capable of making Harden uncomfortable at times, but that's hard for anyone to sustain. Mark Cuban was trying to pay Harden a compliment in a recent Grantland story, but he ended up taking a swipe at the star's teammates. Cuban said the Rockets were a predictable team that wasn't very good.
Well, players such as Terrence Jones and Trevor Ariza made Cuban's remarks look pretty suspect in Saturday's 118-108 win. Jones had 19 points, nine rebounds and six assists. His interior passing was exquisite. Ariza was the consolation prize once the Rockets chose not to keep Parsons, and lost out on Chris Bosh.
He's been a tremendous addition to the Rockets in several different ways. For starters, he's capable of defending the Mavs' lightning-quick shooting guard Monta Ellis. Ariza also added 10 rebounds to his 12 points.
Carlisle said that shotmaking was "temperamental." But on this night, it wasn't that way with Nowitzki. It was the type of game where he needed more touches.
There's really no reason Amare Stoudemire and Rondo should attempt roughly the same amount of shots as Nowitzki.
Now, we'll see if the Mavs can capitalize on a mismatch. The one I'm referring to involves the head coaches.
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