Mavs Crush Hawks at AAC
The Mavericks made a nice rebound after the Houston loss, and comfortably handled a bad Atlanta team, despite playing without Luka and KP.
Game Story
Atlanta were missing a bunch of guys, including former Mav Chandler Parsons, who was still recovering from his car accident. They dressed only nine players. The Mavs counted Luka (ankle), KP (load management), and DP (Achilles) on the injured list.
Rick broke out another new starting unit, featuring Brunson/THJ/DFS/Maxi/WCS. The squad got off to a sluggish start, going down by 10 within the first four minutes. Then, they recovered, and owned a 36-26 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Hawks had another run or two in them, but the Mavs kept their foot on the gas for the rest of the game and soundly thrashed their opponent.
Analytics
The Mavericks won this game largely on the basis of sterling 3-point shooting, putting up 6 more 3PTAs than the Hawks, and hitting 51% of their shots from long range. They were +30 on points from threes, -1 on made free throws, and -6 on points from twos. The home team should also be congratulated on going 15-16 from the line.
The offense was fashioned to some extent from defense, with the Mavs recording 8 blocks, and winning 17 points off Hawks turnovers. Many of the threes were in rhythm, generated as a result of inside penetration. The squad looked very coordinated and energetic on both ends of the floor, and it was a great team win.
Players
Coach went a little bigger in this match, and the front court did not disappoint.
Maxi (30 min) was amazing, registering 18 points on 6-9 shooting, including 4 threes, and having 4 blocks for the second night in a row. He was quite active defensively, managing to stay in front of the Hawks' pacey players. Harp talked about Maxi's improvement this season as a two-play player, and remarked that working hard on his shot is really paying off.
DFS (29 min) stuffed the box score with a season-high-tying 22 points, 4 threes, 7 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Wow! He played forcefully, and was everywhere he needed to be, hitting threes, dunking, completing free throws, making life tough on Atlanta, and crashing the boards. A very complete game from the young guy. Harp also praised Finney-Smith for elevating his play so much this season. Exciting development!
WCS (26 min) enjoyed his debut as a starter with the Mavs, and contributed 10 rebounds and 2 blocks. He also played starter minutes with NO fouls!! Rick thought he played extremely well, serving as a presence around the rim, blocking shots, altering shots, moving his feet, acting as a lob threat, and guarding smaller guys. As important as anything, Willie really wants to be here. He gave a post-game interview, and seemed joyful about his new life in Dallas.
The guards were no less impressive.
Brunson (27 min) really stepped up in Luka's absence, leading the team with a season-high 27 points on 12-22 shooting, to go with 8 assists and only 1 turnover. Incredible! Coach thought he played extremely well, and did everything they needed him to do. Way to go, Jalen!
Seth (21 min) was the leading scorer off the bench with 15 points, including 5 threes, along with 6 rebounds. He was playing with great joie de vivre, which was fun. He had to be taken off near the end of the game with some sort of knee issue. Hope it's nothing serous.
Hawks. The short-staffed Hawks suffered a couple of injuries during the game. Cam Reddish took an elbow to the face from DFS, and seemed disoriented as he was helped to the locker room. He has a facial contusion and a possible concussion. Trae Young did not have a very good night (12 points), and had to leave in the second half with a sprained ankle. Former Mav and old friend Vince Carter impressed, and Dirk, who was in the audience, joined him in revving the engines after a signature dunk, which was a hoot.
Remarks
Carlisle was happy with his team's play, especially their defensive effort, and said they had a bunch of good performances, top to bottom.
This was a high-paced, entertaining game, and we got to see a lot of guys step up into bigger roles, which was cool. Honestly, I think it would have been even more interesting had Atlanta not been so terrible, but we'll take the win. I don't watch the Hawks very often, and I didn't realize just how bad they are. Yikes! But, let's not take anything away from the Mavs, who did well to maintain their record of no losing streaks longer than two games so far this season. Impressive system performance with Luka and KP out!
Next. Pacers, on Monday. Luka will still be out, but as far as I know, KP is expected back.
