[ad_1]
In their first game out of the All-Star break, Dallas clinched another back-and-forth victory in an important game against the division foe and the leader of Spurs. We were greeted with strange pre-game news as LaMarcus Aldridge and Spurs go their separate ways.
Nonetheless, DeMar DeRozan effectively led the way in San Antonio, scoring 30 points on 12 of 19 shots. For the Mavericks, Luka Doncic started the shot slowly, scoring just six points at halftime. Still, he made an impact on the boards and racked up assists early on, and he found his way into a triple double as his score caught up with his other contributions in the second half. Ultimately, he paced the Mavs with 22 points to go with his 12 boards and 12 assists.
Mavs retire late in Porzingis’ strong 4th quarter streak
With Dallas grooming a two-point lead halfway through the fourth, up 97-95, Kristaps Porzingis made his willpower felt by scoring seven straight points as the team put San Antonio on the defensive. It brought Dallas’ lead to eight, and they never looked back.
Porzingis appeared to be activated the entire match. He affected shots on the defensive end and fought for rebounds. He led the team in points and rebounds with 28 and 14 respectively, with four of those boards coming from the offensive end.
From rusty to rewarding
Dallas entered the All Star break on a positive note – a win over the Thunder that capped an 8-2 streak. The hope was that they had hit the ground running, fully rested after free time, but the first quarter was a bit disjointed. They made 11 of their 14 sales in the first half of the year and entered the tunnel seven times. No Maverick player hit double-digit points in the first half and their top scorer was WIllie Cauley-Stein with eight. Not exactly how you write it.
The team persevered, however, and found their balance in the second half. Doncic and Porzingis came to life on offense, and the December league lead defense that increasingly felt like a fluke as the Mavs floundered through January made an appearance in that game. Dallas held the buckets steadily and completely choked San Antonio in a crucial six-minute streak where Spurs didn’t make a single basket and scored just two meager runs on a pair of DeRozan free throws. . The late-game execution is a sight for sore eyes for those who remember not long ago when Mavs were notoriously bad in times of crisis.
Second chance points for me, not for you
Perhaps the biggest difference in this game wasn’t a single player’s contributions, but what the team were able to do on the boards. San Antonio is not a particularly great team, and Dallas took advantage of a 21-rebound advantage. That huge disparity fueled the Mavericks’ second scoring chance in a game where the three point shots they were relying on didn’t fall (the team was 13 of 40 at depth, 32.5%).
However, Dallas racked up 21 second chance points against the San Antonio two. In a game where everything else was so close, Dallas managed to find a thread they could pull on to unravel the Spurs.
It’s a huge win for Dallas, who are now tied with San Antonio in the division as measured by games back, and they secure the head-to-head tiebreaker.
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.
[ad_2]
Source link