MAVERICKS EDGE WARRIORS IN OFFENSIVE ROMP
CURRY AND DONCIC BLAZING
What a fun, entertaining evening! A clash of the offensive titans in Luka and Steph! A good time was had by all.
GAME STORY
The Mavs stormed out to an 18-2 lead less than five minutes in. It was not sustainable, however, and Dallas closed the quarter with a 35-31 advantage. Our boys hit 5-10 of their 3PTAs in the period. The team maintained their margin in the second, even going ahead by double digits a couple of times, and went into the locker room leading 72-64. This, despite Steph’s going off for 30 points in the half and hitting 7-10 of his threes.
Steph continued to relentlessly pound away at the Mavs in the third, and the Dubs attained their first lead at the 4:11 mark. The two teams seesawed back and forth, until six points from Hardaway to close the quarter had Dallas ahead 106-101 after three.
Dallas had an 8-point lead with 2:49 left in the game, but said lead shrank to 1 with 29 seconds to go. Maxi hit a dagger three off a pass from Luka to seal the win. The finishing lineup consisted of the usual starting lineup, with THJ in instead of Richardson.
NOTABLE ITEMS
STATS. The Mavs hit their threes at a 45% clip, completing twenty-one from deep. They had seven more FTAs than the Warriors, with Luka getting to the line for 14 freebies. Rebounding was uncharacteristically strong. Dallas had a whopping 15 offensive boards and 17 second-chance points. They won the possession battle, getting up ten more shots and two more threes than the Dubs.
DONCIC. Luka had a wonderful night, tying his career high in scoring with 42 points, including a blistering 7-12 performance from long range. He also had 7 rebounds and 11 assists. He lit it up from everywhere on the court, along with running the offense brilliantly, and the Warriors had no answer for him. After the game, Luka was happy with his shots, admitting that his three-point shooting this season has been “terrible,” and he hasn’t been able to hit it “into the pool.” Rachel Nichols tipped him off that the American expression is “into the ocean.” Even being corrected didn’t dim Luka’s joy, and he was all smiles after a career performance.
PORZINGIS. Kris has 18 points and 10 rebounds, and did some good things. However, he was 7-18 from the field (0-3 from three), was pretty much roasted defensively, and the announcers called him out for jawing with the refs instead of getting back on defense. One thing I have been noticing — posting KP up at the elbow has had mixed results, at best, but he is really pretty effective on the low block. If they can run stuff designed to enable him to establish position around the basket, I think he could be a real weapon there.
KLEBER. Maxi had a very good line, with 16 points, 8 boards, and a surprising 4 assists. His three-point shot was in fine form, as he bombed in 4 triples. He made a few mistakes late in the game, but redeemed himself hitting the dagger three at the end.
RICHARDSON. Josh had 17 points, and found his shooting stroke, with a 4-6 record from beyond the arc. He did foul Curry twice on attempted threes, but it can’t be an easy task trying to guard the best shooter in history.
HARDAWAY. Timmy had a very bad shooting night (3-15), but made some other contributions. He absorbed a lot of contact on his drives without getting a call, which had Rick yelling at the refs to no avail. He drew a charge from Draymond in the fourth, and had a couple of key steals. Mark Jackson credited him for keeping the Mavs in the game at points in the fourth, and Rick awarded him the DPOG championship belt.
POWELL. Dwight served as the reserve big on the night, and showed a lot of hustle. At one point, he flushed a put back dunk, followed it up with a diving save resulting in his going splat out-of-bounds, and executing a steal. On the ensuing play, he was pushed to the floor, resulting in Maxi leaping from midcourt to go and check on him. He had 8 points and 5 rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. Good to see him coming around.
STEPH. Since we won, I think we are allowed to revel in the thrill of watching the Master of the Shooting Universe. The Mavs had trouble defending him (who doesn’t?), but even when they defended him beautifully, time after time, he would bomb an absolutely BACKBREAKING three from some unlikely position on the court. He ended the campaign with an astounding 57 points, and went 11-19 on threes. There is no one in the league who can match what he does. I think all we fans can do is enjoy him while we can, and thank Providence that the Mavs survived the onslaught.
ODDS AND ENDS. Luka and Steph repeatedly drew fouls by leaning about a body-length into their defenders on jump shots. Kerr said after the game that he doesn’t like those fouls, but since that’s the way the league is calling them, that’s what the players do. If that is the way those plays are going to be called, I think defenders will have to be trained not to get within broad jumping distance of a shooter.
OBSERVATIONS
The Mavericks desperately needed this win, and came out to play accordingly. Their defense still left a lot to be desired, but the same was true of the opposition, and the offense was reminiscent of last season’s crackling displays. I really liked the aggressive rebounding, and thought Maxi showed a lot of energy on the glass -- also Brunson, who improbably grabbed 8 boards off the bench. It was also a thrill to see our team with a great shooting performance. I am going to view this match as a step in the right direction, rather than a one-off, until and unless they show us otherwise.
Despite the contest’s All-Star Game vibe, matches as entertaining as this one are few and far between. All’s well that ends well!
Dare we hope for a back-to-back win against the Timberwolves on Wednesday?
