Mavericks Blast Clippers Into the Sun
After Lakers Loss, Mavs Rebound With a Vengeance
WOWZERS!!! After a couple of subpar games to open the season, the Mavs sprang back to life with a crackling performance. This is the team we hoped to see in this campaign. What a fun watch!!
GAME STORY
A couple of hours before the game, Coach Lue announced that Kawhi would be out, due to being elbowed in the face by his teammate Serge Ibaka in the last game. Marcus Morris was also out. KP continued to be on the injured list, but looked like he was enjoying the game from the sideline.
Since this was quite possibly the most remarkable half in Mavericks regular-season history, I’ll describe it in some degree of detail.
First quarter
The Clips took their only lead of the game by scoring the first bucket. The Mavs took over from there. An early Luka steal led to a JRich and-one. Luka and Powell executed an alley-oop that rivaled the days of old. Powell stole a bad pass from PG (who had just committed another turnover), and the play ended with a Luka running layup and-one. Doe-Doe hit a three. A dramatic Luka drive-and-kick brought out a beautiful Maxi three from deep, giving Dallas an 11-point edge halfway through the period.
A WCS offensive board led to a driving layup by JRich from Luka. Josh then hit back to back threes, the second off a Trey Burke steal. Burke followed that by a 10-foot step-back off the dribble. By the end of the quarter, Dallas had put 37 points on the board.
And what were the Clippers doing all this time? Scoring 13 measly points, that’s what. Luka and Josh both had 13 points — the first time in 20 years that two Mavs had at least 13 points each in the first quarter. Carlisle denied that the Mavs were trying to attain quarterly scoring records like that, but did think the stat was tangible evidence of the team chemistry.
Second quarter
The Mavs started the second period with a WCS offensive board, leading to a Hardaway jumper. James Johnson followed that with a three. Some more excitement was generated with a Brunson-WCS oop, A Hardaway three put the Mavs up by 30 for good. WCS secured an offensive rebound, ran the floor, and caught a DFS downcourt pass for a dunk and-one. Doe-Doe had a running PUJIT that was worth a couple of oohs and ahhs. Our boys scored on the next four possessions, and by then, the quarter was halfway over and the Clips were down by 40+.
After a few misses, the team scored on 6 of the last 7 possessions of the half, including: a Brunson three from a looong pass, a Dirk-like post-up from Luka, a Luka and-one over Batum; a Richardson steal and dunk, and a Burke three off an offensive rebound.
Scoreline at Halftime: 77-27
This was the biggest halftime margin in the NBA shot-clock era!
Third quarter
The Clippers went on their first and only run of the game, scoring the first 10 points of the period. After a Rick timeout, the Mavs fought back, including: a downcourt pass from Luka to a leaked-out Tim Hardaway; a brilliant Luka weave through traffic for an and-one; a Luka backdown for an and-one; a Richardson staredown three; a beautiful Hardaway catch and shoot; and, back-to-back threes from Tim -- one from Luka, and one from Willie from an offensive board. The Clippers managed to do a little damage in this quarter, and at the end of the third, Dallas’ lead had declined to 47. Would they be able to hold on?
Fourth quarter
The final frame belonged to the reserves from both sides. Johnson, Green, Iwundu, Bobi, and Terry strutted their stuff, and more than made up the three-point loss of the third quarter to end the game with a 51-point victory. Woo-hoo!
NOTABLE ITEMS
3. Statistics. The Clips were crushed in just about every category, but a few were notable. Dallas had an 87-76 advantage in shot attempts, as well as a 27-20 edge in FTAs. In addition, they far surpassed the Clippers’ pathetic shooting percentages (49/34/89 compared to 34/12/85).The Mavericks, as usual, took good care of the ball (8 turnovers costing 10 points), and managed to take advantage of forcing 14 turnovers from the Clips, to the tune of 22 points. Offensive rebounds and steals resulted in 14 Dallas second-chance points, along with a 28-3 advantage in fast-break points!
4. Doncic. Luka had a 24/9/8 line, and 13 of his 18 shots were two-pointers. He led the team in all three statistical categories, and was a splendid floor leader.
5. Richardson. Josh had a brilliant night, scoring 21 points on 8-13 shooting, including 4-8 from three. He led the team in minutes (26), and was a tenacious and effective defender. What a find for the Mavs! Carlisle remarked on how simpatico James and Luka are. Rick dubbed him “calming, tenacious, a great competitor,” and a strong defensive player whom they “love.” An exciting player, for sure!
6. Hardaway. Tim got his groove back in this game, putting 18 points on the board and shooting 50% from the floor (7-14 overall, 4-8 from deep). He was making an effort to play a more complete game, passing, taking shots off the dribble, and trying to create passing angles rather than just standing and waiting for someone to pass him the rock for a catch-and-shoot. Those efforts met with varying degrees of success, but it appeared that this is what he has been encouraged to do, and he was definitely an energy guy out there, as well as making shots.
