DALLAS, TX – The Dallas Mavericks opened American Airlines Center to the public Sunday for Mavs Fan Jam that included an open practice/scrimmage.
The scrimmage had the starters on the white team and the second unit on the blue team. Head coach Jason Kidd announced his starting five during open camp but it still has yet to be 100 percent finalized. The blue team consisted of Jalen Brunson, Reggie Bullock, Sterling Brown, Maxi Kleber and Willie Cauley-Stein.
White won the tip off and the first bucket was a corner three made by Tim Hardaway Jr. from Luka Doncic’s assist. Doncic hit his fair share of threes as expected and Kristaps Porzingis looked extremely healthy and on top of his game. The blue team ended up with the win and the fans had a great time watching this new 2021-22 Mavericks team.
Here are the key takeaways from the open scrimmage:
The Mavericks are known for their beyond the arc shooting and Dallas was in the top eight in offensive ratings last year under coach Rick Carlisle. Nothing is changing under new coach Jason Kidd. There was a lot of drive and kick action during the scrimmage. Doncic, being one of the best ball handlers in the league, would drive to the basket and dish it off to Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dorian Finney-Smith for 3-pointers.
“Luka is like a young picasso. Picasso didn’t use all his colors in his paintings.” Coach Kidd used this phrase to explain that Doncic needs to start trusting his teammates more and the drive and kick method seems to be doing just that.
Of course the Dallas superstar showed up to the scrimmage with nothing shy of greatness. Doncic ended the scrimmage with 18 points, seven assists, and six rebounds. Doncic has high expectations coming into this season as a high MVP candidate and everyone is hoping to see similar stats that we saw today in their preseason games this week.
Last year Doncic put the team on his back most games and it really was the Luka show with his teammates spotted up ready for the dish if Doncic got stomped up. Coach Kidd has stressed that that will not be the case this season and you could see that during the open scrimmage. There was a lot more ball movement throughout the offense, more than we have seen in previous years. There were three to four passes and off-the-ball screens on every offensive possession.
We all know that the Mavs had great shooting last season but one of the things they really needed to work on was defense. They finished last season 21st in the defensive rating. Coach Kidd has made it a very big priority and has said that his team will be playing defense this season.
In order for the Mavs to get to the next level they will need to step up their defense.
His team showed their new defense during the scrimmage. They are showing way more aggressiveness by jumping passing lanes and creating turnovers.
Porzingis has changed his offensive game so much since last season simply by just being more involved. He didn’t stay on the block and started most possessions on the elbow, which makes sense after Coach Kidd has addressed KP will probably end up being the four and not the five. KP finished the scrimmage with 14 points, he was the third-highest scorer in the scrimmage. Porzingis looked extremely comfortable today going from the elbow to the post. He shot the ball well and posted up down low when he needed to.
The Mavs will host the Utah Jazz this Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. for their first preseason game of the 2021-22 season.
