Whoa Nellie! Warriors edge Mavs in Nelson’s return to Big D

The game was a successful return to Dallas for Warriors head coach Don Nelson, who led the Mavs for eight seasons from 1997-2005.

"I never expected this win," Nelson said. "I really thought we were not able to beat a good team at this point in the season, but I was wrong and my team proved me wrong, and we actually played pretty well."

The Mavs squandered several golden chances to tie the game in the final seconds. First, with the Warriors up three and 36 seconds on the clock, Jerry Stackhouse was set up behind the arc for a three-point attempt, but fumbled the ball out of bounds.

After Mickael Pietrus air-balled a shot for the Warriors, the Mavs had another chance to tie. In the final seconds, Stackhouse pulled up for another three which hit the rim. The rebound bounced out to Anthony Johnson who sent a quick pass to Devin Harris waiting in the right corner. Instead of teeing up a potential tying shot, Harris chose to pass back to Johnson on the right wing, but Harris he could not get a shot off before the buzzer sounded.

Mavs substitute head coach Del Harris screamed for a timeout, but was never granted his wish.

"He looked like he was yelling. You could pretty much hear him through the monitor, but obviously, he was not heard," said Mavs head coach Avery Johnson, who was ejected in the second quarter. "We will hopefully see if we can get it the next time."

Troy Murphy poured in 20 points, and Monta Ellis backed that up with 16 off the bench for the Warriors, who have won two of three overall and their last four overall in Dallas.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 26 and had 11 rebounds for the Mavs. Devin Harris added 17 points, Jason Terry had 15 before being ejected for taking down Ellis on a hard foul in the fourth quarter. Greg Buckner and Josh Howard each finished with 13 for Dallas, which has lost its first three games of the season for the first time since the 1993-94 campaign.

Dallas opened the game on a 9-3 run, but the Warriors recovered to tie the game at 22 before the Mavs closed out the quarter on a 12-5 run to lead 34-27.

Golden State would keep close to the Mavs throughout the second, eventually taking a 44-42 lead with 7:30 left. However, Dallas would recover, and lead 59-57 at the half.

The Mavs lost Josh Howard with 6:35 left in the second, after he collided with Pietrus on a layup and twisted his ankle. Howard was able to take his free throws, but required help to get to the locker room where he was diagnosed with a sprained left ankle and did not return.

Johnson would join him almost three minutes later, when he was hit with a double technical and ejection. Johnson took umbrage that there was no foul called when two Warrior defenders blocked a Terry layup and caused the guard to land hard on his side.

The third quarter was marked by seven lead changes, and the Warriors jumped ahead 84-83, on a Davis jumper with 29 seconds left. They would lead by that same margin heading to the final 12 minutes.

In the fourth, both teams see-sawed back and forth with the lead until Murphy’s reverse dunk put the Warriors up to stay, 96-94. Tempers flared again when Terry was called for a flagrant foul and ejected from the game for interfering on an Ellis layup with 3:29 remaining.

Golden State would up the margin to as many as ten, 107-97 with 2:26 left, but Dallas would not quit, shrinking the deficit.

Game Notes

Golden State finished 10-of-23 from three-point range, Dallas was 11-of-30 from beyond the arc...The Warriors made more free throws (25) than the Mavericks attempted (22)...Nowitzki scored just two of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, while 11 of Devin Harris’ 17 came in the fourth.