Mayo leads Grizzlies over Mavericks, 102-82

MEMPHIS, Tenn.(AP) The Grizzlies came out
determined to finally beat the Mavericks, and O.J. Mayo made sure they
finished off the win.Mayo scored 18 of his 21 points in the
second half, and Memphis snapped a 13-game losing streak to Dallas with
a 102-82 victory Sunday."It's like that bully in school that's
always coming and beating you up, and standing up to him,'' Memphis
forward Hakim Warrick said of beating the Mavericks. "We were finally
able to go out and get that win against them.''Marc Gasol had 19 points for Memphis, which ended a four-game skid overall. Rudy Gay and Warrick added 18 apiece.Dirk
Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 28 points, hitting 11 of 21 shots.
Jason Terry scored 18, and Josh Howard finished with 12 points,
including 10 in the third period.Mayo connected on five of eight shots outside the arc as Memphis shot 47 percent from 3-point range for the game.Memphis jumped ahead early on 67 percent shooting in the first half but went into the break with just a 50-45 lead.Dallas
had outscored opponents 59-41 after intermission in the last three
games, including erasing a 29-point deficit to defeat the Minnesota
Timberwolves 107-100 last Tuesday, but couldn't mount a comeback
against Memphis."We've been down 10, 12, 16. We were even down
(29) against Minnesota,'' Nowitzki said. "We're just not playing well
early now. We've always got to fight back, and we did that over the
last couple of weeks."At some point, all the fighting back is going to haunt you. You waste a lot of energy trying to fight back,'' he said.Prone
to struggling at the start of the third period, the Grizzlies traded
leads throughout the quarter before taking control with a 9-3 run,
helped by five Dallas turnovers.Mayo scored 10 in the period, while Gay had eight and Memphis led 76-68."Down
the stretch, we really buckled down, especially defensively,'' Warrick
said. "The open shots they got, we just ran them off, and made them
work a little bit harder.''Mayo's scramble for the ball and flip
to Warrick for a dunk gave the Grizzlies 95-80 lead with 3:39 to play.
Memphis' lead would grow to 22 on a 3-pointer by Mayo."There's
not one play that stands out,'' Dallas point guard Jason Kidd said,
"but all of a sudden, we were down nine, and it just kept growing. The
first group, we just couldn't get it back.''The Grizzlies
outscored the Mavericks 26-14 in the final period. Even Nowitzki
couldn't help at that point, missing all three of his shots in the
quarter as the Mavericks shot 23 percent for the period.Memphis
built a 12-point lead early. Nowitzki was the offensive force for the
Mavericks, scoring 16 of Dallas' 25 points in the first period.The
Grizzlies, however, could not maintain the shooting pace, missing 10 of
11 shots to open the second quarter. That allowed Dallas to cut into
the lead with Nowitzki taking a break.When he did return, the
7-foot Nowitzki immediately went to the basket with the shorter Memphis
forwards on him. Nowitzki ended up with 22 in the half to lead the
Mavericks."Clearly, the energy level for us went up in the
second half,'' Memphis coach Marc Iavaroni said. "It was a good
response to Dirk going crazy in the first half.''Gasol matched
Nowitzki offensively, hitting eight of 10 shots en route to 19
first-half points. That helped Memphis carry a 50-45 lead into the
break."I just felt like I was in a good position to score,'' Gasol said of his early offensive production.The
Grizzlies outscored the Mavericks 48-32 in the paint, and 26-12 in
second-chance points, fueled by a dozen offensive rebounds. Dallas
entered the game as the league's best rebounding team at 45.3 a game.
Memphis was last with an average of 38.5 boards. Despite that, the
Grizzlies outrebounded the Mavericks 43-34."They dominated in
every statistical category,'' Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "You
have to give them credit. We made some runs, but we could never sustain
it. They battled hard and came out like a team that was tired of losing
games.''Notes: Memphis G Steve Francis and F Darius Miles,
obtained last month, were available for the first time. Francis was on
the inactive list, while Miles dressed and played the final 1:46. ...
Dallas G Jason Terry hit a 3-pointer late in the third period, giving
him his 22nd straight game with a 3. Memphis F Quinton Ross missed
Sunday's game with back soreness. Memphis' last win over the Mavericks
was Nov. 26, 2005, at Dallas. The Grizzlies last home win over Dallas
was Feb. 17, 2004, at their former home The Pyramid. It was the first
time Memphis has defeated the Mavericks in the FedExForum after 10
straight losses, including the postseason.