This is a five-pack — the Mavericks have won five straight for the first time this season.
The Dallas Mavericks are continuing to do well. After a shaky start, the Dallas Mavericks finished strong, defeating the Washington Wizards 112-104.
Rookie Daniel Gafford continued to add 16 points and 17 rebounds (seven offensive boards). He set the tone early, grabbing seven rebounds in the first six minutes and remaining active on the glass all night. Defensively, they were overwhelmed by the Wizards' Deni Avdija, who led Washington with 28 points, but they still had a very solid performance.
On a night when Dallas struggled with the deep ball, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving each scored 26 points and were 2-of-7 from deep. Still, the win is something to celebrate on a less-than-perfect offensive night, and the momentum continues with just one game remaining before the suspension.
clutch distributor
No matter how you look at it, the Wizards are not a good team. This nine-win Washington team wasn't supposed to be the biggest speed bump, as Dallas was on a four-game winning streak heading into the All-Star break. Dallas waited until they could get a clutch win before ending the game.
Everything went wrong in Dallas tonight. They couldn't take shots, the ball was turned over (13 in the first half), and Luka's chin was bleeding. After that, Dallas, who couldn't break his 30 points in any quarter, came on in the fourth quarter and blew the doors off with a 34-point frame.
Don't get me wrong, running roughshod over Washington for 48 minutes was ideal and a lot of fun to watch, but good teams find a way to win bad games. Dallas has been performing more and more like a good team lately.
Dallas finally had a chance, cutting Washington's lead to one point with Jaden Hardy's two huge 3-pointers and holding the Wizards to 16 points with solid team defense.
long lead
No one expected Dallas to do well tonight, so it's not the fault of any individual player that the team as a whole went 9-for-36… That being said, Tim Hardaway Jr. did well from the floor. He started the night 0-for-8. He only made 1 of 7 from 3.
He is an important role player for Dallas and is likely the frontrunner for Sixth Man of the Year. He's a guy who can come on fire any night and win games. You don't want to drag him out after the first mistake. You want him to pile up the threes. We need him to hit threes, but when he can't hit threes, we need a backup plan. And given all the new pieces Dallas has to move on the chessboard, the lead may need to be cut a little shorter.
Dallas' crucial fourth quarter began with Hardaway mostly sitting on the bench. It's not like he's going to make 5 of 8 threes every night, and on nights like tonight, it would be better for coach Jason Kidd to deviate from his loyalty to veterans a little sooner.
Cleaning, aisle 4
Through three quarters, it was clear that this game was not going to be the beautiful offensive ballet that the modern game now represents. The Wizards held a 10-point advantage at 88-77, but neither team's offense was firing on all cylinders. The Wizards were shooting 30% from deep. bad. Dallas was worse. 18.5%.
Dallas' shooting was so poor that 10 points seemed like quite a ask, but when a team remembers that it's one of the best teams in the league behind the arc, good things can happen. There is sex. He continued to shoot on both sides, making nine shots apiece from deep. Washington missed all of them, while Dallas made 4 of 9.
Jaden Hardy had two hits and Luka had one, but Maxi Kleber's big three with 5:32 left gave Dallas its first lead since the first half. His bucket gave Dallas a 97-96 lead and they stayed in front for the rest of the game.
On top of that, Dallas turned the ball over once, and much of what plagued them in the first three games was ironed out in the fourth. It's never too late to start playing good basketball.
An eight-point win feels great, but it could have been even better if Dallas had taken more care at the free-throw line in the second half. They shot 6-of-12 in the fourth, but luckily it wasn't close enough to matter.
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