Warriors vs Mavericks coverage Warriors vs Mavericks boxscore Original Article on Bleacher Report

The Golden State Warriors coming off their best win of the year on Friday over the Portland Trailblazers, proved tonight that victory was no fluke.

The Warriors have right now nine players either injured or sick and head coach Don Nelson was out for tonight's game due to pneumonia.

As per league rules the Warriors had to dress eight players and those players were Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, Anthony Morrow, Anthony Randolph, Mikki Moore, Vladimir Radmanovic, Chris Hunter, and Corey Maggette.

Maggette did not play tonight due to a tender hamstring and Hunter also didn't play either.

Even more surprising was the fact that the Warriors were able to keep it close in the first half. Part of the problem was that the Warriors got in foul trouble early and the Mavericks are a great free throw shooting team.

Ellis lead the way in the first quarter scoring 12 of the Warriors 25 points and that kept them close to the Mavericks who had a 27-25 lead at the end of one. That was also the amount of points each team scored in the second quarter 27-25.

Going into half time the lead for the Mavericks was 54-50. I think what helped the Warriors gain confidence is the fact that they weren't down double digits at half time after turning the ball over nine times in the first quarter alone, although the Mavericks didn't fair much better with six of their own.

As mentioned earlier the Mavericks were able to get to the line a lot in fact 21 free throw attempts and 19 were converted for the team.

But, the game really didn't get exciting until after half time. That's when the game started going back and forth. The Warriors were able to grab a seven point lead on a three by Anthony Morrow.

Yet, the Mavericks got Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitizki going towards the end of the quarter and took a seven point lead of their own.

Since, I have NBA League Pass Broadband I was listening to the Mavericks announcers and at the time they were wondering if the Warriors were going to fold up the tent.

The Warriors came back though on a tremendous drive by Ellis who also got fouled and completed the three point play to get the Warriors back within four. 

In the fourth quarter the start was  sloppy for both teams  and the Warriors were able to tie the game up. The Mavericks again took a lead and it looked like again the Warriors were just not going to get the win.

That's when Ellis stepped up again consistently getting to the basket and either drawing the fouls or creating three point play opportunities, but Ellis towards the end of the game started cramping a little bit.

Curry took over for Ellis attacking the rim and getting fouled and what really helped for the Warriors is the fact that they were able to get into the penalty early in the quarter and the Warriors only had one which allowed them to play more aggressive defensively and foul before the shot in the closing minutes of the game.

This game showed why the Warriors were so high on Curry he scored 11 of the last 13 points for the Warriors including a huge three to break a 100-100 tie and after that the Warriors never relinquished the lead, the closest the Mavericks were able to get to was two points on a three by Jason Terry. 

In the end with only six players playing the Warriors were able to put up a valiant effort and get what is now their best win of the year.

Ellis lead the way for the Warriors with 37 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. Morrow scored 27 points including going 6-8 from beyond the arc, and Curry had 18 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals.

Radmanovic lead the Warriors in rebounds with 12, Moore chipped in 11, and Morrow added nine.

Just to show how impressive the Warriors win was three players played all 48 minutes Ellis, Morrow, and Radmanovic while Moore had 30 minutes, Anthony Randolph had 30 minutes, and Curry had 34 minutes.

Again the Warriors only played six players while the Mavericks played nine players tonight. Earlier I stated how the Mavericks had gone to the line 21 times in the first half well in the final two quarters the Mavericks went a total of four times and one was a technical free throw after Keith Smart got a technical for blasting the refs for a no call when Morrow was hit by Nowitzki after taking a jumper and no foul was called.

For a team that had three players that finished playing all 48 minutes I have one question who says they were tired? The Warriors finished the fourth quarter going 11-17 from the field.

Another impressive stat was the fact that the Warriors held Nowitzki without a field goal for the entire fourth quarter and the final three minutes of the third quarter. Before that the Mavericks announcing crew stated that Nowitzki was going to score 40 he finished with 28.

That just shows just how great the effort  was for the Warriors in defeating the Mavericks.