INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA- After bad breaks through the past three games the Mavericks were able to pull out a 124-112 win against the Pacers.
Dallas went with a different starting lineup and Josh Green got his third start of the season replacing Willie Cauley-Stein. The last time the Mavericks switched things up, it helped them capture their first winning streak of the season.
When Rick Carlisle goes deep into his coaching bag and switches things up it provides a spark.
Early in the first quarter it appeared Luka Doncic tweaked something in his left leg, but that didn’t stop him from hurting the Pacers defense with other aspects of his game. Doncic had 4 assists on 5 field goals and also scored 4 points. Trey Burke had an explosive first quarter knocking down 5 out of 6 of his first shots and two of those shots came from behind the perimeter leading all scorers with 12 points. Kristaps Porzingis had an efficient first quarter as well knocking down 5 out of his 6 shots shooting 83% from the field. Dallas finished the first quarter out shooting the Pacers 64% to 45% and it was one of the most efficient first quarters the Mavericks played this season.
Dallas captured an early 37-28 lead in the first quarter which has happened a handful of times since the season began. When the Mavericks grab the lead early, it leads to dubs.
The Pacers started off the second quarter in impressive fashion after a mini-run and shrunk the Mavericks lead to 5 points and later brought the lead within 3 points. The Mavericks at times this season have struggled to maintain, but as the clock continued to tick Dallas continued to score points extending their lead back to 10 points. Rookie Josh Green who was the 18th pick of the NBA Draft lived up to his first round status scoring 6 points in the second quarter, and Jalen Brunson turned it on as well and scored 7 second quarter points.
The Mavericks offense began to struggle as the second quarter began to expire going scoreless from the floor for the final two minutes. The Pacers took advantage and found a spark and brought the game back to within 2 points finishing the first half with a better field goal percentage.
Even though the Pacers outscored the Mavericks in the second quarter, Dallas finished the first half converting on 70% of their two point shots. The Mavericks played a balanced first half of basketball and it took an entire team effort to make it happen. The only thing the Mavericks needed to do better at a higher clip was connect from behind the arc, if they did this the Mavericks might have put this game out of reach , which speaks to how dynamic this team can be on offense even after a subpar first half from beyond the arc.
After Luka broke the ice scoring the first basket of the second half for the Mavs the Pacers scored 7 straight points, and were able to take the lead for the first time in the game. Shortly after Luka found Kristaps Porzingis on the alley oop pass to grab his 7th assist of the night and followed up with another alley oop to Porzingis to grab his 8th assist continuing his distribution spree, and led to the Mavericks recapturing the lead once more.
It wasn’t easy for the Mavericks to sustain the lead in the third quarter, the Pacers put up a fight keeping the lead margin within 3 points after the Mavericks held a 10 point lead for most of the third quarter. Malcolm Brogdon made a big three pointer with less than 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter tying the game up 86-86. Jalen Brunson changed that by connecting on a 9 foot jumper to put the Mavs up by 2, but with a minute remaining in the third quarter Malcolm Brogdon knocked down a three pointer and assisted on an alley oop pass to Justin Holiday to take a 88-91 lead. Dallas tied things up again 91-91 after Kristaps Porzingis was fouled on an easy lay-in and converted the free throw to follow. By the end of the third quarter the Mavericks took a 1 point 93-92 lead after buzzer beating floater by way of Jalen Brunson.
The story of the fourth quarter was a mixture of success from the three point line and how well the team distributed the ball. To start the fourth Trey Burke got into rhythm knocking down two consecutive three pointers. Out of 6 of the three pointers the Mavericks made, Burke knocked down 4 of them and helped the Mavericks capture their largest lead since midway through the third quarter. Tim Hardaway Jr connected on two shots from beyond the arc and scored 10 fourth quarter points. Compared to their 17% three point percentage in the first half the Mavericks knocked down 4 out of their 5 shots from beyond the arc.
Luka Doncic had a typical night posting another triple double, but his scoring wasn’t the highlight, his impact was felt by finding open teammates setting them up for easy shots to take over the game late. Kristap Porzingis led all scorers with 27 points and notched his first double-double of the season.
In their win tonight, six players finished in double figures for the Mavericks with most players finishing the night with a positive performance to help Dallas snap their 3 game losing streak. Dallas will finish their road trip this upcoming Friday in San Antonio against their inner division rival the Spurs.
