Dallas Win Without Nowitzki
22 December, 2006
THE Dallas Mavericks had to overcome the loss of All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki and an 11 point halftime deficit to improve to 19-7 103-95 win over Seattle on Wednesday.
Nowitzki got injured with 2:05 left in the opening quarter when Seattle's Chris Wilcox hit the floor. He made contact with Nowitzki who rolled his ankle.
Nowitzki was immediately taken for X-rays which returned positive news for Dallas coach Avery Johnson who said Nowitzki was day-to-day.
The Seattle SuperSonics failed to find a way of shutting down Eric Dampier who matched a season high 22 points while grabbing a season-best 16 rebounds.
While Johnson was pleased with the fightback by his men, keeping the Supersonics to 39 second half points is a little easier than doing so against one of the powerhouse teams of the competition.
Johnson has the Mavericks trying to play a defensive brand of basketball since the departure of former coach Don Nelson.
The SuperSoncis lost their sixth straight game, played without their All-Star Ray Allen.
They lost leading scorer Rashard Lewis who was coming off a season-high 36 points against the Grizzlies, in the opening minute after he injured a tendon in the back of his right hand after trying to block a shot and getting his fingers caught in the net.
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