Mavericks monumental third quarter in Sacramento was the best of both worlds
Domantas Sabonis #10 of the Sacramento Kings and Kyrie Irving #11 of the Dallas Mavericks go for a loose ball in the first half at Golden 1 Center on March 26, 2024 in Sacramento, California. The Dallas Mavericks have been performing well defensively in their last 10 games, largely due to the addition of Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington. The team's strong defense has taken center stage, with a recent 132-96 win over the Sacramento Kings. The victory came after a strong third quarter where the team combined their defensive pressure with their shooting ability. The Mavs have been struggling offensively, with only eight wins from their last ten games and 16 of their last 22. This victory was a significant turnaround for the team ahead of their crucial game against the Sacramento Wolves. Luka Dončić, the team's leading scorer, scored 28 points and 11 rebounds, six assists in the fourth quarter.
प्रकाशित : 4 सप्ताह पहले द्वारा Mavs Moneyball में Sports
The moment was huge — and the Mavs proved they were equal to it.
For most of the 2023-24 season, getting to 15 made 3-pointers was the best bell-weather predictor for if the Dallas Mavericks were going to win the game that night. Out-shooting their opponent on a nightly basis was the ticket to winning games — sometimes the only ticket to winning games — and Dallas felt like a team with a maximum shelf life of one round in the playoffs as a result.
But in their last 10 games, the team’s defense has taken center stage. This is not a new revelation — the fanbase has been celebrating the added defensive dimension, in some measure since the addition of Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington at the trade deadline, and even more since returning from the All-Star Break. The 3-point shooting has not only taken a backseat during the Mavs’ stretch of elevated play — they’ve actually been in something of a cold snap while rattling off nine wins in their last 10 games and 16 of their last 22.
But Dallas would have to put both pieces of the puzzle together to take the next step and break through in the two most important games of the year, as Dallas battles with the Sacramento Kings for the sixth seed in the Western Conference playoff race. Sacramento can score with anyone in the league, so it was never going to be enough to combine another solid defensive performance with another 31 percent shooting night from 3-point range and expect to beat the Kings on their floor at the Golden 1 Center.
It all came together for Dallas in the third quarter of Tuesday’s 132-96 win. After incremental wins in the first and second quarters, the Mavs blew the Kings out, 38-23 in the third, continuing the mission on defense while finally combining it with that lethal shooting touch Dallas put on display through the first 50 games of the year.
The Kings got nothing in transition all night. They didn’t score a point in transition until Malik Monk’s alley-oop finish from Davion Mitchell with 3:38 left in the third quarter, but by then, the Mavs had already completed a 22-4 run in the frame to go up 89-65.
Dallas put that run together by finally combining the newfound defensive pressure with the pure shooting the team had become known for. They hit 6-of-9 from 3-point range in the third, to just 1-of-6 for Sacramento.
“We’re getting better and better on the defensive end,” Luka Dončić said in his postgame interview on TNT, after the third-quarter effort turned a tense game into a laugher down the stretch. “We’ve have guys who can really defend. The whole team is listening — talking to each other on defense. We’ve just got to keep going like that.”
For his part, Dončić got into passing lanes for three more steals to go along with 28 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and lots of rest in the fourth quarter as the Mavs have two full days of rest before running it back in Sac-town on Friday. He bounced back from a 2-of-11 performance from behind the arc in Monday’s 115-105 win over the Utah Jazz and hit 4-of-8 from deep in Sacramento. Not bad for a guy who was allegedly a game-time decision with some Achilles soreness.
Tuesday’s statement win over the Kings on national television may not have been the Mavs’ best defensive performance of the year, but it was at least one of their best. They bothered De’Aaron Fox all night long until at the end of the night, the NBA’s ninth-leading scorer was looking at an atrocious 6-of-18 shooting line. Domantas Sabonis, one of the league’s most efficient players on offense, missed some bunnies along the way and shot just 3-of-10 against Dallas. Malik Monk went just 5-of-13 from the field and 0-of-2 from 3-point range.
For the Mavs, it was the bounce-back, get-right game that Washington and Tim Hardaway Jr. needed on this stretch run. They had been struggling offensively, but combined to go 8-of-12 from 3-point territory in the win. Dallas was unconscious all night long and shot 22-of-39 from beyond the arc as a team. That’s 56.4 percent — the best 3-point shooting display this team has unleashed all year.
Sure, the Kings and their fans can view this loss as a throwaway, and it’s true, they’ll get a chance to make everything right on Friday, when they can take the season series with a win. But there’s not going to be a more confident team in the league going into Friday’s games than your little Dallas Mavericks.
Here’s hoping that front-running posture works out as well for the Mavs on Friday as it did on Tuesday.
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विषय: Basketball, Dallas Mavericks