Daniel Gafford makes a little team history, Luka Doncic makes a little NBA history as the Mavericks (36-28) take on the Detroit Pistons (10-53) on Saturday at Little Caesars Arena. They won 142-124.
After a slow start, the Mavs began to pull away in the third quarter and pulled away from the game as the fourth quarter progressed. Luka Doncic led all scorers in the win with 39 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the only player in NBA history to record a 30-point triple-double in six consecutive games. Daniel Gafford also set a franchise record for the Mavericks by going 7-of-7 from the field and has made 19 straight in the last three games. This broke the record held by rookie centers Derek Lively and Dwight Powell, who each had made 18 consecutive field goals.
There were some early clashes, but once the Mavs put together a consistent performance on both ends of the court over the course of about five minutes, the game was out of reach. Here are his six key stats from the win in Detroit.
13: Simone Fontecchio scores in the first quarter.
In one of the season's most hilariously frustrating developments, the Mavericks appear to have no answers – check notes — Simone Fontecchio? How many opposing role players in this ridiculous team's history have rocked the Mavs in two different uniforms in the same season? Since I don't have time to do the necessary research for this article on the fly, I'll accept your answers to that bit of trivia in the comments section.
Fontecchio scored 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting in 29 minutes, leading all scorers in the Mavs' 127-90 loss to the Utah Jazz on New Year's Day, one of their worst losses of the year. took the lead. They pick up where they left off on Saturday, albeit with different uniform colors, after being traded from Utah to Detroit in exchange for future second-round pick Kevin Knox and the rights to Gabriele Procida in a trade deadline deal. did. He led all scorers in Saturday's first quarter with 13 points on 3-of-3 shooting from 3-point land.
Fontecchio hit his third point off a ridiculously difficult lean-to-bank prayer on Detroit's last possession, infuriating the Mavs' broadcast team, and Dallas trailing 35-33 by one point. He maintained his lead.
Fontecchio scored 27 of the Pistons' most troublesome points on 9-of-13 shooting in the loss.
21: Luka Doncic's second quarter score
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The game started again, and it was another slow start for the Mavs as a team and for their resident supernova. Doncic had just five points and four turnovers in the first quarter, but he held onto the ball a little better in the second quarter and exploded with just one turnover on target, scoring 21 points. Recorded. He made 7 of 11 field goal attempts in the quarter, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range.
But despite Doncic's scoring outburst, Dallas struggled to pull away from lowly Detroit before halftime. He drove through the lane and made a tough bucket inside, followed by a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions late in the second, giving the Mavs a 69-63 lead with less than a minute left in the first half and Dallas They scored 69-63 points. Heading into the break with a 65 lead. The Pistons have been troublesome recently even against much better teams. In recent games, they lost by just eight points against Miami, by just 10 points against Cleveland, by just one point against New York, and by just three points against Orlando.
2: Four-point play opportunity wasted by Tim Hardaway Jr.
I put this stat here more for its sheer weirdness than as an opportunity to examine Tim Hardaway Jr. and his recent abysmal play. That's why I did it, I swear.
I have one more, please leave it in the comments. How many times has a player ever taken two 3-pointers in the same game and gotten fouled? And how many times has a player shot that amount from beyond the 3-point arc at least made a competent free throw? Assuming he's also a shooter, it must be incredibly rare for a player to make two (count them two) four-point plays and miss both of their accompanying free throws.
Hardaway has shot over 87 percent from the free-throw line this season, but was just 4-of-7 from the line in the win over Detroit. He hit a 30-foot shot into Jaden Ivey's eye socket late in the first quarter, along with an accompanying free throw, giving the Mavs a 35-30 lead at the time. Late in the third quarter, Kyrie Irving found him in the corner, and rookie forward Marcus Sasser couldn't stop the drive against Hardaway on the way down. After missing the ensuing free throw, the Mavs led 101-86 with 1:39 left in the third, beginning the rout that Mavs fans had expected.
Hardaway had one of his best games in recent memory, scoring 14 of his 17 points in the second half.
-16: Rebound difference when the Mavericks won by 18 points.
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Here's another weird thing. The Mavericks have lost the rebound battle by an average of 4.1 rebounds per game in their last 53 games, but have posted positive rebounds (+1.6) in their last 11 games.
But the Mavs rebounded 60-44 in a big win against one of the worst teams in the NBA. Although the Pistons dominated the boards, they basically couldn't match the Mavs in losses in any other statistical category.
19: Daniel Gafford makes consecutive field goals.
Daniel Gafford entered the matchup in Detroit having made 12 of 12 field goal attempts in the Mavericks' past two games. He had 16 points, 10 boards and three blocks on 7-of-7 shooting against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday, and 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting in Thursday's win over the Miami Heat. Successfully completed 7.
Gafford tied the Mavericks' franchise record of 18 consecutive field goals with 8:33 left in the fourth inning when he made a nice discovery of Doncic in traffic for a sharp dunk. Then, just two minutes later, Doncic's alley-oop jam broke the record for 19 consecutive baskets and put the Mavs ahead 120-95.
Gafford scored 17 points and seven boards in the win. He didn't miss a shot in six days.
“The sky is the limit for me as long as I keep it in mind,” Gafford said in his postgame interview. “It's getting more comfortable day by day.”
6: Doncic scores consecutive 30-point triple-doubles.
You'll understand when you watch this match. Doncic was within striking distance of a six-straight 30-point triple-double, and he didn't come out until he accomplished it. He grabbed his 10th rebound of the game on Fontecchio's tip-in miss with 3:14 left, scoring 39, 10, 10 points, a feat unparalleled by any player in NBA history. Mavs coach Jason Kidd immediately called a timeout and removed Doncic and his wry grinner from the game, with the Mavs leading 128-108.
“This just shows the level he's playing at right now,” Kidd said in the postgame press conference.
He has now achieved a 30-point triple-double in six consecutive games, and has now achieved a 37-point triple-double in three consecutive games. Fun fact: He is one of only 12 players currently in the NBA to have had more than three of these games in his career. In the entire history of the franchise, only 13 NBA teams have recorded at least three 37-point triple-doubles. Folks, you're witnessing that level of greatness from Doncic every time he laces up.
Typically, when Doncic accomplishes something like this, he joins Oscar Robertson as the only two players in NBA history to accomplish it. Even The Big O, in his illustrious NBA career that spanned the '60s and early '70s, had never had such a big-boy triple-double six times in a row. This was Doncic's 16th triple-double of the year and 72nd of his career.
