Bonner’s 17 points gave Spurs a win over Mavericks
Well the NBA’s compressed season has started to show its negative effects and it is evident from the performance of Dirk Nowitzki on Thursday night against San Antonio Spurs. This was the sixth game of Dallas Mavericks and was the lowest scoring result for the star forward team as he scored only 6 points on his 3-of-11 shooting leading to a 93-71 loss for the team. It seems that Nowitzki himself is admitting that the short turnaround has affected his game this season. Jason Kidd’s injury later in the game turned all the chances against the team. Now the team is planning to reevaluate him on the coming Friday.
Out of 77 shots in the game Mavericks were able to hit only 27 and just a single shot out of nineteen shots were from the three-point range. On the other hand, the Spurs took advantage of 34 shots out of 86 shots. The main reason behind the Spurs win was the 16 shots out of 33 long-range shots played in the game. Bonner also added that they have a good start in the beginning of the season and back to back wins has given them a boost and Bonner has also scored more than Nowtizki.
When Spurs started the play, everybody felt Neal’s presence in the opening possession. Neal started his game with hitting three 3-pointers just in the beginning of the first quarter, giving Spurs a lead of 18-points in the initial quarter of the game. The team also lacked Manu Ginobili, their leading scorer and when Nowitzki’s team started to trail with 66-42 in the fourth quarter, Coach Rick Carlisle opted Nowitzki out for the final session. Only two players from the Mavericks were able to reach double figures, these two players were Terry and Delonte West, and they scored 12 points and 10 points respectively.
On comparing the back-to-back of both the teams in this season, the Mavericks seem ahead of Spurs with 22 back-to-backs as compared to 20 back-to backs of Spurs. However, for the Thursday match Spurs coach feel that the real fire of the Mavericks was not present in the game and the team might get in a better shape later in the season. At the end of the day, Matt Bonner’s 17 points gave Spurs a nice victory over the Mavericks, and these points took him ahead of veteran Tim Duncan from Spurs as well. Better games seem to be slated in the coming time and hope that fans get to see better performance as well.
Hayes took another blow from Drew Gooden a night after Chris Andersen’s Charge
Hayes stretched his left arm when he fouled Milwaukee center Gooden in second quarter of Thursday’s game, but he did not realized how much this foul will cost him. Somehow, his arm got entangled with Drew Gooden and all of a sudden his shoulder got dislocated and pooped out. Now, it seems that he will be out from the team indefinitely and the injury will prove to be pretty costly for him in this season. The moment this happened Hayes laid on the floor wriggling in a lot of pain and his screams could be heard clearly because the stunned audience stood their in all silence.
Even the sidelines echoed with his screams. Then Hayes walked inside himself holding his injured arm with all this might. One of the Kings representatives confirmed the news that Hayes has dislocated his shoulder and also informed about other tests as well. He told about a heart examination, which has showed some abnormality and for this further test will be conducted and thus this news also confirmed that the contract he has signed in December will become void. Just a few days later on, forward-center signed a new contract with Sacramento.
Until now, nothing can be said about the time of Hayes recovery and when will he able to play again on the court. This is a tragic scene for his fans, as the 6.6-foot tall and 250 pound strong veteran is known for his rugged and defensive play and also earns a hefty salary for his play. However, the disastrous collision on Thursday with Drew Gooden sent him straight to the floor howling in pain and sidelined him for the left of the match in that evening. It has been just a night when Hayes overtook the charge from Chris Andersen from Denver Nuggets and then came the shocking collision again sending Hayes on to the floor with a painful injury.
Afterwards Hayes commented that the charge from Birdman was comparatively more painful than earlier ones he has taken. He was also sure that the injury would not affect his style of playing, no matter how much pain he has to suffer because of the shoulder dislocation. Hayes is one of those players, who count his charges and collisions, unlike players, who rank their dunks and biggest shots. It seems that the charges are charging him up and making him a more aggressive and sturdy player. For, now the fans will just have to wait for his recovery.
