The Dallas Mavericks kept their season alive in emphatic fashion with a 121-109 Game 4 win over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night. The team now trails in the first-round series, 3-1, as it looks to make NBA history by becoming the first to rally from a 3-0 deficit.
Rockets vs. Mavericks results, NBA playoffs 2015: 3 things we learned from Dallas’ season-saving Game 4 win
The series is heading back to Houston for Game 5 after the Mavericks earned a big win Sunday night.
We saw two other teams finish off sweeps Sunday, but Dallas wouldn’t let that happen at home against a state rival. The Mavericks outscored the Rockets over the second and third quarters, 69-41, and used that dominant stretch to earn a much-needed win.
This game will likely be remembered for the clutch play of J.J. Barea, who delivered a double-double with 17 points and 13 assists over 36 minutes. The point guard position had been a disaster for the team earlier in the series with former All-Star Rajon Rondo in the lineup, but Barea and Devin Harris have brought stability since taking over the duties in Game 3.
Barea hit several huge shots Sunday, and helped get the crowd into the game in the process.
Not everyone on the Mavericks had a great game offensively, but Barea got a lot of help from Monta Ellis, who scored 31 points on 13-of-21 shooting, and Al-Farouq Aminu, who put up 16 points and 12 rebounds while often guarding James Harden. Aminu had some highlights of his own, too:
The Mavericks shot 54 percent from the field as a whole, but hit just 9-of-21 attempts from the free throw line. If this game was any closer, the team’s inability to take advantage of chances at the charity stripe would be a major discussion point.
Luckily, the Rockets were having shooting issues of their own. Houston hit just 7-of-31 shots from three-point range, and Dwight Howard was 3-of-13 from the free throw line.
Those misses opportunities proved costly as Josh Smith had another incredible run in the fourth quarter, putting up 18 points as the margin was trimmed down to nine. It was astonishing watching Smith hit shot after shot to temper a loud Dallas crowd, but Ellis and company did just enough to fight off the rally.
Now the series heads back to Houston for Game 5 on Tuesday. The Mavericks may have extended the series, but no team in NBA history has ever come back from 3-0 for a reason. They’ll just have to take things one game at a time, and that starts with getting to 3-2. Now that the team’s shown signs of life without Rondo, it’ll be up to Houston to make sure this doesn’t get interesting.
3 things we learned
Nobody can hit free throws but James Harden
In an interesting twist, the league's most prolific free throw shooter has been thrust into a series featuring mostly horrid free throw shooters. The discussion of free throw shooting and hacking strategies was persistent during TNT's broadcast because Harden was the only guy who could hit them. Other than Harden's 9-of-9 effort from the charity stripe, everyone else in the game shot a combined 26-of-52. We're talking about some of the best basketball players in the world, but other than the MVP candidate and the league leader in free throws made, a bunch of guys couldn't hit the easiest shots in the game. Howard was 3-of-13, Tyson Chandler was 2-of-6 and Amar'e Stoudemire was 0-of-3. That's not great.
Josh Smith isn’t done yet
Smith's emergence may end up being the biggest thing to take away from this series for Houston. The veteran forward has been incredible over the past few games, bringing back memories of his days as an All-Star with the Atlanta Hawks. Smith finished Game 4 with 23 points, six rebounds and three assists, with much of that production coming in the fourth quarter as the Rockets battled from a huge deficit. He's averaged nearly 17 points, six rebounds and four assists in the series. Smith may not be the most steady player, but he's looking like a possible game-changer for the Rockets this spring.
The Rondo effect
That's two straight games where the Mavericks have looked much better without Rajon Rondo in the lineup. It's possible to attribute the difference to playing at home versus playing on the road, but given how Rondo's time in Dallas had unraveled, it's not surprising the team looks better without him. Now the question is whether Rick Carlisle waited too long before finally pulling the plug on his struggling point guard, and even after a big win in Game 4, the answer is probably yes. Obviously it's all hindsight, and we can't judge too strongly, but this series will likely be remembered for Rondo's impact (or lack thereof).
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