Dallas Mavericks Outlast Washington Wizards in Shootout

The Dallas Mavericks played an excellent game and came out with a tough shootout win over the Washington Wizards. The Mavs get their 11th win of the season while Washington drops to 16-18.

In the first game of the year 2017, the Dallas Mavericks wanted a win and were ready to face a tough Washington Wizards team to get it. Despite an excellent night from the Wizards best player, John Wall, the Mavs weathered the storm and came out on top 113-105.

The Mavericks were led in scoring by, you guessed it, Harrison Barnes. Barnes finished with 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Deron Williams ended the night with 21 points while Dirk Nowitzki fell just shy of a double-double after 11 points and 9 rebounds in 24 minutes.

Probably the most important part of the game for Dallas was the bench scoring as Devin Harris and Seth Curry combined for 33 and Dwight Powell added another 8. The Wizards were led by 27 from Wall and 25 from Bradley Beal. Marcin Gortat put together a nice double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds but the bench was held to only 15 points.

The Mavericks really played a great game on their way to this win. After having an 11-point lead with just a few minutes left in the first half, they went into the locker room trailing by 6. Although it was frustrating, the Mavs regrouped and trailed by only 1 after the third.

In the fourth, the Mavs were able to make the right plays at the right time to outlast the Wizards thanks to some big shots by Barnes. Dallas led the matchup in total rebounds 44-38 and three-pointers made, but lost essentially every other major statistic.

The Mavericks are ready to start a 2017 win streak now as they host the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, January 5th. Dallas will play Phoenix and former Maverick, Tyson Chandler, for the first time this season. The Suns are 1 of 2 teams in the West with a worse record than Dallas.