SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — The Mavericks road trip got off to a bad start Monday night losing to the Sacramento Kings who have the worst defensive rating in the league and who previously defeated them at home, but Dallas redeemed themselves grabbing an impressive 133-103 road win against the Warriors Tuesday night.
The Warriors are winners of their last of their last 3 out of 4 games and are currently sit at the 10th spot and a chance to participate in the play-in tourney, but their sights are set on upsetting a few teams in the final stretch of the season.
If there is a game the Mavericks needed to win, this is the one because if they suffer another loss it could potentially drop them in seeding right before the NBA postseason begins.
To start the game, the Mavericks put away any doubt that they would give up the 6th seed without a fight. Dallas scored on their first 3 out of 4 shots which ignited their best first quarter performance in recent memory. The Mavericks had 5 players that scored in the first quarter with Luka Doncic leading the way with 9 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Brunson who scored 10 points off the bench combined. It was a culmination of two things, the Mavericks efficiency scoring the basketball and their aggressiveness on the defensive end of the floor. The Mavericks held the Golden State Warriors to 19% from the field and contained Stephen Curry which paved the way to their massive 36-12 lead to end the first quarter.
For some time now, the Mavericks have lacked energy and most of their starts in the first quarter have been lackluster, but the bad loss to the Kings obviously added pressure and escalated this team’s sense of urgency.
Not much changed in the second quarter. Good defense and efficient possessions was all that was needed for the Mavericks to maintain their lead.
Dallas continued to pester the Warriors on defense and forced bad shots as well which was a rarity at this point in the season because this team has had the tendency of playing good on one side of the floor and not the other. Dallas shot 41% from the field and held the Warriors to another poor shooting quarter converting on 22% of their shots. The Mavericks got more production off the bench and out of Luka Doncic who finished the quarter with 16 points leading all scorers. The Mavericks finished the second quarter with a comfortable 62-29 lead holding the Warriors to their lowest point total recorded in the first half all season.
It was a Luka “Magic Show” in the entire third quarter. Doncic scored the first 10 points in the quarter and added 13 more points before the quarter was finished. Luka Doncic has been on a tear for the past month offensively but he hasn’t been his play hasn’t been this effective in quite some time although all of the gaudy numbers may say different. Surprisingly the Warriors had a decent quarter from the field shooting 50% from the field, but the Mavericks offense kept rolling and finished the third quarter with a 41 point lead.
With the insurmountable lead the Mavericks built, the bench mob played most of the fourth quarter and were at least average during the time they played. It was enough to get them a road win after losing another game during their up and down month of April.
14 players scored on the Mavericks roster, 6 of them scored in double digits, the Mavericks bench scored 60 points, and Dallas scored 21 points off turnovers Luka Doncic finished the game with 39 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds and his third quarter performance was the catalyst to the Mavericks capping off their win.
The Mavericks will play one more game on the road against the Pistons before returning home to face the Wizards which will be the first of their 6 home games to finish out their season. Right now they have the advantage but this team doesn’t need to catch lightning in a bottle, but must find a way to play as balanced as they did tonight to avoid dropping in the playoff race.
