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After a heartbreaking loss on Friday night, the Mavericks bounce back and beat Portland 132-92.
The match started with Damian Lillard and Luka Doncic coming and going impressively as Doncic and Lillard scored 12 and 11 points in the first quarter respectively. The Mavericks were trailing threes after one. This punchy nature of both teams continued until the middle of the second quarter, when Dallas scored eight straight points to take a 51-44 lead and used that momentum to extend their lead to 65-54 in half-time. . The Mavericks wouldn’t look back as they beat the Trailblazers 38-15 in the third period and ultimately won the game by 40 points.
Tyler Bey, Nate Hinton and Josh Green all received an extended run in the fourth quarter and Josh Green and Nate Hinton looked solid in their ground times. Green and Hinton both had four points and added one and two assists, respectively.
Josh Richardson had 21 big points and Dorian Finney-Smith made his comeback after missing two games due to the birth of his son.
Luka Doncic is very good at basketball
Do you remember when Luka Doncic started the year shooting less than 10% out of three? Neither do I. Doncic made the bad shot a distant memory, and was nearly perfect beyond the arc tonight as he made eight of his nine attempts. Part of the reason Dallas was able to pull out after halftime was because Doncic was four of five away in the quarter.
Luka finished with 37 points, four assists and seven rebounds, in just 29 minutes. He showed his entire arsenal of unstoppable moves, including the third step back and the change of pace that allowed him to easily gain buckets on the rim. As the Mavericks continue to win, Doncic is increasingly arguing to be in the MVP conversation.
Doncic has scored 117 points in his last three games.
The Mavericks can be very good at defense when they want to be
If the Mavericks hadn’t scored in the fourth quarter, they would have scored the same number of points in the second half as Portland. They kept the Trailblazers to just 38 points in the second half, including 15 in the massive third quarter. Dame and CJ McCollum were both held within 20 points on shots below 50%, after both scoring 30 points on Friday night.
The Mavericks’ defense seemed cohesive and active from the end of the first quarter, even afterwards when the rookies played a period of more than six minutes in the fourth. This team has shown that they are capable of keeping a team, even an attacking team like Portland, below 100 points every night, they just don’t do that consistently.
Kristaps Porzingis continues to improve on the defensive side, having collected 2 blocks and a steal in 25 minutes of action. He met Enes Kanter at the edge and had a huge blockage during his dunk attempt. The unicorn also grabbed eight rebounds.
The addition of Dorian Finney-Smith to the starting lineup was a welcome sight and there is no doubt that it added to the defensive presence displayed by the Mavericks.
Kristaps Porzingis continues to fight offensively
I mentioned that Kristaps has an uptrend on the defensive side, but on offense he has a trend in the opposite direction. Not only is this his third game in a row with less than 15 points, but it is the third game in a row where he has shot less than 50% of the field.
It was handled on the post by much smaller players and the three-way ball did not fall to a clip high enough to make up for its ineffectiveness inside the arc. He did not receive so many contacts either; just 32 shooting attempts for Porzingis in his last three games.
The Mavericks are 2-1 in such games, he’s made an impact elsewhere, and this offensive fight is nothing to worry about in the long run. Everyone goes through shooting spells, but maybe this stretch shows its offensive limits and what it needs to work on if the Mavericks are to take their game to the next level.
Here is the post-match podcast, Mavs Moneyball after dark. If you don’t see the integration below “More Mavs Moneyball”, Click here. And if you haven’t already, subscribe by searching for “Mavs Moneyball podcast” in your favorite podcast app.
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