Matthews Leads Dallas Mavericks Past Bulls

Behind the leadership and play of Wesley Matthews, the Dallas Mavericks earned their third straight win after beating the Bulls in Chicago.

The Mavs somehow pulled out a win Tuesday night against the Chicago Bulls and old friend Rajon Rondo by a final tally of 99-98. The game was tense throughout and featured some insane late-game heroics from none other than Wes Matthews.

Dallas captured their third straight win tonight on the road in a heart-pounding thriller in large part thanks to some important late game defense from Wesley Matthews. But his offense cannot go unnoticed. Matthews drilled a clutch three ball from the left elbow with 11.7 seconds on the clock.

While Matthews’ clutch gene will get all the headlines, Mavs fans watching on television had a pretty good feeling that Matthews was going to step up at the other end of the floor as well. Few in the league are better than Matthews defensively, particularly in clutch situations. Matthews stymied the Bulls attack in the final seconds, then shut down fellow Marquette alum Jimmy Butler on the game’s final play to secure an important win for the Mavericks on the road.

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Harrison Barnes led the way for the Mavs with twenty points, but the Mavs got some major contributions from Seth Curry. Curry scored several timely baskets en route to an eighteen point evening as he continues to earn Rick Carlisle’s needed trust. Deron Williams did not have his most efficient scoring night, putting up eleven, but dished out nine assists.

Wesley Matthews is quietly putting together an All-Defensive team campaign, something Mavs team owner, Mark Cuban, was campaigning for after the game.

All season long he has been the rock of an often leaky defense and has secured several wins for Dallas down the stretches of games. His heroics have helped Dallas limp into being only two games behind in the loss column to the eighth place Portland Trailblazers at the official midpoint of the season.

Next: Carlisle, Matthews Talk Key to Winning

With forty-one games still to go, the Mavs are riding a three game winning streak and have a chance to add to that Thursday night against the lowly Heat.