“We were the ones that had two days off”, said Nowitzki, whose defensive work on Otto was singled out by Wizards coach Randy Wittman and center Marcin Gortat in their postgame comments.
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Bradley Beal (leg) has been diagnosed with “the beginnings of a stress reaction in his lower right fibula” and will miss the next two weeks before being re-evaluated, the Washington Wizards announced Saturday.
Add Porter’s game that to the 26 points and season-high 16 assists Washington got from point guard John Wall, and the Mavs had their hands full on a night when they dropped their third straight home game. Porter greater than picked up the slack, scoring 17 points throughout Washington’s 39-point 3rd quarter as the Wizards built a 21-point lead. Matthews hit 10 3s last Sunday in Dallas’ 116-104 win in Washington. After a stop, Dallas brought it to within 112-111 after J.J. Barea was fouled in transition with 4.4 seconds left.
Williams didn’t play in the game due to a stomach ailment and his presence was missed. Williams is second on the team with 15.3 points per game and leads the team in assists. He finished with 10 points, 11 assists, and 11 rebounds, becoming the first Maverick to do so since Jason Kidd on March 1, 2011.
Wall’s 16 assists were a season high, and he scored 13 points in the fourth quarter as the Wizards fended off the rally.
Playing against the league’s worst team at defending the 3-point shot, Dallas wasted no time in attacking from long range.
While Wesley Matthews was having a sharp night from outside the 3-point arc, the Mavericks by and large sputtered offensively and fell behind 68-55 less than four minutes into the third quarter.
A year after sprinting out to a 14-6 start, the Wizards, bruised and battered, have won only nine of their first 20 games. They got the deficit to 1, and Dirk Nowitzki had a chance to send it to overtime with a three at the end.
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Washington eventually got its act together against Houston, even managing to surge ahead by as many as six in the third quarter before Harden’s dominance became overwhelming. Porter’s previous high was 23 points.