7. Centers. The four big men looked better this game, combining for 22 points and 20 boards. They were all engaged on both ends of the floor, which was good to see.
8. Bench. Dallas won the battle of the benches 48-32. James Johnson played a big role (20 minutes), and was active on the boards with 8 rebounds. Carlisle remarked that James is taking on a role as locker-room leader, being the oldest guy on the team, at 33. Brunson performed his waterbug role with aplomb, and had 11 points in 13 minutes. And a Bobi sighting is always entertaining.
9. Clippers. The Mavs may have caught a break with the absences of Kawhi and Morris, but this level of beatdown can’t just be attributable to two players being out. After all, KP was also out for the Mavs. Paul George took responsibility for the loss, but it’s not all on him, either. Paul said the Clippers had not celebrated Christmas with their families until yesterday, and he thought they were sluggish coming back from the holiday. Really? Carlisle acknowledged that this wasn’t the best version of the Clippers, but said the Mavs had something to do with that. A truly humiliating performance by the Clips, on both ends of the court.
Observations
Rick spoke openly of the “uneven” effort in the first two games, and said the team entered the game determined to be the harder-working of the two teams on the floor. He was proud of their response after an underwhelming start to the season.
At the end of the day, this was a spectacular rebound by the Mavs. There was just nothing in either of the first two games that would have led anyone to think this performance was coming. Good on them!
Having said that, I still believe that this is going to be an unpredictable season across the NBA, perhaps wildly so. Without taking anything away from this victory, it probably behooves us not to overreact to results either way in these strange times. Derek Harper said that he thinks this effort was much more representative of who the Mavs really are than the first two games, and I agree with that. I am not saying that our guys are going to blow teams out by monstrous margins as a general matter, but the offense was much more characteristic of the well-oiled machine we saw last season, and the defense was visibly improved, I am inclined to be optimistic about our chances, if the guys can stay healthy.
Anyway, whatever the future holds, this was a WAY COOL game to watch, and hopefully will be one of many such this season.
See you MFFLs for the next recap after the Charlotte game!
After Lakers Loss, Mavs Rebound With a Vengeance
WOWZERS!!! After a couple of subpar games to open the season, the Mavs sprang back to life with a crackling performance. This is the team we hoped to see in this campaign. What a fun watch!!
GAME STORY
A couple of hours before the game, Coach Lue announced that Kawhi would be out, due to being elbowed in the face by his teammate Serge Ibaka in the last game. Marcus Morris was also out. KP continued to be on the injured list, but looked like he was enjoying the game from the sideline.
Since this was quite possibly the most remarkable half in Mavericks regular-season history, I’ll describe it in some degree of detail.
First quarter
The Clips took their only lead of the game by scoring the first bucket. The Mavs took over from there. An early Luka steal led to a JRich and-one. Luka and Powell executed an alley-oop that rivaled the days of old. Powell stole a bad pass from PG (who had just committed another turnover), and the play ended with a Luka running layup and-one. Doe-Doe hit a three. A dramatic Luka drive-and-kick brought out a beautiful Maxi three from deep, giving Dallas an 11-point edge halfway through the period.
A WCS offensive board led to a driving layup by JRich from Luka. Josh then hit back to back threes, the second off a Trey Burke steal. Burke followed that by a 10-foot step-back off the dribble. By the end of the quarter, Dallas had put 37 points on the board.
And what were the Clippers doing all this time? Scoring 13 measly points, that’s what. Luka and Josh both had 13 points — the first time in 20 years that two Mavs had at least 13 points each in the first quarter. Carlisle denied that the Mavs were trying to attain quarterly scoring records like that, but did think the stat was tangible evidence of the team chemistry.
Second quarter
The Mavs started the second period with a WCS offensive board, leading to a Hardaway jumper. James Johnson followed that with a three. Some more excitement was generated with a Brunson-WCS oop, A Hardaway three put the Mavs up by 30 for good. WCS secured an offensive rebound, ran the floor, and caught a DFS downcourt pass for a dunk and-one. Doe-Doe had a running PUJIT that was worth a couple of oohs and ahhs. Our boys scored on the next four possessions, and by then, the quarter was halfway over and the Clips were down by 40+.
After a few misses, the team scored on 6 of the last 7 possessions of the half, including: a Brunson three from a looong pass, a Dirk-like post-up from Luka, a Luka and-one over Batum; a Richardson steal and dunk, and a Burke three off an offensive rebound.
Scoreline at Halftime: 77-27
This was the biggest halftime margin in the NBA shot-clock era!
