Utah Jazz: Red-Hot Dallas ends Utah Jazz's 7-game win streak | Deseret News
"You have to give them credit," Sloan said. "They came in here and they beat us in our own building and they did a heck of a job. They're very good defensively. They got up and played us." On both ends of the court, too. Dirk Nowitzki — who else? — led the charge for the Dallas team that could have a nickname change to the Streak Snappers.
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The Mavs, who hadn’t won 15 games this quickly since starting 17-1 in 2002-03, also are playing defense. Dallas has held nine of its 18 opponents below their scoring average, seven times in the American Airlines Arena. They provided a measuring stick for the Jazz, who were found wanting in the 93-81 final. "They have all veteran players, pretty much, on their team," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "They’ve got guys who know what they are doing. I just think they’re an excellent team. They don’t make many mistakes."
Rapid reaction: Mavs 93, Jazz 81 - Dallas Mavericks Blog - ESPN Dallas
Nowitzki hit a high-arcing, one-legged leanaway off the glass to give the Mavs a double-digit lead with a little more than 10 minutes remaining. He knocked down the 13-foot bank shot despite being bumped and challenged by Andrei Kirilenko, an excellent defender. "Aw, c'mon!" ESPN's Hubie Brown hollered in awe as the ball hit the net.
Talking over the loss to Dallas | Utah Jazz Notes | The Salt Lake Tribune
Jerry Sloan, on Dallas' zone defense: "We had some trouble. When they started zoning us, we lost our position on the floor a few times and looked confused. We knew they would probably try and zone us, but we didn't have as good a spacing as we should have. ... Those things happen."
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"The way our defense is playing, holding teams to low 40s or under 40, that means there's a lot of chances in transition to get the ball in (Jason) Kidd's hands,'' Dirk Nowitzki said. "We had a lot of fast-break points, which is unusual here.
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"(The Mavericks had gotten) better, but around that time I was older and I was more into the game," he said. "I had favorite players more than a favorite team. That's all I watched was basketball. Then I got drafted and it was like, well, it's a cardinal sin (to root for another team)." Miles said most of his family members now cheer for the Jazz, but he still has some friends who still razz him about playing against the Mavericks. "I turn my phone off sometimes because it just rings through the whole night from people that watched the game," he said. "Whether you played bad or good people are just excited to see you play.
Recap: Dallas Mavericks 93, Utah Jazz 81 | The Two Man Game
Dallas’ second-half defense was nothing short of tremendous. The paint was treated as sacred ground, and each layup or Jazzian interior pass was an active defiling of all that the Mavs held dear. Penetrators were swarmed, jumpers were challenged, and Utah’s possessions were attacked at their weakest points. An active zone front made cross-court passes a nightmare. Deron Williams was denied the ball whenever possible. It was a damn near surreal vision of defensive elements sliding into place and combining in ways I wasn’t sure were possible, and the typically smooth Jazz offense looked positively flummoxed.
Rough-and-tumble Mavericks stop Jazz, 93-81, for 8th straight win | Dallas Morning News
The second-half numbers were telling. Utah shot just 35 percent and the Mavericks hit 60 percent. They held Deron Williams to one point after halftime. "In the second half, we played with a lot more attitude, which you have to do here," coach Rick Carlisle said. "I thought the most important player in the entire game was Haywood. In the second half, he controlled the paint area defensively, and he played with unbelievable attitude around the basket. My hat's off to him for his effort."
Click the jump for more quote from the players
Courtesy of the Utah Jazz:
Jerry Sloan - (15-6 this season)
On the game
"(Dallas) came out and beat us in the second half. They really pushed the ball up the floor and we had a tough time getting back on defense and try and cover. We also missed some free throws and their bench outscored us 34-23 and that was kind of a problem. They have a lot of good, veteran players who would start on a lot of teams."
On the Mavericks' defense
"(Dallas) didn't defend us on the missed lay-ups and free throws; we missed a lot of free throws in the ballgame and shot 66%. If we make some of those we could have probably stayed in the ballgame. We lost a lot of momentum and they played with a lot more energy than we did."
On the Mavericks' zone
"We had some trouble. When they started zoning us we lost our position on the floor a few times and looked confused. We knew they would probably try and zone us, but we didn't have as good as spacing as we should have, but those things happen."
Deron Williams - Guard (12 points, 7 assists)
On the game
"We ran into a good team, playing as good as us...better tonight. We had some good looks at the basket, missed some easy ones. Their zone defense stifled, us a little bit, and then they went back to man and we never got back to executing. If I could point to a couple of things, it would be turnovers. They had 19 points off of turnovers, and then free-throw shooting. If you shoot under 70%, it's hard to win a game.
On how the Jazz stand in the Western Conference
"We're still one of the best teams. Still have some ups and downs, this is one of those nights. Things didn't go our way. The Mavericks played better than us...simple as that."
On winning Western Conference Player of the Month for November
"It's a great accolade. Says a lot because so many people played well in the month of November. I'm definitely honored by that."
Additional quotes on back...
Andrei Kirilenko - Forward (5 points, 4 rebounds)
On not being able to get the offense rolling in the fourth quarter
"Give credit to Dallas. They did play really good defense. They gave us trouble with that zone. I think we'll analyze it and look at it tomorrow. Dirk [Nowitzki] was amazing in the fourth quarter, making those little jumpers but they just overplayed us, especially in the fourth quarter. We'll take it and move on."
On the Jazz's overall offense
"I think we got a little bit lack of energy in the second half. In the first half, we were running. We were active. We were pressing them. In the second half, it was just a different team."
CJ Miles - Guard (9 points, 3 rebounds)
On the game
"[Dallas is] a good team; they play good basketball. Like I said before, there are going to be nights when it's not going to click, [we're] not going to play that well and the other team's going to come in here and play well. It was a little bit both of that and it was hard. They made some shots and got on a run in the second half and we couldn't answer."
"We definitely didn't get to the point that we hung our heads; we just couldn't make some shots, just couldn't do some things to help us get back in it. We couldn't get a couple stops in a row. Every time we made a couple baskets they would make a couple baskets...we didn't help ourselves."