Milwaukee, Wisconsin – The Mavericks secured another preseason victory Monday night defeating the Milwaukee Bucks. In Dallas’s first preseason game the team struggled to get things going early in the first quarter which could easily be contributed to “knocking off the rust.” As the game progressed the Mavericks began to “gel” and execute on a high level which led to the team erasing a 6 point deficit at half and ultimately winning the game by 10 points on Saturday.
Monday night was much different. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored the first basket of the night, but Dallas quickly responded after Luka Doncic pushed the ball down the floor, found Tim Hardaway Jr. who then found Josh Richardson for the wide open three. Three point shooting would be the half theme of the night for the Mavericks shooting lights out from behind the arc hitting 47% of their shots from downtown. The other half of the theme was how cohesive and honed in this team was throughout the entire game. The chemistry was evident.
The game was tight most of the night. Dallas began to separate holding a 6 point lead midway through the second quarter, but that lead quickly vanished as the Bucks began to surge ending the second quarter leading the Mavericks by 12 points which was their highest lead of the night.
As the third quarter began the Mavericks began to chip away at the 12 point lead the Bucks held at the end of the first half. The Mavericks starting lineup started the second half, but the unit that continued to have a strong performance was the “Bench Mob”.
The Mavericks bench outscored Milwaukee’s bench 76-43 on Saturday, and played an important role in winning that game. Monday night, Jalen Brunson led all bench players with 11 points and shot 50% from the field and turned in a -5 performance. Josh Green, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Burke, and Maxi Kleber all played valuable minutes as well and took advantage of the challenge.
The 12 point lead the Bucks held was no more as the Mavericks flipped that Bucks lead to a 5 point Bucks deficit heading into the 4th quarter. The Mavericks continued to separate in the final 12 minutes as they hit one big shot after another. Jalen Brunson hit two big shots, finishing a drive to the hoop after regathering himself, then hit a wide open 3 pointer, Trey Burke hit from behind the arc while being fouled, then Willie Cauley-Stein drilled two big three pointers on consecutive possessions pushing the lead to 15. Burke and Cauley-Stein connected on a big time alley oop to put the final touch on their victory in Milwaukee.
There are many things this team does well, but where the team dynamic has truly changed is within their roster. Dallas wanted to build a deep team that can attack on different fronts offensively and a team that can takeaway what the opposing team does best defensively.
The Mavericks appear to have most of the tangibles championship teams possess. Cohesion, Chemistry, and Depth. Let’s see if that will translate into the regular season.
