Red-hot Mavericks delay Golden State's trip to another NBA Finals
DALLAS (CBS SF) -- Not even a leaky roof could cool off Dallas' red-hot shooting from deep Tuesday night as the Mavericks staved off elimination with a 119-109 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Finals.
The Warriors will now try to advance to their sixth NBA Finals in eight years with a homecourt win Thursday night at San Francisco's Chase Center.
Meanwhile, after avoiding a sweep Dallas faces a historic challenge. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series. Only three of the 146 teams to fall in that deep hole have even been able to force a seventh game.
"It was almost like an ego win (for Dallas). You come out and really have nothing to lose. So that confidence started early," Steph Curry said. "And we really didn't do nothing to slow it down, and then that's when the avalanche starts. You tip your hat to them."
The start of the second half was delayed 16 minutes because of rain leaking through the roof at the American Airlines Center. With heavy rain falling outside Tuesday night, there were at least two leaks.
One dropped water near the Golden State bench. There was another leak at the end of the court where the Dallas Mavericks bench is, though water there appeared to be falling in the stands.
After a seesaw first quarter, Dallas outscored the Warriors by a combined 71-46 points over the next two to build a seemingly insurmountable 99-70 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
But Golden State's second unit rolled off a 15-2 run to open the quarter, forcing Mavericks coach Jason Kidd to bring back his starters while the Warriors front line players rested.
A Jonathan Kuminga 3-pointer drew Golden State to within 110-102 with 3:22 to go and the celebrating home crowd began to get nervous.
"I thought that group came out and did a better job moving the ball and we got some easy buckets," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
But Luka Doncic then took control of the game, quelling the furious Golden State rally. He finished the night with 30 points and 14 rebounds.
"Just got to finish the game," Doncic said of th fourth quarter stumble. "A win is a win. Just had to stay together and finish the game, win the game."
It was the 10th double-double in his 14 games this postseason for Doncic, who also had nine assists and got some help from his supporting cast to extend this series.
Dorian Finney-Smith had 23 points and Jalen Brunson had 15 points. T
The Mavericks icy touch from the 3-point line in Game 3 melted away on Tuesday. No one personified the change in Dallas fortunes more than Reggie Bullock. In Game 3's loss, he was 0-7 from the 3-point line. On Tuesday, he was 6-10.
As a team, the Mavericks hit on 20-of-43 3-point attempts.
"I think they had seven corner threes in the first quarter, maybe the first half," Kerr said. "But they had a bunch of corner threes...We weren't alert tonight defensively. We weren't sharp. And I thought we let them kind of get into a groove, and once a team like that gets into a three-point groove, it's tough to get them out of it."
For Golden State, Curry led the way for the Warriors with 20 points, but a pair of promising rookies -- Kuminga and Moses Moody -- fueled the fourth quarter rally scoring 17 and 10 points, respectively.
"Felt like it was good, even though we didn't come out with the win, those guys had to play for the rest of the game," Moody said. "They didn't get to take a break. They didn't take any time off. We got to go back to San Francisco and play them again, and they didn't get a break in the second half. They had to play all 40 minutes."