Keep it up, guys!
The Mavericks made a nice rebound after the Houston loss, and comfortably handled a bad Atlanta team, despite playing without Luka and KP.
Game Story
Atlanta were missing a bunch of guys, including former Mav Chandler Parsons, who was still recovering from his car accident. They dressed only nine players. The Mavs counted Luka (ankle), KP (load management), and DP (Achilles) on the injured list.
Rick broke out another new starting unit, featuring Brunson/THJ/DFS/Maxi/WCS. The squad got off to a sluggish start, going down by 10 within the first four minutes. Then, they recovered, and owned a 36-26 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Hawks had another run or two in them, but the Mavs kept their foot on the gas for the rest of the game and soundly thrashed their opponent.
Analytics
The Mavericks won this game largely on the basis of sterling 3-point shooting, putting up 6 more 3PTAs than the Hawks, and hitting 51% of their shots from long range. They were +30 on points from threes, -1 on made free throws, and -6 on points from twos. The home team should also be congratulated on going 15-16 from the line.
The offense was fashioned to some extent from defense, with the Mavs recording 8 blocks, and winning 17 points off Hawks turnovers. Many of the threes were in rhythm, generated as a result of inside penetration. The squad looked very coordinated and energetic on both ends of the floor, and it was a great team win.
Players
Coach went a little bigger in this match, and the front court did not disappoint.
Maxi (30 min) was amazing, registering 18 points on 6-9 shooting, including 4 threes, and having 4 blocks for the second night in a row. He was quite active defensively, managing to stay in front of the Hawks' pacey players. Harp talked about Maxi's improvement this season as a two-play player, and remarked that working hard on his shot is really paying off.
DFS (29 min) stuffed the box score with a season-high-tying 22 points, 4 threes, 7 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Wow! He played forcefully, and was everywhere he needed to be, hitting threes, dunking, completing free throws, making life tough on Atlanta, and crashing the boards. A very complete game from the young guy. Harp also praised Finney-Smith for elevating his play so much this season. Exciting development!
WCS (26 min) enjoyed his debut as a starter with the Mavs, and contributed 10 rebounds and 2 blocks. He also played starter minutes with NO fouls!! Rick thought he played extremely well, serving as a presence around the rim, blocking shots, altering shots, moving his feet, acting as a lob threat, and guarding smaller guys. As important as anything, Willie really wants to be here. He gave a post-game interview, and seemed joyful about his new life in Dallas.
The guards were no less impressive.
Brunson (27 min) really stepped up in Luka's absence, leading the team with a season-high 27 points on 12-22 shooting, to go with 8 assists and only 1 turnover. Incredible! Coach thought he played extremely well, and did everything they needed him to do. Way to go, Jalen!
Seth (21 min) was the leading scorer off the bench with 15 points, including 5 threes, along with 6 rebounds. He was playing with great joie de vivre, which was fun. He had to be taken off near the end of the game with some sort of knee issue. Hope it's nothing serous.
Hawks. The short-staffed Hawks suffered a couple of injuries during the game. Cam Reddish took an elbow to the face from DFS, and seemed disoriented as he was helped to the locker room. He has a facial contusion and a possible concussion. Trae Young did not have a very good night (12 points), and had to leave in the second half with a sprained ankle. Former Mav and old friend Vince Carter impressed, and Dirk, who was in the audience, joined him in revving the engines after a signature dunk, which was a hoot.
Remarks
Carlisle was happy with his team's play, especially their defensive effort, and said they had a bunch of good performances, top to bottom.
This was a high-paced, entertaining game, and we got to see a lot of guys step up into bigger roles, which was cool. Honestly, I think it would have been even more interesting had Atlanta not been so terrible, but we'll take the win. I don't watch the Hawks very often, and I didn't realize just how bad they are. Yikes! But, let's not take anything away from the Mavs, who did well to maintain their record of no losing streaks longer than two games so far this season. Impressive system performance with Luka and KP out!
Next. Pacers, on Monday. Luka will still be out, but as far as I know, KP is expected back.
Keep it up, guys!
