Rockets vs. Mavericks: Game 4 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 NBA Playoffs
The Dallas Mavericks avoided a first-round sweep in the 2015 NBA playoffs on Sunday night by picking up a 121-109 Game 4 win over the Houston Rockets at home in the American Airlines Center.
Given everything that has happened to the Mavericks in this series—losing the first three games, Chandler Parsons' knee injury and Rajon Rondo's back injury—you wouldn't blame the Dallas players if they had one eye on their summer vacation destinations.
Forward Dirk Nowitzki shut down that discussion.
"We have to have the same fight we had tonight, for our fans, for this franchise," he said on April 24, per Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle.
Sunday night was certainly the most spirited performance Dallas has offered throughout the series.
Nowitzki posted solid if unspectacular numbers, scoring 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting and adding eight rebounds and four assists. ESPN's Marc Stein is cherishing whatever is left in the legendary forward's career:
Guard Monta Ellis finished as the game's leading scorer with 31 points on 13-of-21 shooting. According to ESPN Stats & Info, he scored 30-plus points in back-to-back playoff games for the first time in his career:
In addition, three Mavs players—J.J. Barea, Tyson Chandler and Al-Farouq Aminu—posted double-doubles.
On the other side, Rockets shooting guard James Harden struggled a bit. He only attempted 15 shots, making seven to score 24 points. Center Dwight Howard scored 13 and grabbed seven rebounds, but his free-throw troubles reared their ugly head. He was just 3-of-13 from the foul line.
Without forward Josh Smith, the score might have been far more lopsided in Dallas' favor. He had 18 points in the fourth quarter alone to finish with 23. Even more surprisingly, he missed just two of his 10 field-goal attempts and was 4-of-5 from three-point range.
Dallas did a great job of limiting the Rockets on the perimeter. Houston went just 7-of-31 from deep. When you take away Smith's numbers, it obviously gets even worse.
Despite their dominance in the second half, things didn't look good for the Mavericks early on. Houston closed the first quarter on a 10-2 run to gain a 34-25 edge.
Howard put in some good work underneath the basket early on, which was concerning for Dallas. An alley-oop in transition led many fans to wonder if the old Dwight was making an appearance in the postseason:
Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle decided the best way to slow Howard down was sending him to the line. Roughly five minutes into the second quarter, the "Hack-a-Dwight" saw its initial foray, per ESPNDallas.com's Tim MacMahon:
Carlisle didn't persist with the strategy, mostly because he didn't need to. The Mavericks caught fire in the second frame, dropping 36 points on Houston and grabbing a 61-53 lead going into halftime.
Howard was 1-of-9 from the charity stripe through the first half, limiting his effectiveness, while the Rockets as a team went 2-of-14 from behind the arc.
Chandler didn't have gaudy numbers in the first half (eight points, seven rebounds), but his impact on the defensive end was undeniable. The Mavericks as a team were plus-20 when the center was on the floor in the opening 24 minutes. Chandler took away what was Houston's greatest strength early in the game—post scoring.
MacMahon noted how Chandler's Game 4 performance was so much different from the rest of the series:
Point guard has also been a bit of a black hole for the Mavericks in this series. Even before the Rondo trade in February, the position was a source of consternation for the team. That's why Dallas added Rondo in the first place. It certainly didn't help matters when he mentally checked out of the first-round series.
Perhaps it's no coincidence that the Mavs' strong first half came as Barea poured in 12 points and eight assists. NBA on ESPN compared that to what Dallas' starting point guards had done in the series' first three games:
Dallas' lead in the second half swelled to as many as 24 points in the third quarter, and the Mavericks headed into the fourth with a 19-point edge.
The Golden State Warriors' comeback in Game 3 of their first-round series with the New Orleans Pelicans drove home the point that no lead is safe in the playoffs, so the Mavericks couldn't afford to coast in the final quarter.
Smith and Corey Brewer made sure of that. They made 10 straight field goals to start the fourth, scoring 25 points. As good as they were, they could only get the deficit down to 10 points, per ESPN Stats & Info:
Houston made it a bit interesting late in the game, but the Rockets had too tall of a mountain to climb in too little time. The Mavericks never panicked despite their lead dwindling to nine points, and they closed out the win with relative ease.
Although Dallas extended the series, Houston remains firmly in control with a 3-1 lead. The Rockets have two more games at home to close this out and advance to the second round.
Yes, the Mavericks looked very good in Game 4, but the slate will be wiped clean again in Game 5.
Maybe the Mavs can push the series to six games, but barring an injury to Howard or Harden, it seems highly unlikely that they'll reel off three more wins in a row.