Hang in, Mavs fans!
CURRY AND DONCIC BLAZING
What a fun, entertaining evening! A clash of the offensive titans in Luka and Steph! A good time was had by all.
GAME STORY
The Mavs stormed out to an 18-2 lead less than five minutes in. It was not sustainable, however, and Dallas closed the quarter with a 35-31 advantage. Our boys hit 5-10 of their 3PTAs in the period. The team maintained their margin in the second, even going ahead by double digits a couple of times, and went into the locker room leading 72-64. This, despite Steph’s going off for 30 points in the half and hitting 7-10 of his threes.
Steph continued to relentlessly pound away at the Mavs in the third, and the Dubs attained their first lead at the 4:11 mark. The two teams seesawed back and forth, until six points from Hardaway to close the quarter had Dallas ahead 106-101 after three.
Dallas had an 8-point lead with 2:49 left in the game, but said lead shrank to 1 with 29 seconds to go. Maxi hit a dagger three off a pass from Luka to seal the win. The finishing lineup consisted of the usual starting lineup, with THJ in instead of Richardson.
NOTABLE ITEMS
STATS. The Mavs hit their threes at a 45% clip, completing twenty-one from deep. They had seven more FTAs than the Warriors, with Luka getting to the line for 14 freebies. Rebounding was uncharacteristically strong. Dallas had a whopping 15 offensive boards and 17 second-chance points. They won the possession battle, getting up ten more shots and two more threes than the Dubs.
DONCIC. Luka had a wonderful night, tying his career high in scoring with 42 points, including a blistering 7-12 performance from long range. He also had 7 rebounds and 11 assists. He lit it up from everywhere on the court, along with running the offense brilliantly, and the Warriors had no answer for him. After the game, Luka was happy with his shots, admitting that his three-point shooting this season has been “terrible,” and he hasn’t been able to hit it “into the pool.” Rachel Nichols tipped him off that the American expression is “into the ocean.” Even being corrected didn’t dim Luka’s joy, and he was all smiles after a career performance.
PORZINGIS. Kris has 18 points and 10 rebounds, and did some good things. However, he was 7-18 from the field (0-3 from three), was pretty much roasted defensively, and the announcers called him out for jawing with the refs instead of getting back on defense. One thing I have been noticing — posting KP up at the elbow has had mixed results, at best, but he is really pretty effective on the low block. If they can run stuff designed to enable him to establish position around the basket, I think he could be a real weapon there.
KLEBER. Maxi had a very good line, with 16 points, 8 boards, and a surprising 4 assists. His three-point shot was in fine form, as he bombed in 4 triples. He made a few mistakes late in the game, but redeemed himself hitting the dagger three at the end.
RICHARDSON. Josh had 17 points, and found his shooting stroke, with a 4-6 record from beyond the arc. He did foul Curry twice on attempted threes, but it can’t be an easy task trying to guard the best shooter in history.
HARDAWAY. Timmy had a very bad shooting night (3-15), but made some other contributions. He absorbed a lot of contact on his drives without getting a call, which had Rick yelling at the refs to no avail. He drew a charge from Draymond in the fourth, and had a couple of key steals. Mark Jackson credited him for keeping the Mavs in the game at points in the fourth, and Rick awarded him the DPOG championship belt.
POWELL. Dwight served as the reserve big on the night, and showed a lot of hustle. At one point, he flushed a put back dunk, followed it up with a diving save resulting in his going splat out-of-bounds, and executing a steal. On the ensuing play, he was pushed to the floor, resulting in Maxi leaping from midcourt to go and check on him. He had 8 points and 5 rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. Good to see him coming around.
STEPH. Since we won, I think we are allowed to revel in the thrill of watching the Master of the Shooting Universe. The Mavs had trouble defending him (who doesn’t?), but even when they defended him beautifully, time after time, he would bomb an absolutely BACKBREAKING three from some unlikely position on the court. He ended the campaign with an astounding 57 points, and went 11-19 on threes. There is no one in the league who can match what he does. I think all we fans can do is enjoy him while we can, and thank Providence that the Mavs survived the onslaught.
ODDS AND ENDS. Luka and Steph repeatedly drew fouls by leaning about a body-length into their defenders on jump shots. Kerr said after the game that he doesn’t like those fouls, but since that’s the way the league is calling them, that’s what the players do. If that is the way those plays are going to be called, I think defenders will have to be trained not to get within broad jumping distance of a shooter.
OBSERVATIONS
The Mavericks desperately needed this win, and came out to play accordingly. Their defense still left a lot to be desired, but the same was true of the opposition, and the offense was reminiscent of last season’s crackling displays. I really liked the aggressive rebounding, and thought Maxi showed a lot of energy on the glass -- also Brunson, who improbably grabbed 8 boards off the bench. It was also a thrill to see our team with a great shooting performance. I am going to view this match as a step in the right direction, rather than a one-off, until and unless they show us otherwise.
Despite the contest’s All-Star Game vibe, matches as entertaining as this one are few and far between. All’s well that ends well!
Dare we hope for a back-to-back win against the Timberwolves on Wednesday?
Hang in, Mavs fans!