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Warriors put an emphatic end to Mavericks' streak

Mar 13, 2007 - 7:48 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks have found an unlikely nemesis in the Golden State Warriors.

Nowitzki was limited to 13 points while Mickael Pietrus scored 20 as the Warriors put an end to the Mavericks' 17-game winning streak in emphatic fashion with a surprisingly easy 117-100 victory.

The Warriors posted their fourth straight victory over the Mavs and snapped the seventh-longest winning streak in NBA history by outscoring Dallas, 65-36, over the middle two quarters.

"I guess it was just time, 17 was enough," Golden State coach Don Nelson said. "I felt we had a good game plan and executed well the first three quarters."

In that span was a 21-6 run that Jason Richardson capped with a layup, giving Golden State a 54-39 lead with 3:44 left in the second quarter.

Richardson, Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson and Andris Biedrins each scored 16 points for the Warriors (30-36), who moved within a game of the Los Angeles Clippers (29-33) for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"We came out tonight real focused," Jackson said. "Dallas is definitely a great team, the best team in the league, but we wanted this game more than they did tonight and we're thankful we were able to get that tonight."

Nowitzki scored 10 of his points in the first quarter and was just 3-of-11 from the field. Noticeably frustrated for much of the game, the superstar committed seven turnovers and was whistled for a technical foul while on the bench.

"They came out swinging and we were never ready for the attack," Nowitzki said. "We were backpedaling all game long. We were just never really ready to play. That's something we've got to learn from if we want to do anything this year in the postseason."

Jason Terry and Devin Harris each scored 16 points for Dallas, which allowed Golden State to shoot 57 percent (44-of-77) from the field and committed 23 turnovers.

"Even though we scored 33 in the first quarter, we just weren't here tonight," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "We just didn't have it tonight. We got outplayed, outworked, outhustled, but our guys are really professional. They don't have many nights like this, so we'll bounce back. We just didn't have it tonight.

"Their shots were going in, their crowd was really into the game, but this leaves a bad taste in our mouth. We don't like to play like this."