Jason Terry made six 3-point shots and scored 24 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 15 as the Dallas Mavericks, whose NBA title pursuit last season ended with a stunning first-round exit against Golden State, opened 2007-08 with a 92-74 victory over the Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
The Mavericks held a foul-plagued James scoreless in the first half - and to 10 points overall - in an impressive debut against the defending Eastern Conference champions, who are being given little chance of getting back to the NBA Finals.
Jerry Stackhouse scored 17 points and Devin Harris 13 for Dallas, which shot 9-of-18 behind the arc.
James, who carried the Cavs as far as he could last season before they were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals, had the worst opening night of his brilliant career. He shot just 2-of-11 from the field, made five turnovers and was mostly a non-factor in the Cavs’ most lopsided home loss since April 5, 2005, and their worst loss in a home opener in six years.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 17 points and 18 rebounds for Cleveland, which before the game unfurled its first Eastern Conference championship banner.
“It’s the first game. Hopefully we can put it behind us,” James said. “We didn’t play well - at all. It’s kind of how we have been playing in the preseason. We didn’t do anything right. We didn’t play hard. We didn’t execute.”
The Mavs made it tough on James, but they weren’t about to credit their defense for stopping him.
“It’s not so much what we did,” Eddie Jones said. “He just missed shots. We contested shots, but he just missed them. Believe me, that won’t last long, him scoring 10 points. He’s too good.”
Last season, Dallas seemingly had it all - a playoff-tested roster, the league’s best record and in Nowitzki, the NBA Most Valuable Player. Then came the playoffs, and it all meant nothing against the only-small-in-stature Warriors, who stunned the Mavs in six games.
It was a second straight playoff meltdown for Dallas, which blew a 2-0 lead against the Miami Heat in the previous year’s Finals.
The Mavs looked poised to make another run at a title as they schooled the Cavs with ball movement, help defense and a go-for-the-throat attitude from the start. Dallas led by 14 points after one quarter, 20 at halftime and eventually built a 25-point advantage before the Cavs closed down the stretch.
“We got off to a good start offensively and defensively,” Mavs coach Avery Johnson said. “We were in a good flow in the first half. When we were open, we were popping our shots. And we were moving the ball well.”
The Mavs rolled despite playing without All-Star swingman Josh Howard, serving a two-game suspension for his role in an altercation with the Sacramento Kings’ Brad Miller in a preseason game.
Dallas was also missing center Erick Dampier (shoulder surgery) and forward Devean George (foot).
None of them was needed, as the Mavs had little trouble with the Cavs, who had downplayed a 1-6 exhibition season by saying they would be ready for their opener. They didn’t look like they were.
“We got our behinds kicked,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said. “Dallas came in here and did what they wanted to do offensively and defensively.”
One of the few bright spots for Cleveland fans was a Sasha Pavlovic sighting. A restricted free agent, Pavlovic ended his contract holdout on Tuesday by agreeing to a three-year deal.
However, Cleveland remains without frizzy-haired forward Anderson Varejao, another restricted free agent who is asking for $9 million per year.
Booing - and not Halloween-related booing - ushered the Cavaliers to the locker room when they fell behind 54-34 at halftime.
James was 0-for-4 from the field when he committed his third personal foul and spent the final 6:27 of the second quarter on the bench. Without their star, the Cavs briefly cut Dallas’ lead to 13 before the Mavericks closed the quarter with a 14-4 run.
Cleveland was still in it late in the third, but Terry drained a 3 and Harris hit a 24-foot jumper at the horn to give the Mavs a 78-59 lead entering the fourth.