Third quarter
The Clippers went on their first and only run of the game, scoring the first 10 points of the period. After a Rick timeout, the Mavs fought back, including: a downcourt pass from Luka to a leaked-out Tim Hardaway; a brilliant Luka weave through traffic for an and-one; a Luka backdown for an and-one; a Richardson staredown three; a beautiful Hardaway catch and shoot; and, back-to-back threes from Tim -- one from Luka, and one from Willie from an offensive board. The Clippers managed to do a little damage in this quarter, and at the end of the third, Dallas’ lead had declined to 47. Would they be able to hold on?
Fourth quarter
The final frame belonged to the reserves from both sides. Johnson, Green, Iwundu, Bobi, and Terry strutted their stuff, and more than made up the three-point loss of the third quarter to end the game with a 51-point victory. Woo-hoo!
NOTABLE ITEMS
- Style of play. Assistant coach Boucek said this is how they want the guys to play — with joy. She cited Luka as a joyful player, and observed that the team is taking on his personality. They aimed to have a hit-first mentality, forcing the Clips to play their game instead of otherwise, to rebound and defend on every defensive possession, and to play inside-out with lots of movement on offense. She thought this was a great opportunity for the new guys to get a feel for how much fun this style of play is.
3. Statistics. The Clips were crushed in just about every category, but a few were notable. Dallas had an 87-76 advantage in shot attempts, as well as a 27-20 edge in FTAs. In addition, they far surpassed the Clippers’ pathetic shooting percentages (49/34/89 compared to 34/12/85).The Mavericks, as usual, took good care of the ball (8 turnovers costing 10 points), and managed to take advantage of forcing 14 turnovers from the Clips, to the tune of 22 points. Offensive rebounds and steals resulted in 14 Dallas second-chance points, along with a 28-3 advantage in fast-break points!
4. Doncic. Luka had a 24/9/8 line, and 13 of his 18 shots were two-pointers. He led the team in all three statistical categories, and was a splendid floor leader.
5. Richardson. Josh had a brilliant night, scoring 21 points on 8-13 shooting, including 4-8 from three. He led the team in minutes (26), and was a tenacious and effective defender. What a find for the Mavs! Carlisle remarked on how simpatico James and Luka are. Rick dubbed him “calming, tenacious, a great competitor,” and a strong defensive player whom they “love.” An exciting player, for sure!
6. Hardaway. Tim got his groove back in this game, putting 18 points on the board and shooting 50% from the floor (7-14 overall, 4-8 from deep). He was making an effort to play a more complete game, passing, taking shots off the dribble, and trying to create passing angles rather than just standing and waiting for someone to pass him the rock for a catch-and-shoot. Those efforts met with varying degrees of success, but it appeared that this is what he has been encouraged to do, and he was definitely an energy guy out there, as well as making shots.
7. Centers. The four big men looked better this game, combining for 22 points and 20 boards. They were all engaged on both ends of the floor, which was good to see.
8. Bench. Dallas won the battle of the benches 48-32. James Johnson played a big role (20 minutes), and was active on the boards with 8 rebounds. Carlisle remarked that James is taking on a role as locker-room leader, being the oldest guy on the team, at 33. Brunson performed his waterbug role with aplomb, and had 11 points in 13 minutes. And a Bobi sighting is always entertaining.
9. Clippers. The Mavs may have caught a break with the absences of Kawhi and Morris, but this level of beatdown can’t just be attributable to two players being out. After all, KP was also out for the Mavs. Paul George took responsibility for the loss, but it’s not all on him, either. Paul said the Clippers had not celebrated Christmas with their families until yesterday, and he thought they were sluggish coming back from the holiday. Really? Carlisle acknowledged that this wasn’t the best version of the Clippers, but said the Mavs had something to do with that. A truly humiliating performance by the Clips, on both ends of the court.
Observations
Rick spoke openly of the “uneven” effort in the first two games, and said the team entered the game determined to be the harder-working of the two teams on the floor. He was proud of their response after an underwhelming start to the season.
At the end of the day, this was a spectacular rebound by the Mavs. There was just nothing in either of the first two games that would have led anyone to think this performance was coming. Good on them!
Having said that, I still believe that this is going to be an unpredictable season across the NBA, perhaps wildly so. Without taking anything away from this victory, it probably behooves us not to overreact to results either way in these strange times. Derek Harper said that he thinks this effort was much more representative of who the Mavs really are than the first two games, and I agree with that. I am not saying that our guys are going to blow teams out by monstrous margins as a general matter, but the offense was much more characteristic of the well-oiled machine we saw last season, and the defense was visibly improved, I am inclined to be optimistic about our chances, if the guys can stay healthy.
Anyway, whatever the future holds, this was a WAY COOL game to watch, and hopefully will be one of many such this season.
See you MFFLs for the next recap after the Charlotte game!