On Luka Doncic's 25th birthday, the day after a heartbreaking loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Dallas Mavericks (34-25) defeated the Toronto Raptors (22-37) 136-125 at Scotiabank Arena. and finished the work. It wasn't exactly a good result, as the Mavs played most of the third quarter with their own food, but the win gave the Mavericks a two-game season series with the Raptors and a narrow 2-2 lead. kept the possibility. in this rough four-game road swing. Dallas' next game will be a test match against the NBA's strongest Celtics on Friday in Boston.
Doncic achieved his 11th triple-double of the season with the win, finishing with 30 points, 16 assists, 11 rebounds and two steals. That's five steals in the last 48 hours for Doncic, who leads the scoring at home. Kyrie Irving added 29 points and Immanuel Quickley led the Raptors with 28 points and nine assists in the loss.
Here are five more key stats from a game in which the Mavs got off to a slow start and exhausted the Raptors in the third and fourth quarters.
10: PJ Washington scores in the first 5 minutes of the game.
PJ Washington had a very good game on both ends of the ball against Cleveland (11 points on 5-of-8 shooting, 3 steals) and got off to a great start on the offensive end in Toronto on Wednesday. He got into a rhythm and made his first two 3-pointers, then scored on a putback off his own miss, keeping Dallas within 12-10 from the start.
Washington took a beautiful alley-up lob from Doncic to give the Mavs a 16-14 lead with 7:04 left in the first, but Toronto outscored the Mavs 11-2 over the next three minutes, erasing Washington's momentum. gone. RJ Barrett's floater goal with 4:13 left in the first quarter gave them a 25-18 lead.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25310605/usa_today_22646967.jpg)
Washington scored 13 points on Doncic's third 3-pointer of the first quarter with a nice shot near the top of the key, bringing the Mavs within 25-23. He had 23 points and seven boards that night, becoming one of five Mavericks to score in double figures in the win. He had his best performance to date in a Mavericks uniform, making 5 of 10 3-pointers.
6: Luka Doncic's first-quarter assist
With Washington knocking everything down and Daniel Gafford making plays inside on both ends of the court early on, the Mavs rallied and took a 36-34 lead after one quarter. The assist that led to Washington's third 3-ball was Doncic's fourth of the quarter.
Doncic found Gafford breaking through the lane for a bucket on the next possession, tying the game at 25-25 with 3:22 left in the first. And the best playmaker in the world was Tim Hardaway Jr.'s 3-pointer along the wing with 2:05 left in the opening frame to put the Mavs ahead 30-27.
Doncic had six points and six assists in the first quarter, while Gafford added eight points and three boards. It was a perfect example of Doncic waiting for the game to come after a slow start — going just 2-of-7 from the field and 0-of-3 from 3-point range in the first quarter. He also accounted for three of the Mavs' first five turnovers.
Doncic found something to do with Toronto's defense with long, football-style outlet passes to start the transfer game for Dallas. Five of his 16 assists on the night were full-court assists where open teammates broke through like wide receivers coming down the seam.
8: Blocked shots in the first half by Mavs defenders.
Washington and Derek Lively II each blocked three shots in the first half. Lively denied Bruce Brown's runner in the lane early in the second quarter, deflected Kelly Olynyk's putback attempt and blocked two in one possession.
Gafford and Kyrie Irving also had blocked shots in the first half. The Mavericks had 10 blocks on the night, led by Lively's four blocks.
9-0, then 20-9: Third-quarter run that changed the game.
The Mavericks scored nine straight points early in the third quarter, turning a 79-75 Raptors lead into an 84-79 Mavs advantage. Although the Mavs were unable to extend their lead any further, this appeared to be a turning point in the game, as Dallas appeared to assert greater control of the game from that point on.
Four minutes later, Dante Exum made his first 3-pointer of the game, giving the Mavs their largest lead of the game up to that point, 91-83 with 4:10 left in the third. As it turned out, Exum's 3-pointer was part of what turned out to be the game's deciding points. Two minutes later, Exum found Doncic deep on the receiving end of a full-court outlet pass in transition to give the Mavs a 100-86 lead. The Mavs outscored the Raptors 20-9 with 5:15 left in the third quarter, completely turning the game on its head and leading Dallas 106-92 at the end of the third quarter.
21: Kyrie Irving scores in the second half.
Irving played a big role for the Mavericks, who separated from the Raptors late in the game. He scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half on 9-of-15 shooting from the field. He got to the ruck effectively, was effective from the 3-point line, and was more effective at midrange than any other player on the court.
His deep 3-pointer with a minute and a half left in the half brought the Mavs within 72-72, and his floated bank shot in the lane with 7:54 left in the third gave the Mavs an 80-79 lead. did. time. Irving hit three jumpers in the fourth, and Toronto tried to fight back late.
you can listen to us latest podcast episodes Be sure to subscribe to the Pod Maverick podcast feed in the player embedded below so you don't miss a single future one. apple, spotify, Google Podcasts, pandora, pocket cast, YouTube, YouTube Podcast, amazon music, cast box.
Check out After Dark Recap podcasts, YouTube Live recordings, and guest shows on Pod Maverick. podcast feed. Please subscribe, rate and review.
