Mavericks can't feel great about this one, but it was still a win

The Mavericks had the proverbial tale of two halves, as
coaches like to say. They were awful in the first half against the Clippers,
but pretty darn salty in the second.
 
“We weren’t ready to play at the beginning, and
it was clear,’’ Rick Carlisle said. “We got to get better
with it.’’
 
What was wrong with the first half? They allowed the
Clippers to hit nearly 68 percent of their shots. LA missed almost as many free
throws (eight) as they did field goals (11) in the first half.
 
In that respect, the Mavericks were lucky to only be
trailing by eight points.
 
“That (68 percent) is an unacceptable number for a
team that has high aspirations,’’ Carlisle said.
 
The offense percolated in the second half and the Mavericks
ended up running away, leading by as much as 17 in the late going before
garbage time made it look a little closer.
 
“If you have to score 112 to win, that’s not the
formula that’s going to get it done for us when it really
counts,’’ Carlisle said. “We got to do better, yet I’m
very happy with the win.’’
 
Particularly impressive was Brendan Haywood, who had a
flagrant foul against Blake Griffin and played hard defense the whole time he
was on the floor, which was 24 minutes.
 
“I was excited for him,’’ said starting
center Tyson Chandler, himself a strong contributor with 21 points. He
didn’t miss a shot from the field (5-of-5) or the line (11-of-11).
“I think this was one of Brendan’s best games. The defense he
played against Blake was great. He got physical and that was a huge game for
him.’’
 
Eddie Sefko