“Myles Turner walked onto center stage Wednesday night – and looked as comfortable in his starring role”. He finished an all around solid debut against the Pacers by hitting a clutch three pointer to send the game to overtime and with no Dirk against Houston, answered the bell on the offensive side scoring a career high 31 points on an efficient 13/23 shooting.
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“Paul went through the same thing I did”, Turner said. “He told me, even past year, “you know what you’re capable of, we know what you’re capable of, go out there and show it” and they’re going to put me in the right spots to be successful.’ That’s what they did tonight”. Only a heroic John Henson tip-in at the buzzer finally sunk the Nets 110-108 – even though they seemed repeatedly like they would sink themselves. “I loved the way our guys stayed together, made plays down the stretch and got stops down the stretch”.
With a revamped roster coming off the worst season in the 16-time champion team’s history, Los Angeles surged in the fourth quarter of an auspicious opener under Walton, the 36-year-old former Lakers forward. He looked just fine against the Mavs.
Dallas Mavericks’ Harrison Barnes (40) makes a pass to Wesley Matthews (23) as Indiana Pacers’ Monta Ellis (11) watches during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016, in Indianapolis. The Mavericks fell 130-121 in overtime at in, while the Rockets dropped a 120-114 decision at the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I was in a groove and it was time to close out the quarter”, Harden said.
Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook had 32 points and 12 rebounds and took over late to lead the Thunder to a 103-97 victory over Philadelphia. “He knows how to get the best out of his players”.
One thing we do know? Back to backs are especially hard early in the season, but it’ll look much better later on, and we won’t see Lin suddenly facing “tired legs syndrome” hampering his game. Barnes, however, got just one shot attempt (a miss) in almost 8 second-quarter minutes.
The Mavericks had a chance to take the lead with 1:34 left when J.J. Barea had an open path to the basket on a would-be layup.
But will all the new changes be enough to improve this team, which won 45 games last season?
Last season, the Dallas native averaged 14.1 points a game, along with 5.8 assists. IN had 10 assists in the first quarter and finished with 30. The Pacers had a 52-49 rebounding advantage despite going with their new, up-tempo style. The Oak Ridge Boys sang the national anthem.
Mavericks: Dallas was 18 of 48 on 3-pointers. Six different players attempted at least six 3s for the Mavs.
Dallas made 8 of 21 shots from 3-point range before halftime (38.1 percent), five more made 3s than Indiana.
McMillan was just as anxious as his new players to get started.
With the addition of three new stars – point guard Jeff Teague, forward Thaddeus Young and backup center Al Jefferson – and a first-year head coach in Nate McMillan, Indiana expects to return to National Basketball Association relevance in 2016. “Rick Carlisle is also one of the best coaches in the league”, Bogut said.
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“I feel like I’ve played with him the last four years he’s been around so much”. He’ll do a great job with this group. It is the second of three meetings between the Texas teams during a 12-day span in October. They allowed Ian Mahinmi to walk in free agency this offseason, which was a big leap of faith in Turner’s ability to play center and be a defensive stopper. The Mavs lost their first game in overtime against a superior Pacers team, but still showed promise with four of their starting five having scored more than 19 points.
