Parsons, Mavs end Hornets’ 7-game win streak, 107-96

By STEVE REED
AP Sports Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ Chandler Parsons had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Dallas Mavericks snapped the Charlotte Hornets’ season-high, seven-game winning streak with a 107-96 victory Monday night.

Dirk Nowitzki added 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Mavericks, who moved back above .500 after losing five straight games. Deron Williams chipped in with 15 points.

Kemba Walker had 25 points and nine assists, Nicolas Batum scored 20 points and Marvin Williams added 19 for the Hornets.

Dallas, which was just 3 of 20 from 3-point range in the first three quarters, hit 6 of 10 3s in the fourth quarter.

After averaging more than 36 points in the first quarter in its previous three games, Charlotte made just 27 percent of its shots from the field and 43 percent from the foul line in the first half to fall behind 52-33.

STEVE CLIFFORD – HORNETS HEAD COACH

 

On tonight’s loss:

“First thing is, they played well. They are in a tough part of their schedule and they had lost a few of their road, tough games so they certainly played with good desperation. That was the early part of the game and then our guys fought back well. And at the end of the day it comes down to basic things, too many turnovers, too many missed free throws. We did some good things to get back in the game after we put ourselves in the hole, but 16 turnovers which turned into 18 points and missing 12 free throws makes it tough to win.â€

On the resiliency of the team and coming back from down 19:

“I think that we will always fight and stay together. We lost our poise a little bit tonight and it hurt us. But I think that we’ve shown a number of times that we have enough fire power that we can be behind [and come back]. Even though it doesn’t show it because the game got scrambled at the end for the most part, our defense was pretty good tonight. When you start playing [Dirk] Nowitzki at five and [Chandler] Parsons at four with those other guys they have that is a great offensive team. Obviously, you can’t play it for long stretches because it’s just not big enough and not physical enough to defend and rebound, but just to purely guard them it’s very difficult. And I thought for the most part our guys did a good job of that.â€