The Dallas Mavericks are on a seven-game winning streak heading into tonight's matchup with the Indiana Pacers, and the team is playing their best basketball of the season.
Dallas is 4-0 in games in which P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford both play, and this new duo is helping the Mavs defense a lot. Outside of Gafford and Washington, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are dominant offensively.
Over the past seven games, Doncic is averaging 31.3 points, 10.1 rebounds, 9.4 assists and 1.9 steals while shooting 40.6 percent from downtown on nearly 10 attempts per game. Irving is averaging 27 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 58.1 percent from the field.
This duo is firing on all cylinders, and Doncic has made some improvements this season that could make the Mavs truly unstoppable. One of the most obvious areas of improvement is his defense. Doncic is no longer a traffic cone on the perimeter and can make stops when needed.
His hands are much faster and he often gets steals in situations he wasn't able to in past seasons.
Another improvement he's made that no one seems to be talking about is his off-the-catch shooting. Early in Doncic's career, he was strictly a shooter off the dribble. Doncic hit his signature step-back 3-point shot and occasional pull-up 3-pointers, but he was inconsistent off the catch.
Doncic is shooting 41.3 percent off the catch from downtown this season on two attempts per game. Last season, Doncic made 35.2 percent of his catch shots from downtown on 1.1 attempts per game. Last season, he had a 32.3 percent success rate on three catches on one attempt per game.
The numbers don't lie, Doncic has become an elite catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter. This will allow him to play off the ball occasionally when playing with Irving, adding another element to Dallas' offense.
Doncic is always on the move without the ball, and his ability to not only do damage when he has the ball in his hands, but also to play off the ball could make the Mavs unstoppable.
Check out the latest information on Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Dallas Mavericks this season.
